[OpenIndiana-discuss] Cannot move a zone to another server successfully

[Mark Creamer]

I've been trying for weeks to get a zone off old hardware onto new. Both
servers are running exactly the same OI release, 151a7. I have not been
able to find a document that I can follow and get successful results. I've
tried both an Oracle doc on performing the procedure on Solaris 11, and
another one here: http://unixhowto.filodownunder.com/?p=10. Neither work
for me.

The error I'm getting is: ERROR: no active dataset

I found an article Alistair wrote here:
http://blogs.everycity.co.uk/alasdair/2011/10/fixing-no-active-dataset-on-zone-attach/and
I tried the script in the article, but that returns:
Invalid dataset name. It's looking for the parent of ROOT but I apparently
do not have that path so it fails, which is probably the root of the whole
issue.

In a nutshell here's what I did in case anyone can see what the problem is:

1. On the source server, I export the zone manifest and copy it to the
destination server in /var/tmp
2. I halt and detach the zone on the source
3. I tar/gzip the zone, copy it to the destination server, and untar it
there so that it resides in /datastore/zones/zonename just as it does on
the source
4. I create a zonecfg, and edit it so the network vnic is correct for the
new machine
5. I attempt to attach it on the new server, which fails.

Maybe is someone can just tell me what they do to accomplish this, or point
me to a different how-to. I haven't been able to find anything else.

Thanks
-- 
Mark