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:

• The Solaris DHCP server now uses multithreading to serve multiple clients simultaneously.

• A new data store that stores data in binary files can support larger numbers of clients with faster access than with the ASCII files and NIS+ data stores.

• Access to NIS+ data storage has been redesigned. The redesign supports server multithreading.

• Data access architecture has been changed to enable third parties to write code modules that enable the DHCP server to use any data service to store DHCP data.

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.