The benefits of autoconfiguration are as follows:
Main memory is used more efficiently because modules are loaded when needed.
There is no need to reconfigure the kernel when new devices are added to the system.
Drivers can be loaded and tested without having to rebuild the kernel and reboot the system.
Autoconfiguration is used when you add a new device (and driver) to the system. In previous Solaris releases, it was necessary to perform a reconfiguration boot if you added a device to a system that is shutdown. Starting in the Solaris Express 10/06 release, device configuration enhancements make a reconfiguration boot unnecessary when a device is added to a system that is shutdown.
You can add, remove, or replace devices in the Solaris OS while the system is still running, if the system components support hot-plugging. For information about hot-plugging devices, see Chapter 6, Dynamically Configuring Devices (Tasks).