Programming to Specific Hardware and Configurations

This section provides information for development on specific hardware platforms and architectures, including clustsered environments.

Hardware Compatibility for Oracle Solaris

The Hardware Compatibility Lists (HCL) identifies hardware that is compatible with the Oracle Solaris OS. Separate lists identify systems and components that are compatible with the latest commercial versions of the Oracle Solaris OS and with the latest development versions. The HCL is available in a comma-separated value (CSV) format, for searching and sorting the list in a spreadsheet or database.

The Oracle Solaris for x86 Device Support list shows drivers and the devices they support for the x86 Oracle Solaris OS. Select a Oracle Solaris releaseand then select a device type such as Network, Storage, or Video. Drivers of that type that are bundled in that selected release are displayed.

The Oracle Device Detection Tool reports both built-in and third-party Solaris driver availability for x86 systems.

Testing x86 Hardware for Oracle Solaris Compatibility

See Oracle Solaris x86 Device Support for the latest list of device support that comes built in with the Oracle Solaris OS.

On any x86 system, you can use the Installation Check Tool to determine quickly whether the system is likely to be able to install the Solaris OS.

The Hardware Certification Test Suite (HCTS) includes system certification tests, controller certification tests, a command-line interface , and a browser-based user interface. HCTS tests certify systems, motherboards, and various network, storage, and serial I/O controllers to work with the Oracle Solaris OS. HCTS collects log files, determines test pass or fail results, and generates a final test report. Hardware that passes HCTS certification testing is eligible to be included in the Hardware Compatibility List as Certified.

Developing in the x86 Assembly Language

The Oracle Solaris OS provides an assembly language for the x86 platform. The x86 Assembly Language Reference Manual describes the assembler that generates code for the 32-bit x86 processor architecture and translates source files that are in assembly language format into object files in linking format. This book describes the syntax of the Oracle Solaris x86 assembly language. The book also maps the instruction mnemonics of the Oracle Solaris x86 assembly language to the native x86 instruction set.

Developing in the SPARC Assembly Language

The Oracle Solaris OS provides an assembly language for the SPARC platform. The SPARC Assembly Language Reference Manual describes the assembler that runs on the SPARC architecture. The assembler translates source files that are in assembly language format into object files in linking format. The book describes the assembler syntax, and the executable and linking format. The relationship between hardware instructions of the SPARC architecture and the assembly language instruction set is discussed. The book also contains a description of the SPARC-V9 instruction set. Appendixes list the pseudo-operations that the SPARC assembler supports, with examples of their use. Other appendixes describe the available assembler command-line options and an example of the correspondence between the assembly code and the C code.

Developing for a Cluster Environment

The Oracle Solaris OS can be configured into a cluster environment to improve availability. The Sun Cluster Data Services Developer’s Guide for Solaris OS describes the Sun Cluster data service API. Developers can use this API to turn a standard user application such as a web browser or database into a highly available data service that can run in the Sun Cluster environment.

In addition, you can parallelize applications to enable them to reap the benefits of running in a clustered environment. Oracle Message Passing Toolkit is a set of parallel development tools for high-end distributed memory applications, featuring the Message Passage Interface (MPI) library. See Using Sun HPC ClusterTools for more information.