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What's New in the Solaris 9 9/04 Operating Environment

Chapter 2 Features in the Solaris 9 Release

This chapter summarizes new and enhanced features that are available in the Solaris 9 release, which was originally distributed in May 2002. For a summary of additional enhancements that are available in the Solaris 9 9/02 release and subsequent Solaris 9 releases, see Chapter 1, What's New in Solaris 9 Releases.

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.

For information about features available in the Solaris 8 release and the Solaris 7 release, see the appendixes provided in What's New in the Solaris 9 Operating Environment.

System Resources Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following system resources enhancements.

Solaris 9 Resource Manager

Solaris 9 Resource Manager provides improvements to the management of system resources. The resource manager features enable system administrators to do the following:

The resource controls framework allows you to set constraints on the system resources that are consumed by processes and tasks. Tasks are collections of processes that are related to a single activity.

Resource pools provide a way to partition system resources, such as processors, and maintain those partitions across reboots. A new fair share scheduler (FSS) has been added that allows the fine-grained sharing of CPU resources on a system.

These features enhance your ability to manage how resources are allocated to applications in a server consolidation environment.

In the Solaris 9 release, the full functionality is administered through a command-line interface. Performance monitoring and the setting of resource controls can also be done through the Solaris Management Console.

For more information on resource management, see the System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services and the following man pages:

New Fixed-Priority (FX) Scheduling Class

The FX scheduler provides a scheduling policy for processes that require user or application control of scheduling priorities. The priorities of processes that run under FX are fixed. These priorities are not dynamically adjusted by the system. The FX class has the same priority range as the TS, IA, and FSS classes.

For more information on the FX scheduler, see the Programming Interfaces Guide and the Multithreaded Programming Guide. Also see the priocntl(1) and dispadmin(1M) man pages.

For restrictions on using the FX and FSS schedulers on the same system, see Chapter 9, Fair Share Scheduler, in System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.

New Display Options for the df, du, and ls Commands

The df, du, and ls -l commands have a new -h option. This option displays disk usage and file or file system sizes in powers of 1024. This display simplifies interpretation of the output of the df, du, and ls -l commands. The -h option provides disk space in Kbytes, Mbytes, Gbytes, or Tbytes if the file or directory size is larger than 1024 bytes.

See the df(1M), du(1), and ls(1) man pages for further information.

Improved Process Debugging With the pargs and preap Commands

Two new commands, pargs and preap, improve process debugging. Use the pargs command to print the arguments and environment variables that are associated with a live process or a core file. Use the preap command to remove zombie processes.

See the preap(1) man page and the proc(1) man page for information on using these commands.

Networking Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following networking enhancements.

Sun ONE Directory Server

Note –

The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1 is available within the Solaris 9 operating system. The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.2 is available as a component product in the Java Enterprise System. For further information about the Java Enterprise System, see Sun Java Enterprise System Joins Solaris.

The Solaris 9 release provides an integrated version of the Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanet Directory Server). This server is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory server. The Sun ONE Directory Server is a powerful, distributed directory server that is designed to manage an enterprise-wide directory of users and resources. This scalable directory service can be used for intranet applications, extranets with trading partners, and e-commerce applications to reach customers over the Internet.

The Directory Server is managed through the Sun ONE Console, the graphical user interface that is provided with the Sun ONE Directory Server. Administrators use the Console to grant access rights, manage databases, configure the directory, and replicate the data to multiple directory servers. Users access the data through any LDAP-enabled client application, such as applications that were developed with the Sun ONE Software Developers Kits (SDKs) for C and the Java programming language.

Configuration for setup of the Sun ONE Directory Server has been simplified by using idsconfig. Server and client configuration information is available in the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).

See also the iPlanet Directory Server 5.1 Collection (Solaris Edition) at http://docs.sun.com. This collection includes the following books:

For licensing terms about the Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1, refer to the binary code license.

Note –

The following name changes have been made for features in the Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE):

Naming Service Support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

Naming service support has been enhanced in the Solaris 9 release. Changes include the following:

For information on security features in the Solaris 9 release, including the Secure LDAP Client, see Security Enhancements. For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).

NIS+-to-LDAP Migration Tools

The Solaris 9 release announces end-of-software support for NIS+ and the move to the LDAP-based naming environment. This release includes migration tools to use for migrating from NIS+ to LDAP. For more information on the NIS+ announcement, refer to the following Web site:

http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html

A detailed discussion of how to migrate from the NIS+ naming service to LDAP is included in the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (FNS and NIS+).

Note –

In the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release, this “Transitioning From NIS+ to LDAP” appendix moved to the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).

IP Security Architecture for IPv6

The IPsec security framework has been enhanced in the Solaris 9 release to enable secure IPv6 datagrams between machines. For the Solaris 9 release, only the use of manual keys is supported when using IPsec for IPv6.

Note –

The IPsec security framework for IPv4 was introduced in the Solaris 8 release. The Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol is available for IPv4.

For further information, see Chapter 19, IPsec (Overview), in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Enhanced inetd Command

The inetd networking command has been enhanced to support the monitoring and filtering of incoming requests for network services. The server can be configured to log the client host name of incoming requests and thus enhance network security. The inetd command uses the same mechanism that is used by the Tcp-wrappers 7.6 utility. For information about Tcp-wrappers 7.6, see Freeware Enhancements.

For further information, see the inetd(1M), hosts_access(4), and hosts_options(4) man pages.

Solaris FTP Client

The Solaris FTP client has been enhanced to include support for the following:

For information on the ftp command, see the ftp(1) man page.

Trivial File Transfer Protocols (TFTP) Enhancements

The Solaris TFTP client and server have been enhanced to support TFTP option extensions, negotiations of the blocksize, time-out interval, and transfer size.

For further information, see the tftp(1) and in.tftpd(1M) man pages. See also the RFCs 2347, 2348, and 2349.

Support for IPv6 Over ATM

Support for using IPv6 over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks as specified by RFC 2492 has been introduced in the Solaris 9 release.

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Enhanced snoop Packet Capture

The snoop packet capture and display tool has been enhanced to decode and filter both AppleTalk and SCTP packets.

See the snoop(1M) man page for further information on this command.

Solaris PPP 4.0

Solaris PPP 4.0 enables a system in one location to communicate over telephone lines or leased communications media with a system at a remote location. This implementation of the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is based on the widely used Australian National University (ANU) PPP. Solaris PPP 4.0 is entirely new for the Solaris operating environment. PPP 4.0 is easily configured through a set of files. PPP 4.0 supports synchronous communications and asynchronous communications. PPP 4.0 provides Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) and Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) authentication. Because Solaris PPP 4.0 is highly configurable, customers can easily tailor PPP to fit their remote communications needs. Also provided is the asppp2pppd conversion script for migrating from the earlier Solaris PPP (asppp) to Solaris PPP 4.0.

PPP 4.0 now includes the PPPoE feature, which enables the use of tunneling with PPP. Support for PPPoE was introduced in the Solaris 8 10/01 release.

For further information, see the PPP section in the System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services and the pppd(1M) man page.

For information on licensing terms, refer to the incorporated material at the following locations:

/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWpppd/install/copyright

/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWpppdu/install/copyright

/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWpppg/install/copyright

Sun Internet FTP Server

Sun Internet FTP ServerTM is fully compatible with the Solaris 8 FTP software. The FTP Server offers new capabilities and new performance improvements for Solaris 9 users.

The Solaris 9 FTP Server is based on WU-ftpd. Originally developed by Washington University, WU-ftpd is widely used for the distribution of bulk data over the Internet. WU-ftpd is the preferred standard for large FTP sites.

Extensions to the Sun RPC Library

The RPC library extensions project extends the Sun ONC+TM RPC library with an asynchronous protocol. Programming interfaces have been added to the Transport Independent Remote Procedure Calls to provide one-way asynchronous messaging and nonblocking I/O.

For further information on ONC+ development, see the ONC+ Developer’s Guide.

Enhancements to sendmail

The following new features are available in sendmail version 8.12, which is included in the Solaris 9 operating environment:

The following details might be of particular interest:

For further information, see the Chapter 25, Mail Services (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services. The chapters on mail services provide overview information and procedures for setting up and modifying your mail service. Also provided are procedures for troubleshooting, some background information, and details about the new features.

Note –

Version 8.10 of sendmail was first made available in the Solaris 8 4/01 operating environment. Version 8.12 of sendmail is available in the Solaris 9 operating environment.

Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA)

The Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) has been improved with the addition of a sockets interface to NCA. With minimal modifications, any web server can communicate through the sockets interface. Web servers such as Apache, Sun ONE Web Server (formerly iPlanet Web Server), and Zeus are able to make use of NCA performance by using standard socket library functions. Also, NCA now supports vectored sendfile, which provides support for AF_NCA. Finally, the ncab2clf command has been enhanced. New options enable you to skip records before a selected date and to process a particular number of records when converting log files.

For more information about NCA, see Chapter 2, Managing Web Cache Servers, in System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.

IP Network Multipathing

IP network multipathing provides your system with recovery from single-point failures with network adapters and increased traffic throughput. As of the Solaris 8 10/00 release, the system switches all the network accesses automatically from a failed adapter to an alternate adapter. The alternate adapter must be connected to the same IP link. This process ensures uninterrupted access to the network. When you have multiple network adapters connected to the same IP link, you achieve increased traffic throughput by spreading the traffic across multiple network adapters.

In the Solaris 8 4/01 release, dynamic reconfiguration (DR) uses IP network multipathing to decommission a specific network device. This process has no impact on existing IP users.

The Solaris 8 7/01 release introduced the new IP network multipathing Reboot Safe feature, which saves the IP address in the following conditions. A failed NIC is removed from the system by using dynamic reconfiguration. A reboot occurs prior to reinsertion of a functioning NIC. In these circumstances, the system attempts, but fails, to plumb an interface for the missing NIC. Rather than lose the IP address, the IP network multipathing Reboot Safe feature transfers the IP address to another NIC in the IP network multipathing interface group.

For more information, see Chapter 26, IP Network Multipathing Topics, in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

SPARC: IP Network Multipathing DLPI Link-Up and Link-Down Notification Support

Link-down notifications enable the IP multipathing daemon to detect physical link failures faster. When a network interface is started, the IP multipathing daemon attempts to enable link-up and link-down notifications from the network interface driver. A link-down notification is generated when the interface detects the loss of the physical link to the network. A link-up notification is generated when the physical link is restored. The driver must support this feature in order for the notification procedure to work. The RUNNING flag is unset when a link-down notification is received, and set when a link-up notification is received. The IP multipathing daemon uses the RUNNING flag to monitor the physical link state.

For more information, see the IP network multipathing chapters in the System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Mobile Internet Protocol

Mobile Internet Protocol (Mobile IP) enables the transfer of information to and from mobile computers, such as laptop and wireless communications. The mobile computer can change its location to a foreign network and still access and communicate with and through the mobile computer's home network. The Solaris implementation of Mobile IP supports only IPv4.

As of the Solaris 8 4/01 release, Mobile IP enables system administrators to set up reverse tunnels. A reverse tunnel can be set up from the mobile node's care-of address to the home agent. This reverse tunnel ensures a topologically correct source address for the IP data packet. By using reverse tunnels, system administrators can also assign private addresses to mobile nodes.

For more information on the Mobile Internet Protocol, see Chapter 22, Mobile IP Topics, in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Mobile Internet Protocol (Mobile IP) Agent Advertisements Over Dynamic Interfaces

Dynamically created interfaces are interfaces that are configured after the mipagent daemon starts. You can now configure the foreign agent implementation to send advertisements over dynamically created interfaces. You can also enable or disable some unsolicited advertisements over the advertising interfaces.

For more information on Mobile Internet Protocol, see Chapter 22, Mobile IP Topics, in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Berkeley Internet Name Domain

An updated version of Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) has been integrated in the Solaris 9 release. The updated version is BIND version 8.2.4.

BIND functionality includes the following:

For more information, see the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).

Networking Freeware

See Freeware Enhancements for information about GNU wget 1.6, Ncftp Client 3.0.3, and Samba 2.2.2 in the Solaris 9 release.

System Administration Tools

The Solaris 9 release includes the following system administration enhancements.

Solaris Volume Manager

Solaris Volume Manager provides storage management tools. These tools enable you to create and manage RAID-0, RAID-1, and RAID-5 volumes, as well as transactional (logging) devices and soft partitions. Solaris Volume Manager provides all of the capabilities of Solstice DiskSuiteTM. Solaris Volume Manager adds the following:

The Solaris 9 release seamlessly supports the upgrade of existing systems that run Solstice DiskSuite (SDS) to the Solaris Volume Manager. This upgrade does not disturb or change the configuration. Upgrades of mirrored root file systems are fully and automatically supported.

For more information, see the Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.

Unified diff Format

The diff and sccs-sccsdiff commands have been updated to include support for the GNU-style unified diff format. In this format, context lines are only printed once in the listing of differences.

For information on these commands, see the diff(1) and sccs-sccsdiff(1) man pages.

Generic Log Rotation Facility

A generic log rotation facility is available in the Solaris 9 release. System administrators can use this facility to maintain and rotate system and application log files. For further information, see the logadm(1M) and logadm.conf(4) man pages.

Solaris Management Console

Solaris Management Console 2.1 is a GUI-based “umbrella application” that serves as the starting point for a variety of management tools. The console comes complete with a default toolbox that contains the following tools:

You can add or delete tools from the default toolbox. You can create a new toolbox to manage a different set of tools by using the console Toolbox Editor.

Diskless clients can also be managed, but only through a command-line interface.

For further information, see the Solaris Management Console (Overview) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Patch Manager

Patch Manager manages patches that are created for the Solaris 9 operating environment and compatible releases. You can display installed patches and their properties. You can add patches to one or more systems concurrently. You can remove patches, analyze a system's patch requirements, and download patches from the SunSolve Online service.

The new smpatch command installs patches on a single machine or multiple machines, analyzes patch requirements, and downloads required patches.

See the smpatch(1M) man page for further information.

Solaris WBEM Services 2.5

Solaris WBEM Services 2.5 is Sun Microsystems' implementation of Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM). WBEM is a set of management and Internet-related technologies. These technologies are intended to unify the management of enterprise compute environments. Solaris WBEM Services was updated to version 2.5 in the Solaris 9 release.

Further information is provided in Web-Based Enterprise Management Tools.

CIM Object Manager Now Listens to HTTP Port 5988

The CIM Object Manager listens for remote method invocation (RMI) connections on RMI port 5987. And, the Object Manager now listens for XML and HTTP connections on HTTP port 5988. In the Solaris 8 release and Solaris 8 update releases, the CIM Object Manager listened for XML and HTTP connections on default HTTP port 80.

For further information, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

SNMP Adapter for WBEM

The SNMP Adapter for WBEM is intended for use by system administrators. This adapter enables Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) management applications to access the system management information that is provided by Solaris WBEM Services.

The SNMP Adapter for WBEM is used with the SolsticeTM Enterprise Agent (SEA) Master Agent. The adapter maps SNMP requests into equivalent WBEM Common Information Model (CIM) properties or instances.

The SNMP Adapter for WBEM also remaps the response from the CIM Object Manager into an SNMP response, which is returned to the management application.

A mapping file contains the corresponding object identifier (OID), class name, property name, and Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) type for each object.

For further information on WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

Solaris Product Registry 3.0

The Solaris Product Registry 3.0 includes the following new features:

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Modify Software Groups in Solaris Web Start Program

The Solaris Web Start program was updated to enable you to modify the selected Solaris Software Group. You can add or remove software packages.

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

System Administration Freeware Tools

For information about GNU grep 2.4.2 and GNU tar 1.13, see Freeware Enhancements. GNU grep 2.4.2 is a pattern matcher. GNU tar 1.13 is an archiver.

File System Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following file system enhancements.

Extended File Attributes

The UFS, NFS, and TMPFS file systems have been enhanced to include extended file attributes. Application developers can associate specific attributes to a file. For example, a developer of a file management application for a windowing system might choose to associate a display icon with a file.

Extended attributes are logically represented as files within a hidden directory that is associated with the target file.

You can use the extended file attribute API and a set of shell commands to add and manipulate file system attributes. See the fsattr(5), openat(2), and runat(1) man pages for more information.

Many file system commands in Solaris provide an attribute-aware option that you can use to query, copy, modify, or find file attributes. For more information, see the specific file system command in the man pages.

See also the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration for more information.

Improved UFS Direct I/O Concurrency

The performance of direct I/O is used by database applications to access unbuffered file-system data. Direct I/O improvements allow concurrent read access and write access to regular UFS files. Previously, an operation that updated file data would lock out all other read or write accesses until the update operation was completed.

See the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration and the man page, mount_ufs(1M), for more information.

DNLC Improvements

The directory name look-up cache (DNLC) is enhanced to provide improved performance when you access files in large directories with 1000 or more files.

The DNLC is a general file-system service. DNLC caches the most recently referenced directory names and their associated vnodes. UFS directory entries are stored linearly on disk. This means that locating an entry requires searching each entry for the name. Adding a new entry requires searching the entire directory to ensure the name does not exist. To solve this performance problem, entire directories are cached in memory by the DNLC.

Another feature in this release is that DNLC caches file objects that have been looked up but do not exist. This feature is known as negative caching, and is useful because some applications repeatedly test to check if a file exists.

New tunable parameters are associated with the DNLC improvements. These parameters are set optimally. Do not change the parameters casually.

See the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual for further information.

UFS Snapshots (fssnap)

You can use the fssnap command to create a snapshot of a file system. A snapshot is a file system's temporary image that is intended for backup operations.

When run, the fssnap command creates a virtual device and a backing-store file. You can back up the virtual device, which looks and acts like a real device, with any of the existing Solaris backup commands. The backing-store file is a bitmapped file that contains copies of pre-snapshot data that has been modified since the snapshot was taken.

See the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration and the man page, fssnap(1M), for more information.

Updated mkfs Command

The mkfs command has been updated to improve performance when you create file systems. Improved mkfs performance is often 10 times faster than in previous Solaris releases. Performance improvements are seen on systems when you create both large file systems and small file systems. However, the biggest mkfs performance improvements occur on systems with high-capacity or high-speed disks.

Installation Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following installation enhancements.

Solaris Live Upgrade 2.0

Note –

Solaris Live Upgrade 2.0 is available in the Solaris 9 operating environment. This description covers version 2.0.

Solaris Live Update 2.1 is now available in the Solaris 9 8/03 Update release. For a description of Solaris Live Update 2.1, see Solaris Live Upgrade 2.1.

Solaris Live Upgrade provides a method of upgrading that substantially reduces the usual service outage that is associated with an operating system upgrade. You can duplicate your current running boot environment, then while the original boot environment continues to run, you can upgrade the duplicate. The duplicate boot environment is then activated to become the active boot environment when the system is rebooted. If a failure occurs, you can quickly fall back to the original boot environment with a simple reboot. This feature eliminates the downtime for the production environment that is associated with a normal test and evaluation process.

In addition to upgrading a boot environment, you can install a Web Start Flash archive on an inactive boot environment. When you reboot the system, the configuration that you installed on an inactive boot environment is active.

The Solaris 9 release includes several Live Upgrade enhancements that apply to the command-line interface only. These enhancements affect the following:

For further information on Solaris Live Upgrade, see Chapter 32, Solaris Live Upgrade (Topics), in Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Note –

In the Solaris 9 Update releases, note the following name change:

Solaris Flash (formerly Web Start Flash)

Web Start Flash Installation Feature

The Web Start Flash installation feature enables you to create a single reference installation of the Solaris operating environment on a machine. You can then replicate that installation on several machines.

For further information, see Chapter 19, Solaris Flash Installation Feature (Topics), in Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Note –

In the Solaris 9 Update releases, note the following name change:

Solaris Flash (formerly Web Start Flash)

Web Start Flash Archive Retrieval Using FTP

The Web Start Flash program has been updated to allow you to retrieve a Web Start Flash archive by using FTP. When installing an archive, you can specify the location of an archive on an FTP server.

For details about how to retrieve an archive from an FTP server, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Note –

In the Solaris 9 Update releases, note the following name change:

Solaris Flash (formerly Web Start Flash)

Minimal Installation

Files that constitute several features in the core software group, or metacluster, are now moved into separate, more logically organized packages. You can optionally exclude these packages from the Solaris operating environment when you install the Solaris software. You can also remove these packages by using the pkgrm command after installation. See the pkgrm(1M) man page.

Files that constitute the following features are moved into new packages or existing packages:

x86: PXE Network Boot

The x86 pre-boot execution environment (PXE) enables you to boot a Solaris x86 system directly from the network without using the Solaris boot diskette. The x86 system must support PXE. On a system that supports PXE, enable the system to use PXE by using the system's BIOS setup tool or the network adapter's configuration setup tool. The Solaris boot diskette is available for the systems that do not support this feature.

For further information, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Longer Package Names

The pkgmk utility can now be used to create packages with names up to 32 characters in length. See the pkgmk(1) and pkgadd(1M) man pages.

Installation From the Solaris DVD

You can now install the Solaris operating environment and additional software from the Solaris DVD. The DVD enables you to perform either a Solaris Web Start installation or a custom JumpStart installation. The Solaris DVD includes the Solaris software, ExtraValue software, and the Solaris documentation.

For detailed instructions, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Solaris Web Start Program Uses sysidcfg File

The Solaris Web Start program has been modified to use the sysidcfg file to configure system information during an installation or upgrade. Create a sysidcfg file with configuration information for your system. With this file in place, the Solaris Web Start program does not prompt you to enter the system information during installation.

For detailed instructions, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Enhancements to the Solaris Web Start Program

The Solaris Web Start program was updated to enable you to perform the following functions during the Solaris installation or upgrade:

For detailed instructions, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Additions to Time Zone Selections

The number of time zones that are available in the Solaris 9 operating environment has dramatically increased. When you install the Solaris operating environment, you can select time zones by geographic region. The time zone selections in the lists of continents and countries have been expanded.

For detailed instructions, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Solaris Web Start Wizards SDK 3.0.1

Solaris Web Start WizardsTM SDK simplifies the installation, setup, and administration of native Solaris, Java, and non-Java applications. With Solaris Web Start Wizards software, developers can copackage both Solaris versions and Microsoft Windows versions of their applications. The installation wizard manages the platform specifics.

The Web Start Wizards SDK 3.0.1 is now included with the Solaris 9 release. SDK 3.0.1 can be installed by using the Solaris Web Start program.

New Boot Options for a Custom JumpStart Installation

New options have been added for use with the boot command when you perform a custom JumpStart installation.

With the boot command, you can specify the location of the configuration files to use to perform the installation. You can specify a path to an HTTP server, an NFS server, or a file that is available on local media. If you do not know the path to the files, you can require that the installation program prompt you for the path. The prompt is displayed after the machine boots and connects to the network.

The nowin option enables you to specify that the custom JumpStart program not begin the X program. You do not need to use the X program to perform a custom JumpStart installation. You can shorten the installation time by using the nowin option.

For detailed instructions about how to use these new options, refer to Chapter 24, Custom JumpStart Installation (Topics), in Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Upgrading Mirrors

The Solaris 9 release now supports operating environment upgrades of root mirrors and metadevices that were created by the Solaris Volume Manager, formerly Solstice DiskSuite. If you are upgrading a system that has a metadevice that was created by the Solaris Volume Manager, you no longer need to edit the system's vfstab. The root mirror is detected, and the operating environment on the mirror is upgraded. This process runs just as in a typical upgrade without metadevices.

Default Routing With System Identification Utilities

The system identification utilities automatically attempt to determine the default router during installation.

For installation information, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Configuration With System Identification Utilities

During system identification, the system identification utilities can configure systems to be LDAP clients. Prior Solaris releases allowed the configuration of a machine only as an NIS, NIS+, or a DNS client.

For installation information, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

Patch Analyzer

The Patch Analyzer is now available when you use the Solaris Web Start program to upgrade to a Solaris Update release. The Patch Analyzer performs an analysis on your system. This analysis determines which patches would be removed or downgraded by an upgrade to a Solaris Update release. You do not need to use the Patch Analyzer when you upgrade to the Solaris 9 release.

For further installation information, see the Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide.

System Performance Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following system performance enhancements.

SPARC: Multiple Page Size Support

Multiple Page Size Support (MPSS) allows a program to use any hardware-supported page sizes to access portions of virtual memory. Previously, only 8–KB pages were available on UltraSPARC platforms for a program's stack, heap, or anonymous memory mapped with mmap().

You can use MPSS to run legacy applications with specific memory page size settings where the applications benefit from this sort of performance tuning. The use of larger page sizes might significantly improve the performance of programs that intensively use large amounts of memory.

For more information, see the man pages pagesize(1), mpss.so.1(1), ppgsz(1), and mmap(2).

Improved Multithreading Library

This release includes an improved and faster multithreading library, which was available as the alternate libthread in previous Solaris software releases.

For further information, see the Multithreaded Programming Guide and the threads(3THR) man page.

Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA)

The Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) has been improved with the addition of a sockets interface to NCA. Any web server can, with minimal modifications, communicate with NCA through this sockets interface. See Networking Enhancements.

SPARC: Performance Improvement for Servers

Enhancements have been made to the algorithm that controls virtual pages and physical pages and how the pages are cached. These enhancements deliver increased system performance of around 10% for general user loads in servers.

Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM)

Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM) allows a database to dynamically extend or reduce the size of the shared data segment. This feature eliminates the misconfiguration problem and denial-of-service security vulnerability of Intimate Shared Memory (ISM).

The ISM is a shared memory segment that consists of large locked memory pages. The ISM number of locked pages remains constant or unchanged. Dynamic ISM (DISM) is pageable ISM shared memory, where the number of locked pages is variable or changeable. Therefore, the DISM supports releasing or adding more physical memory to the system during dynamic reconfiguration. The size of the DISM can span available physical memory plus disk swap.

See the man page shmop(2).

Note –

Large-page support is available for DISM in the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release. For a description of this large-page support, see SPARC: Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM) Large-Page Support.

Server and Client Management

The Solaris 9 release includes the following enhancements for server and client management.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service enables host systems to receive IP addresses and network configuration information. This information is provided at boot time from a network server. The Solaris DHCP service has been enhanced in several ways to enable the service to support larger numbers of clients:

In addition, the Solaris DHCP server now supports dynamic DNS updates. You can enable the DHCP service to update the DNS service with the host names of DHCP clients that request a specific host name.

The Solaris DHCP client can now be configured to request a specific host name.

For more information, see the System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Diskless Client Management

Diskless client management is available through the command line. You can manage diskless clients, list OS services for diskless clients, and manage patches on all existing diskless clients.

For information on diskless client management, see Chapter 6, Managing Diskless Clients (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Security Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following security enhancements.

Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol

Internet Key Exchange (IKE) automates key management for IPsec. IKE replaces manual key assignment and refreshment on an IPv4 network. IKE enables the administrator to manage larger numbers of secure networks.

System administrators use IPsec to set up secure IPv4 networks. The in.iked daemon provides key derivation, authentication, and authentication protection at boot time. The daemon is configurable. The administrator sets up the parameters in a configuration file. After the parameters are set up, no manual key refreshment is required.

For further information, see Chapter 21, Internet Key Exchange, in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Solaris Secure Shell

Secure Shell allows a user to securely access a remote host over an unsecured network. Data transfers and interactive user network sessions are protected from eavesdropping, session hijacking, and intermediary attacks. Solaris 9 Secure Shell supports SSHv1 and SSHv2 protocol versions. Strong authentication that uses public-key cryptography is provided. The X Window System and other network services can be tunneled safely over Secure Shell connections for additional protection.

The Secure Shell server, sshd, supports the monitoring and filtering of incoming requests for network services. The server can be configured to log the client host name of incoming requests and thus enhance network security. sshd uses the same mechanism that is used by the Tcp-wrappers 7.6 utility that is described in Freeware Enhancements.

For further information, see the sshd(1M), hosts_access(4), and hosts_options(4) man pages. See also Chapter 11, Using Solaris Secure Shell (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) and Administration Tools

System administrators can improve system security by using Kerberos V5 authentication, privacy, and integrity. NFS is an example of an application that is secured with Kerberos V5.

The following list highlights the new features of Kerberos V5.

For further information, see Administering the Kerberos Database in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

Secure LDAP Client

The Solaris 9 release includes new features for LDAP client-based security. A new LDAP library provides for SSL (TLS) and CRAM-MD5 encryption mechanisms. These encryption mechanisms enable customers to deploy methods for encryption over the wire between LDAP clients and the LDAP server.

The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1 (formerly iPlanet Directory Server 5.1) is the LDAP directory server. For further information on this server, see Networking Enhancements.

Encryption Modules for IPsec and Kerberos

Strong encryption for IPsec and Kerberos is included in the Solaris 9 release. Prior to this release, encryption modules were available only on the Solaris Encryption Kit CD-ROM or through a web download. A number of these algorithms are now in the Solaris 9 operating environment. These algorithms include 56-bit DES privacy support for Kerberos as well as 56-bit DES and 128–bit 3-key Triple-DES support for IPsec.

Note –

Support for even stronger encryption is available on the Solaris Encryption Kit CD-ROM or through web download. IPsec supports the 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and 32-bit to 448-bit Blowfish in 8–bit increments.

For information on IPsec support, see Chapter 19, IPsec (Overview), in System Administration Guide: IP Services. For information on Kerberos support, see Chapter 13, Introduction to SEAM, in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

IP Security Architecture for IPv6

The IPsec security framework has been enhanced in the Solaris 9 release to enable secure IPv6 datagrams between machines. For the Solaris 9 release, only the use of manual keys is supported when using IPsec for IPv6.

Note –

The IPsec security framework for IPv4 was introduced in the Solaris 8 release. The Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol is available for IPv4.

For further information, see Chapter 19, IPsec (Overview), in System Administration Guide: IP Services.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Enhancements

Role-based access control (RBAC) databases can be managed through the Solaris Management Console graphical interface. Rights can now be assigned by default in the policy.conf file. In addition, rights can now contain other rights.

For further information on RBAC, see Chapter 5, Role-Based Access Control (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Security Services. For information about the Solaris Management Console, see System Administration Tools.

Xserver Security Options

New options enable system administrators to allow only encrypted connections to the Solaris X server. For further information, see Solaris 9 Features for Desktop Users.

Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSS-API)

The Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSS-API) is a security framework that enables applications to protect their transmitted data. The GSS-API provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality services to applications. The interface permits those applications to be entirely generic with respect to security. The applications do not have to check for the underlying platform, such as the Solaris platform, or security mechanism, such as Kerberos, being used. This means that applications that use the GSS-API can be highly portable.

For more information, see the GSS-API Programming Guide.

Additional Security Software

For information about SunScreenTM 3.2, a firewall product, see Additional Software.

See also Freeware Enhancements for information about the Tcp-wrappers 7.6 freeware in the Solaris 9 release. Tcp-wrappers 7.6 are small daemon programs that monitor and filter incoming requests for network services.

Xserver Features

The Solaris 9 release includes the following Solaris X server enhancements.

X11 Support for IPv6 on Solaris

The Solaris X Window System servers and client libraries now support the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). This support is available in addition to the existing IPv4 support. This feature enables you to use IPv6 addresses and connections when displaying X applications across the network.

Xserver Security Options

New options enable system administrators to control which transport methods are used by the Solaris X server. Administrators who need to secure a host can now disable remote TCP connections directly to the Xserver. At the same time, the administrators can allow encrypted connections to be tunneled through Secure Shell.

See the description of the -nolisten option in the Xserver(1) man page for further details.

Xsun Keyboard Bell Option

The Xsun server can now be configured to play a tone through an audio device. This option replaces ringing the keyboard bell when a program emits a beep. By using this option, users can customize the volume, pitch, and length of beeps through the Xset program or CDE control panel. Users adjust the beep to match their hearing ability and personal preferences.

See the description of the -audiobell option in the Xsun(1) man page for further details.

Using Xsun Server as a Display-only Device

New options enable the Xsun server to run without a keyboard or a mouse. You can run the Solaris window manager in display-only mode, without a mouse or a keyboard, in the following ways:

See the Xsun(1) man page for further information.

Removable Media Management

The Solaris 9 release includes the following enhancements for removable media.

Write CD File Systems With the cdrw Command

The cdrw command enables you to write CD file systems in ISO 9660 format. You can use Rock Ridge or Joliet extensions on CD-R or CD-RW media devices.

You can use the cdrw command to do the following:

Go to the following Web site for information on recommended CD-R or CD-RW devices:

http://www.sun.com/io_technologies/ihvindex.html

See the cdrw(1) man page for information on using this command.

Improved Removable Media Management

Volume management features have been improved in this release to fully support removable media. This improvement means that the following media are mounted and available for reading on insertion:

With Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and Solaris command-line enhancements, you can accomplish the following:

See the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration for information on managing removable media with the command-line interface. See the Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide for information on managing removable media with CDE's File Manager.

Device Management

The Solaris 9 release includes the following enhancements for device management.

SPARC: Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager

The Sun StorEdgeTM Traffic Manager feature supports multiple paths for I/O devices such as Fibre Channel-accessible storage. This feature balances the workload across multiple devices. Additionally, the Traffic Manager increases reliability by redirecting requests from a failed interface card or storage device to a card or device that is operational.

SPARC: Sun Gigaswift Ethernet Driver

As of the Solaris 8 7/01 release, the Solaris operating environment includes support for the Sun Gigaswift 1000Base-T Ethernet driver. This product enhances performance of a 1-Gbyte twisted-pair copper Ethernet link.

For further information, see the ce(7D) man page.

USB Devices

Note –

In the Solaris 9 4/04 release, new and revised USB feature descriptions are provided. See Device Management.

The Solaris operating environment includes support for USB devices such as keyboards, mouse devices, audio devices, mass storage devices, and printers.

Note –

These enhancements for USB device support are new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 release. In the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release, these enhancements are now also available for x86 platforms.

Sun Microsystems support for USB devices includes the following:

Using USB Mass Storage Devices

Note –

In the Solaris 9 4/04 release, new and revised USB feature descriptions are provided. See Device Management.

Many USB mass storage devices are supported in the Solaris environment. Some noncompliant USB devices might work. Follow the information that is provided in the /kernel/drv/scsa2usb.conf file to see if a particular device can be supported.

Note –

These USB mass storage devices enhancements are new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 release. In the Solaris 9 8/03 Update release, these enhancements are now also available for x86 platforms.

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Hot-Plugging USB Devices With the cfgadm Command

Note –

In the Solaris 9 4/04 release, new and revised USB feature descriptions are provided. See Device Management.

With the cfgadm command, you can hot-plug a USB device from a running system without having to shut down the system. You can also use the cfgadm command to logically hot-plug a USB device without physically removing the device. This scenario is convenient when you need to reset a USB device from a remote location.

Note –

These enhancements for hot-plugging are new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 release. In the Solaris 9 8/03 Update release, these enhancements are now also available for x86 platforms.

For more information, see the cfgadm_usb(1M) man page.

USB Printer Support

Note –

In the Solaris 9 4/04 release, new and revised USB feature descriptions are provided. See Device Management.

You can use Solaris Print Manager to set up a USB printer that is attached to a SPARC system or an IA system with USB ports.

The new logical device names for USB printers are as follows:

/dev/printers/[0...N]*

Therefore, when you add a USB printer to a printer server, select one of these devices for a USB printer. Select a device under Printer Port on the Add New Attached Printer screen.

Note –

These USB printer support enhancements are new for the SPARC platform in the Solaris 9 release. In the Solaris 9 8/03 Update release, these enhancements are now also available for x86 platforms.

For more information on using the Solaris Print Manager to set up printers, see the System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration.

The USB printer driver in the Solaris 9 release supports all USB printer-class compliant printers. Check the list of recommended PostScript printers in the usbprn(7D) man page.

For information and cautions about hot-plugging USB printers, refer to the Notes and Diagnostics sections of the usbprn(7D) man page.

Reconfiguration Coordination Manager (RCM)

Dynamic reconfiguration of system resources enables you to reconfigure system components while the system is still running. This feature has been available with the cfgadm command since the Solaris 8 release. The Reconfiguration Coordination Manager is the framework that manages the dynamic removal of system components. By using RCM, you can register and release system resources in an orderly manner.

Previously, you had to release resources from applications manually before you could dynamically remove the resource. Or, you could use the cfgadm command with the -f option to force a reconfiguration operation. This option, however, might leave your applications in an unknown state. Also, the manual release of resources from applications commonly causes errors.

You can use the new RCM script feature to write your own scripts to shut down your applications. You can write scripts to cleanly release the devices from your applications during dynamic reconfiguration. The RCM framework launches a script automatically in response to a reconfiguration request, if the request impacts the resources that are registered by the script.

See the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration and the rcmscript(4) man page for more information.

mp Program Enhancement

In the mp(1) program enhancement, the mp command is modified to work as an X Print Server client. Configure an X Print Server to run in the host machine. Then the mp command can print output in any Print Description Language that the X Print Server supports. The newly introduced options, -D and -P, can be used for making mp work as an X Print Server client.

For more information, see “Print Filter Enhancement With mp” in the International Language Environments Guide.

SPARC: New Dynamic Reconfiguration Error Messages

The dynamic reconfiguration software has been enhanced to improve troubleshooting dynamic reconfiguration problems.

See the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration and the cfgadm(1M) man page for more information.

Development Tools

The Solaris 9 release includes the following development tool enhancements.

Compatibility of Solaris and Linux Application Programming Interfaces

Some freeware that was available on the Solaris 8 Software Companion CD is now integrated in the Solaris 9 operating environment. As a result, software application developers can now develop and compile their freeware applications more easily in the Solaris operating environment. Freeware libraries include the following:

For further information about freeware that is available on the Solaris media, see Freeware Enhancements.

Choice of XML Output for Live Upgrade Messages

When using Solaris Live Upgrade at the command line, you can now choose XML output with the -X option. This option is for use when writing programs or shell scripts that use Solaris Live Upgrade as a tool. The default output is text, but with the -X option, XML that is suitable for machine parsing and interpretation is created. The output for the -X option is XML for all messages, including error, warning, informational, and general.

See the man page lucreate(1M).

SPARC: Multiple Page Size Support

Multiple Page Size Support (MPSS) allows a program to use any hardware-supported page size to access portions of virtual memory. Previously, only 8–KB pages were available on UltraSPARC platforms for a program's stack, heap, or anonymous memory mapped with the mmap() function.

You can tune the performance of large, memory-intensive applications to use any page size. Any page size that is supported by the hardware for stack, heap, or /dev/zero private memory mapped with the mmap() function can be used. The use of larger page sizes might significantly improve the performance of programs that intensively use large amounts of memory.

For more information, see the man pages for pagesize(1), mpss.so.1(1), ppgsz(1), memcntl(2), mmap(2), and getpagesizes(3C).

Improved Multithreading Library

The Solaris 9 release includes an improved and faster multithreading library. This library was available as the alternate libthread in previous Solaris software releases.

For further information, see the Multithreaded Programming Guide and the threads(3THR) man page.

Perl Version 5.6.1

A new, default version of the Practical Extraction and Report Language (Perl) is available in the Solaris 9 release. The new default version of Perl is version 5.6.1. Also included in the Solaris 9 release is an older Perl version, version 5.005_03. This older version was previously included with the Solaris 8 release.

For further information, see the perl(1) man page.

Unified diff Format

The diff and sccs-sccsdiff commands have been updated to include support for the GNU-style unified diff format. In this format, context lines are only printed once in the listing of differences.

For information on these commands, see the diff(1) and sccs-sccsdiff(1) man pages.

Sysevent Framework

The sysevent framework enables notification of kernel-level and user-level system events to appropriate applications. Events can include hardware and software state changes, errors, and faults.

Components of the sysevent framework include the following:

The syseventd daemon is a user-level daemon that accepts delivery of system event buffers from the kernel. After an event buffer has been delivered to syseventd, the daemon then attempts to propagate the event to all interested end-event subscribers.

The syseventadm command can be used to configure event specifications. These specifications are subsequently used to invoke commands, applications, or scripts in response to a system event.

For information on the sysevent kernel and library APIs, see the man pages syseventadm(1M), syseventconfd(1M), and syseventd(1M).

See ddi_log_sysevent(9F) for information about driver-level event notification logging.

Kernel Pseudo-Random Number Generator

The Solaris Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) is available through the /dev/random and /dev/urandom devices. PRNG provides ISVs with a standard interface to access pseudo-random numbers for cryptographic operations, scientific applications, and simulation tools. The PRNG operates in the Solaris kernel. PRNG protects the contents of the entropy pool. The PRNG gathers entropic data from kernel memory pages and maintains a high level of randomness at all times.

For further information, see the random(7D) man page.

SPARC: Application Interface to Remote Shared Memory on Clusters

If you develop applications that extend the use of a Sun Cluster environment, you can benefit from this interface. Using the new Remote Shared Memory (RSM) API, you can program your applications to lower the latency for message passing over high-speed cluster interconnects. Such cluster-aware applications can significantly reduce the time that is required to respond to events in a clustered configuration.

You must have Sun Cluster 3.0 installed. Existing Sun Cluster applications need to be modified to exploit the new interface.

For further information, see the Programming Interfaces Guide. Also, the librsm(3LIB) man pages and the “Section 3: Extended Library Functions” (3RSM) man pages include references to RSM.

GNU-Compatible Version of the gettext() API Functions

The Solaris 9 release provides a GNU-compatible version of the gettext() API functions while maintaining backward compatibility with Solaris gettext() API functions.

For further information, see the gettext(3C) man page.

Extended File Attributes

The UFS, NFS, and TMPFS file systems have been enhanced to include extended file attributes. These attributes enable application developers to associate specific attributes to a file. For example, a developer of a file management application for a windowing system might choose to associate a display icon with a file.

For further information, see File System Enhancements.

New Fixed-Priority (FX) Scheduling Class

The FX scheduler provides a scheduling policy for processes that require user or application control of scheduling priorities. See System Resources Enhancements.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service enables host systems to receive IP addresses and network configuration information. This information is received at boot time from a network server. Before the Solaris 8 7/01 release, DHCP configuration data could only be stored in text files or NIS+. Now, data access in the Solaris DHCP service has been redesigned to use a modular framework. Solaris DHCP provides an API that enables you to write shared objects that support any data storage facility for storing DHCP data.

The Solaris DHCP Service Developer’s Guide provides an overview of the data access framework that is used by Solaris DHCP. The guide also provides general guidelines for developers. Also included is a listing of the API functions that you can use to write a module to support a new data store.

For further information, see the Solaris DHCP Service Developer’s Guide.

Solaris Web Start Wizards SDK 3.0.1

Solaris Web Start Wizards simplify the installation, setup, and administration of native Solaris, Java, and non-Java applications. With Web Start Wizards, developers can copackage both Solaris and Microsoft Windows versions of their applications. The installation wizard manages the platform specifics.

The Web Start Wizards SDK 3.0.1 is now included with the Solaris 9 release. SDK 3.0.1 can be installed by using the Solaris Web Start installation program.

Modular Debugger (mdb)

The mdb utility is an extensible utility for low-level debugging and editing of the live operating system. The utility can also debug system crash dumps, user processes, user process core dumps, and object files. In the Solaris 9 release, mdb provides new symbolic debugging support for the Solaris kernel and new kernel debugger commands. The mdb utility also provides new features for the examination and control of live running user processes, and the ability to examine raw disk files and devices.

The Solaris Modular Debugger Guide and the mdb(1) man page provide more information.

Audio Enhancements

New audio directories have been added to the Solaris 9 operating environment. The /usr/include/audio directory is a new directory for applications' audio header files. The audio file format has a new header file, /usr/include/audio/au.h, and man page, au(4).

The /usr/share/audio directory is a new depository for miscellaneous audio files. The audio files from the /usr/demo/SOUND/sounds directory have been moved here. A symbolic link from /usr/demo/SOUNDS/sounds to /usr/share/audio/samples/au has been created. This link enables current applications and current scripts to run without failure.

Numerous bug fixes have been made to the audio kernel modules to improve reliability.

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Vectored System Call: sendfilev()

The vectored system call, sendfilev(), enables better performance for sending data from application buffers or files. For example, in web performance, a web server can construct an HTTP response in a single system call. This HTTP response includes header, data, and trailer as well as server-side includes. This feature provides optimal performance with the Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA). The sendfilev() system call enables the return of multiple chunks, which might come from various files, for the response.

For further information, see the sendfilev(3EXT) and sendfile(3EXT) man pages.

Verify File Conformance With the appcert Utility

The appcert utility verifies an object file's conformance to the Solaris ABI. Conforming to the Solaris ABI greatly increases an application's probable compatibility with future releases of Solaris software.

For more information, see “Using appcert” in the Programming Interfaces Guide.

Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSS-API)

The Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSS-API) is a security framework that enables applications to protect their transmitted data.

See Security Enhancements.

Web-Based Enterprise Management Tools

The Solaris 9 release includes the following enhancements for web-based enterprise management.

Solaris WBEM Services 2.5

Solaris WBEM Services 2.5 is Sun Microsystems' implementation of Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM). WBEM is a set of management and Internet-related technologies. These technologies are intended to unify the management of enterprise computing environments. Developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), WBEM enables organizations to deliver an integrated set of standards-based management tools. These tools support and promote World Wide Web technology. Solaris WBEM Services was updated to version 2.5 in the Solaris 9 release.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

New WBEM Batching API Added

The Java Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) client application programming interface (API) now supports the batching of multiple Common Information Model (CIM) operations by a client into a single “request and response.” The CIM Object Manager now accepts and services these batched requests as well. This facility is defined in the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) Specification for CIM Operations Over HTTP.

The number of remote calls that a client needs to make is consequently reduced.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

WBEM CIM WorkShop Enhanced

CIM WorkShop provides a graphical user interface for the WBEM development tool. CIM WorkShop can be used by instrumentation, system, and network application developers. These developers can view and create WBEM classes and WBEM instances through CIM WorkShop.

In CIM WorkShop, you can do following:

Enhancements and new features that are available in CIM Workshop include the following:

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

Support for WBEM Process Indication (Extrinsic) Events Added

Currently, WBEM event services enable client applications to asynchronously receive indications when conditions of interest are met. However, the only supported indications belong to the class life cycle indications. Life cycle indications denote the modification, the creation, and the deletion of an instance.

While this class of indications is very flexible and wide ranging, instrumentation might need to publish indications that do not fall into this category. Given this requirement, the DMTF introduced the process indication hierarchy as an extension to the current indication hierarchy. The process indications for WBEM services now handle this extended hierarchy.

Process indications for WBEM services is Sun Microsystems' implementation of the process indication portion of the event model. The process indication class is the superclass of all indications that are published by instrumentation. This superclass also includes the life cycle indications.

The process of subscribing to process indications is the same as the process of subscribing to life cycle indications.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

WBEM mofcomp Command Enhanced

The Managed Object Format (MOF) compiler (mofcomp) now allows you to specify a namespace on the command line. If the namespace does not exist, it is created.

In addition, the MOF Compiler now generates Java interface and class source files. This feature enables you to use standard Java interfaces rather than CIM constructs and CIM object model application programming interfaces (APIs).

For each CIMClass, an interface and a class file are generated. The interface is generated to enable you to create different implementations while maintaining interoperability.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

Sample Programs Are Added for New Java WBEM SDK

The Java WBEM Software Developer's Kit (SDK) now includes a new sample Java applet and sample programs. The Java applet and sample programs are installed in /usr/demo/wbem.

The Java WBEM SDK sample programs show you how to use events, queries, and batching. You can use these samples as a basis for developing your own programs.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

Solaris WBEM Software Developer's Kit

The Solaris Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Software Developer's Kit (SDK) includes APIs that developers use to create applications. Based on WBEM, these applications can access data and manage resources in the Solaris operating environment. The Solaris WBEM SDK also includes CIM WorkShop. The CIM WorkShop is a Java application that developers can use to create WBEM applications. With the CIM WorkShop, developers can view the sample WBEM client and provider programs that are included with the software.

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

New Solaris Providers

The new Solaris Providers enable developers to create software that gets and sets information about managed devices in a Common Information Model (CIM) environment. A Solaris Provider provides the CIM Object Manager with instances of managed resources in the Solaris operating environment.

Five new Solaris Providers are available in the Solaris 9 software:

For further information about WBEM, see the new Solaris WBEM Developer’s Guide, which has replaced the Solaris WBEM Services Administration Guide and the Solaris WBEM SDK Developer's Guide.

Writing Device Drivers

The Solaris 9 release includes the following enhancements for writing device drivers.

Frame Buffer Power Management

Some devices, such as certain tape drives and frame buffers, should not lose power, even in a power cycle, when their drivers are detached. A new interface, ddi_removing_power, checks whether a device loses power as a result of a suspend operation. A new property, no-involuntary-power-cycles, can be specified to ensure that the device is not powered down unintentionally.

For more information, see the ddi_removing_power(9F) and no-involuntary-power-cycles(9P) man pages.

SPARC: Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager

The Sun StorEdgeTM Traffic Manager supports multiple paths for I/O devices such as Fibre Channel-accessible storage. This feature balances the workload across multiple devices. The Traffic Manager increases reliability by redirecting requests from a failed interface card or storage device to a card or device that is operational.

SPARC: Driver Fault Injector Harness

The driver fault injector harness is a Solaris device driver development tool. The harness injects a wide range of simulated hardware faults when the driver under development accesses its hardware. The harness tests the impact of the test fault conditions on a SPARC based device driver.

For more information, see the man pages th_define(1M) and th_manage(1M).

Generic LAN Driver

Driver developers can use the Generic LAN Driver (GLD). The GLD implements much of the STREAMS and Data Link Provider Interface (DLPI) functionality for a Solaris network driver. Until the Solaris 8 10/00 release, the GLD module was available only for Solaris x86 Platform Edition network drivers. Now, GLD is available for Solaris SPARC Platform Edition network drivers.

For more information, see Chapter 16, Drivers for Network Devices, in Writing Device Drivers.

Java Releases

The Solaris 9 release includes the following Java enhancements.

JavaHelp v. 1.1.2

JavaHelpTM v. 1.1.2 is a full-featured, platform-independent, extensible help system. This system enables developers and authors to incorporate online help in applets, components, applications, operating systems, and devices. For more information, refer to the following Web site:

http://java.sun.com/products

Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition v. 1.4.0

The Java 2 SDK Standard Edition v. 1.4.0, J2SETM 1.4.0, is an upgrade release for Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition. The upgrade release includes new platform features, new tools, and utilities.

For full details on these enhancements, see the J2SE 1.4.0 platform documentation at the following Web site:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/relnotes/features.html

JSP 1.2 and Java Servlet 2.3 Support in Apache Web Server

Jakarta Tomcat 4.0.1 and a mod_jserv module have been added to the Apache Web server. This server now supports JavaServer Pages, JSP Version 1.2, and Java Servlets Version 2.3.

The following files are stored in /etc/apache:

See the README.Solaris file for information on enabling Tomcat support. For configuration information, see also http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-4.0-doc/index.html.

Tomcat and the mod-jserv module, like the rest of Apache software, is open source code that is maintained by a group external to Sun. This group seeks to maintain compatibility with previous releases.

Solaris 9 Features for Desktop Users

The Solaris 9 release includes the following desktop enhancements.

Xterm Terminal Emulator Support for Multibyte Character Set

The Xterm terminal emulator now supports multibyte character sets. This feature enables the use of Xterm windows in UTF-8 and other multibyte locales. The Xterm command line and resources incorporate new options to specify X font sets.

See the Xterm man page for further information.

Graphical Workspace Manager

Graphical Workspace Manager provides the following:

You are no longer limited to viewing nine workspaces. Additionally, the dialog box for Graphical Workspace Manager Options has been added to provide a number of additional display options.

For more information, see Graphical Workspace Manager in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

Workspace Manager

The Workspace Manager provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling behavior and the number of workspaces. You can add and delete workspaces by using a slider. You can also display the Graphical Workspace Manager in the Workspace Switch Area of the Front Panel.

For more information, see Workspace Manager in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

Window List

The Window List provides a list of currently running applications. The Window List enables you, with the click of a mouse button, to locate any application, even applications in workspaces other than the current workspace. The Window List also provides the ability to perform window actions on a selected group of applications. You can choose to display or not display the Workspace column.

For more information, see Window List in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

Energy Star Standards

X11R6.4 standards have been enhanced with Frame Buffer Power Management (FBPM), an extension to the Display Power Management System (DPMS). This enhancement is added to fulfill the U.S. government's requirements for the Energy Star program. This feature only works on Energy Star-compliant hardware.

Print Format for Non-ISO-1 Files

By default, the dtlp command uses the mp command before sending the output to the lp command. This feature enables many of the non-ISO-1 standard text files to be correctly printed in CDE. The same filtering effect is also applied in the printing of dtmail mail messages.

For further information, see the mp(1) man page.

Adding Multiple Files to Emails

This feature enables you to keep the insert_tag “Mailer - Attachment - Add” dialog box open. You can then add two or more files to an email. The need to repeatedly select Add Files from the Attachment menu is eliminated.

For more information on the Mailer, see Chapter 10, Using Mailer, in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

Removable Media Manager

Removable Media Manager centralizes access to removable devices in one window. You can format, query properties, view directory structures, and where applicable, protect and slice media. See Removable Media Management.

See also Chapter 6, Using Removable Media Manager, in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

Audio Enhancements

Audio directories have been added to the Solaris 9 operating environment. The /usr/include/audio directory is a new directory for applications' audio header files. The audio file format has a new header file, /usr/include/audio/au.h, and man page, au(4).

The /usr/share/audio directory is a new depository for miscellaneous audio files. The audio files from the /usr/demo/SOUND/sounds directory have been moved here. A symbolic link from /usr/demo/SOUNDS/sounds to /usr/share/audio/samples/au has been created. This link enables applications and scripts that already exist to run without failure.

Numerous bug fixes have been made to the audio kernel modules to improve reliability.

For further information, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Desktop Freeware

See Freeware Enhancements for information about GNU grep 2.4.2, GNU tar 1.13, GNU wget 1.6, and Ncftp Client 3.0.3 in the Solaris 9 release.

Solaris 9 Language Support

The Solaris 9 operating environment now includes support for 162 locale environments that cover 39 languages. These environments are provided on the Solaris 9 DVD, the Solaris 9 Software CDs, and the Solaris 9 Languages CD. The following section provides information on language support features.

For further information, see the International Language Environments Guide.

Improved Data Interoperability

Data interoperability with non-Solaris environments has been improved in the Solaris 9 release. Additions include new iconv utilities for data conversion between UTF-8 and the following native encodings: HKSCS, GB18030, ISO 8859-11, and Hindi. Additionally, Japanese language support has been expanded through iconv modules. These modules convert between Solaris Japanese locale codesets and Japanese mainframe codesets from Fujitsu, Hitachi, and NEC.

For further information on language support in the Solaris 9 release, see the International Language Environments Guide.

New TrueType Fonts

The new TrueType fonts provide a common appearance between the codesets and offer support for the same typefaces across the codesets. The TrueType fonts are common to all European locales. Each Asian locale has its own TrueType fonts file.

For further information, see the International Language Environments Guide.

Expanded Unicode Support

The Solaris 9 release offers broader support for Unicode. Additions include new Unicode (UTF-8) locales for Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Turkey, Egypt, Brazil, Finland, and Belgium-Walloon.

For further information about Unicode support in the Solaris 9 release, see the International Language Environments Guide.

Print Filter Enhancement—the mp Program

The mp program accepts international text files from various Solaris locales. The program produces output for the specified locale. Because the complex text layout (CTL) is supported in the mp program, the output contains proper text layout, such as bidirectional text rendering and shaping. Depending on the mp system font configuration for each locale, the PostScript output file can contain glyph images from Solaris system-resident scalable or bitmap fonts.

For more information, see “Print Filter Enhancement With mp” in the International Language Environments Guide.

New iconv Modules

iconv modules enable conversion between native encoded data and Unicode. The following new iconv modules have been added to support new character sets:

Enhanced Conversion of Dtpad File Open/Save Codeset

Enhancements include the addition of an “encoding” option to the File Open/Save dialog box. This option supports file encoding changes with the iconv utility. This option enables users to open or save files in various encodings, such as UTF-8 and UTF-16.

See the iconv(3C) man page.

Support for the New Chinese GB18030-2000 Character Set

The Solaris platform enables input, display, and print for the entire GB18030-2000 character set, including nearly 30,000 characters. Any application that runs on the Solaris platform can thus benefit from a wider set of Chinese characters. These glyphs are primarily Han characters, but the encoding also includes glyphs for minority languages such as Tibetan, Wei, Yi, and Mongolian.

GB18030-2000 support in the Solaris 9 release also includes backward compatibility to previous Chinese codesets, GBK, and GB2312. Conversion to other codesets such as Unicode is also included. Solaris developers do not need to change their procedures to access this new encoding support. Standard toolkits can use the new support.

For Java applications that need GB18030-2000 support, review J2SE at the following Web site:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4

New zh_CN.GB18030 Locale Enhanced From zh_CN.GBK

This new zh_CN.GB18030 locale is provided to support the new GB18030 standard encoding. This encoding is required by a law that the Chinese government has enacted.

New Chinese and Korean Collation Locales

Collation locales provide different collation options to users, such as stroke count and radical, phonetic, and dictionary options.

Wordbreaker Modules for Thai

The wordbreaker module is used to correctly break the Thai text into proper paragraphs, sentences, and words within Motif.

New Asian UTF-8 (Unicode) Locales

The File System Safe Universal Transformation Format, or UTF-8, is an encoding that is defined by X/Open® as a multibyte representation of Unicode. UTF-8 encompasses almost all of the characters for traditional single-byte and multibyte locales for European and Asian languages for Solaris locales.

New Thai Input Method

The new Thai input method supports the Thai input sequence checking, as defined in TIS 1566-2541 “Thai input/output methods for computer” standard (or “WTT”) by the Thai Industrial Standards Institute. The input sequence checking has 3 levels: level 0 (passthrough), level 1 (basic check), and level 2 (strict).

New Chinese Input Methods

More popular, powerful input methods (IM) in the Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese locales have been added for new character sets and new locales:

New Auxiliary Window for Chinese Input Methods

The Auxiliary window provides a user interface (UI) for input methods. The UI is “friendly” and extensible for all Chinese locales. New functions that are supported by the auxiliary window are as follows:

New zh_HK.BIG5HK Locale to Support HKSCS for Hong Kong, China

The new zh_HK.BIG5HK locale is provided to support the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set (HKSCS). The HKSCS is a supplementary character set of the Big-5 and ISO 10646 coding schemes. HKSCS contains Chinese characters that are needed in Chinese computing in Hong Kong. However, these characters are not contained in either the Big-5 or ISO 10646 standard character sets.

Additional Japanese iconv Modules

Additional Japanese language support includes iconv code conversions between Solaris Japanese locale codesets and Japanese mainframe codesets. Japanese locale codesets include eucJP, PCK, and UTF-8. Japanese mainframe codesets include Fujitsu JEF, Hitachi KEIS, and NEC JIPS.

New European and Middle Eastern Keyboard Support

The Solaris 9 release has added Sun I/O keyboard support for TurkeyQ, TurkeyF, and Arabic. Also, support is added for the Sun Ray USB keyboard for TurkeyQ, TurkeyF, Belgian, and Arabic.

For further information, see the International Language Environments Guide.

New Unicode (UTF-8) Locales for Europe and the Middle East

For the Solaris 8 10/00 release, Russian, Polish, and two new locales for Catalan were added to the European and Middle Eastern locales. For the Solaris 8 4/01 release, two additional languages, Turkish UTF-8 Codeset and Russian UTF-8 Codeset, were added.

In the Solaris 9 release, European and Middle Eastern language support also includes the addition of UTF-8 locales for Turkey, Egypt, Brazil, Finland, and Belgium-Walloon.

The locale names are as follows:

Euro Default Currency Support

The following locales have changed from their national currency unit (NCU) to the euro currency glyph:

Additional Software

The Solaris 9 release includes the following additional software enhancements.

ExtraValue Directory

The Solaris 9 software release includes an ExtraValue directory that contains two subdirectories, CoBundled and Early Access. The CoBundled directory contains software that previously shipped separately, such as SunScreen 3.2 and Web Start Wizards SDK 3.0.1. The Early Access directory contains preliminary evaluation software, such as Netscape 6.2.1.

Note –

In the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release, Netscape 6.2.3 is located in the CoBundled directory.

In the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release, Netscape 6.2.3 is included in the Solaris operating environment. In the Solaris 9 4/03 release, Netscape 7.0 is provided. See Netscape 7.0.

The CoBundled and Early Access directories are in the Solaris_9 directory at Solaris_9/ExtraValue/EarlyAccess and Solaris_9/ExtraValue/CoBundled. The directories are located on the Solaris 9 DVD and the Solaris Software 2 of 2 CD.

For further information about Web Start Wizards, see Installation Enhancements.

SunScreen 3.2

SunScreen 3.2 is a stateful, dynamic, packet-filtering firewall that offers high-speed protection to your Solaris server. Some of the features of SunScreen 3.2 are as follows:

SunScreen 3.2 offers stealth mode, operating without any visible IP address. SunScreen also offers a traditional routing mode, with each interface protecting individual subnets. Customers should deploy firewalls in multiple points throughout their network architecture, including individual hosts and servers.

Netscape 6.2.1 for the Solaris Operating Environment

Note –

Netscape 6.2.1, as described in this section, is available in the Solaris 9 operating environment. New versions of Netscape are now available. In the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release, Netscape 6.2.3 is included in the Solaris operating environment. In the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release, Netscape 7.0 is provided. See the “Netscape 7.0 for the Solaris Operating Environment” for the most current Netscape description.

Netscape 6.2.1 Enterprise, the most customizable, convenient, and connected browser, is available in the Early Access directory for the Solaris 9 release. In addition, Netscape 6.2.1 is available for the Solaris 7 and Solaris 8 operating environments. Netscape 6.2.1 is the first Internet software to seamlessly integrate browsing, email, and instant messaging.

Netscape 6.2.1 includes the following new features:

Note –

In the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release, Netscape is located in the CoBundled directory. Netscape 6.2.3 is provided in this release. In the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release, Netscape 6.2.3 is included in the Solaris operating environment.

Freeware Enhancements

The Solaris 9 release includes the following freeware enhancements.

Updated Freeware Packages

Several freeware tools and libraries are included in the Solaris 9 release. The following freeware packages have been updated for the Solaris 9 release:

Note –

To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for freeware in this list, the default license path is /usr/share/src/<freeware name>. If the Solaris operating environment has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the given path to access the file at the installed location.

Freeware Libraries

The following libraries have also been included in the Solaris 9 release:

Note –

To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for the freeware libraries in this list, the default license path is /usr/sfw/share/src/<freeware name>. If the Solaris operating environment has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the given path to access the file at the installed location.

Freeware Commands and Utilities

The following commands and utilities have also been included in the Solaris 9 release:

Note –

To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for the freeware commands and utilities in this list, the default license path is /usr/sfw/share/src/<freeware name>. If the Solaris operating environment has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the given path to access the file at the installed location.

Companion CD

The Solaris 9 media includes a Companion CD. The following list summarizes the supplemental software that is provided on the Companion CD.

The software products that are offered on the Companion CD are revised for Solaris 9 Update releases. To view a current supplemental software list and download the software, see http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware.html.

Accessibility Software – For special needs users, Open Source assistive software such as Emacspeak, the W3 browser, and UnWindows.

Administration Tools – System administration tools, such as ethereal, sudo, and rpm.

Web Infrastructure Software – Server software (daemons) for hosting web and Internet services.

Desktop Environment and X Window Managers – Software that provides the graphical user interface for launching applications, file management, drag-and-drop icons, and so on. Several Window Manager packages are included as well as the K-Desktop Environment.

Desktop Applications – Graphical desktop applications, including productivity and multimedia software.

Command-line Tools and Utilities – Command-line utilities and tools such as the *utils packages from the GNU project.

Editors – Applications that are used for writing text documents and software programs.

Security Tools – Tools for system and network security monitoring and detection, such as snort, nmap, and tcpdump.

Messaging Software – Client-side applications and tools for email, WWW, news, and chat.

Languages – The gcc compiler and several high-level (scripting) programming languages.

Developer Libraries – Collections of libraries with software routines for developers.

Developer Tools – Tools for software developers, such as autoconf, automake, and cvs.