Solaris 10 zone configuration with sysidcfg and dhcp and hostname

Question

Hi
Excuse me if I look like a n00b... it's probably because I'm a n00b.
I've been struggling in the dark for more than 2 days now and I'm wondering if I'm thinking about this all wrong...
I have stand-alone server where I need to run zones. I want to create zones and automagically configure them at boot (read: by running a script). So here's what I need...
A zone
starting from unconfigured state
whose hostname is not the same as the zone name
using corporate DHCP to get its IP address
with DNS config coming from the DHCP server
registering its address the DNS
with a preconfigured root password
(I don't own the corporate DHCP or DNS servers, I can't put my own DHCP or DNS servers on the network.)
I would lke to create the zone, throw some config at it, then boot the zone and walk away. I am using zones with exclusive-IP. I can construct the zones and manually configure them once they're started to have DHCP, my own name, registered IP address with DNS and everything else I have specified above. But I don't want to do it manually...
Sysidcfg seems to do some of what I want but not entirely.
In sysidcfg I can set the root_password, the primary interface using DHCP, DNS server. I can't set a hostname in sysidcfg AND use configure it for DHCP. So the hostname is not what I want it to be after the zone is started and ready to go. The DHCP server is providing the DNS configuration, Solaris does not seem to honour it, but i'll ignore that for the moment.
I have tried various combinations of using sysidcfg, /etc/nodename, /etc/hostname.+interface+ and /etc/dhcp.+interface+ but I can't find any combination that actually works.
I can write to the zonestorage/etc/nodename to set the nodename, that works. But it does not match the DHCP address, so I get prompted for a new name service because it can't find a DNS entry for the name.
I can write to the zonestorage/etc/hostname.+interface+ and /etc/dhcp.+interface+ (to get the system to register its name with the DNS server after getting its DHCP address) but then I get a system with no root password and no DNS configuration, even though they are set in the sysidcfg file.
I can write a script that gets part of the way using sysidcfg and /etc/... files, then boots the zone and then runs a bunch of voodoo via zlogin commands to fix all the stuff that couldn't be done 'properly', but that's not a 'boot and walk away' environment. I can write a script that uses sysidcfg and hacks around with other files in /etc (like nsswitch.conf, resolv.conf), but that just feels likes a dirty hack to fix something that wasn't done properly in the first place.
So where am I going wrong and how do I do it right (within the constraints defined)? Why can't I configure, boot and walk away?
Thanks

Answer 1

Thanks abrante
Thanks for your response!
I don't think the config is messed up after the installation. I think the installation is fine, it's just not what I want :-)
I'm trying to decouple the zonename from the system name and get DNS registrations working. After installation, a DHCP client can get its hostname from DNS but I'm trying to do it the other way around. I want the DHCP client specify its own hostname, get an address from the DHCP server and then register its hostname with DNS. If the system gets its name from DNS/DHCP then I have to configure those to provide the system name and I don't own the DHCP/DNS infrastructure. These zones are for a development/QA environment, so we create and reconfigure these frequently. Hence the need to specify the system name within the zone and register that name in the DNS.
I have tried fiddling with the PARAM_REQUEST_LIST but it does not seem to be working as I expect. :-$ Removing 12 did not help with setting the hostname from the system. DNS does not have a registered name for this system anyway, so even if it tried to get a name for this system, it would get nothing.
I also do want the DHCP to change the DNS server and domain name, but this does not happen even though my dhcpagent includes 6 and 15 in the PARAM_REQUEST_LIST. I still have to set them in the sysidcfg file because it is always ignored in Solaris (S10u8 with 10_Recommended 30-Jul-2010)
As stated, I know I can hack around with the system after it has booted. But I'm trying to configure the system before it starts and let it take care of itself and not have to touch it. Frankly I'm surprised that the sysidcfg does not allow you to set a hostname name when you are using DHCP, that the default DHCP configuration does not register the system name with the DNS server, and the DNS config from the DHCP response is ignored. Even a sys-unconfiged system requires DNS configuration during initial boot, when I know that the DHCP response contains DNS information.
FYI: Windows systems using DHCP work as expected in this respect by default, i.e. set system name, use DHCP --> system gets address from corporate DHCP, DNS settings are set from DHCP information, DNS registration is made for system name.
I'm working around this at the moment... I call my zone by the system name I want, I hardcode the DNS settings in the sysidcfg file and I create the hostname.+nic+ and dhcp.+nic+ files in the zone storage to get the system to register its name with DNS, them boot.
Edited by: cydonian on Aug 19, 2010 7:45 PM