Upgrade 10 SPARC LDoms to Oracle Solaris 11.3 in 20 Minutes

Basics first
Oracle Solaris 11 includes a powerful Upgrade Feature based on IPS (Image Packaging System)
and ZFS. When Upgrading the Operating System a new Boot Environment is created and updated.
No impact on the currently running System. The new Environment is activated using a reboot. This allows to failback to the old Boot Environment if Applications don't run as expected on the new Solaris Release.

Find more about Upgrading in the Oracle Solaris 11.3 Manual
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54739/pkgupdate.html#scrolltoc

Upgrading using VDCF
The VDCF Management Framework for Oracle Solaris includes a feature to upgrade multiple Nodes in parallel using one command. The operation to use is "node -c upgrade name=nodeA,nodeB build=targetSRU". This upgrade operation does not only upgrade the OS to a predefined build, it also first checks if enough disk space is available. After a successful OS Upgrade the VDCF Repository is updated with the new Boot Environment and OS Update.

Sample of Upgrading 10 LDoms in parallel
The VDCF Framework is installed in a small LDom running on a SPARC T4-1 Server. The 10 Target LDoms are running Solaris 11.2 on a SPARC T4-2 System. Some of the LDoms host Solaris Zones,
which are also upgraded in parallel.

VDCF uses the Oracle Solaris pkg command with the following options
-C 5                                 to update the Zones in parallel
--be-name s11.3.3.0.6.0              to set a meaningful BootEnv Name
entire@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.6.0   to select a specific Solaris SRU

Upgrade Output
-bash-4.1$ time node -c upgrade reboot force build=s11u3-sru3 name=g0042,g0068,g0070,g0084,g0092,g0095,g0096,g0097,g0102,g0103
Node Upgrade for multiple Nodes started ...
doing a 'pkg update  -C 5 --accept --be-name s11.3.3.0.6.0 entire@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.6.0' now ...
 Startup: Refreshing catalog 'jomasoft' ... Done
 Startup: Refreshing catalog 'solaris' ... Done
Planning: Solver setup ... Done
Planning: Running solver ... Done
Planning: Finding local manifests ... Done
Planning: Package planning ... Done
Planning: Merging actions ... Done
Planning: Checking for conflicting actions ... Done
Planning: Consolidating action changes ... Done
Planning: Evaluating mediators ... Done
Planning: Planning completed in 71.79 seconds
------------------------------------------------------------
Package: pkg://solaris/consolidation/osnet/osnet-incorporation@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.5.0:20151209T174724Z
License: lic_OTN

You acknowledge that your use of this Oracle Solaris software product
is subject to (i) the license terms that you accepted when you obtained
the right to use Oracle Solaris software; or (ii) the license terms that
you agreed to when you placed your Oracle Solaris software order with
Oracle; or (iii) the Oracle Solaris software license terms included with
the hardware that you acquired from Oracle; or, if (i), (ii) or (iii)
are not applicable, then, (iv) the OTN License Agreement for Oracle
Solaris (which you acknowledge you have read and agree to) available at
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/licenses/solaris-cluster-express-license-167852.html.
Note: Software downloaded for trial use or downloaded as replacement
media may not be used to update any unsupported software.



            Packages to remove:  28
           Packages to install:  82
            Packages to update: 403
           Mediators to change:   6
       Create boot environment: Yes
Create backup boot environment:  No
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Download: 19566/21108 items  476.6/510.5MB  93% complete (5.5M/s)
Download: Completed 510.50 MB in 58.96 seconds (8.6M/s)
 Actions:     1/33566 actions (Removing old actions)
 Actions:  5284/33566 actions (Installing new actions)
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 Actions: 32463/33566 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 32885/33566 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: Completed 33566 actions in 112.43 seconds.
 Done
 Done
 Done
 Done
 Done

A clone of s11.2.15.0.4.0 exists and has been updated and activated.
On the next boot the Boot Environment s11.3.3.0.6.0 will be
mounted on '/'.  Reboot when ready to switch to this updated BE.

 Done
BE             Flags Mountpoint Space  Policy Created
--             ----- ---------- -----  ------ -------
s11.2.15.0.4.0 N     /          142.0K static 2015-12-14 15:27
s11.3.3.0.6.0  R     -          9.61G  static 2015-12-21 10:43
GDom g0102 updated to entire@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.6.0.
GDom g0102 is rebooting now.


<snipp / other 8 Guest Domains Output removed>



WARN:  There are 3 active vServer(s) on Node g0097.
doing a 'pkg update  -C 5 --accept --be-name s11.3.3.0.6.0 entire@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.6.0' now ...
 Startup: Linked image publisher check ... Done
 Startup: Refreshing catalog 'jomasoft' ... Done
 Startup: Refreshing catalog 'solaris' ... Done
Planning: Solver setup ... Done
Planning: Running solver ... Done
Planning: Finding local manifests ... Done
Planning: Package planning ... Done
Planning: Merging actions ... Done
Planning: Checking for conflicting actions ... Done
Planning: Consolidating action changes ... Done
Planning: Evaluating mediators ... Done
Planning: Planning completed in 62.17 seconds
------------------------------------------------------------
Package: pkg://solaris/consolidation/osnet/osnet-incorporation@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.5.0:20151209T174724Z
License: lic_OTN

You acknowledge that your use of this Oracle Solaris software product
is subject to (i) the license terms that you accepted when you obtained
the right to use Oracle Solaris software; or (ii) the license terms that
you agreed to when you placed your Oracle Solaris software order with
Oracle; or (iii) the Oracle Solaris software license terms included with
the hardware that you acquired from Oracle; or, if (i), (ii) or (iii)
are not applicable, then, (iv) the OTN License Agreement for Oracle
Solaris (which you acknowledge you have read and agree to) available at
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/licenses/solaris-cluster-express-license-167852.html.
Note: Software downloaded for trial use or downloaded as replacement
media may not be used to update any unsupported software.



            Packages to remove:  28
           Packages to install:  82
            Packages to update: 403
           Mediators to change:   6
       Create boot environment: Yes
Create backup boot environment:  No
Planning: Linked images: 0/3 done; 3 working: zone:v0127 zone:v0138 zone:v0158
Planning: Linked image 'zone:v0158' output:
|  Packages to remove:  27
| Packages to install:  72
|  Packages to update: 233
| Mediators to change:   3
|  Services to change:   9
`
Planning: Linked images: 1/3 done; 2 working: zone:v0127 zone:v0138
Planning: Linked image 'zone:v0127' output:
|  Packages to remove:  27
| Packages to install:  72
|  Packages to update: 233
| Mediators to change:   3
|  Services to change:   9
`
Planning: Linked images: 2/3 done; 1 working: zone:v0138
Planning: Linked image 'zone:v0138' output:
|  Packages to remove:  27
| Packages to install:  72
|  Packages to update: 233
| Mediators to change:   3
|  Services to change:   9
`
Planning: Finished processing linked images.
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Download: Completed 510.50 MB in 370.95 seconds (1.4M/s)
Download: Linked images: 0/3 done; 3 working: zone:v0127 zone:v0138 zone:v0158
Download: Linked images: 1/3 done; 2 working: zone:v0127 zone:v0158
Download: Linked images: 2/3 done; 1 working: zone:v0127
Download: Finished processing linked images.
 Actions:     1/33566 actions (Removing old actions)
 Actions:  5284/33566 actions (Installing new actions)
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 Actions: 32878/33566 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: Completed 33566 actions in 190.06 seconds.
 Done
 Done
 Done
 Done
Finalize: Linked images: 0/3 done; 3 working: zone:v0127 zone:v0138 zone:v0158
Finalize: Linked images: 1/3 done; 2 working: zone:v0138 zone:v0158
Finalize: Linked images: 2/3 done; 1 working: zone:v0158
Finalize: Finished processing linked images.
 Done

A clone of s11.2.15.0.4.0 exists and has been updated and activated.
On the next boot the Boot Environment s11.3.3.0.6.0 will be
mounted on '/'.  Reboot when ready to switch to this updated BE.

 Done
BE             Flags Mountpoint Space  Policy Created
--             ----- ---------- -----  ------ -------
s11.2.15.0.4.0 N     /          85.25M static 2015-12-14 15:31
s11.3.3.0.6.0  R     -          12.15G static 2015-12-21 10:51
GDom g0097 updated to entire@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.3.3.0.6.0.
GDom g0097 is rebooting now.

Node Upgrade successful (10) for :  g0102 g0103 g0042 g0096 g0068 g0092 g0095 g0084 g0070 g0097

real    20m10.390s
user    1m15.991s
sys     2m19.544s


CPU Usage
The CPU Usage on the T4-1 Management LDom "g0076" increases to 20% while Upgrading.


-bash-4.1$ rcmon -c show cpu node=g0076 from="2015-12-21 10:55" to="2015-12-21 11:07"
                      ---------- Pool ----------   --- CpuShr --   --- CpuSys --   --- CpuUsr --   --- CpuAll --   -- CpuSAll --
DateTime              ID/Type  Max    Cur    All   Min /Avg /Max   Min /Avg /Max   Min /Avg /Max   Min /Avg /Max   Min /Avg /Max   Name
2015-12-21 10:55:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    0.7% -     -    0.2% -     -    0.9% -     -    0.9% -     g0076
2015-12-21 10:56:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    6.8% -     -    4.8% -     -    12%  -     -    12%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 10:57:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    5.1% -     -    7.4% -     -    12%  -     -    12%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 10:58:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    6.4% -     -    12%  -     -    19%  -     -    19%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 10:59:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    6.2% -     -    12%  -     -    18%  -     -    18%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:00:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    5.9% -     -    12%  -     -    18%  -     -    18%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:01:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    6.4% -     -    13%  -     -    19%  -     -    19%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:02:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    8.4% -     -    14%  -     -    22%  -     -    22%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:03:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    6.0% -     -    13%  -     -    19%  -     -    19%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:04:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    7.3% -     -    12%  -     -    20%  -     -    20%  -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:05:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    2.4% -     -    3.2% -     -    5.6% -     -    5.6% -     g0076
2015-12-21 11:06:04   00/dflt  65536  8      100%  -    100% -     -    1.8% -     -    1.7% -     -    3.5% -     -    3.5% -     g0076


Summary
This blog post shows how to Upgrade multiple Oracle Solaris LDoms to Solaris 11.3.
Using the VDCF Management Framework 10 SPARC LDoms are done in 20 Minutes.
The T4-Hardware is 4 years old. Just imagine how fast such Upgrades will run on the current SPARC M7 Systems!

JomaSoft's Performance Results on #SPARC T7 Server

SPARC M7
Oracle announced the 32 Cores 4.13Ghz #SPARC M7 Processor with Software in Silicon features and T7 and M7 Servers at Oracle OpenWorld.

You can find details in Masood Heydari's Presentation at Oracle OpenWorld

Oracle's Software in Silicon Technology: What It Does and Why

Summary

We @JomaSoft recently completed performance tests on Oracle’s SPARC T7 system running Virtual Datacenter Control Framework (#VDCF), our management solution for creating, migrating, patching and monitoring Oracle Solaris environments. Our results showed VDCF to be 1.5x faster core-to-core on SPARC T7 compared to SPARC T5. JomaSoft views Oracle’s powerful SPARC M7 and T7 systems as ideal platforms for customer consolidation and virtualization projects, with technology and value that no other vendor can offer.

Technical details

We created a 8GB / 1 core LDom on a SPARC T5 Server running Solaris 11.3 with all data stored on a SAN Disk. Inside the LDom we installed our VDCF application and loaded datacenter configuration into the VDCF sqlite database. Next we executed datacenter analysis like patch comparison, calculated migration possibilities and server configuration consistency checks. The analysis are traditional single thread workload.

After the SPARC T5 tests we migrated our LDom to the new SPARC T7 Server. This allowed us to compare the systems using the same Operating System, Setup and Data, to make sure we compare “apple to apple”.

The results for our workload showed a 1.5x faster performance on the SPARC T7 Server. This workload did not use the Software In Silicon features, only performed better because of the new CPU architecture (higher frequency, more and better CPU cache and memory).

The Software In Silicon features can be used to optimize SQL and crypto functions when running applications In-Memory on the Oracle Database 12c. Performance increase of 80x or more are possible.

#VDCF Release 5.6 for @Oracle #Solaris 11.3

After Solaris 11.3 is available from Oracle, we released the Version 5.6 of VDCF today.
VDCF is a Command Line based Management Tool for Oracle Solaris. It provides a higher level API for System Administators.
Makes Deployment, Management, Migration, Failover and Monitoring of Solaris, LDoms and Zones
much easier and faster. You don't need deep knowledge of Solaris to use it.
VDCF is already verified on the new #SPARC M7.

New major Features
- Support of Solaris 11.3 und LDom 3.3
- Root IO Domain Discovery and Split IO GDom Deploy
- OS Monitoring for Dataset/ZPOOL and SMF Services

Btw VDCF is a Swiss quality Software and very stable product. Version 1.0 was released 2006!

There is a free trial version available.
You find all docs and download at: http://www.jomasoft.ch/vdcf/

JomaSoft @ Oracle OpenWorld 2015

I'm looking forward to Oracle OpenWorld 2015, which starts
in 2 weeks in San Francisco. JomaSoft is attending, of course.
Hope to meet you there!

Check out the Sessions about Solaris and SPARC:
https://blogs.oracle.com/solaris/entry/oracle_solaris_at_oracle_openworld1

How JomaSoft Recommends Sysadmins Virtualize Their Systems

Interview from Oracle OpenWorld 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuTCAhbFWUw&list=PLrEMJQQgYLXiZ8pxf1IZRPmoYsVlg4SJl&index=6

#VDCF Release 5.5

Today we released the Version 5.5 of VDCF. VDCF is a Command Line based Management Tool
for Oracle Solaris. It provides a higher level API for System Administators.
Makes Deployment, Management, Migration and Monitoring of Solaris, LDoms and Zones
much easier and faster. You don't need deep knowledge of Solaris to use it.

Btw VDCF is a Swiss quality Software and a very stable product. Version 1.0 was released 2006!
We will continue to add more and more features ...


There is a free trial version available.
You find all docs and download at: http://www.jomasoft.ch/vdcf/

LDom Networking using SR-IOV (VF) or vnet?

The SPARC/LDoms technology offers two options when setting up ethernet network configurations.
One option is Virtual Networking using vnet, which supports Live Migration, while the performance overhead is minimal since the current LDoms Version 3.2. This is why I would recommend using vnet. Especially when your LDoms are sitting on the same System/VSW and communication stays local. The vnet communication is very fast then and doesn't use the network card at all. Using uperf between 2 small LDoms with 1 core assigned each the throughput reaches more than 7Gb/s on a SPARC T4-1 server.

SR-IOV (Ethernet Virtual Function) is available with new ethernet cards. Older cards don't support this technology. The LDoms Version 3.2 released this month removes the old drawback of LDom panics when the control domains reboots. SR-IOV/VF offers a small performance benefit over vnet, while losing the ability of LDom (Live) Migration. For Apps which require lowest latency the SR-IOV Virtual Functions are the right choice.

What's New in LDoms 3.2

Solaris 11 Package History

The pkg operations install, update, list, search, etc are well known.
Another excellent feature is the history. Using history you can
take a look back and see what happened on your image.

When did we update our Solaris System?

-bash-4.1$ pkg history |grep " update " | grep Succeeded
2012-02-06T15:48:44      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2012-05-25T13:35:03      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2012-05-25T16:41:11      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2012-05-25T17:35:09      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2012-07-09T08:38:47      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-01-15T15:19:06      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-01-15T16:41:27      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-02-26T15:11:37      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-08-29T19:34:46      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-08-29T19:59:57      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2013-10-22T10:59:03      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2014-05-26T08:14:23      update                   pkg                Succeeded
2015-01-08T09:37:11      update                   pkg                Succeeded

More details using -t (time) and -l (long).
Who did the update ? Which command was used?

-bash-4.1$ pkg history -t 2015-01-08T09:37:11 -l | more
         Operation: update
           Outcome: Succeeded
            Reason: None
            Client: pkg
           Version: 73408dc40dc9
              User: marcel (200)
         Boot Env.: solaris-11
    Boot Env. UUID: b18ee04e-4690-e158-fe02-a718d06b3091
     New Boot Env.: solaris-12
New Boot Env. UUID: e54c5e16-13b8-6247-b33e-98e7b83de734
          Snapshot: (None)
        Start Time: 2015-01-08T09:37:11
          End Time: 2015-01-08T10:17:31
        Total Time: 0:40:20
           Command: /usr/bin/pkg update --accept
     Release Notes: No
       Start State:
Solver: [ Variables: 1400 Clauses: 19846 Iterations: 1 State: Succeeded]
Timings: [phase 1:  0.794, phase 2:  0.043, phase 3:  3.946, phase 4:  2.748, phase 5:  0.014, phase 6:  0.094]
Maintained incorporations: None

Package version changes:
None -> pkg://solaris/install/archive@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.2.0.0.42.2:20140624T184445Z
pkg://solaris/driver/storage/mpt@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.1.18.0.3.2:20140324T153220Z -> pkg://solaris/driver/storage/mpt@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.2.4.0.4.2:20141027T154843Z
pkg://solaris/library/libtool/libltdl@2.4.2,5.11-0.175.1.0.0.24.0:20120904T172551Z -> pkg://solaris/library/libtool/libltdl@2.4.2,5.11-0.175.2.0.0.42.1:20140623T0
14104Z

For failed actions the error messages are available

-bash-4.1$ pkg history -t 2013-05-02T10:30:56 -l
         Operation: update
           Outcome: Failed
            Reason: Unknown
            Client: pkg
           Version: 93c2e5a1fc89
              User: root (0)
         Boot Env.: solaris-7
    Boot Env. UUID: f0b23efb-a7ca-c98b-fb35-d6f592d192f3
     New Boot Env.: None
New Boot Env. UUID: (None)
          Snapshot: (None)
        Start Time: 2013-05-02T10:30:56
          End Time: 2013-05-02T10:30:57
        Total Time: 0:00:01
           Command: /usr/bin/pkg update pkg:/support/explorer
     Release Notes: No
       Start State:
None
         End State:
None
            Errors:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/vendor-packages/pkg/client/api.py", line 1058, in __plan_op
    self.__linked_pubcheck(_op)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/vendor-packages/pkg/client/api.py", line 1228, in __linked_pubcheck
    self._img.linked.api_recurse_pubcheck(self.__progresstracker)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/vendor-packages/pkg/client/linkedimage/common.py", line 2111, in api_recurse_pubcheck
    _li_rvdict_raise_exceptions(rvdict)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/vendor-packages/pkg/client/linkedimage/common.py", line 182, in _li_rvdict_raise_exceptions
    raise exceptions[0]
LinkedImageException:
A 'pubcheck-linked' operation failed for child 'zone:v0131' with an unexpected
exception:
<ProtocolError for localhost/RPC2: -1 >

The child generated the following output:
pkg: No image rooted at '/zones/v0131/root'

Use both LDoms and Solaris Zones combined

On current SPARC Systems you can choose to use LDoms and/or Zones.
Using LDoms you are able to run independent Solaris Versions on the same SPARC Server.
Dedicated Memory and CPUs makes LDom very efficient (Zero Overhead). LDoms can be live migrated to other SPARC Servers.

Solaris Zones are Application Environments running on a Solaris OS. Using Solaris Zones you run your Applications in different Versions and different configurations on the same Solaris OS.

If you are still using older SPARC Hardware, like M3/4/5000/... run your Applications always in Zones. When you upgrade to newer SPARC Systems in the future, you are able to migrate the Zones to the new Hardware in Minutes. And of course you can migrate the Zones into LDoms as well.
We have done such migration projects very successful at customer sites the last two years.

I recommend to use both technologies together to improve the flexibility in your data centre.
LDoms as your OS Platform (multiple LDoms per SPARC Server) and Zones to run the Applications.


Checkout my interview with Rick Ramsey at Oracle OpenWorld 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuTCAhbFWUw