This chapter summarizes new and enhanced features in the following Solaris releases:
For a summary of enhancements that were previously made available in the Solaris 9 release (originally distributed in May, 2002), see Chapter 2, Features in the Solaris 9 Release.
An important announcement is also included in this chapter. See Sun Java Enterprise System Joins Solaris. Sun JavaTM Enterprise System includes SunTM Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) products.
Most of the features that are described in this chapter run on both the SPARC platform and certain x86 platforms. Those descriptions that are specific to one platform are labeled as either a SPARC feature or an x86 feature in the description title.
This overview lists all the new features that are described in this chapter. This list is sorted by release for your reference. Descriptions of these features are provided in the remaining sections of this chapter.
The following features are new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Key Storage on Sun Crypto Accelerator 4000 Board
Common Transliteration-based Input Method for All Indian languages
New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 12/03 Release
Sun ONE Application Server Integration has been revised in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The following features are new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The following features have been revised in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The following features are new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Command-Line Interface Enhancements to the Solaris Product Registry
SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager
Reconfiguration Coordination Manager Support in Solaris Volume Manager
Seven Additional Indic Scripts for Support in Unicode Locales
The following features have been revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The following features are new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
Combine Data Address and Test Address for Single IP Network Multipathing Group
New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 12/02 Release
The following features are new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
Sun JavaTM Enterprise System is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
Solaris software now includes products from the Java Enterprise System that you can choose to install with the Solaris software. Java Enterprise System includes Sun ONE infrastructure and cluster software in one open-network computering package. Java Enterprise System offers enterprises a complete set of services to integrate Web applications, services, and legacy applications. The Java Enterprise System software provides a common user experience. The software includes the same language support, consistent documentation, component standardization, a common installer, and other features that deliver integrated functionality. Java Enterprise System includes the following component products:
Communication and Collaboration Services
Sun ONE Messaging Server 6.0
Sun ONE Calendar Server 6.0
Sun ONE Instant Messaging Server 6.0.1
Sun ONE Portal Server 6.2, and Secure Remote Access 6.2
Web and Application Services
Sun ONE Application Server 7.0 PE*
Sun ONE Application Server 7.0 SE*
Sun ONE Web Server 6.1
Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 SP2*
Directory and Identity Services
Sun ONE Identity Server 6.1
Sun ONE Directory Server 5.2
Sun ONE Directory Proxy Server 5.2
Availability Services
Sun Cluster 3.1
Sun Cluster Agents 3.1 for selected Sun ONE component products
For further information about the Java Enterprise System, see Sun Java Enterprise System 2003Q4 at http://docs.sun.com.
* These products are available within the Solaris operating system. See the following descriptions for further information.
The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.2 is available as a component product in the Java Enterprise System. The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1 is available within the Solaris operating system. For further information about the Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1, see Sun ONE Directory Server.
The Solaris software includes networking enhancements. Sun ONE Application Server Integration has been revised in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Networking enhancements from prior Solaris 9 releases include the following:
This feature is new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. In the Solaris 9 12/03 release, this feature is also available for the x86 platform.
Sun ONE Application Server 7, Platform Edition (formerly iPlanetTM Application Server) is integrated in the Solaris operating system. The Platform Edition of the Application Server provides the foundation for enterprise-class application services and web services. The server provides a high-performance, small-footprint JavaTM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EETM). J2EE enables the development, deployment, and management of enterprise applications and web services to a broad range of servers, clients, and devices.
The Sun ONE Application Server provides application portability and fast time to market for new Java and Extensible Markup Language (XML) applications. These new applications are J2EE 1.3 platform compatible. The Application Server enables developers to build applications that are based on JavaServer PagesTM (JSPTM), Java Servlet, and Enterprise JavaBeansTM (EJBTM) technology. This technology supports a broad range of business requirements from small departmental applications to enterprise-scale, mission-critical services.
Feature highlights include the following:
Provides integration of the Sun ONE Message Queue and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server from the Sun ONE Web Server
Provides scalability with enhanced performance
Provides comprehensive web services support – Java Web Services, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
Provides interoperability with the Sun ONE Portal Server 6.0 and Sun ONE Directory Server
Uses the J2EE Reference Implementation
The following name changes have been made:
Sun ONE Message Queue (formerly iPlanet Message Queue for Java)
Sun ONE Web Server (formerly iPlanet Web Server)
Sun ONE Portal Server (formerly iPlanet Portal Server)
Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanet Directory Server)
For further information, see the Sun ONE Application Server 7 Collection Update 1 (Solaris Edition). Further information about this collection is available at New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 8/03 Release. See also http://wwws.sun.com/software/products/appsrvr/home_appsrvr.html.
For specific licensing terms, refer to the binary code license.
This feature is new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. In the Solaris 9 8/03 release, this feature is also available for the x86 platform.
The Solaris software now supports Java Messaging Service (JMS) applications. This Solaris release uses Sun ONE Message Queue (formerly iPlanet Message Queue for Java) as a JMS provider.
JMS messaging enables applications and application components to exchange messages asynchronously and reliably. Processes that run on different platforms and different operating systems can connect to a common message service to exchange information.
Sun ONE Message Queue, Platform Edition provides a full implementation of the JMS specification. The message queue provides additional features such as the following:
Centralized administration
Tunable performance
Support for the Java Naming and Directory InterfaceTM (JNDI)
Support for Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging
For further information, see the Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Administrator's Guide and the Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Developer's Guide. For information about Sun ONE Message Queue editions and features, see also the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/software/products/message_queue/home_message_queue.html |
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Multidata transmit (MDT) enables the network stack to send more than one packet at one time to the network device driver during transmission. Use of this feature reduces the per-packet processing costs by improving the host CPU utilization or network throughput.
The multidata transmit (MDT) feature is only effective for device drivers that support this feature.
The following parameter must be enabled in the /etc/system file to use the MDT parameter:
set ip:ip_use_dl_cap = 0x1
MDT is disabled by default. The TCP/IP stack can be instructed to enable MDT as follows:
# ndd -set /dev/ip ip_multidata_outbound 1
Review the following cautions before enabling MDT:
Use of this feature might change the appearance of any packets between the IP layer and the DLPI provider. For example, a third-party STREAMS module might be dynamically inserted between the IP layer and the DLPI provider by using the ifconfig modinsert command. This module might not work. The ifconfig modinsert command does not “understand” the MDT STREAMS data type.
Modules might be inserted between the IP and the DLPI provider with the autopush(1M) mechanism. These modules might not work as well.
Keep this feature disabled when a STREAMS module is not MDT aware. For example, the public domain utilities ipfilter and CheckPoint Firewall-1 are not MDT aware.
For more information, see the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual and the ip(7P) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
IPv6 networks can now transfer packets over Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) networks by configuring one or more routers to support a 6to4 tunnel. System administrators can use 6to4 tunnels as a transitional method for migrating their networks from IPv4 to IPv6. This feature implements RFCs 3056 and 3068.
For further information on IPv6, see the IPv6 Administration Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
This feature enables tunneling over IPv6 for both IPv4 over IPv6 tunnels and IPv6 over IPv6 tunnels. IPv4 packets or IPv6 packets can be encapsulated in IPv6 packets.
For more information, see the IPv6 Administration Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) kernel module now supports multiple instances of a web server. This support enables you to use a Solaris machine to perform Internet protocol (IP) address-based virtual web hosting. The Solaris software uses a single configuration file, /etc/nca/ncaport.conf, to map NCA sockets to IP addresses.
For further information, see the ncaport.conf(4) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
IP Quality of Service (IPQoS) enables system administrators to provide different levels of network service to customers and to critical applications. By using IPQoS, the administrator can set up service-level agreements. These agreements provide an Internet service provider's (ISP) clients with varying levels of service that are based on a price structure. A company could also use IPQoS to prioritize among applications so that critical applications get a higher quality of service than less critical applications.
For further information, see the IPQoS Administration Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The Solaris IPQoS feature now includes the user selector, which supplements the existing uid selector. The user selector enables you to specify a user name or userID as criteria in a filter clause in the ipqosconf file. Previously, the uid selector only accepted a userID as a value. The following filter clause from an ipqosconf file shows the user selector:
filter { name myhost; user root; } |
For information about filters and selectors, refer to the IPQoS Administration Guide and the ipqosconf(1M) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
Solaris system software now supports Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2).
RIPv2 adds Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and Variable-Length Subnet Mask (VLSM) extensions to the RIPv1 protocol. Message Digest 5 (MD5) extensions protect routers against intentional misdirection by malicious users. The new in.routed implementation also includes a built-in Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Router Discovery (RFC 1256) mechanism.
RIPv2 supports multicast, if the point-to-point links are enabled with multicast. RIPv2 also supports unicast. If you configure a broadcast address by using the /etc/gateways file, then RIPv2 supports broadcast.
For information on how to configure RIPv2, see the in.rdisc(1M), in.routed(1M), and gateways(4) man pages.
The Solaris software now includes the following installation enhancements. WAN Boot Installation Method is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Installation features from prior releases include the following.
Solaris Flash Differential Archives and Configuration Scripts
Command-Line Interface Enhancements to the Solaris Product Registry
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The Solaris software now enables you to boot and install software over a wide area network (WAN) by using HTTP. The WAN boot installation method enables you to install the Solaris software on systems over a large public network where the network infrastructure might be untrustworthy. You can use WAN boot with new security features to protect data confidentiality and installation image integrity.
The WAN boot installation method enables you to transmit an encrypted Solaris Flash archive over a public network to a remote client. The WAN boot programs then install the client system by performing a custom JumpStartTM installation. To protect the integrity of the installation, you can use private keys to authenticate and encrypt data. You can also transmit your installation data and files over a secure HTTP connection by configuring your systems to use digital certificates.
For more information about this feature, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Solaris Live Upgrade provides a method of upgrading a system while the system continues to operate. While your current boot environment is running, you can duplicate the boot environment, then upgrade the duplicate. Or, rather than upgrading, you can install a Solaris Flash archive on a boot environment. The original system configuration remains fully functional and unaffected by the upgrade or installation of an archive. When you are ready, you can activate the new boot environment by rebooting the system. If a failure occurs, you have a safety net. You can quickly revert to the original boot environment with a simple reboot. Thus, you eliminate the normal downtime of the test and evaluation process.
New features in Solaris Live Upgrade 2.1 provide the following new functionality.
Solaris Live Upgrade uses Solaris Volume Manager technology to create a duplicate boot environment that contains file systems with RAID-1 volumes (mirrors). The mirror provides data redundancy for any file systems, including the root (/) file system. With the lucreate command, you can create mirrored file systems that contain up to three submirrors.
You can now use the JumpStart installation method to create an empty boot environment when you install the Solaris software. The empty boot environment can then be populated with a Solaris Flash archive for later use.
With the lucreate command, you can now exclude some files and directories that would normally be copied from the original boot environment. If you have excluded a directory, you can also include specified files and subdirectories under that directory.
For further information, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release and has been revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The Solaris Flash installation feature enables you to use a single reference installation of the Solaris software on a system. This system is called the master system. Then, you can replicate that installation on a number of systems, which are called clone systems. The installation is an initial installation that overwrites all files on the clone system.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release and has been revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The Solaris Flash installation feature provides new enhancements for this Solaris release.
A Solaris Flash installation can now update a clone system with minor changes. If you have a clone system and want to update it, you can create a differential archive that contains only the differences between two images, the original master image and an updated master image. When you update a clone system with a differential archive, only the files that are specified in the differential archive are changed. The installation is restricted to clone systems that contain software which is consistent with the original master image. You use the custom JumpStart installation method to install a differential archive on a clone system. Or, you can use Solaris Live Upgrade to install a differential archive on a duplicate boot environment.
Special scripts can now be run for configuration of the master or clone or can be run to validate the archive. These scripts enable you to do the following tasks.
Configure applications on clone systems. You can use a custom JumpStart script for some uncomplicated configurations. For more complicated configurations, special configuration file processing might be necessary on the master system or before or after installation on the clone system. Also, local preinstallation and postinstallation scripts can reside on the clone. These scripts can protect local customizations from being overwritten by the Solaris Flash software.
Identify nonclonable, host-dependent data that enables you to make the flash archive host independent. Host independence is enabled by modifying such data or excluding the data from the archive. An example of host-dependent data is a log file.
Validate software integrity in the archive during creation.
Validate the installation on the clone system.
For further information, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide. This guide also includes information on how to use Solaris Live Upgrade to install a differential archive.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release and has been revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The flarcreate command is used to create a Solaris Flash archive. In this Solaris release, this command has been updated with new options that increase your flexibility to define archive contents when creating an archive. You now can exclude more than one file or directory. From an excluded directory, you can add back a subdirectory or file. This feature is useful when you want to exclude large data files that you do not want cloned.
For information on how to use these options, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide.
Note the following name change: Solaris Flash (formerly Web Start Flash).
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The prodreg command has been updated to include functionality that is similar to the Solaris Product Registry graphical user interface. You can now use the following prodreg subcommands on the command line or in administration scripts to perform a variety of tasks.
browse – The browse subcommand enables you to view registered software in a terminal window. By repeating the browse subcommand, you can navigate through the directory hierarchy of registered software.
info – The info subcommand enables you to view information about registered software. You can use the info subcommand to identify the following specifics.
Installation location of the software
Other software that the specified software requires
Other software that depends on the specified software
Software that has been damaged by the removal of packages that the software requires
unregister – The unregister subcommand removes software installation information from the Solaris Product Registry. If you remove software from your system without properly uninstalling the software from the Registry, you can use the prodreg unregister command to clean up the obsolete entries in the Solaris Product Registry.
uninstall – The uninstall subcommand enables you to remove registered software from your system by launching that software's uninstall program.
For more information, see the prodreg(1M) man page and the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The Solaris installation programs now support LDAP Version 2 profiles. These profiles enable you to configure your system to use a proxy credential level. During the Solaris Web Start or suninstall programs, you can specify the LDAP proxy-bind distinguished name and proxy-bind password. With any installation method, you can preconfigure LDAP before installation by using the proxy_dn and proxy_password keywords in the sysidcfg file.
For information, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide.
The Solaris software now includes the following enhancements for system administration. Signed Packages and Patches and NIS-to-LDAP Transition Service are new features in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. System administration features from prior releases include the following:
SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager
Reconfiguration Coordination Manager Support in Solaris Volume Manager
Combine Data Address and Test Address for Single IP Network Multipathing Group
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
This Solaris release enables you to securely download Solaris packages and patches that include a digital signature by using the updated pkgadd and patchadd commands. A package or a patch with a valid digital signature ensures that the package or patch has not been modified after the signature was applied to the package or patch.
In previous Solaris releases, you could only add signed patches to your system if you used the Solaris patch management tools with PatchPro 2.1.
Additional software management features in this Solaris release include the following:
You can add a digital signature to a package with the updated pkgtrans command. For information about creating a signed package, see the Application Packaging Developer's Guide.
You can download a package or patch from an HTTP or an HTTPS server.
A signed package is identical to an unsigned package except for the signature. The package can be installed, queried, or removed with existing Solaris packaging tools. A signed package is also binary-compatible with an unsigned package.
Before you can add a package or patch with digital signatures to your system, you must set up a keystore with trusted certificates that are used to identify that the digital signature on the package or patch is valid.
For information about setting up the package keystore and adding signed packages or patches to your system, see the “Adding and Removing Signed Packages (Task Map)” in the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.
For information about booting and retrieving Solaris installation images from an HTTP or an HTTPS server, see WAN Boot Installation Method.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The NIS-to-LDAP transition service can be used to enable a network transition from using NIS to using LDAP as the primary naming service. By using this transition service, administrators can utilize the bundled Sun ONE Directory Server, which works with LDAP naming service clients.
For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
For this Solaris release, the version of BIND is 8.3.3. DNS clients can now connect to IPv6 DNS servers by using IPv6 transport.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Solaris Volume Manager has been enhanced with multiterabyte volume support. With this support, the Solaris Volume Manager can create, manage, and delete large (>1Tbyte) RAID-0 (stripe), RAID-1 (mirror), RAID-5, and soft partition volumes. In addition, this large volume support enables Solaris Volume Manager to construct volumes on large or EFI-labeled logical unit numbers (LUNs).
Solaris Volume Manager large volume support is not available for systems that run a 32-bit Solaris kernel. For example, systems that run the Solaris software (x86 Platform Edition) or the Solaris software with the SPARC 32-bit kernel cannot use large volume support.
For further information, see the Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.
See also SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support With EFI Disk Labels.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Reconfiguration Coordination Manager (RCM) support adds to Solaris Volume Manager the ability to respond appropriately to dynamic reconfiguration (DR) requests. This addition ensures that removal of devices under Solaris Volume Manager control is blocked with an appropriate warning. This block remains in effect until the devices are no longer in use. This warning prevents system administrators from accidentally removing active volumes from a DR-configured system.
For further information, see the Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
You can use the Update option of the Solaris Management Console's Patches Tool to analyze, download, and install recommended patches from the SunSolve OnlineSM Web site. Or, the smpatch update command can be used for this purpose.
This Solaris update feature was previously only available for systems that run the Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, or Solaris 8 releases.
You must install the PatchPro 2.1 software on your system before running the update feature. Download the PatchPro 2.1 packages from http://www.sun.com/PatchPro. Then follow the instructions to install the software on your system.
For more information, see the smpatch(1M) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The use of a dedicated test IP address for failure detection on single-adapter IP network multipathing groups is no longer required. Sometimes, failover is not possible because only one network information center (NIC) is in an IP network multipathing group. In this situation, you can now combine the test address and the data address. The in.mpathd daemon uses a data address to detect failure when a test address is not specified.
For further information on Solaris IP multipathing, see the IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide.
The Solaris software now includes the following file system enhancements. Enhancements to the NFS Client is a new feature in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. File system features from prior releases include the following:
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The following enhancements have improved the performance of the NFS client:
Restrictions on wire transfer sizes have been relaxed. Now, the transfer size is based on the capabilities of the underlying transport. For example, the NFS transfer limit for UDP is still 32 Kbytes. However, because TCP is a streaming protocol without the datagram limits of UDP, maximum transfer sizes over TCP have been increased to 1 Mbyte.
Previously, all write requests were serialized by both the NFS client and the NFS server. The NFS client has been modified to permit an application to issue concurrent writes, as well as concurrent reads and writes, to a single file. You can enable this functionality on the client by using the forcedirectio mount option. When you use this option, you are enabling this functionality for all files within the mounted file system. You could also enable this functionality on a single file on the client by using the directio() interface. Note that unless this new functionality has been enabled, writes to files are serialized. Also, if concurrent writes or concurrent reads and writes are occurring, then POSIX semantics are no longer being supported for that file.
The NFS client no longer uses an excessive number of UDP ports. Previously, NFS transfers over UDP used a separate UDP port for each outstanding request. Now, by default, the NFS client uses only one UDP reserved port. However, this support is configurable. If the use of more simultaneous ports would increase system performance through increased scalability, then the system can be configured to use more ports. This capability also mirrors the NFS-over-TCP support, which has had this kind of configurability since its inception.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
This Solaris release provides support for multiterabyte UFS file systems on systems that run a 64-bit Solaris kernel. Previously, UFS file systems were limited to approximately 1 terabyte (Tbyte) on both 64-bit systems and 32-bit systems. All UFS file system commands and utilities have been updated to support multiterabyte UFS file systems.
You can initially create a UFS file system that is less than one Tbyte. You can specify that the file system can eventually be grown to a multiterabyte file system by using the newfs -T command. This command sets the inode and fragment density to scale appropriately for a multiterabyte file system.
Support for a multiterabyte UFS file system assumes the availability of multiterabyte LUNs. These LUNS are provided as Solaris Volume Manager or Veritas VxVM volumes, or as physical disks that are greater than one Tbyte.
Features of multiterabyte UFS file systems include the following:
You can create a UFS file system to a maximum of 16 Tbytes in size.
You can create a file system that is less than 16 Tbytes, which can later be increased in size to a maximum of 16 Tbytes.
Multiterabyte file systems can be created on physical disks, Solaris Volume Manager's logical volumes, and Veritas's VxVM logical volumes.
UFS logging is enabled by default on file systems greater than 1 terabyte. Multiterabyte file systems benefit from the performance improvements of having UFS logging enabled. Multiterabyte file systems also benefit from the availability of logging because the fsck command might not have to be run when logging is enabled.
Limitations of multiterabyte UFS file systems include the following:
You cannot mount a file system that is greater than 1 Tbyte on a system that runs a 32-bit Solaris kernel.
You cannot boot from a file system that is greater than 1 Tbyte on a system that runs a 64-bit Solaris kernel. This limitation means that you cannot put a root (/) file system on a multiterabyte file system.
There is no support for individual files greater than 1 terabyte.
The maximum number of files per terabyte of UFS file system is 1 million. This limit is intended to reduce the time it takes to check the file system with the fsck command.
The maximum quota that you can set on a multiterabyte UFS file system is 2 Tbytes of 1024–byte blocks.
Using the fssnap command to create a snapshot of a multiterabyte UFS file system is not currently supported.
For more information, see “What's New in File Systems in the Solaris 9 8/03 Release?” in the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
This Solaris release provides support for disks that are larger than 1 terabyte (Tbyte) on systems that run a 64-bit Solaris kernel.
The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) label provides support for physical disks and virtual disk volumes. The UFS file system is compatible with the EFI disk label, and you can create a UFS file system that is greater than 1 Tbyte. This release also includes updated disk utilities for managing disks that are greater than 1 Tbyte.
The EFI disk label differs from the VTOC disk label in the following ways:
Support for disks that are greater than 1 Tbyte in size is provided.
Slices 0–6, where slice 2 is just another slice, are provided.
Partitions, or slices, cannot overlap with the primary or backup label, nor with any other partitions. The size of the EFI label is usually 34 sectors, so partitions start at sector 34. This feature means that no partition can start at sector zero (0).
No cylinder, head, or sector information is stored in the label. Sizes are reported in blocks.
Information that was stored in the alternate cylinders area, the last two cylinders of the disk, is now stored in slice 8.
For more information on using the EFI disk label, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration. This guide contains important information and restrictions that apply to using the EFI disk label with existing software products.
The Solaris Volume Manager software can also be used to manage disks greater than 1 Tbyte in this Solaris release. See SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager.
The Solaris software now includes the following security enhancements. sadmind Security Level Raised, Kerberos Enhancements, and Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Key Storage on Sun Crypto Accelerator 4000 Board are new features in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Security features from prior releases include the following:
To improve security with the sadmind command, the default security level has been raised to 2 (DES). If you do not require sadmind, comment the entry out of the inetd.conf file.
For further information, see the sadmind(1M) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The Solaris Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) is now based on MIT Kerberos version 1.2.1. The KDC now defaults to a btree-based database, which is more reliable than the current hash-based database.
See the kdc.conf(4) man page for more information.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
IKE runs on IPv6 as well as IPv4 networks. For information on keywords that are specific to the IPv6 implementation, see the ifconfig(1M) and ike.config(4) man pages.
When a SunTM Crypto Accelerator 4000 board is attached, IKE can offload computation-intensive operations to the board, thus freeing the operating system for other tasks. IKE can also use the attached board to store public keys, private keys, and public certificates. Key storage on a separate piece of hardware provides additional security.
For further information, see the IPsec and IKE Administration Guide and the ikecert(1M) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Public key operations in IKE can be accelerated by a Sun Crypto Accelerator 1000 card. The operations are offloaded to the card. The offloading accelerates encryption and reduces demands on operating system resources.
For information about IKE, see the IPsec and IKE Administration Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Enhancements to the audit features in this Solaris release reduce noise in the trail, and enable administrators to use XML scripting to parse the trail. These enhancements include the following:
Public files are no longer audited for read-only events. The public policy flag for the auditconfig command controls whether public files are audited. By not auditing public objects, the audit trail is greatly reduced. Attempts to read sensitive files are therefore easier to monitor.
The praudit command has an additional output format, XML. The XML format enables the output to be read in a browser, and provides source for XML scripting for reports. See the praudit(1M) man page.
The default set of audit classes has been restructured. Audit metaclasses provide support for finer-grained audit classes. See the audit_class(4) man page.
The bsmconv command no longer disables the use of the Stop-A key. The Stop-A event is now audited to maintain security.
For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Solaris smart card interfaces are a set of public interfaces for Smart Card Terminals. See Smart Card Interfaces.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
Password encryption protects passwords from being read by intruders. Three strong password encryption modules are now available in the software:
A version of Blowfish that is compatible with Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) systems
A version of Message Digest 5 (MD5) that is compatible with BSD and Linux systems
A stronger version of MD5 that is compatible with other Solaris systems
For information on how to protect your user passwords with these new encryption modules, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services. For information on the strength of the modules, see the crypt_bsdbf(5), crypt_bsdmd5(5), and crypt_sunmd5(5) man pages.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The pam_ldap password management feature strengthens the overall security of the LDAP Naming Service when used in conjunction with the Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanetTM Directory Server). Specifically, the password management feature does the following:
Allows for tracking password aging and expiration
Prevents users from choosing trivial or previously used passwords
Warns users if their passwords are about to expire
Locks out users after repeated login failures
Prevents users, other than the authorized system administrator, from deactivating initialized accounts
For further information on Solaris naming and directory services, see the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). For information about Solaris security features, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The PAM framework was expanded by including a new control flag. The new control flag provides the ability to skip additional stack processing. This skipping is enabled if the current service module is successful and if no failure occurred on the previous mandatory modules.
For more information about this change, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services.
The Solaris software now includes the following system resources enhancements. Physical Memory Control Using the Resource Capping Daemon is a new feature in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Extended Accounting Subsystem was revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
This is a new feature in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The resource capping daemon rcapd regulates the consumption of physical memory by processes that run in projects that have defined resource caps. Associated utilities provide mechanisms for administering the daemon and reporting related statistics.
For additional information, see “Physical Memory Control Using the Resource Capping Daemon” in the System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services. See also the man pages rcapstat(1), rcapadm(1M), project(4), and rcapd(1M).
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release and has been revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
You can now use extended accounting processes in conjunction with the flow accounting module for IPQoS. For information about IPQoS, see the IPQoS Administration Guide.
For information about the extended accounting feature, see “Extended Accounting” in the System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.
A Perl interface to libexacct is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 release. This interface enables you to create Perl scripts that can read the accounting files which are produced by the exacct framework. You can also create Perl scripts that write exacct files.
The new interface is functionally equivalent to the underlying C API.
You can use the Perl interface to record system resource consumption on a task or process basis. Or, you can record consumption on the basis of selectors provided by the IPQoS flowacct module.
For information about the Perl interface to libexacct, see “Extended Accounting” in System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.
See also the following man pages:
Exacct(3PERL)
Exacct::Catalog(3PERL)
Exacct::File(3PERL)
Exacct::Object(3PERL)
Exacct::Object::Group(3PERL)
Exacct::Object::Item(3PERL)
Kstat(3PERL)
Project(3PERL)
Task(3PERL)
The Solaris software now includes the following enhancements to development tools. SPARC: Locality Groups is a new feature in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Sun ONE Application Server has been revised in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Development features from prior releases include the following:
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
The Programming Interfaces Guide now includes a chapter that explains the interfaces that interact with locality groups (lgroups). These interfaces can be used to help an application efficiently allocate CPU and memory resources. This capability results in improved performance on some systems.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. See “New Linker and Libraries Features and Updates” in the Linker and Libraries Guide for the most current updates.
The Solaris releases include new linker-editor features such as string table compression, unreferenced section elimination, and unreferenced dependency detection. For the most current list of new linker-editor features in each Solaris release, see “New Linker and Libraries Features and Updates” in the Linker and Libraries Guide.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Solaris smart card interfaces are a set of public interfaces for Smart Card Terminals. Card terminal vendors can implement these interfaces in a user-level shared library to provide device-level support for their smart card terminals in Solaris. The set of Solaris smart card terminal interfaces is based on card terminal interfaces that are available as part of the Linux Smartcard framework. Card terminal support libraries from Linux can be ported to Solaris with minimum effort.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Stack Check APIs allow for advanced interaction with stack-checking compiler support. Stack-checking compiler support is available in ForteTM 7.0. These APIs should be used in applications that are compiled with stack checking enabled. These are applications that manage their own stacks or attempt to detect their own stack overflows.
Developers who maintain their own thread library need to use the setustack interface to enable consumers of their library to compile with stack checking enabled.
See the stack_getbounds(3C), stack_setbounds(3C), stack_inbounds(3C), and stack_violation(3C) man pages.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
libumem is a user-mode (nonkernel mode) memory allocator library. libumem has features that enable you to debug memory leaks and other aberrations that involve memory usage.
This feature is used in the same way that a standard application binary interface (ABI) allocator, such as malloc(), is used. A user-mode application requests an arbitrary number of bytes of memory. Then a pointer is returned that is loaded with the address of the allocated memory.
For further information, see the libumem(3LIB) man page.
A technical white paper about Solaris Memory Placement Optimization and Sun Fire Servers is available at the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/servers/wp/docs/mpo_v7_CUSTOMER.pdf
This feature is new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. In the Solaris 9 12/03 release, this feature is also available for the x86 platform. For further information, see Sun ONE Application Server Integration.
The Sun ONE Message Queue is a new feature for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. In the Solaris 9 8/03 release, the Sun ONE Message Queue is also available for x86 platforms.
The Solaris 9 12/02 release supports JMS messaging applications. These applications are based on Sun ONE Message Queue, a JMS provider. For further information, see Sun ONE Message Queue.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
This Solaris release includes new extensions to the crypt() function and introduces the crypt_gensalt()function. These enhancements allow administrators to change the algorithm that is used to obscure users' UNIX login passwords.
Modules are included for MD5 and Blowfish. The MD5 modules are at crypt_sunmd5 and crypt_bsdmd5. The Blowfish module is at crypt_bsdbf.
Developers can create new modules for alternate password-obscuring algorithms. Application developers must use the crypt_gensalt() function instead of manually generating the salt string for passing to the crypt() function.
Modules for alternate algorithms are specified in the crypt.conf(4) file. The module_path field specifies the path to the shared library object that implements the two required functions:
crypt_gensalt_impl() – Generates the salt string
crypt_genhash_impl() – Generates the encrypted password
For further information, see the crypt(3C) and the policy.conf(4) man pages.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The madvise() function enables the kernel to optimize access to a user-defined region of memory. This Solaris release includes three new flags for the madvise() function:
MADV_ACCESS_LWP – Gives a specified lightweight process (LWP) resource allocation priority
MADV_ACCESS_MANY – Specifies an address range that is intensively used by processes across the machine
MADV_ACCESS_DEFAULT – Resets an address range's access pattern to the system default
For further information on the madvise() function, see the madvise(3C) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
The Solaris Smartcard framework now provides low-level middleware APIs. These APIs can be used to exchange data with a smart card by using a smart card reader. The APIs can be used in platforms such as the Sun BladeTM and Sun RayTM systems. Applications that are written in the Java language, or in C, can use these interfaces.
For more information, see the libsmartcard(3LIB) man page and the JavaDocs in /usr/share/javadoc/smartcard.
The Solaris software now includes the following language support enhancements. Common Transliteration-based Input Method for All Indian languages is a new feature in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. Language support features from prior releases include the following:
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/03 release.
Users who operate within any Unicode (UTF-8) locale in the Solaris software can now easily and intuitively input characters from Indian regional languages. Users who interact with CDE applications, StarOfficeTM, or Mozilla can more easily interact with Indian scripts. After selecting the transliteration-based input method (IM), users can type phonetic equivalents of Indian language scripts in English. These equivalents are then displayed in the script that is selected, and are correctly shaped and rendered with the help of an underlying layout and shaper module. As transliteration is the most commonly used input method to input Indian languages, this support can greatly enhance the usability of the eight Indian scripts that are provided in the Solaris software.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
Solaris Unicode locales now support the Unicode Version 3.2. The Unicode Version 3.2 introduces 1016 new characters. This version also includes both normative changes and informative changes, as described in the Unicode Standard Annex #28: UNICODE 3.2 at the following Web site:
http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr28/
The UTF-8 character representation has been changed to a more secure form as specified in the Unicode Version 3.2. This feature implements the more secure UTF-8 character representation, form, and byte sequences in UTF-8 related iconv code conversions. This feature also implements all OS-level multibyte and wide character functions, such as the following:
mbtowc()
wctomb()
mbstowcs()
wcstombs()
mbrtowc()
wcrtomb()
mbsrtowcs()
fgetwc()
mblen()
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Software support for three additional keyboards has been added to the Solaris 9 4/03 release: Estonian keyboard Type 6, French-Canadian keyboard Type 6, and Polish programmer's keyboard Type 5. This software support gives users in Canada, Estonia, and Poland greater flexibility for keyboard input. The support modifies standard U.S. keyboard layouts to different language needs.
Refer to the Solaris 9 4/03 Release Notes for instructions.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The Wubi input method (IM) is widely used in China. The encoding rule for Wubi IM is based on the radical or stroke shape of Chinese characters. Users can rapidly type Chinese characters through a standard keyboard rather than through slower, phonetic-based input methods.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
Input support for Indian regional language keyboards has been added to the Solaris software. Indic language users can type Indic language characters by using their preferred keyboard layouts in the Solaris software.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
In addition to the current support for Hindi, the following Indic scripts are supported in this Solaris release:
Bengali
Gurmukhi
Gujarati
Tamil
Malayalam
Telugu
Kannada
Speakers of these Indian regional languages have language support in the Solaris software for any of the Unicode locale environments that Solaris supports.
The Solaris software includes the following documentation changes. The most recent change is New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 12/03 Release.
The following new and revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 12/03 release:
Application Packaging Developer's Guide – See Signed Packages and Patches.
IPsec and IKE Administration Guide – See Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Key Storage on Sun Crypto Accelerator 4000 Board.
Programming Interfaces Guide – See SPARC: Locality Groups.
Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide – See WAN Boot Installation Method.
System Administration Guide: Basic Administration – See Signed Packages and Patches.
System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services – See NIS-to-LDAP Transition Service.
System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services – See Physical Memory Control Using the Resource Capping Daemon.
The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 8/03 release:
System Administration Guide: Security Services – See Auditing Enhancements.
System Administration Guide: Basic Administration – See SPARC: Multiterabyte UFS File Systems.
Solaris 9 Installation Guide – See Solaris Live Upgrade 2.1.
Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual – See SPARC: TCP Multidata Transmit.
Linker and Libraries Guide – See Linkers and Libraries Updates.
The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 8/03 release:
Sun ONE Application Server 7 Collection Update 1 (Solaris Edition) – The collection is available at http://docs.sun.com. For a description of the Sun ONE Application Server, see Sun ONE Application Server Integration.
This collection includes extensive Sun ONE Application Server documentation for system administrators and developers. Some of the manuals in this collection have been made available previously. Now they are collected in the Sun ONE Application Server 7 Collection Update 1 (Solaris Edition) for your ease of reference.
GNOME 2.0 Desktop Collection – This collection is available at http://docs.sun.com. For a description of the GNOME 2.0 desktop, see GNOME 2.0 Desktop.
This new collection includes the following manuals:
GNOME 2.0 Desktop User Guide – Describes the components of the desktop and how to customize preferences.
GNOME 2.0 Desktop System Administration Guide – Provides information on how to administer the GNOME 2.0 desktop on the Solaris 8 release and the Solaris 9 release.
GNOME 2.0 Desktop Accessibility Guide – Describes how to configure, customize, and use the accessibility features that are available for the GNOME 2.0 desktop. Information is provided for the Solaris 8 release and for the Solaris 9 release.
GNOME 2.0 Desktop Troubleshooting Guide – Describes known problems and solutions for the GNOME 2.0 desktop. The guide is relevant for the Solaris 8 release and the Solaris 9 release. The manual also contains advice about how to improve the desktop performance.
The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 release:
Linker and Libraries Guide – See Linkers and Libraries Updates.
System Administration Guide: Basic Administration – See SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support With EFI Disk Labels and Solaris Patch Update Feature. Information on managing signed patches has also been expanded in this book. Also, see Command-Line Interface Enhancements to the Solaris Product Registry.
IPv6 Administration Guide – See Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) 6to4 Router.
Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide – See Solaris Flash Archives.
Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide – See SPARC: Multiterabyte Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager and Reconfiguration Coordination Manager Support in Solaris Volume Manager.
System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services – See Extended Accounting Subsystem.
The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 release:
Sun WBEM SDK Developers Guide – See New Solaris WBEM Developer's Guide.
IPsec and IKE Administration Guide – See Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Hardware Acceleration.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The new Sun WBEM SDK Developers Guide is a combination of the two books on WBEM that were part of earlier Solaris 9 releases: the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide and the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide. This change was made to order sequentially the tasks that are associated with WBEM development and deployment. Other changes are listed here:
The chapter on SNMP was removed.
In the chapter on “Using the CIM Object Manager,” the steps for upgrading from a previous Solaris release were changed. The change consisted of removing the suggestion to convert existing CIM Object Manager data from the older format that was used in early WBEM releases. Instead, the new suggestion is to recompile all of the MOF files by using the mofcomp command.
The introductory chapters from the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide and the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide were merged into a single introductory chapter.
The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 12/02 release:
Linker and Libraries Guide – See Linkers and Libraries Updates.
Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide – See Solaris Flash Archives and Support for LDAP Version 2 Profiles.
System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) – See Enhanced crypt() Function.
System Administration Guide: Security Services – See Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) Enhancement.
The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 12/02 release:
Sun ONE Application Server 7 Getting Started Guide – See Sun ONE Application Server Integration.
Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Administrator's Guide – See Sun ONE Message Queue.
IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide – See Combine Data Address and Test Address for Single IP Network Multipathing Group.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
The “Transitioning From NIS+ to LDAP” appendix has been moved from the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (FNS and NIS+) to the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). Additionally, explanations and examples of various components have been added to the LDAP-related chapters in the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). No new features, however, are documented.
The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 9/02 release:
IPQoS Administration Guide – See IP Quality of Service and Extended Accounting Subsystem for information about the IPQoS feature.
The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 9/02 release:
System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services – See Extended Accounting Subsystem.
System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) – See NIS+-to-LDAP Transition Documentation.
The Solaris software includes the following performance enhancements.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
UFS logging enables faster system reboots. Because the file system transactions are already stored, checking the file system is not required if the file system is already consistent.
In addition, the performance of UFS logging improves or exceeds the level of performance of nonlogging file systems in this Solaris release. Results of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation system file server (SPECsfs) benchmark show that the performance of NFS-mounted file systems that have logging enabled equals the level of non-UFS logging performance. In some I/O-bound configurations, logging UFS file systems exceed the performance of nonlogging UFS file systems by approximately 25 percent. In other tests, performance of logging UFS file systems is 12 times better than the performance of nonlogging UFS file systems.
For information on how to enable logging on a UFS file system, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration or the mount_ufs(1M) man page.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
The Solaris dispatcher and the virtual memory subsystem are enhanced to optimize the time that is required for an application to access memory. This enhancement can automatically improve the performance of many applications. This feature is currently implemented to support specific platforms such as the Sun FireTM 3800–6800, the Sun Fire 12K, and the Sun Fire 15K.
A technical white paper about Solaris Memory Placement Optimization and Sun Servers is available at the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/servers/wp/docs/mpo_v7_CUSTOMER.pdf
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 9/02 release.
Large-page support is now provided for Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM). This large-page support can increase the performance of applications that are capable of dynamically adjusting shared memory sizes.
For further information on DISM, see System Performance Enhancements.
The Solaris software now includes the following browser enhancements.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The NetscapeTM 7.0 cross-platform browser integrates features for navigating the Web, communicating with colleagues, participating in discussion groups, and creating dynamic Web pages. The following features are provided in Netscape 7.0.
Fast and efficient browsing tools
Integrated mail and instant messaging enhancements
Faster and streamlined search functions
Privacy that is more secure
Enterprise functionality
Netscape 7.0 includes the following highlights.
Internet Support is provided by the following applications.
Netscape NavigatorTM
Netscape Mail
Netscape Instant Messenger
Netscape Composer
Netscape Address Book
Additional utilities and plug-ins
Support for the latest industry standards, including Java technology, IPv6, Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P), XML, Cascading Style Sheets, level 1 (CSS1), and data output messaging (DOM) – Enables the creation of a new class of Web applications.
My Sidebar – Connects users to important information such as breaking news stories, stock portfolios, buddy lists, and auctions.
Fully customized, integrated search – Helps provide faster access to information, and eliminates waiting to load a search page or open a frame.
Instant messaging that is integrated with browsing and mail – Increases productivity and enhances your communication with colleagues and friends.
Themes – Enables users to add personal touches to their browsers. Web sites and businesses can create browsers to their customers' specifications.
Flexible, modular design – Enhances the user's Web experience and increases productivity.
Global support for English, European, and Asian languages.
Integrated Java technology – Delivers cross-platform, seamless access to browser-based applications.
For more information on Netscape 7.0, see the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/netscape
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. In the Solaris 9 4/03 release, Netscape 7.0 is provided. See Netscape 7.0.
The Solaris software now includes the following desktop enhancement.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The GNOME 2.0 desktop is an advanced, intuitive desktop for the Solaris software. The GNOME 2.0 desktop provides an alternative to the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), which was provided with the Solaris environment through several releases.
The GNOME 2.0 desktop provides a familiar environment that enables users to easily interact with the applications and documents on their desktop. The GNOME 2.0 desktop includes the following features:
An advanced file manager
A comprehensive online help system
Software utilities and accessories
Panels for launching applications and managing application windows and multiple workspaces
The GNOME 2.0 desktop includes the following important components:
Nautilus is an advanced file manager that enables users to organize and locate applications and documents. Nautilus also enables users to view the contents of text and picture files directly in the file manager.
The Panel bar on the desktop contains the following:
Application launchers
System menus
Panel drawers (subpanels)
Applets
Panels provide a quick way to launch applications and view the system status. You can create an unlimited number of panels.
Applications support a variety of everyday tasks. Applications in the GNOME 2.0 desktop include the following:
Text Editor
Calculator
Character Map
Image Viewer
PostScriptTM or PDF Viewer
Media Player
Sound Recorder
Performance Meter
Print Manager
Terminal
Applets are sets of utilities that run in a panel. Applets in the GNOME 2.0 desktop include the following:
Clock
Inbox Monitor
CD Player
Volume Control
Character Palette
Command Line
Keyboard Layout Switcher
Window List
Workspace Switcher
For further information about the GNOME 2.0 desktop, see the GNOME 2.0 Desktop Collection. Further information about this collection is provided in New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 8/03 Release.
The Solaris software includes the following X11 windowing enhancements.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The Xscreensaver program locks your monitor screen after a period of inactivity in order to prevent others from gaining access to your system session. Xscreensaver supports a variety of animation displays that can be used while the screen is locked. This program is used in the GNOME 2.0 desktop.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
XEvIE is a low-level interface that intercepts all the keyboard and mouse events so that these events can be read, consumed, or modified as needed. This X extension enables better integration of assistive technologies, including those technologies in the GNOME 2.0 desktop.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
FreeType 2.1.x is an open source library that provides a simple application programming interface (API). This API can access font content in a uniform way, independently of the file format. Additionally, some format-specific APIs can be used to access special data in the font file.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The Xserver Virtual Screen enhancement provides accessibility support for the GNOME 2.0 desktop for the Solaris software. This capability enables support of magnification software on systems that have just one frame buffer.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The new Xrender feature increases performance for applications, such as the StarOffice software suite, that run on the Solaris software. The Xrender feature provides a modern appearance for these applications. Xrender uses hardware processing for alpha-blending and transparency effects.
The Solaris release includes the following freeware enhancements.
To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for these freeware packages, see the license path included in each of the following descriptions. If the Solaris software has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the path to access the file at the installed location.
For a list of freeware in the Solaris 9 release, see Freeware Enhancements.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 8/03 release.
The Ghostscript 7.05 freeware package is included in the Solaris release. Ghostscript 7.05 reads PostScript and PDF files, and displays these files on screen or converts the files to a form that is usable by many printers. See the gs(1) man page under /usr/sfw/share/man.
To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for Ghostscript, the license path is /usr/sfw/share/src/<freeware name>.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 4/03 release.
The following new freeware packages are new or revised in the Solaris 9 4/03 release:
libxml2 2.4.16 – A standard for building tag-based structured documents or data
libxslt 1.0.19 – An XML language to define transformation for XML
To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for these packages, the license path is /usr/share/src/<freeware name></filename>.
This feature is new in the Solaris 9 12/02 release.
The following new freeware package is included in the Solaris release: ANT 1.4.1 – This is a Jakarta ANT Java and XML-based build package.
To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for ANT, the license path is /usr/sfw/share/src/<freeware name>.