What's New in Managing the System Console and Locally Connected Terminal Devices

The following features are new or changed in Oracle Solaris 11.

Removal of Support for SVR4 Service Access Facility Commands and Service Access Controller Program

The sac command and the Service Access Facility (SAF) program are not supported in Oracle Solaris 11.

If you want to offer login services on auxiliary terminals, you can use one of the following services:

• svc:/system/console-login:terma

• svc:/system/console-login:termb

Alternatively, you can create your own instances of the console-login service by creating service profiles or by using separate service manifests. For more information, see Chapter 6, Managing Services (Overview).

Virtual Terminal Support

The virtual console, also known as the virtual terminal (VT) device driver, provides management functions that enable you to switch between multiple screens on a single physical device. VTs are accessed the same way as any other device on the system. VTs provide the link between different screen faces and a device. The virtual console that corresponds to the currently visible screen face is the active virtual console. In Oracle Solaris 11, the SMF service that manages VT functionality is enabled by default.

Besides the system console, which runs on /dev/console, and Xorg which uses the seventh virtual console (/dev/vt/7), there are five login prompts for virtual console instances:

# svcs | grep login
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:default
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt2
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt3
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt4
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt5
online         17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt6

To switch between virtual console terminals, use the Alt + Ctrl + F# hotkey combination. For example, to use vt2, press Alt + Ctrl + F2. You can also create graphical VT sessions and then switch between those sessions by using the User Switcher panel applet in the desktop. To add the applet to the desktop, right click the panel, then select the Add to Panel... option. To switch to a new or different graphical login session, click the applet, then select Switch User.

To enable, disable, and modify properties for virtual consoles, as well as add and remove virtual consoles, use the svccfg command. For more information and examples, see the vtdaemon(1M) man page.

Bitmapped Console Support

Oracle Solaris 11 supports higher resolution and color depth on x86 based systems than the older Video Graphics Array (VGA) 640-480 16-color console. This support is provided for systems that use traditional BIOS and Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) option read-only memory (ROM). Note that support is limited to when a graphics card or frame buffer is used as a physical or virtual console. There is no impact on the behavior of serial consoles. For more information, see Support for Bitmapped Console in Booting and Shutting Down Oracle Solaris on x86 Platforms.