Solaris (operating system) Solaris is a Unix operating system originally developed name is used almost exclusively to refer to the SVR4- by Sun Microsystems. It superseded their earlier SunOS derived SunOS 5.0 and later.[13] in 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known, has been The justification for this new “overbrand” was that it en- owned by Oracle Corporation since Oracle’s acquisition compassed not only SunOS, but also the OpenWindows of Sun in January 2010.[2] graphical user interface and Open Network Computing Solaris is known for its scalability, especially on SPARC (ONC) functionality. The SunOS minor version is in- systems, and for originating many innovative features cluded in the Solaris release number. For example, So- such as DTrace, ZFS and Time Slider.[3][4] Solaris sup- laris 2.4 incorporated SunOS 5.4. After Solaris 2.6, Sun ports SPARC-based and x86-based workstations and dropped the “2.” from the number, so Solaris 7 incorpo- servers from Oracle and other vendors, with efforts un- rates SunOS 5.7, and the latest release SunOS 5.11 forms derway to port to additional platforms. Solaris is regis- the core of Solaris 11.2. tered as compliant with the Single Unix Specification.[5] Historically, Solaris was developed as proprietary soft- ware. In June 2005, Sun Microsystems released most 2 Supported architectures of the codebase under the CDDL license, and founded the OpenSolaris open source project.[6] With OpenSo- Solaris uses a common code base for the platforms it sup- laris, Sun wanted to build a developer and user commu- ports: SPARC and i86pc (which includes both x86 and nity around the software. After the acquisition of Sun x86-64).[14] Microsystems in January 2010, Oracle decided to discon- Solaris has a reputation for being well-suited to tinue the OpenSolaris distribution and the development symmetric multiprocessing, supporting a large number model.[7][8] Just ten days before the internal Oracle memo of CPUs.[15] It has historically been tightly integrated announcing this decision to employees was “leaked”, Gar- with Sun’s SPARC hardware (including support for 64- rett D'Amore had announced[9] the illumos project, cre- bit SPARC applications since Solaris 7), with which it ating a fork of the Solaris kernel and launching what has is marketed as a combined package. This has led to since become a thriving alternative to Oracle Solaris. more reliable systems, but at a cost premium compared In August 2010, Oracle discontinued providing public to commodity PC hardware. However, it has supported updates to the source code of the Solaris Kernel, effec- x86 systems since Solaris 2.1 and 64-bit x86 applications tively turning Solaris 11 into a closed source proprietary since Solaris 10, allowing Sun to capitalize on the avail- operating system. However, through the Oracle Technol- ability of commodity 64-bit CPUs based on the x86-64 ogy Network (OTN), industry partners can still gain ac- architecture. Sun has heavily marketed Solaris for use cess to the in-development Solaris source code.[8] Source with both its own “x64” workstations and servers based code for the open source components of Solaris 11 is on AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon processors, as well as available for download from Oracle.[10] x86 systems manufactured by companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. As of 2009, the following vendors support Solaris for their x86 server systems: 1 History • Dell – will “test, certify, and optimize Solaris and OpenSolaris on its rack and blade servers and offer In 1987, AT&T Corporation and Sun announced that they them as one of several choices in the overall Dell were collaborating on a project to merge the most popular software menu”[16] Unix variants on the market at that time: BSD, System V, and Xenix. This became Unix System V Release 4 • IBM – also distributes Solaris and Solaris Subscrip- (SVR4).[11] tions for select x86-based IBM System x servers and [17] On September 4, 1991, Sun announced that it would re- BladeCenter servers place its existing BSD-derived Unix, SunOS 4, with one • Intel[18] based on SVR4. This was identified internally as SunOS 5, but a new marketing name was introduced at the same • Hewlett-Packard[19] – distributes and provides soft- time: Solaris 2.[12] Although SunOS 4.1.x micro releases ware technical support for Solaris on ProLiant were retroactively named Solaris 1 by Sun, the Solaris server and blade systems 1 2 4 DESKTOP ENVIRONMENTS • 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 sup- port for Solaris on x64 kit. 2.1 Other platforms Solaris 2.5.1 included support for the PowerPC platform (PowerPC Reference Platform), but the port was can- celed 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 olvwm with OpenWindows on Solaris 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 Windows supported both NeWS and X applications, and OpenSolaris,[22] announced its first official source code provided backward compatibility for SunView applica- release.[25] tions from Sun’s older desktop environment. NeWS al- lowed applications to be built in an object oriented way A port of Solaris to the Intel Itanium architecture was using PostScript, a common printing language released [26] announced in 1997 but never brought to market. in 1982. The X Window System originated from MIT's On November 28, 2007, IBM, Sun, and Sine Nomine Project Athena in 1984 and allowed for the display of an Associates demonstrated a preview of OpenSolaris for application to be disconnected from the machine where System z running on an IBM System z mainframe under the application was running, separated by a network con- z/VM,[27] called Sirius (in analogy to the Polaris project, nection. Sun’s original bundled SunView application and also due to the primary developer’s Australian nation- suite was ported to X. ality: HMS Sirius of 1786 was a ship of the First Fleet to Sun later dropped support for legacy SunView applica- Australia). On October 17, 2008 a prototype release of tions and NeWS with OpenWindows 3.3, which shipped [28] Sirius was made available and on November 19 the with Solaris 2.3, and switched to X11R5 with Display same year, IBM authorized the use of Sirius on System z Postscript support. The graphical look and feel remained [29] IFL processors. based upon OPEN LOOK. OpenWindows 3.6.2 was the Solaris also supports the Linux platform ABI, allowing last release under Solaris 8. The OPEN LOOK Win- Solaris to run native Linux binaries on x86 systems. This dow Manager (olwm) with other OPEN LOOK specific feature is called “Solaris Containers for Linux Applica- applications were dropped in Solaris 9, but support li- tions” or SCLA, based on the branded zones functionality braries were still bundled, providing long term binary introduced in Solaris 10 8/07.[30] backwards compatibility with existing applications. The OPEN LOOK Virtual Window Manager (olvwm) can still be downloaded for Solaris from sunfreeware and 3 Installation and usage options works on releases as recent as Solaris 10. Solaris can be installed from various pre-packaged soft- ware groups, ranging from a minimalistic “Reduced Net- work Support” to a complete “Entire Plus OEM". Instal- lation 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 sun- freeware[31] and OpenCSW.[32] Solaris can be installed from physical media or a network for use on a desktop or server, or be without installing on a desktop or server. 4 Desktop environments Early releases of Solaris used OpenWindows as the stan- The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) was open sourced in dard desktop environment. In Solaris 2.0 to 2.2, Open- August 2012. This screenshot is a build of CDE for Linux. 3 Sun and other Unix vendors created an industry alliance changed again. The new license allows Solaris 10 and So- to standardize Unix desktops. As a member of COSE, laris 11 to be downloaded free of charge from the Oracle the Common Open Software Environment initiative, Sun Technology Network and used without a support contract helped co-develop the Common Desktop Environment. indefinitely however the license only expressly permits CDE was an initiative to create a standard Unix desktop the user to use Solaris as a development platform and ex- environment. Each vendor contributed different com- pressly forbids commercial and “production” use.[40] Ed- ponents: Hewlett-Packard contributed the window man- ucational use is permitted in some circumstances. From ager, IBM provided the file manager, and Sun provided the OTN license: the e-mail and calendar facilities as well as drag-and- drop support (ToolTalk). This new desktop environ- ment was based upon the Motif look and feel and the “If You are an educational institution vested old OPEN LOOK desktop environment was considered with the power to confer official high school, legacy. CDE unified Unix desktops across multiple open associate, bachelor, master and/or doctorate system vendors. CDE was available as an unbundled add- degrees, or local equivalent, (“Degree(s)”), on for Solaris 2.4 and 2.5, and was included in Solaris 2.6 You may also use the Programs as part of Your through 10.