[OpenIndiana-discuss] Installing zones from templates

[Tim Mooney]

In regard to: Re: [OpenIndiana-discuss] Installing zones from templates,...:

>> A lot of sites do that with a configuration management system (e.g.
>> puppet, chef, ansible, etc.) instead.
>
> You mean installing a generic, plain vanilla zone and then further
> populating them according to their role via Puppet, Chef or so? But then
> how do you get that bootstrapping part into the zone at deployment time?

I wasn't thinking "plain vanilla" as much as "your minimal base system".
In other words, you would only need one "base system zone" configuration,
but it would need to include enough of your custom configuration so that
your configuration management system could finish bootstrapping and
customizing the system for whatever role it will play.

Others have already mentioned how you can specify additional packages
to apply to the zone.  Assuming your configuration management client
is available as a package, that might be all you need to install to
continue the bootstrap process.

The divide between your automated installation process (whether that's
creating a new zone or kickstarting a Linux box) and your configuration
management system should be that the automated installation process
creates an *minimal* system (for however your organization defines
minimal) but that does include enough of the configuration management
system so that it can bootstrap and add the additional layers.

Tim
-- 
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney at ndsu.edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
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