Solaris (operating system)

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Company / developer Oracle Corporation Programmed in C OS family Unix Working state Current Mixed open source / closed Source model source Initial release 1992 11 Express 2010.11[1] / Latest stable release November 15, 2010; 8 months ago Marketing target Workstation, Server Available language(s) English Available programming C languages(s) SPARC, IA-32, x86-64, Supported platforms PowerPC (Solaris 2.5.1 only) Kernel type Monolithic OpenSolaris Desktop or CDE Default user interface or GNOME License Various Official website oracle.com/solaris Solaris is a Unix operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems. It superseded their earlier SunOS in 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known, has been owned by Oracle Corporation since Oracle's acquisition of Sun in January 2010.[2] Solaris is known for its scalability, especially on SPARC systems, and for originating many innovative features such as DTrace, ZFS and Time Slider.[3][4] Solaris supports SPARC-based and x86-based workstations and servers from Sun and other vendors, with efforts underway to port to additional platforms. Solaris is registered as compliant with the Single Unix Specification.

Solaris was historically developed as proprietary software, then in June 2005 Sun Microsystems released most of the codebase under the CDDL license, and founded the OpenSolaris open source project.[5] With OpenSolaris Sun wanted to build a developer and user community around the software. After the acquisition of Sun Microsystems in January 2010, Oracle decided to discontinue the OpenSolaris distribution and the development model.[6][7] As a result, the OpenSolaris community forked the OpenIndiana project,[8] as part of the Illumos Foundation.[7][9] However, starting with Solaris 11, updates to the Solaris source code will still be distributed under the CDDL license, after full binary releases are made[10]. Oracle will also begin a technology partner program, through the Oracle Technology Network (OTN), to permit their industry partners access to the in-development Solaris source code.[7]

Contents
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1 History 2 Supported architectures o 2.1 Other platforms 3 Installation and usage options o 3.1 Usage with installation o 3.2 Usage without installation 4 Desktop environments 5 License 6 Version history 7 Development release 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History
In 1987, AT&T and Sun announced that they were collaborating on a project to merge the most popular Unix variants on the market at that time: BSD, System V, and Xenix. This became Unix System V Release 4 (SVR4).[11] On September 4, 1991, Sun announced that it would replace its existing BSD-derived Unix, SunOS 4, with one based on SVR4. This was identified internally as SunOS 5, but a new marketing name was introduced at the same time: Solaris 2.[12] While SunOS 4.1.x micro releases were retroactively named Solaris 1 by Sun, the Solaris name is almost exclusively used to refer to the SVR4-derived SunOS 5.0 and later.[13] The justification for this new "overbrand" was that it encompassed not only SunOS, but also the OpenWindows graphical user interface and Open Network Computing (ONC)

functionality. The SunOS minor version is included in the Solaris release number; for example, Solaris 2.4 incorporated SunOS 5.4. After Solaris 2.6, Sun dropped the "2." from the number, so Solaris 7 incorporates SunOS 5.7, and the latest release SunOS 5.10 forms the core of Solaris 10.

Supported architectures
Solaris uses a common code base for the platforms it supports: SPARC and i86pc (which includes both x86 and x86-64).[14] Solaris has a reputation for being well-suited to symmetric multiprocessing, supporting a large number of CPUs.[15] It has historically been tightly integrated with Sun's SPARC hardware (including support for 64-bit SPARC applications since Solaris 7), with which it is marketed as a combined package. This has often led to more reliable systems, but at a cost premium over commodity PC hardware. However, it has also supported x86 systems since Solaris 2.1 and the latest version, Solaris 10, includes support for 64-bit x86 applications, allowing Sun to capitalize on the availability of commodity 64-bit CPUs based on the x86-64 architecture. Sun has heavily marketed Solaris for use with both its own "x64" workstations and servers based on AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon processors, as well as x86 systems manufactured by companies such as Dell, HewlettPackard, and IBM. As of 2009, the following vendors support Solaris for their x86 server systems:

Dell - will "test, certify, and optimize Solaris and OpenSolaris on its rack and blade servers and offer them as one of several choices in the overall Dell software menu"[16] IBM - also distributes Solaris and Solaris Subscriptions for select x86-based IBM System x servers and BladeCenter servers[17] Intel[18] Hewlett-Packard[19] - distributes and provides software technical support for Solaris on ProLiant server and blade systems Fujitsu Siemens[20]

As of July 2010, Dell and HP certify and resell Oracle Solaris, Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle VM on their respective x86 platforms,[21] and IBM stopped direct support for Solaris on x64 kit.

Other platforms
Solaris 2.5.1 included support for the PowerPC platform (PowerPC Reference Platform), but the port was canceled before the Solaris 2.6 release.[22] In January 2006 a community of developers at Blastwave began work on a PowerPC port which they named Polaris.[23] In October 2006, an OpenSolaris community project based on the Blastwave efforts and Sun Labs' Project Pulsar,[24] which re-integrated the relevant parts from Solaris 2.5.1 into OpenSolaris,[22] announced its first official source code release.[25]

A port of Solaris to the Intel Itanium architecture was announced in 1997 but never brought to market.[26] On November 28, 2007, IBM, Sun, and Sine Nomine Associates demonstrated a preview of OpenSolaris for System z running on an IBM System z mainframe under z/VM,[27] called Sirius (in analogy to the Polaris project, and also due to the primary developer's Australian nationality: HMS Sirius of 1786 was a ship of the First Fleet to Australia). On October 17, 2008 a prototype release of Sirius was made available[28] and on November 19 the same year, IBM authorized the use of Sirius on System z IFL processors.[29] Solaris also supports the Linux platform ABI, allowing Solaris to run native Linux binaries on x86 systems. This feature is called "Solaris Containers for Linux Applications" or SCLA, based on the branded zones functionality introduced in Solaris 10 8/07.[30]

Installation and usage options

Solaris can be installed from various pre-packaged software groups, ranging from a minimalistic "Reduced Network Support" to a complete "Entire Plus OEM". Installation of Solaris is not necessary for an individual to use the system. Additional software, like Apache, MySQL, etc. can be installed as well in a packaged form from sunfreeware, OpenCSW and Blastwave.[31][32]

Usage with installation

Solaris 10 text installation

Solaris 10 graphical installation Solaris can be installed from physical media or a network for use on a desktop or server. Solaris can be interactively installed from a text console on platforms without a video display and mouse. This may be selected for servers, in a rack, in a remote data center, from a terminal server or even dial up modem. Solaris can be interactively installed from a graphical console. This may be selected for personal workstations or laptops, in a local area, where a console may normally be used. Solaris can be automatically installed over a network. System administrators can customize installations with scripts and configuration files, including configuration and automatic installation of third-party software, without purchasing additional software management utilities. When Solaris is installed, the operating system will reside on the same system where the installation occurred. Applications may be individually installed on the local system, or can be mounted via the network from a remote system.

Usage without installation

Solaris can be used without separately installing the operating system on a desktop or server. Solaris can be booted from a remote server providing an OS image in a diskless environment, or in an environment where an internal disk is only used for swap space. In this configuration, the operating system still runs locally on the system. Applications may or may not reside locally when they are running. This may be selected for businesses or educational institutions where rapid setup is required (workstations can be "rolled off" of a loading dock, the MAC address registered into a central server, plugged in, and be immediately usable) or rapid replacement is required (if a desktop hardware failure occurs, a new workstation is pulled from a closet, plugged in, and a user can resume their work from their last saved point.)

Solaris can also be used from a thin client. Applications, operating system, window manager, and graphical rendering runs on one or more remote servers. Administrators can add a user account to a central Solaris system and a thin client can be rolled from a closet, placed on a desktop, and a user can start work immediately. If there is a hardware failure, the thin client can be swapped and the user can resume their work from the exact point of failure, whether or not the work was saved.

Desktop environments

olvwm with OpenWindows on Solaris Early releases of Solaris used OpenWindows as the standard desktop environment. In Solaris 2.0 to 2.2, OpenWindows supported both NeWS and X applications, and provided backward compatibility for SunView applications from Sun's older desktop environment. NeWS allowed applications to be built in an object oriented way using PostScript, a common printing language released in 1982. The X Window System originated from MIT's Project Athena in 1984 and allowed for the display of an application to be disconnected from the machine where the application was running, separated by a network connection. Suns original bundled SunView application suite was ported to X. Sun later dropped support for legacy SunView applications and NeWS with OpenWindows 3.3, which shipped with Solaris 2.3, and switched to X11R5 with Display Postscript support. The graphical look and feel remained based upon OPEN LOOK. OpenWindows 3.6.2 was the last release under Solaris 8. The OPEN LOOK Window Manager (olwm) with other OPEN LOOK specific applications were dropped in Solaris 9, but support libraries were still bundled, providing long term binary backwards compatibility with existing applications. The OPEN LOOK Virtual Window Manager (olvwm) can still be downloaded for Solaris from sunfreeware and works on releases as recent as Solaris 10.

Common Desktop Environment Sun and other Unix vendors created an industry alliance to standardize Unix desktops. As a member of COSE, the Common Open Software Environment initiative, Sun helped codevelop the Common Desktop Environment. CDE was an initiative to create a standard Unix desktop environment. Each vendor contributed different components: HewlettPackard contributed the window manager, IBM provided the file manager, and Sun provided the e-mail and calendar facilities as well as drag-and-drop support (ToolTalk). This new desktop environment was based upon the Motif look and feel and the old OPEN LOOK desktop environment was considered legacy. CDE unified Unix desktops across multiple open system vendors. CDE was available as an unbundled add-on for Solaris 2.4 and 2.5, and was included in Solaris 2.6 through 10. The CDE applications are no longer included in OpenSolaris and Solaris 11, but many libraries remain for binary backwards compatibility. In 2001, Sun issued a preview release of the open-source desktop environment GNOME 1.4, based on the GTK+ toolkit, for Solaris 8.[33] Solaris 9 8/03 introduced GNOME 2.0 as an alternative to CDE. Solaris 10 includes Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS), which is based on GNOME and comes with a large set of applications, including StarOffice, Sun's office suite. Sun describes JDS as a "major component" of Solaris 10.[34] The open source desktop environments KDE and Xfce, along with numerous other window managers, also compile and run on recent versions of Solaris. Sun was investing in a new desktop environment called Project Looking Glass since 2003. The project has been inactive since late 2006.[35]

License
Solaris' source code (with a few exceptions) has been released under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) via the OpenSolaris project.[36] The CDDL is an OSI-approved license.[37] It is considered by the Free Software Foundation to be free but the GPL is incompatible with it.[38]

OpenSolaris was seeded on June 14, 2005 from the then-current Solaris development code base; both binary and source versions are currently downloadable and licensed without cost. Source for upcoming features such as Xen support is now added to the OpenSolaris project as a matter of course, and Sun has said that future releases of Solaris proper will henceforth be derived from OpenSolaris.[39]

Version history

Solaris logo introduced with Solaris 10 and used until Oracle's acquisition of Sun Notable features of Solaris currently include DTrace, Doors, Service Management Facility, Solaris Containers, Solaris Multiplexed I/O, Solaris Volume Manager, ZFS, and Solaris Trusted Extensions. Updates to Solaris versions are periodically released, such as Solaris 10 10/09. In ascending order, the following versions of Solaris have been released: Colour Meaning Red Release no longer supported Green Release still supported Blue Future release Release date Solaris SunOS version version SPARC x86 1.x 4.1.x 1991 1994 June 1992 -

End of support[40]

Major new features

2.0

5.0

2.1

5.1

December 1992

May 1993

2.2

5.2

May 1993

SunOS 4 rebranded as Solaris 1 for September marketing purposes. See SunOS article 2003 for more information. Preliminary release (primarily January available to developers only), support 1999 for only the sun4c architecture. First appearance of NIS+.[41] Support for sun4 and sun4m architectures added; first Solaris x86 April 1999 release. First Solaris 2 release to support SMP. SPARC-only release. First to support sun4d architecture. First to support May 1999 multithreading libraries (UI threads API in libthread).[42]

2.3

5.3

November 1993

June 2002 September 2003 December 2003

2.4

5.4

November 1994

2.5

5.5

November 1995

2.5.1

5.5.1

May 1996

September 2005

2.6

5.6

July 1997

July 2006

5.7

November 1998

August 2008

5.8

February 2000

March 2012

5.9

May 28, 2002

January 10, 2003

October 2014 -

10

5.10

January 31, 2005

SPARC-only release. OpenWindows 3.3 switches from NeWS to Display PostScript and drops SunView support. Support added for autofs and CacheFS filesystems. First unified SPARC/x86 release. Includes OSF/Motif runtime support. First to support UltraSPARC and include CDE, NFSv3 and NFS/TCP. Dropped sun4 (VMEbus) support. POSIX.1c-1995 pthreads added. Doors added but undocumented.[43] Only release to support PowerPC platform; Ultra Enterprise support added; user and group IDs (uid_t, gid_t) expanded to 32 bits,[44] also included processor sets[45] and early resource management technologies. Includes Kerberos 5, PAM, TrueType fonts, WebNFS, large file support, enhanced procfs. SPARCserver 600MP series support dropped.[46] The first 64-bit UltraSPARC release. Added native support for file system meta-data logging (UFS logging). Dropped MCA support on x86 platform. Last update was Solaris 7 11/99.[47] Includes Multipath I/O, Solaris Volume Manager,[48] IPMP, first support for IPv6 and IPsec (manual keying only), mdb modular debugger. Introduced Role-Based Access Control (RBAC); sun4c support removed. Last update is Solaris 8 2/04.[49] iPlanet Directory Server, Resource Manager, extended file attributes, IKE IPsec keying, and Linux compatibility added; OpenWindows dropped, sun4d support removed. Most current update is Solaris 9 9/05. Includes x86-64 (AMD64/Intel 64) support, DTrace (Dynamic Tracing), Solaris Containers, Service Management Facility (SMF) which

replaces init.d scripts, NFSv4. Least privilege security model. Support for sun4m and UltraSPARC I processors removed. Support for EISA-based PCs removed. Adds Java Desktop System (based on GNOME) as default desktop.
[50]

Solaris 10 1/06 (known internally as "U1") added the GRUB bootloader for x86 systems, iSCSI Initiator support and fcinfo command-line tool. Solaris 10 6/06 ("U2") added the ZFS filesystem. Solaris 10 11/06 ("U3") added Solaris Trusted Extensions and Logical Domains. Solaris 10 8/07 ("U4") added Samba Active Directory support,[51] IP Instances (part of the OpenSolaris Network Virtualization and Resource Control project), iSCSI Target support and Solaris Containers for Linux Applications (based on branded zones), enhanced version of the Resource Capping Daemon (rcapd). Solaris 10 5/08 ("U5") added CPU capping for Solaris Containers, performance improvements, SpeedStep support for Intel processors and PowerNow! support for AMD processors. [52][53] Solaris 10 10/08 ("U6") added boot from ZFS and can use ZFS as its root file system. Solaris 10 10/08 also includes virtualization enhancements including the ability for a Solaris Container to automatically update its environment when moved from one system to another, Logical

Domains support for dynamically reconfigurable disk and network I/O, and paravirtualization support when Solaris 10 is used as a guest OS in Xen-based environments such as Sun xVM Server.[54] Solaris 10 5/09 ("U7") added performance and power management support for Intel Nehalem processors, container cloning using ZFS cloned file systems, and performance enhancements for ZFS on solidstate drives. Solaris 10 10/09 ("U8") added user and group level ZFS quotas, ZFS cache devices and nss_ldap shadowAccount Support, improvements to patching performance.[55] Solaris 10 9/10 ("U9") added physical to zone migration, ZFS triple parity RAID-Z and Oracle Solaris Auto Registration.[56]

11 Express 5.11 2010.11

November 15, 2010

Solaris 10 8/11 ("U10")[57] Adds new packaging system (IPS=Image Packaging System) and associated tools, Solaris 10 Containers, network virtualization and QoS, virtual consoles, ZFS encryption and deduplication, fast reboot,[58] updated GNOME. Removes Xsun, CDE.[59]

[60]

A more comprehensive summary of some Solaris versions is also available.[61] Solaris releases are also described in the Solaris 2 FAQ.[62]

Development release
The underlying Solaris codebase has been under continuous development since work began in the late 1980s on what was eventually released as Solaris 2.0. Each version such as Solaris 10 is based on a snapshot of this development codebase, taken near the time of its release, which is then maintained as a derived project. Updates to that project are built and delivered several times a year until the next official release comes out.

The Solaris version under development by Sun since the release of Solaris 10 in 2005 is codenamed Nevada, and is derived from what is now the OpenSolaris codebase. In 2003, an addition to the Solaris development process was initiated. Under the program name Software Express for Solaris (or just Solaris Express), a binary release based on the current development basis was made available for download on a monthly basis, allowing anyone to try out new features and test the quality and stability of the OS as it progressed to the release of the next official Solaris version.[63] A later change to this program introduced a quarterly release model with support available, renamed Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE). In 2007, Sun announced Project Indiana with several goals, including providing an open source binary distribution of the OpenSolaris project, replacing SXDE.[64] The first release of this distribution was OpenSolaris 2008.05. The Solaris Express Community Edition (SXCE) was intended specifically for OpenSolaris developers.[65] It was updated every two weeks, until it was discontinued in January 2010, with users recommended to migrate to the OpenSolaris distribution.[66] Although the download license seen when downloading the image files indicates its use is limited to personal, educational and evaluation purposes, the license acceptance form displayed when the user actually installs from these images lists additional uses including commercial and production environments. SXCE releases terminated with build 130 and OpenSolaris releases terminated with build 134 a few weeks later. The next release of OpenSolaris based on build 134 was due in March 2010 but it was never fully released, though the packages were made available on the package repository. Instead Oracle renamed the binary distro to Solaris 11 Express, with different license terms, and released build 151a as 2010.11 in November 2010.

See also

Blastwave - software packages for production Sparc and x86/AMD64 Solaris 8 upwards Comparison of operating systems Illumos OpenCSW - Software forked from Blastwave OpenIndiana OpenSolaris Operating systems timeline Sun Management Center Sun xVM Trusted Solaris