Solaris

As you probably know already, a few days ago the Solaris 10 5/08 update was released.


I've already downloaded the x86 version of it, and will attempt to install this Solaris 10 release on my home VMware Server 2 beta 2 setup.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing these in these new features action:
- CPU caps
- iSNS (iSCSI)
- Locale creator

Here are a few links you might find useful:
- What's new in Solaris 10 5/08
- Solaris 10u5 download page

Just realized that the Nexenta Core Platform 1.0 release has arrived!

Here's a short list of changes and new features:

I've already downloaded the ISO-image, so will be installing it in a virtual machine later today.

- OpenSolaris b82 based (x86, 32bit and 64bit, non-debug)
- Ubuntu/Dapper based
- Project integration: NWS, AVS, COMSTAR, in-kernel CIFS client
- apt-clone: ZFS-integrated safe upgrade via remote APT repository
- Support for in-place (live) and safe upgrades
- Installer: multiple improvements; installs from USB
- Small memory requirement: 256MB
- Nexenta Zones: multiple improvements; integrated automatic Zone upgrades
- CIFS client included in the default installation
- Xen DomU and Xen Dom0 (32bit, [2])
- GRUB-integrated memory test
- Nexenta ISO Builder ([3])
- APT repository - status complete. Stable repository (elate-stable) ready for use

I'm really proud for my most favorite operating system: Solaris 10 received the InfoWorld Technology of the Year award for 2008!

I've finally completed my first successful experiment with Solaris 8 Migration Assistant (S8MA) today - a new product from Sun which allows you to run Solaris 8 branded zones. It's a fully and officially supported solution (for an extra price), but you can download the free 90-day trial to play with it and understand how really cool it is.

First of all, just a few words about the niche for this product. Many companies are rather conservative about their Solaris upgrades. Most systems are still running Solaris 8, if not something older. Quite often this is also dictated by third-party software dependencies - products which were bought and configured for Solaris 8, which are now so tightly integrated that there isn't an easy way to migrated them into Solaris 10. Such systems are doomed for slow but very expensive death. Expensive, because with every year the hardware support for servers capable of running Solaris 8 raises again and again.

That's where the Solaris 8 zones come in. It's very easy, really: you create a flar-copy fo your existing physical server under Solaris 8, then create a Solaris 8 zone, import your flar-archive and get a virtual copy of your Solaris 8 environment, with all your processes, programs and startup scripts.

To make things easier, it's even possible to configure your hostid in Solaris 8 zone to match the one of the physical Solaris 8 system, this way no programs running in the zone will even guess that they've been virtualized.

Who knows, maybe I'll tell you more about this technology some other day, but for now - just the simplest list of actions and commands for your S8MA proof of concept:

1. Find and prepare a sparc box with Solaris 10u4. It is important to have the latest Solaris 10 update. Preparations are usually limited to applying a kernel patch, 127111-01 in my case.

2. Download the Solaris 8 Migration Assitant (current version is 1.0) from this location: Solaris 8 Migration Assistant. The 3 packages in archive are dead easy to install using standard pkgadd.

Here are the packages you'll get:


3. Make a flar-archive of your Solaris 8 system

Log onto your Solaris 8 box, and run the command. In this and all the following examples, solaris8 is nothing but an arbitrary name I've chosen for my zone. You might as well call it anything you like.



4. Create the basic Solaris 8 zone.

Here's how you do it:


Naturally, your IP and network device name will be different. As of now, our zone is fully configured, but not yet installed.

5. Install the Solaris 8 zone using our flar-archive



In my case the Solaris 8 zone got stuck on sys-unconfig, and so I had to connect to the virtual console of the zone to help it move on:

Here's how you connect to a zone's console:

Thanks to CurThread.org, I've recently learned about the new online project which just got started: DTrace Scripts. It seems to be a promising project with a constantly expanding collection of DTrace scripts and tips, and it's great to see yet another project aimed at making DTrace more accessible and better known in Unix communities.