LDoms troubleshooting playbooks

Scope: Oracle Solaris 11.4 and, for LDoms, compatible SPARC hardware with Oracle VM Server for SPARC. Examples are educational: verify release, privileges, target names and backups before running changes.

How it works

Follow the layers

First establish domain state, then bindings, then virtual services, then service-domain storage/network, then guest OS. A guest error may originate in the service domain.

Do not change multiple layers at once

Capture current bindings and errors before trying fixes. Restarts of service domains can disrupt multiple guests.

Boot problems

A guest can be running at the hypervisor layer but have no bootable OS. Distinguish console/boot-media errors from resource allocation errors.

Worked examples

Each example explains the question it answers, a reproducible starting point, what to look for, and operational precautions.

1. Guest fails to bind

Check resource assignments and constraints.

ldm list -l app01
ldm list-bindings app01
ldm list-devices -a
ldm list-constraints app01

Interpretation: Look for unallocated CPU/memory, unavailable virtual services or device conflicts.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

2. Guest has no virtual disk

Trace backend to service.

ldm list-bindings app01
ldm list-services
zfs list -t volume
zpool status -v

Interpretation: Verify backend path exists and service-domain storage is healthy.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

3. Guest has no network

Check both sides of the virtual boundary.

ldm list-bindings app01
ldm list-services
dladm show-link
ipadm show-addr

Interpretation: Compare guest vnet and host vsw, then inspect uplink and VLAN settings.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

4. Guest is slow

Find CPU, memory or I/O contention.

ldm list -l
prstat 1
vmstat 2
iostat -xn 2
zpool iostat -v 2

Interpretation: Collect simultaneous host and guest metrics; identify the constrained layer.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

Before you finish

Do not reboot primary merely to recover one guest without dependency analysis.

Primary documentation

Read the relevant Oracle documentation for exact version-specific flags, supported platforms and limitations: Oracle primary reference ↗.

This field manual is independent, not affiliated with or endorsed by Oracle. Command examples should be adapted to your environment.

Logical Domains: architecture and design →Build a guest LDom from scratch →LDoms virtual disks and ZFS backends →LDoms virtual networking, VLANs and resiliency →