Sun Microsystems 10 manual Memory resource management, User interfaces for zones

Version 3.1-enSolaris 10 Container Guide - 3.1 2. Functionality Effective: 30/11/2009

2.1.5.2. Memory resource management

[ug] In Solaris 10 (in an update of Solaris 9 as well), main memory consumption can be limited at the level of zones, projects and processes. This is implemented with the so-called resource capping daemon (rcapd).

A limit for physical memory consumption is defined for the respective objects. If consumption of one of the projects exceeds the defined limit, the rcapd causes little-used main memory pages of processes to be paged out. The sum of the space consumption of the processes is used as a measurement parameter.

In this manner, the defined main memory requirement is complied with. The capacity of processes in the corresponding object drops as they may need to swap pages back in again if necessary if the memory areas are used again. Continuous swapping of main memory pages is an indication that the available main memory is too low or that the settings are too tight or the application currently needs more than the negotiated amount of memory.

For simplification, starting with Solaris 10 8/07, memory limits can be set for each zone. The amount of physical memory used (physical), the virtual memory (swap) and locked segments (main memory pages that cannot be swapped, shared memory segments) can be limited. The settings for virtual and locked memory are hard limits, that is, once the corresponding value has been reached, a request of an application for more memory is denied. The limit for physical memory, however, is monitored by the rcapd, which successively swaps main memory pages if the limit is exceeded.

2.1.5.3. Network resource management (IPQoS = IP Quality of Service)

[ug] In Solaris 10 (also Solaris 9) it is possible to classify network traffic and to manage the data rate of the classes. One example is giving preference to a web server's network traffic over network backup. Service to the customer should not suffer while network backup is running.

Configuration is done using rules in a file that is activated with the command ipqosconf. The rules consist of a part that allows the user to classify network traffic, and actions to manage the data rate/burst rate. Classification can take place among other things according to some or all of the following parameters:

∙Address of sender or recipient

∙Port number

∙Data traffic type (UDP, TCP)

∙Userid of the local process

∙Project of the local process (/etc/project)

∙IP traffic TOS field (change priority in an ongoing connection)

2.1.6. User interfaces for zones

[dd]A variety of tools are available for working with zones and containers. Solaris itself provides a series of command line interface (CLI) tools such as zoneadm, zonecfg and zlogin that allow you to undertake the configuration and installation of zones on the command line or in scripts.

The Solaris Container Manager is available as a graphical user interface (GUI)

(http://www.sun.com/software/products/container_mgr/). This is a separate product operated together with the Sun Management Center (SunMC). The Container Manager allows simple and rapid creation, reconfiguration or migration of zones through its user interface, and the effective use of resource management.

With its zone module, Webmin supplies a browser user interface (BUI) for the installation and management of zones. The module can be downloaded from http://www.webmin.com/standard.html as zones.wbm.gz.

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