[OmniOS-discuss] Hello world, and some newcomers questions :)

[Theo Schlossnagle]

On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Jim Klimov <jimklimov at cos.ru> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>   I decided to give OmniOS a practical shot - or at least try something
> other than glare at it from a distance; but one aspect that is not yet
> clear to me - even after reading the installation docs, blogs, etc. -
> is a simple question: how different is it (for OS administration) from
> OpenIndiana?
>

That's a subjective question.  I'd imagine it looks quite similar to some
and starkly different to others.


>   From the docs and examples I see that the CLI syntax for network and
> zone management is quite the same, packaging seems to be IPS, though the
> installers are somewhat different - but hey, you only need them once in
> a lifetime, and I know too well how imperfect Caiman is for my taste ;)
>
>   So, in layman's terms for a newcomer to this platform - can it be said
> that OmniOS is like OI, only without desktop aspirations and with more
> frequent updates (in bloody at least)? Can the two OSes be noticeably
> distinguished while using them for server tasks via SSH or serial
> consoles? On a side note, does OmniOS still include *some* X11 good
> enough to fire up a VNC server for some of those programs which do
> require a graphics interface but need nothing fancy (some enterprise
> software installers, java consoles, etc.)
>

No shipped X at all, not enough to run X stuff in anyway.  You can,
however, get X pkgs from pkgsrc.


>   Similarly, is there enough relation between the two (OmniOS and OI)
> so as to be able to easily migrate from one to another by changing the
> package repo provider and updating a new BE, or are things too diverged
> for that? :)
>

Nope. Too different for that.  You can image-create into a new BE, but
that's certainly not an update.


>   Can the OmniOS package repositories be easily cloned (and/or built)
> in order to have a replica in (closed) LAN - like can be done for OI?
>

Yes. pkgrecv them.


>   If I build my own ZFS-root image for the networked installer, can it
> involve a hierarchy of several datasets or just one root FS dataset?
>

Not as a baked in feature, but there is post-install scripting available
and you could easily make that happen without modifying kayak. (just zfs
recv the extra data sets over the network after the rpool is recv'd).  I
think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the simplicity and power of kayak.


>   Sorry if this was all answered before, then my google-foo and ability
> to walk links on OmniOS Wiki is seriously impaired by the brain-melting
> heat in central Europe ;) If not - well, I think answers to this letter
> deserve a prominent spot on the project's web site in order to lure
> some potential converts like myself ;)
>
-- 

Theo Schlossnagle

http://omniti.com/is/theo-schlossnagle
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