Solaris 9 System Administrator’s

TM

Evaluation Guide

© 2002 Sun Microsystems Inc. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
What’s New in the Solaris 9 OE...........................................................................................3
Installation ............................................................................................................................5
A Solaris 9 Test Drive...........................................................................................................9
Getting Started: The New Solaris Desktop..............................................................9
Solaris 9 Resource Manager....................................................................................10
Solaris Volume Manager.........................................................................................17
Directory Services....................................................................................................21
Reliability and Security...........................................................................................24
Interoperability with Windows: SAMBA...............................................................24
Open Source Tools...................................................................................................26
Resources............................................................................................................................28
Appendix 1: Convincing your Management.....................................................................29
The Solaris Operating Environment: An Overview..............................................29
Investment Protection Through Compatibility and Open Standards...................29
Solaris 9 OE: The Best Foundation for Sun ONE..................................................30
Competitive Positioning...........................................................................................30

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 2 of 32

Introduction

This guide is designed to help System Administrators evaluate the SolarisTM 9 Operating Environment
(OE). It includes information about what is new in the Solaris 9 platform, walks through the
installation, and a test drive of the environment. The appendix also includes information about the
business advantages of using the Solaris 9 OE as well as an analysis of the Solaris 9 platform compared
to the competition.

What’s New in the Solaris 9 OE

The overarching goal of the Solaris OE is to help organizations increase service levels while reducing
service cost and risk. The key to reaching these goals is using systems that are scalable, available,
manageable, and secure.

Scalability:
Companies offering Web−based services can no longer predict how many customers might visit their
sites, but successful companies are those that can support millions of new customers overnight. Solaris
9 is the third major release of a complete 64−bit computing environment tuned for Sun’s line of highly
scalable 64−bit servers. Some of the new scalability features in Solaris 9 include:

• Threading library improvements. Significantly improves the scalability and performance of

multi−threaded applications including Java−based applications.
• Multiple page size support. Improves virtual memory performance by allowing applications to
use large page sizes, therefore improving resource efficiency and reducing overhead.
• Remote Shared Memory API (RSMAPI). Reduces the time required for cluster−aware
applications to respond to events in a clustered configuration.
• Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA). Increases web server performance by maintaining an
in−kernel cache of web pages accessed during HTTP requests.
• mkfs Performance. Reduces the length of time, in some cases from hours to minutes, taken to
create UFS file systems (files).

Availability:
With businesses operating around the clock and around the globe, organizations no longer know when
their customers might demand their services. The days of “planned downtime for maintenance” are long
over; systems must now be designed to provide service at all times. The reliability of the Solaris 9 OE
gives users confidence that their long−running and resource−intensive applications will execute without
interruption. Important new features of the Solaris 9 OE that help users to deploy highly available
services include:

• Live Upgrade 2.0. Allows the operating system to be upgraded while the system is still
running. Significantly reduces the usual service outage associated with an operating system
upgrade. Simple re−boot is the only downtime.
• Solaris Flash. Enables the creation of a single reference installation of the Solaris OE from an
existing system configuration, which can then be replicated on several machines. Significantly
reduces installation time, configuration complexity, administrative resources, and improves
deployment scalability.
• Modular Debugger. Applies modern techniques to debug application programs and provides
tools to analyze core dumps.
• Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager (Multiplexed I/O). Enables failover in the event of network
I/O path failure. Enhances storage availability and allows the application to route traffic to the
storage tier more efficiently.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 3 of 32

 • Network Multipathing (IPMP). Allows recovery from single−point network failures,
increases outbound network throughput, and enhances dynamic reconfiguration capabilities.

Manageability:
As IT infrastructures grow larger and more complex, IT organizations must optimize for efficiency.
Solaris 9 OE provides a rich set of management facilities that can simplify the process of securely
installing and deploying the software stack, resulting in lower cost of operation. Solaris 9 software also
delivers a comprehensive set of manageability tools, including:

• Solaris 9 Resource Manager. Provides improved functionality for allocating, monitoring and
controlling system resources. Allows consolidation of multiple applications on a single system
while maintaining required service levels.
• Solaris Volume Manager. Provides storage management tools and allows users to manage
large numbers of disks and effectively utilize storage resources. Provides a fully−integrated, cost
saving alternative to third party products.
• Patch Manager. Manages patches, with a new GUI interface, that are created for Solaris 9 OE
and compatible releases. Gives system administrators better control over patches and the quality
of installed software.

Security:
The Solaris OE has been built to securely interconnect with other systems and to be more secure from
the viruses and worms that plague software designed without security and networking in mind. These
aspects of network and platform security are critical whether building an enterprise network or providing
services to millions of users over the Internet. Some of the new feature in Solaris 9 OE include:

• Solaris Secure Shell. Allows for strong authentication of both the client and server machines as
well as user ids. Provides a secure method for system access including a lightweight VPN.
• IPSec with Internet Key Exchange (IKE). IPSec increases security between both servers and
communication channels so that only authorized parties can communicate with them. IKE is
used to set up and manage larger numbers of secure networks. These modules have been
approved for export at 128−bit encryption.
• SunScreenTM 3.2 Firewall. High speed, stateful packet−filtering firewall that offers advanced
features that protect a single system or an entire network of servers. Now included with the
Solaris 9 OE at no extra charge.
• Kerberos v5 Server. Improved single sign−on facility for applications and systems.
• Role−based Access Control (RBAC). Enables assignment of rights to perform specific
operations. Minimizes the chance that any user will go beyond their realm of expertise and
inadvertently or intentionally make a change that results in a system failure.
Minimizing the software modules installed with any operating system is important in many secure
facilities. Solaris 9 OE responds to this need by providing a tool that selectively removes software
modules that are often installed by default that are not essential to system operation. We have done this
by reducing the dependencies between the software packages in Solaris 9 OE and making the packages
themselves smaller so they can be removed in a more granular fashion. More information about this can
be found in the "What’s New in the Solaris 9 Operating Environment" book, part of the "Solaris 9
What’s New Collection" in the Solaris 9 documentation included with the software or on
http://docs.sun.com.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 4 of 32

Installation

Solaris 9 System Requirements

The Solaris 9 OE has the following system requirements:

• Processor. A SPARC® CPU−based system is required; a system with an UltraSPARC® CPU

running faster than 400 Mhz. is strongly recommended.

• Memory. Requires 64 MB of RAM or greater.

• Swap file. Requires a slice that will not store files, typically a swap slice of at least 600 MB.

• DVD or CDROM drive. These drives are required for installation from the distribution media.
To install Solaris 9 over a network you will need to prepare an install server that contains file
system images and installation script files. For more information on obtaining the necessary
media visit: http://www.sun.com/solaris/binaries/1

• Disk Space. The amount of disk space required depends upon the software group you chose.
Use the following list as a guideline:
o Entire Solaris Software Group Plus OEM Support – 2.4 GB
o Entire Solaris Software Group – 2.3 GB
o Developer Solaris Software Group – 1.9 GB
o End User Solaris Software Group – 1.6 GB

Additional disk space for optional components may also be required. For example, the
StarOfficeTM 5.2 software installation2 on a SPARC system requires from 79 MB to 84 MB.

• Network Connection (optional). A network connection either with direct Internet access or
with an established gateway is required. The only exception to this requirement is if you use
PPP to establish a modem connection. For connection through a proxy server, Solaris software
requires that that device supports LAT. The Solaris 9 platform can work with any packet
filtering firewall.

Installing the Solaris 9 OE

There are several methods for installing the Solaris 9 OE, and these are well covered in the Solaris 9
Installation Guide. This section contains a brief overview of the subject to get you started.

Types of Installs
The install method you choose3 depends upon whether you are upgrading or creating a new installation,
the type of system you are working with, whether that system is a standalone system, networked, or a
group of systems. When a system is upgraded the install will preserve as much as possible systems
settings and applications. The methods for installation of Solaris 9 software include:
• CD−ROM or DVD media boot
1
This download location requires you to log onto the site prior to download.
2
For installation requirements on other platforms see: http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/5.2/details.html#size.
3
Chapter 3 of the installation guide “Choosing an Installation Method” will provide you more detail on this topic.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 5 of 32

 • LAN boot

• Flash Archives

Tip: Whenever possible perform a fresh install and not an upgrade to get better performance.
Note: Allow sufficient time for the installation. The installation time is dependant upon the
components you install, the media, and the speed of the system you are installing. An advanced
workstation using a DVD can install the Solaris 9 OE with its major components in about 45
minutes. A standard workstation using CD−ROM disks may require 3 hours for an installation.

Solaris Web Start Software

This is a program that is used to manage the installation of a single system. In most instances the
program is used in a graphical mode, but it can also be used as a command line. Web Start lets you
select installation details, and review or change them before applying your selections. It is covered in
Chapter 14 of the Solaris 9 Installation Guide. You can use Web Start in the following instances:
CD/DVD media boot and LAN boot. You can also use Web Start to install flash archives.

An install (rather than an upgrade) erases the hard disk and creates a new set of partitions. Web Start
requires the following information for network workstation install: Host Name, IP Address, IP Subnet
Mask, Router or Gateway, direct or proxy access the Internet (if unsure select Direct), Name Service
(DNS, NIS, NIS+, LDAP or none), and the IP addresses of the name servers. You will also need to
know your domain name, any search domains, and the root password for your system.

Initiating an Install
To initiate the pre−graphical portion of the installation, do the following:
1. Shut down the system by typing init 0.
2. Place either the Solaris Install CD, or the Solaris 9 DVD in to your CD/DVD drive.
3. At the ok prompt, type boot cdrom and press the Enter key.
4. Select the language you wish to use for the install.
The installer will then scan you drives for partitions that meet the mini−root installers space
requirements and will display the available choices. It is recommended that you break out of the default
installation at this point to create a custom partition scheme appropriate for the kind of work you will be
doing.
5. Enter q at the prompt.
6. At the shell prompt (#) enter format and select from a list of disks on your system the one you
want to use for your boot disk
7. Type p to enter the partitioning tool, type 1 to reconfigure partition 1 on the disk.
8. For the id tag type swap, for the flags type wu, starting cyl (cylinder) is 0 and partition size
should be 600 MB.
9. Enter ‘l’ to label the disk (write the partition table) and “q” twice to exit from the utility.
10.Type /sbin/cd0_install to restart the installer from where you exited it.
11.Select the partition you wish to hold the installer; or accept the partition you just created.

The installer will copy first the “mini−root” environment; then the platform specific files to the swap
partition. Once it has finished copying the files it needs it will reboot the system.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 6 of 32

You are now in the graphical phase of the Web Start installation which is well covered in the Solaris 9
Installation Guide (Chapter 14).4 It is recommended that you perform a default networked install, which
will install the software you need to test the operating environment. Then proceed to install StarOffice,
any supplemental software you wish, and GNOME from the additional disks in the distribution. Those
installations are graphical and will either automatically launch or require you to click on the Installer
icon found in their disk windows.

Solaris JumpStartTM Software

Solaris JumpStart software initiates on a new SPARC system when you insert either the Solaris 9
Software 1 of 2 CD−ROM or the DVD into the drive. The mini−root and a JumpStart boot image has
already been installed, and a default profile is then selected based on your particular machine and disk
size. The profile determines which software is installed and automatically installs it, without user
intervention. Unlike the Web Start install, you are not called upon to select the type of software.
However, you will still need to supply details on addressing, name services, and other variable
information.

Sun’s custom Solaris JumpStart installation method uses a single installation image controlled by a
script file to manage the installation process over a network. The system that contains the files is referred
to as the Solaris JumpStart server. A Solaris JumpStart server can be prepared from the downloadable
Solaris net install files found on Sun’s web site. Custom Solaris JumpStart installation is covered in
Chapter 23 of the Installation Guide.

For example, you would use the custom Solaris JumpStart method to install Solaris 9 software on a
NetraTM server since that system doesn’t come with any media drives. Since the Netra system is also
headless (you can’t attach a monitor directly to it), you would log in remotely and from that system’s
prompt initiate a network install pointing to the Solaris JumpStart server. You can also connect through
a serial port from a Netra system to a Windows environment or to another Sun system using the
hotwire command in a Terminal window.

Setting up and testing a Solaris JumpStart server can take a significant amount of time, so the method
isn’t often used for a few different standalone installations. Custom Solaris JumpStart is used to install
Solaris software on a large number of systems.

Live Upgrade
The Solaris Live Upgrade 2.0 is a unique feature meant to provide an upgrade path in a mission critical
or high availability environment. It can be run in either a GUI or in the CLI mode. You can use Live
Upgrade to install a Web Start Flash archive on the inactive boot environment to perform the remainder
of the software installation after initialization of the new environment.

Live Upgrade creates a duplicate boot environment while the active boot environment is running. Once
the upgraded boot environment is complete the system can switch over to the new configuration during a
reboot. The beauty of the Live Upgrade method is that if anything fails you can simply reboot the
system and select the previous boot environment to revert back to a working system. Refer to Chapter 29
of the Installation Guide for details on the Live Upgrade method.

4
You can find the “Solaris 9 Installation Guide” online at docs.sun.com.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 7 of 32

Notes on Installing GNOME 1.4 Technology Preview

To install GNOME, first make sure your system meets the minimum system requirements:
• 128 MB of RAM or greater
• 275 MB free hard disk space in your /opt partition.5
• A graphics card running 24−bit color.6

Table 3 shows some Sun graphics cards and the command needed to run to switch to 24−bit color.

Table 3. Command to switch common Sun graphics cards to 24−bit color.

Card fbconfig Output Command to run (as root)
Sun Creator3D™ SUNWffb_config ffbconfig –deflinear true
New7
Sun Creator3D™ Old8 SUNWffb_config ffbconfig –deflinear true –g 1.1
Sun Elite3D™ SUNWafb_config afbconfig –deflinear true –g 1.1
Sun Expert3D™ SUNWifb_config fbconfig –deflinear true –g 1.1
PGX32 TSIgfxp_config pgxconfig –res 1280x1024 –depth 24
Mach_64 SUNWm64_config m64config –res 1152x900 –depth 24
If that command returns an error try:
m64config –res 800x600 –depth 24

WARNING: Make sure your monitor will support 24−bit. If not your screen will blank and you will
have to use an alternate method to connect to your system to set the mode back to its original setting.
Write down the original setting, and use the same tool (either ffbconfig, afbconfig,
fbconfig, pgxconfig or m64config) with the –propt option to display your current settings.

Once you have set your graphics card to 24−bit color log out, and then log in again to restart the
window manager and activate the change. Then insert the “Exploring the GNOME 1.4 Desktop” CD.
Solaris will mount the CD and display it’s contents. Double click on the icon labeled “install” and
the installer will initialize, and guide you through the installation. Once completed, log out and then log
back into your system selecting GNOME as your environment from the Login screen. GNOME comes
with a complete Help system to get you started.

5
In most systems and in the default Solaris 9 install the /opt partition is part of your root (/) partition. You can find the
amount of free disk space with the command df –kl.
6
To find out what card you are using with the /usr/sbin/fbconfig list command.
7
If you have a Sun Creator3D™ card you need to run the command ‘/usr/sbin/ffbconfig −propt‘ If the output contains the
phrase “Gamma Correction” then you have the new card.
8
Ibid.

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Solaris 9 Test Drive
In the sections that follow, we have included a brief interactive introduction to some of the new features
in the Solaris 9 software. These instructions are not meant to be a comprehensive introduction to the
Solaris OE, but rather a simple introduction to some of the new concepts and capabilities. It assumes
that you have Solaris 9 software installed on your system and, for the first section, that you also have
GNOME, the NetscapeTM browser, and StarOffice software loaded. In order to test Solaris Volume
Manager, you will need to have at least two physical disks, as well.

If you are reviewing the installation of Solaris 9 OE and the new features of the Solaris installation
program like Solaris Flash and Live Upgrade, basic installation directions are available and detailed
installation instructions are provided with the Solaris 9 media kit or at http://docs.sun.com.

Getting Started: The New Solaris Desktop

The desktop is a very good place to start evaluating Solaris 9 OE; the Solaris OE, along with GNOME,
StarOffice software, and the Netscape browser, forms the basis for a very powerful and inexpensive
desktop productivity computing solution. When combined with Sun’s sub−$1000 Sun BladeTM 100
workstation or the Sun RayTM desktop appliance, this software creates an enterprise−level solution that is
powerful, inexpensive, and highly manageable.

Once Solaris 9 software is running, you should be presented with a logon screen. Before typing your
user name, click on the “Options” button, drag down to the “Sessions” option, then over to the “GNOME
1.4” selection before releasing the mouse button. This way you will be logging into the GNOME 1.4
desktop environment which will be shipped with the Solaris 9 OE as a “Technology Preview” until the
availability of GNOME 2.0 .

To log in, type your user name and, when prompted, your password in the appropriate boxes.

GNOME will start and you will see a desktop approximately like the one below:

Figure 1 The GNOME desktop on Solaris 9.

A number of useful applications and applets are included with GNOME. Please take some time to
acquaint yourself with the GNOME desktop; rolling your mouse over the icons on the bottom of the
screen will cause a description of each of the applets to appear. Click on the GNOME “foot” icon on the

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left bottom of the screen for the main menu or use the menus at the top of the screen to start additional
programs.

You can start the Netscape browser by starting a terminal window and typing netscape & at the
command prompt. GNOME frequently auto−installs an icon for the Netscape browser if it finds it
installed; it is the “globe” icon shown on the bottom panel in the screen shot shown above. If such an
icon appears on your desktop, you can start it just by clicking on the icon. Similarly, you can start the
StarOffice application by typing soffice & at a command prompt within a terminal window.

As attractive and useful as these new desktop features are, however, most new features in the Solaris 9
OE are primarily aimed at systems in use as servers. The most important new features in the Solaris 9
Operating Environment are designed to make it easier to administer Sun server configurations. The rest
of the Solaris Test Drive concerns the use of the new system administration tools and features.

Solaris 9 Resource Manger

The Solaris 9 Resource Manager is a major addition to Solaris 9 platform, and offers very sophisticated
resource management functionality fully integrated with the operating system kernel. Solaris 9 Resource
Manager offers the ability to monitor and control system performance and resources usage from either
the Solaris Management Console or from the command line in ways that haven’t previously been
available to system administrators or developers. Resource allocation and management using Solaris 9
Resource Manager can be fully specified from the command line or from within the Solaris Management
Console. This section will show you some examples of how this is done.

Among the more important features present in the Solaris 9 Resource Manager are the ability to:
• Allocate and pool system resources
• Monitor resources consumption
• Adjust resource allocations
• Generate accounting information on resource usage for capacity planning and billing.

Resource pooling can partition system resources, such as processors, and maintain those resource
partitions even through a system reboot. The Solaris “fair share” scheduler will apportion the amount of
CPU time afforded different processes.

Extended accounting is linked to project objects through tasks, a capability referred to as Tasks, Projects,
and Accounting or TPA. Resource management is particularly useful in managing applications in
multiple processor environments, both in vertically scaled systems (multiprocessor systems) or in
horizontally scaled server farm or multi−server blade systems. Resource management is also extremely
valuable in server consolidation projects.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 10 of 32

Sample Users and Group
For an example of the usage of Resource Manager, we’ll start the Solaris Management Console and try
allocating processor usage by username first, then by groups, and finally by applications. In addition to
all of the default users (root, daemon, lp, etc…), we’ll create the additional users shown in Table 2

Table 2 Additional users for the processor allocation example.

Username UID Group GID Role
bob 101 sales 115 Salesperson
jane 102 sales 115 Salesperson
george 103 support 116 Support Engineer
kate 104 support 116 Support Engineer
jim 105 dev 117 Development Engineer
judy 106 dev 117 Development Engineer
BigDB 200 dba 120 main BigDB user

To create users and groups, do the following:

1. Start the Solaris Management Console
by right clicking on the desktop and
select the Solaris Management
Console command from the Tools
submenu on the Workspace menu or
by entering the command
/usr/sbin/smc at the command
line.
2. Click on System Configuration, the
Users, and finally User Accounts in
the Navigation pane to view existing
users (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The User Accounts panel shown here appears

after all of the accounts have been created in Step 10.

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 3. Select the Action menu, then the Add
Multiple Users submenu, and then the
With Wizard command.
4. In the wizard add all seven users as
shown in Table 2 then complete the
wizard to add them to the Solaris
Management Console as shown in
Figure 3.

Figure 3 The final step of the Add Multiple Users

wizard.
5. Click on the Groups icon in the
console Navigation pane
6. From the Action menu, select the Add
Group command.
7. In the General tab enter the name
sales for the group name in the
Group Name text box, and enter 115
in the Group ID Number box.
8. Click on first bob and then jane in
the Available Users list box, then click
Add to add them to the Group
Members list (you may need to click
the Show All button).
9. Click the OK button to complete the
assignment.

Figure 4 The Add Groups wizard.

10.Repeat steps 7−9 creating the support, dev, and dba groups (Group ID Numbers 116, 117, and
200) and adding their group members from Table 2 to those groups. When done, the User Accounts
screen should appear as in Figure 2.

Monitoring Processor Loading

In order to demonstrate resource allocation, there is a simple program called nspin that is available for
download on the BigAdmin web site at: http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/software/nspin/nspin This
program creates execution threads to load the processors, as well as other loading factors.

To be able to observe resource consumption you must first generate work for the system to do. Begin by
loading the nspin program using the following steps:

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 12 of 32

 1. As a root session download nspin and copy it to in to the /bin directory. Enter cd /bin,
press “return,” then chmod 777 nspin at the prompt to ensure that nspin is executable by
anyone on the system.

2. Open a Terminal window and enter the command su – bob (note the spaces on both sides of
the “−”) at the prompt to log in as “bob.”

3. Enter the command nspin & at the prompt to initiate a single nspin thread.

The ampersand puts the process in the background and reports the process ID

4. Open another terminal window and enter su − george to switch the user sessions to
“george.” Again cd to the directory containing the nspin program.

5. Enter nspin –n 2 & at the prompt, which creates two threads of execution for “george.”

The “–n 2” is used to create two processes, thereby creating a heavier load

6. Return to your “root” user session (or start up a new terminal window as root).

7. To monitor system usage, enter prstat –J at the prompt, or enter smc & at the prompt (if
smc is not still running), and then open “This Computer” in the Solaris Management Console,
Under “This Computer” open “System Status,” then “Performance,” then “System,” and then
“Users” as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 The results of two users, one of which has twice as many threads of execution as
another.

8. Log out from the george and bob sessions by going to each terminal window and typing
<ctrl>d or just exiting the terminal session.

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Processor Allocation by User
In order to use the new Fair Share Scheduler, it must be enabled. The quickest way to do this is to log in
as root and, from a command line, type dispadmin −d FSS and then reboot the system.
The most powerful use of the new Solaris 9 Resource Manager, of course, is controlling resource
allocation. Three main kinds of control are provided by the Solaris 9 Resource Manager:
• User−based control
• Group−based control
• Application−based control

To test user−based control, we’ll create a project for jane and judy, but with no group or role
additions. We can then assign a usage share to each user. The procedure for user−based control follows:
1. Click on the This Computer icon,
System Configuration icon, and then
the Projects icon in the Solaris
Management Console.
2. Select the Add Project command
from the Action menu; the Add
Project dialog box appears in Figure
5.

Figure 5 The Add Project dialog box

3. Enter the project name user.jane
into the Project Name text box; then
click the Resources Controls tab.
4. Click the “Users” tab and select
“jane” from the Available Users list
box, adding the account to the Project
Members list box as shown in Figure
6.

Figure 6 The Add Project dialog box, Users tab

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 14 of 32

 5. Click on the “Resource Controls” tab,
then click the Add button to open the
Add Resource Control dialog box.
6. Select the project.cpu−shares
control in the Add Resource Control
dropdown list, enter 20 in the
Threshold text box as shown in
Figure 7.
Figure 7 The Add Resource Control dialog box.
7. Then click the Add button and then
the OK button to return to the Add
Projects dialog box.
8. Click the OK button to create the
project and have it appear in the
Projects pane of the console.
9. Repeat Steps 2 – 8 creating project
user.judy with a cpu−share of 30
assigned to that user.
Figure 8 shows you the resulting Projects
panel.

Figure 8 The Projects panel of the console.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 15 of 32

 To load the system, we follow the same
procedure above:

1. At a prompt enter su − jane and

press the Enter key.

2. Change directories to the directory

containing the nspin program using
the cd /<pathname> command, if
necessary.

3. Enter nspin & and press the Enter

key.

4. Open a second Terminal window and

repeat Steps 1 – 3 using judy as the
username and the same nspin & Figure 9 The resulting usage based on two projects
command to launch the process. with 20 and 30 CPU shares of the Solaris Fair Share
Scheduler.
5. Enter the command prstat to view
user CPU usage

6. Or, in the console click on the Users

icon in the Performance tree, as
shown in Figure 9.
7. Log out Jane and Judy.

Processor Control by Application

As another example of the flexibility of the Solaris 9 Resource Manager we’ll briefly touch on
application−based control. Application−based control is important because it lets an organization
control the desired Quality of Service (QoS) for an application based on it’s resource requirements and
apply any needed constraints based on business priorities. In this instance, we simulate a big enterprise
database server by using nspin. Two instances, BigDB1 and BigDB2, are instantiated.

To demonstrate application−based control:

1. Create three projects:
• user.BigDB, where you can add the dba group, and give this project 10 shares.
• BigDB1, add the dba group, and give this project 40 shares.
• BigDB2 add the dba group, and give this project 50 shares.
2. Now log in to BigDB and start:
newtask −p BigDB1 nspin &
newtask −p BigDB2 nspin &
nspin &
3. Use prstat or the console to examine project performance

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 16 of 32

 What you will see is that the main instances (BigDB1 and BigDB2) get 40% and 50% where
the background processes get 10%.
4. Kill the nspin jobs and log the users out.

Solaris Volume Manager

The Solaris Volume Manager (SVM) is a new feature in the Solaris 9 OE, but is not entirely new
functionality. It is the next generation of the product formerly known as Solstice DiskSuitetm sofwtare
with new features added and now delivered as an integral part of the Solaris Operating Environment. It
is presented both as a set of commands at the command line and in the Enhanced Storage tool in the
Solaris Management Console. By providing Solaris Volume Manager integrated in the Solaris OE, Sun
is meeting the needs of enterprise−level system customers who must manage more and more storage as
part of their daily work. With Solaris Volume Manager, it is now possible to:
• “Break up” a large disk or storage array into many smaller disk partitions (up to 8192, lifting
the former restriction of eight partitions to a single drive).
• Create and manage high−performance and fault tolerant volumes such as RAID 0 (striping),
RAID 1 (mirroring), and RAID 5 (striping with parity).
• Preserve the volume configuration on a subdisk basis via Disk ID support, even when a disk is
moved.
• Actively monitor disks to detect silent disk failures
• Manage logical volumes from any WBEM compliant application.

Sun also provides an upgrade path to migrate your settings and configuration (even mirrored root
upgrades) from the Solstice DiskSuite sofwtare to SVM. For more information, refer to the Solaris
Volume Manager Administration Guide.

In the sections that follow some capabilities of the SVM are illustrated. The first set of instructions
covers performing volume management tasks with the SVM Graphical User Interface (GUI); the second
covers performing tasks using the Command Line Interface (CLI). All tasks can be performed using
either interface, and sys admins can freely choose the appropriate interface for the task at hand. In
addition, one can save the command−line equivalents of the tasks performed in the GUI as a shell script,
allowing for easy automation of complex tasks.

WARNING: This section creates RAID structures from existing disk drives. During these
operations, any existing data on these disks will be erased. Be sure that you work with non−
critical data and follow the instructions carefully. We advise that if you are in any doubt about
which disks are being written to, you should seek help from someone knowledgeable with
administering disks under the Solaris OE

Creating a Striped Set With or Without parity from the GUI

Let’s take a look at managing volumes using the Enhanced Storage tools in the Solaris Management
Console. A striped volume without parity is RAID 0, and one with parity information recorded is RAID
5. You can create RAID 0 with two or more disks, while RAID 5 requires three or more disks (one
being reserved for parity information). To open the SVM console tool:
1. Right click on the desktop and select the Solaris Management Console command from the
Tools submenu on the Workspace menu.
Or, start the console by entering the command /usr/sbin/smc at the command line.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 17 of 32

 2. Select the Open Toolbox
command from the Console
menu; then select a toolbox from
either your server or your local
computer.
The console is populated with the
tools for that toolbox.
3. When prompted to login, enter a
root username and password.
4. Double click on the workstation
name to open the tool tree in the left
hand pane, double click on the
Storage tool, and then double click
on the Enhanced Storage tool as
shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. The Enhanced Storage tool is where you
create volumes based on disk sets, concatenations,
mirrors, and striping.
To create state databases:
1. Double click on the State Databases
icon.
A dialog box appears as Solaris
searches for databases, and you will
be presented with a blank screen if
none are found.
2. With State Databases highlighted,
select the Create Replica
command from the Action menu
3. Follow the directions for creating
the database replicas on the disks
you wish to stripe.
When you complete this step you should see
the dialog box shown in Figure 11. Figure 11. The Create Replicas step shows you the
state databases on your disks.
To create a RAID volume:
1. Double click on the Volumes icon in the Enhanced Storage tool.
2. Click on the Create Volume command on the Action menu.
3. In the Create State Database Replicas click on the Don’t Create State Database
Replicas radio button (as we have already created them above), and click the Next button.
4. Select the None from the drop down list in the Select Disk Set step.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 18 of 32

 5. In the Select Volume Type step
shown in Figure 12 select the
volume type you wish to create then
click the Next button.
Explanations are in the left pane,
and your choices are:
• Concatenation (RAID 0)
• Stripe (RAID 0).
• Mirror (RAID 1),
• RAID 5
• Transactional Volumes
• Soft Partitions
Figure 12. The Select Volume Types step is where you
choose the particular type of volume you will create.
6. Name the volume (the default is
d0), click Next and then select from
the list of drives available to be
added to the volume you are
creating.
For RAID 0 or 5 you will be asked
for the interlace volume, we
recommend you accept the default
and click the Next.
For a Mirror or RAID5 you will be
prompted to create a hot spare
(online backup), the default is No.
7. Click No and after you examine the
final Review screen (Figure 13) Figure 13. The Review step shows you the particular
click the Finish button. type of volume and RAID level Solaris will create.
The new volume (d0 if you used the default)
will be shown in Volume tool with the icon
shown in Figure 14. Disks are usually found
in the /dev/dsk tree, but since this is a
special device you will find it’s Figure 14. A RAID disk icon is shown in the Volumes
representation as /dev/md/dsk/d0. tool window.
To create a file system on the volume:
8. Open a terminal window and at the shell prompt enter newfs /dev/md/dsk/d0.
The New File System command asks you to confirm that you really want to erase the current file
system. The command refers to the raw file system which has a rdsk instead of dsk in the
path.
9. Type y and then press the Enter key and newfs will create the files system.
10. Create the mount point (if it does not exist) with the mkdir –p /export/home2
command.
The –p switch creates any portion of the path that does not yet exist.
11. Type mount /dev/md/dsk/d0 /export/home2.
12. After you return you to the shell prompt enter df –kl to examine your mounted file system.
You can automount the file system at startup by either editing the /etc/vfstab file using a text
editor with the following line9:
9
The line uses tabs, not spaces to separate values. The first value tells the system the location of the buffered volume, the
second is the raw access file for the volume, the third is where the volume should be mounted, the fourth is what file system

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 19 of 32

 /dev/md/dsk/d0 /dev/md/rdsk/d0 /export/home2 ufs 2 yes
−
Better yet, you might want to perform the
addition of an automount in the Mounts and
Shares tool of the Solaris Management
Console. With the Mounts tool it is possible
to create and manage mount points, which
means that you no longer need to visit the
VFSTAB file or enter commands like:
mount
192.168.3.99:/share1/solaris
/Macys to mount a Network Attached
Storage (NAS) device folder
(168.3.99:/share1/solaris) to the
mount point (the root folder Macys).

The Mounts tool is shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. The Mounts tool is a convenient graphical

method for creating and managing mount points in
the vfstab database.
Creating a Mirror from the Command Line
To create advanced storage structures with the SVM you must set up state databases, as a separate slice
of your physical disk:
1. Enter the format command (as root) to setup a slice of the disk.
Use slice 7; it does not need a label and only requires about 20MB of disk space, and creating
smaller volumes is faster.
2. At the root prompt, enter metadb –a –f c0t4d0s7
Replace the location identifier (c0t4d0s7) with the correct disk and slice used on your system.
3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for each of the disks you are going to be using for the test.
The two slices we used were c0t1d0s0 and c0t4d0s0. In our example we created two 4GB
slices. Each part of the mirror must be the same size.
4. Setup the first disk by entering the command metainit d51 1 1 c0t1d0s0.
The system will return d51: Concat/Stripe is setup.
5. Do the same with the second disk, by entering metainit d51 1 1 c0t4d0s0.
Remember: you must substitute the correct disk slice labels that you actually used on your
system.
6. Initialize the primary device in the mirror by entering metainit d50 –m d51 at the
command line.
7. Link in the second device with the metattach d50 d52 command.
8. Create the file system for the mirror by issuing the newfs /dev/md/dsk/d50 command.

Instead of using the names for the individual slices (/dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 and
/dev/dsk/c0t4d0s0) you will now refer to the mirror device /dev/md/dsk/d50. You now should
have a working mirror. To test your mirror:

is on the device (ufs is the default file system for the Solaris platform), the fifth is which disk check pass the system should
check this disk with (the volume is not required for the system to boot to 2 is good), the sixth is whether or not you want the
file system to mount when the system is booted and the last is the options you want the file system mounted with.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 20 of 32

 1. Create a directory for the test using the mkdir /export/home2 command.
2. Mount the mirror file system by entering the mount /dev/md/dsk/d50 /export/home2
command.
3. Copy some data to the mirror file system with the cp –R /export/home/<username>
/export/home2/ command.
4. Enter umount /export/home2 command to unmount the mirror file system.
5. Mount the first physical slice with mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 /export/home2.
6. Enter ls /export/home2.
You should see the data in it that you just copied to the home2 directory.
7. Unmount that file system with the umount /export/home2 command again.
8. Look at the second physical slice with the mount /dev/dsk/c0t4d0s0
/export/home2.
9. Enter ls /export/home2.

The same data should appear in the home2 directory, which confirms the mirror was created.

Directory Services
One of the most important new features in the Solaris 9 OE is the integrated SunTM ONE Directory
Server (formerly iPlanetTM Directory Server.) This powerful, distributed directory server is designed to
manage an enterprise−wide directory of users and resources. Sun ONE Directory Server is scalable,
replicable and extensible, thus providing use for intranet applications, extranets you create for trading
partners, and e−commerce applications to reach customers over the Internet anywhere in the world

Directory services provided by a directory server are the key to efficient network resource management.
Using an efficient directory service can let an application more quickly search a network for users,
systems, or printers, allow an application to store important information in a central repository, provide
routing information and a variety of other functions. Directory services are seen to play an essential
role in the future development of network−based applications, particularly those that rely on distributed
services such as web services.

Most companies have many instances of directory services installed in databases, on mail servers, as a
central service, and for specific applications or services. Best practices in IT infrastructures today merge
these services and data into a single unified service, and the optimal way to do that is to have a
consolidated service based on an open standard like LDAP.

The directory server is managed with the console where access rights, database management, directory
configuration, and data replication may be specified. The Solaris 9 System Administration Guide: DNS,
NIS, and LDAP, included in the Solaris 9 documentation and at http://docs.sun.com, describes this
application in more detail.

Setting Up the Sun ONE Directory Server

Optimal configuration management of directory services is a complex subject, so this section introduces
you to a default setup for a standalone directory server.
To setup the directory server in its default configuration:
1. Log in as root and enter /usr/sbin/directoryserver setup at the command prompt.
2. Continue with the configuration by pressing the Enter key, then press the default of 1 to
configure the server followed by the Enter key.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 21 of 32

 3. Press the Enter key to accept a typical configuration (options 2), and accept the default choice
for components by pressing the Enter key once more.
4. Accept the default directory suite components, press the Enter key to accept both (1, 2).
5. For the administration services press the Enter key to accept both (1, 2).
6. Input a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for your system (e.g. www.sun.com) to add to
the local system name and the fully qualified domain name. Press the Enter key.
If the correct name doesn’t appear, press Ctrl+C, and fix the name of your system in the
Computers section of the Solaris Management Console, or by using the hostname command.
7. On the next screen, press the Enter key to accept the default of nobody for both user and
group when asked which service to run.
8. Select No for directory server registration in the next screen, and in the following screen select
No when asked to store your data on another directory server.
9. Accept the default directory server network port of 389.
10. At the next prompt press the Enter key to accept the default identifier for the directory server,
which should be your host name (and not your FQDN).
11. Provide the user name of the administrator and the password.
12. Choose the suffix of your directory tree: press the Enter key to accept the default which should
be your fully qualified domain name broken in to its individual parts (dc=sun, dc=com).
13. On the next screen select the user name and password of the internal administrator, enter the
FQDN for the administration name (e.g. sun.com), then press the Enter key.
14. Enter an easily remembered (like 55555) administration port number between 1024 and 65535
(the installer selects a random number).
15. Accept the default of root for the user name of the administrator server, and press the Enter
key.

The install tool will start the directory server using the options you selected, and output something
similar to what follows.
[slapd−netra]: starting up server ...
[slapd−netra]: [06/Feb/2002:23:42:42 −0800] − iPlanet−Directory/5.1
B2001.292.0117 starting up
[slapd−netra]: [06/Feb/2002:23:42:59 −0800] − slapd started. Listening
on all interfaces port 389 for LDAP requests
Your new directory server has been started.
Created new Directory Server
Start Slapd Starting Slapd server configuration.
Success Slapd Added Directory Server information to Configuration
Server.
Configuring Administration Server...
Your parameters are now entered into the Administration Server
database, and the Administration Server will be started.
Changing ownership to admin user root...
Setting up Administration Server Instance...
Configuring Administration Tasks in Directory Server...
Configuring Global Parameters in Directory Server...
iPlanet−WebServer−Enterprise/6.0SP1 B10/12/2001 14:40
warning: daemon is running as super−user
[LS ls1] http://netra.workofstone.net, port 55555 ready to accept
requests
startup: server started successfully
Press Return to continue...

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 22 of 32

You now have a running Sun ONE Directory server.

The Sun ONE Directory Server Console

You can work in the console to view and change parameters and settings for the directory server. To use
the console, do the following:
1. Enter the following command at a prompt:
/usr/sbin/directoryserver startconsole
2. Login under the administration
account.
The console appears and display
the domain name and the
associated directory servers
(Figure 16).

Figure 16. The Server and Applications tab.

3. Click the Users and Groups tab.
Nothing will be displayed by
default, as shown in Figure 17.
4. To view the existing groups click
on the Search button.
By default there is only one
group, the Accounting Managers
group.
5. Double click on this group to see
and edit its properties.

Figure 17. The Users and Groups tab.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 23 of 32

 6. Click on the Servers and
Applications tab, server name
selection, on the Server Group
selection to see its components
(the Directory Server and the
Administration Server), and
finally on the Directory Server
selection to see its information.
The result is shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18. Directory Server information in the console.

7. Click on the Open button at the
top right of the screen to access
that server’s configuration task
settings as shown in Figure 19.
From here you can stop and start
the server, modify its
configuration, check the current
status and modify the data it
holds.

Figure 19. The Tasks tab for a directory server.

Reliability and Security
One of the more important security additions in the Solaris 9 OE is the Solaris Secure Shell tools, which
are loaded by default to provide security for your system the moment it is powered on. The Solaris
Secure Shell replaces the telnet, ftp, rsh (remote shell) and rcp (Remote Copy) tools that have
historically been the means of connecting to and administering UNIX® systems remotely. Unlike the
older tools which passed data (like passwords) in clear text, Solaris Secure Shell provides a fully−
encrypted “VPN−like” environment for system administrators.

Solaris 9 software also ships with TCP Wrappers. Long a staple in the world of UNIX security; TCP
Wrappers can control which remote systems can access services offered by the local host with limited
firewall capabilities. With TCP Wrappers, it is possible to allow a computer access to the ftp server
while blocking access to the telnet server, without disabling the telnet server in case it is needed.

Interoperability with Windows: SAMBA

SAMBA is a CIFS networking tool providing Windows compatible file and printer sharing services, as
well as the WINS name service and Domain Authentication. It has been in use on UNIX systems for
many years. Working with the SAMBA configuration file can be intimidating at first, so a tool called

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 24 of 32

SWAT has been included. SWAT is the SAMBA Web Administration tool and it makes working with
SAMBA significantly easier.

To enable SWAT you need to add the following line to your /etc/services file:
swat 901/tcp

This tells the system what applications it can expect to find at certain ports. It is best to add that line in
order in the file, which in the Solaris 9 distribution is at about line 104.

Next you need to add the following line to the end of your /etc/inetd.conf file:
swat stream tcp nowait.400 root /usr/sfw/sbin/swat swat

Restart the inetd (Internet daemon) process so it will see the change you made. Run the following
command to kill the current inetd process:
ps –ef | grep inetd

You will see output that will look similar to this:

# ps –ef | grep inetd
root 189 1 0 Jan 21 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd
–s
root 3287 3260 0 18:28:46 pts/2 0:00 grep inetd
#

The PID is the second item on the inetd line and is shown in bold above (your PID# will be different).
Restart the process with the kill −HUP command:
kill –HUP 189 (substitute the correct PID# here for your copy of inetd)

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 25 of 32

 Figure 20. On the Password page of SAMBA you Figure 21. On the SWAT page you can get to
can change the passwords for clients and servers different parts of the SAMBA configuration
that allow access to the SAMBA file and print routine by clicking on the buttons across the top
services. of the screen, and view configuration information
by clicking on the links in the main body of the
page.
Now that the inetd service has restarted you can access the SWAT program from your web browser by
going to the following address http://localhost:901//. For remote access use the systems
external hostname or IP address http://system.domain:901/. When you connect you will be
prompted for a username and password (as shown in Figure 20), use root and the root password to
configure this file.10

You should see the home page for the SWAT program shown in Figure 21. That page contains links to
information from the various SAMBA tools. Most of this information is cached on your local system
and will appear whether or not you are connected to a network.

Open Source Tools

The Solaris 9 OE continues a policy of including the most popular and useful open source software to
maximize value for Sun’s customers. A sample of the tools included with Solaris 9 includes:
• bash − The Bourn Again Shell, a Bourn compatible shell with many enhancements. The
presence of bash means that most Linux scripts can be moved to Solaris and run without
modification.
• Gzip − The GNUZip utilities, widely used across many platforms (UNIX and non−UNIX) for
file compression and expansion.
• Bzip2 − This block−sorting compression tool is a newer set of utilities that outperform gzip
both in compression and speed. This tool is gaining acceptance in the UNIX world.
10
If you make a mistake and are refused access you might have to exit the web browser and start it again. Some web
browsers remember the username/password combination you entered, and reenter them at login during the same session, so it
will keep failing until you stop it by shutting it down.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 26 of 32

 • Gtar − The GNUtar tool adds support for long directory names and on−the−fly compression
(compress, gzip and bzip2)
• ncftp − an ftp client with many enhancements, including passive downloads and automatic
retry for connecting to servers who are at their connection limit.
• Glib − A library used by many open−source developers. These libraries make it easer to
download and install software from the open source community.
• GTK+ − the GIMP toolkit, libraries for graphical user interfaces, also used by many
developers. These libraries make it easer to download and install software from the open source
community.

There are many other tools included on the Solaris software companion disk including editors, developer
tools, multimedia programs, graphics programs, and many others useful for users in creating their own
custom environment. The disk provides a convenient installation method for these programs.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 27 of 32

Resources
Table 4 lists links to Web sites with useful information about the Solaris OE.
Table 4. Table of Solaris OE Web Resources.
Site Link
Solaris Information http://www.sun.com/solaris/
Sun’s Sys Admin Resource: The BigAdmin[sm] Portal http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/
Sun Product Documentation http://docs.sun.com
Solaris Training http://suned.sun.com/US/catalog/solaris.html
Solaris Family Comparison Matrix http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/fcc.html

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 28 of 32

Appendix 1: Convincing your Management
This section helps provide you with some of the business reasons for adopting the Solaris 9 OE and
includes helpful language in making your case to management.

The Solaris Operating Environment: An Overview

Sun’s Solaris Operating Environment is designed to support the high−level infrastructure that today’s
successful organizations need. Because it is available, scalable, manageable and secure, the Solaris
Operating Environment provides optimal support for the wide range of services necessary to both
enterprise and Internet−based service−on−demand environments. The Solaris OE delivers the
predictability of the data center with the agility of the Internet.

The Solaris Operating Environment is also the only OE to deliver a proven, unique strategy that focuses
on industry standards, the Internet, innovation and integration and delivers lower cost of operations.
With the need for a rock−solid foundation, it is no surprise that so many successful organizations are
using Sun’s Solaris Operating Environment:

• Gartner Dataquest (February 2002) reports that Sun continues its leadership of the RISC/UNIX
server market with more than one out of three servers shipped in 2001 coming from Sun and
running the Solaris OE.
• A Netcraft Web server survey (January 2002) states that most of the world’s largest web sites are
powered by Sun Servers running the Solaris OE.
• Solaris software also powers these company’s web sites (Netcraft.com, 10/2001):
• 53 of the Fortune 100 companies
• Ten of the top eleven telecommunications companies in the Fortune 500
• Four out of the tope five commercial banks in the Fortune 500
• Seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the Fortune 500

Investment Protection Through Compatibility and Open Standards

Investment protection drives Sun’s commitment to binary compatibility. Reliance on open standards also
offers asset protection, as Sun systems can be well integrated with the legacy systems that companies
already have in place.

Compatibility is one of the hallmarks of software using the Solaris Operating Environment, and is a key
feature enabling customers to move up the product line without ever having to port or recompile their
applications. The Solaris OE has complete binary compatibility by supporting a public application
Binary Interface (ABI) which guarantees that conforming applications will run on all Sun servers
without modification – from desktop workstations to the 106−processor Sun Fire 15k server.

Sun is active in the Linux community and offers high−quality machines running Linux for applications
that do not require the advanced capabilities of the Solaris platform. In order to protect Sun’s customers’
investments in Linux and make Solaris an "enterprise−level" deployment environment, Sun provides
interoperability and commonality across both Linux and Solaris environments. Specifically, Sun is
integrating many of the commands, utilities and libraries from Linux into Solaris OE. This allows
Solaris users to bring popular Linux applications to Solaris OE, recompile them, and implement them in
the same way they would on Linux. This feature gives Solaris users the best of both worlds: the
flexibility of Linux software and the scalability and availability of Solaris OE.

Sun has long been a strong supporter of the Open Source community, recognizing that much of the
software that has come from Open Source has become so widely−used as to be considered standard.

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 29 of 32

Sun has contributed important technologies to the open source movement, such as OpenOffice and
NetBeansTM technologies, and participates in many other open source projects.

Sun’s commitment to an open standards−based software vision is also exemplified by our support of
Internet standards, including the IETF and our sponsorship of the JavaTM Community Process for the
Java platform. Because our products are based on open standards, Sun invests its efforts in creating
superior implementations rather than vendor lock−in strategies. This ensures that Sun’s partners have the
freedom to innovate, bringing “best of breed” solutions to market on Sun systems. There are more than
twelve thousand third−party applications running on the Solaris Operating Environment, giving Sun
customers the greatest possible choice as they implement solutions.

Solaris 9 OE: The Best Foundation for Sun ONE Software

Solaris 9 OE is the foundation of Sun ONE: Sun’s vision, architecture, platform and expertise for
developing and deploying services on demand. The Sun ONE software stack is integratable. This means
that, while it is possible to deploy the full array of Sun ONE products for the creation of web services,
our adherence to open standards allows for nearly any product in the stack to be "swapped out" for
products from different vendors.

Many Sun ONE services and components are included in the Solaris software distribution. This enables
developers to start building Sun ONE web services immediately and helps sys admins and architects to
become familiar with the applications and tools that comprise the Sun ONE software stack. Many
popular open−source packages, such as Apache and Perl, are actually integrated into the Solaris OE.

Some of the other software included in the Solaris 9 media kit are:

• StarOffice Software: Sun’s full featured office suite, based on the open−source OpenOffice.
• Netscape Communicator: A complete Internet access suite with web browsing, email and news
client, and web page authoring modules.
• Application Server: The Sun ONE Application Server (formerly the iPlanet Application
Server) will be included in a subsequent update to the Solaris 9 OE.
• Database server: A 30−day trial of the Oracle 9i Enterprise Edition server.
• Development tools: The latest version of the platform independent Java development language,
as well as a 30 day trial license for the ForteTM tools (C, C++ and FORTRAN) and the Sun ONE
Studio 3, Community Edition (formerly Forte for Java Community Edition)

By making an open network and industry standards the core of our products, Sun can integrate the best
open systems software to build better solutions for our customers.

Competitive Positioning
The Solaris OE is designed to continue building upon Sun’s key competitive advantages of scalability,
availability, manageability, and security. Sun’s delivery on the fundamentals is recognized with
Network Computing’s “Best Server Operating System 2001” award, in which it was declared that “if
Sun Microsystems has proven one thing, it’s that its operating system can stand the test of time and still
beat the competition.” The Solaris OE has earned many other awards including being rated the #1 UNIX
Operating Environment, according to D.H. Brown Associates’ 2001 UNIX OS Function Review (March
2001) and named the top UNIX OS by InfoWorld (January 2001)

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 30 of 32

Table 1. A comparison of the features found in the Solaris 9 OE with other network operating
systems.
Microsoft
HP Linux 2.4
Sun IBM IBM Windows
HP−UX 11i Kernel
Solaris 9 AIX 5L v5.1 z/OS (10/01) .NET
(12/01) Distributions
Server
Architectures Supported
IA−32, IA−64,
SPARC, Motorola
68K, MIPS
PA−RISC, IA−32, IA−
Platforms SPARC PowerPC S/390 zSeries R3000 and
IA−64 64
R4000, Power
PC, ARM, Alpha,
S/390
Scalability
Number of Bits 64 64 64 64 64 32/64
64 (DCE
CPUs Supported 106 32 16 64 8/16/02
only)
64/128GB
64GB on IA−64
Max Physical 576GB
256GB 64GB 256GB* (IA−32 requires (IA−32
Memory (Sun Fire 15K)
PAE) requires
PAE)
IPv6 Protocol Yes Yes No Yes Add−on Beta
RAS
Yes
Dynamic
Yes No (but no hot No No No
Reconfiguration
swap online)
Yes − StorEdge
I/O Failover No Yes Yes Partial Partial
Traffic Mgr
IP
Multipath/Failov Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
er
Hot Patching Yes No No No No No
Live Upgrade Yes Yes Yes No No No
Workload Management
Single−instance Limited
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Resource No Job Object on
Built−in w/SRM w/WLM w/IRD/WLM w/PRM/WLM
Manager DCE only
Yes−
System Yes − LPARs
Yes−DSDs Yes − LPARs nPartitions, No No
Partitions (only on p690)
vPars
Dynamic Limited −
Yes No Yes No No
Partitions vPars only
Automated
Dynamic Yes No Yes−IRD No No No
Partitions
Dynamic
Yes−RCM No No No No No
Partition API
Infrastructure Services
Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LDAP Directory Active
iPlanet SecureWay SecureWay iPlanet Open LDAP
Directory
Webserver Yes − iPlanet Yes − Apache Yes − Apache Yes − iPlanet Yes − Apache Yes − IIS

SolarisTM 9 System Administrator’s Evaluation Guide Page 31 of 32

In−kernel http
Yes Yes No No Partial − Tux only No
Cache
Bandwith
Yes w/SBM Yes No No No No
Management
DHCP/Dynamic Yes – Active
Yes Yes No Yes Yes
DNS Directory
Java J2SE v1.4.0 J2SE v1.3.0 J2SE v1.3.0 J2SE v1.3.0 J2SE v1.3.0 No
Security Components
Kerberos v5 Yes Yes No Add−on Yes Yes
Role−based
Yes No Yes No No Yes
Access Control
No, but
No, but similar
PAMs Yes Partial Yes Yes similar −
available
GINA
IPSec/IKE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Firewall (SunScreen 3.1 No No Yes No
IP Filter
Lite)
Storage Management
Journaling File
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
System
Yes Optional
Volume
Solaris Volume Yes Yes Yes (Veritas Vol. Limited
Manager
Mgr Mgr.)
Cluster Yes − Sun Yes − Parallel
Yes − GPFS No No No
Filesystem Cluster 3.0 Sysplex
System Management
Centralized
Multi−server Yes − SunMC Yes − RSCT Yes − Tivoli Yes − SCM No − 3rd Party Yes − MMC
Mgmt. Tool
Web−based
Management Yes Yes Yes − msys Yes Yes Yes
GUI
Network Boot
Yes No No No No Yes
With DHCP
WBEM Yes Yes No No No Yes
Partial
Network Install Yes Yes No Yes Yes (requires 3rd
party tools)
Linux support
Linux APIs Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Open Source
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Tools
Investment Protection
Partial 11.0 to
Full Backward/ Yes No
11i
Forward Solaris App 64−bit apps − Yes No No
Limited pre−11
Compatibility Guarantee recompile
to 11i

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