Getting Audio from a Zone
- by bleonard
Now that I have Firefox and Java Web Start running from a zone, the last piece of the puzzle was audio (essential because most Flash content is accompanied by sound).
In the global zone there's a nice little utility called audiotest for testing your sound:
bleonard@solaris:~$ audiotest
Sound subsystem and version: SunOS Audio 4.0 (0x00040003)
Platform: SunOS 5.11 snv_151a i86pc
*** Scanning sound adapter #1 ***
/dev/sound/audio810:0dsp (audio engine 0): audio810#0
- Performing audio playback test...
<left> ................OK
<right> ...............OK
<stereo> ..............OK
<measured sample rate 47727.00 Hz (-0.57%)>
*** All tests completed OK ***
Of course, before you can try audiotest in a zone, it must be installed:
root@myzone:~# pkg install audio-utilities
Packages to install: 1
Create boot environment: No
DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB)
Completed 1/1 6/6 0.4/0.4
PHASE ACTIONS
Install Phase 20/20
PHASE ITEMS
Package State Update Phase 1/1
Image State Update Phase 2/2
However, we'll need to do more than just install audiotest:
root@myzone:~# audiotest
/dev/mixer: No such file or directory
The device file is missing from /dev.
The audio devices also need to be added to the zone. For this we modify the zone configuration as follows:
bleonard@solaris:~$ sudo zonecfg -z myzone
Password:
zonecfg:myzone> add device
zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/audio*
zonecfg:myzone:device> end
zonecfg:myzone> add device
zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/sound/*
zonecfg:myzone:device> end
zonecfg:myzone> add device
zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/mixer*
zonecfg:myzone:device> end
zonecfg:myzone> add device
zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/sndstat
zonecfg:myzone:device> end
zonecfg:myzone> verify
zonecfg:myzone> exit
Then reboot the zone:
bleonard@solaris:~$ sudo zoneadm -z myzone reboot
After which, audiotest should work:
root@myzone:~# audiotest
Sound subsystem and version: SunOS Audio 4.0 (0x00040003)
Platform: SunOS 5.11 snv_151a i86pc
*** Scanning sound adapter #1 ***
/dev/sound/audio810:0dsp (audio engine 0): audio810#0
- Performing audio playback test...
<left> ................OK
<right> ...............OK
<stereo> ..............OK
<measured sample rate 48208.00 Hz (0.43%)>
*** All tests completed OK ***
You can also examine /dev/sndstat for additional information:
root@myzone:~# cat /dev/sndstat
SunOS Audio Framework
Audio Devices:
0: audio810#0 Intel AC'97, ICH (DUPLEX)
Mixers:
0: audio810#0 Intel AC'97, ICH
AC'97 codec: SigmaTel STAC9700
However, when testing the sound from Firefox (from a user account other than root), such as this recent Flash presentation on Solaris availability, you may still be disappointed. This is simply a permissions problem, as the devices only have read and write permissions for root:
root@myzone:~# ls -l /dev/audio*
crw------- 1 root root 99, 3 Jul 1 10:21 /dev/audio
crw------- 1 root root 99, 4 Jul 1 10:21 /dev/audioctl
To address this:
root@myzone:~# chmod 777 /dev/audio*
root@myzone:~# chmod 777 /dev/sound/*
And you should be all set.
