General Information

This section provides general information such as behavior changes in the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release.

Java Recommendations

Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 ships with Java 6 Update 37, and for compatibility reasons also contains Java 4 and Java 5 releases. For the latest features, security, and performance enhancements, customers are urged to download the latest Java 7 release. The feature enhancements are detailed in the release notes for each Java 7 update. As an example of a significant enhancement to Java 7 for running on the latest Oracle Solaris systems, Java 7 Update 4 introduced the new OracleUcrypto Provider, which on SPARC T4 platforms directly accesses the underlying native (on-chip) T4 crypto capabilities for maximum performance while minimizing CPU load.

Oracle Premier Support is available for the Java SE platform. Customers not on a support plan and who have not moved to Java 7, are encouraged to review the Java SE support roadmap for additional information on support for older Java SE releases.

Oracle Configuration Manager

Starting with the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release, the Auto Registration feature uses Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) to collect configuration information of the system and upload it to the Oracle repository. For information on using the OCM, see Chapter 17, Working With Oracle Configuration Manager, in Oracle Solaris Administration: Basic Administration.

BIOS and Firmware Upgrade

The Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release is tested on all supported Oracle systems running the latest combinations of the following:

• BIOS and Oracle ILOM

• SPARC firmware, OBP, and Hypervisor

For best results using the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release, upgrade your BIOS/firmware to the latest release listed in the matrix at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html.

Memory Requirements

The following are the minimum and recommended memory requirements for the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release.

• For UFS root file systems:

  • Minimum: 1.5 GB

  • Recommended: 1.5 GB or more

• For ZFS root pools:

  • Minimum: 1.5 GB

  • Recommended: 1.5 GB or more for overall ZFS performance

  ---

  Note - You need at least 16 GB of disk space.

  ---

Upgrading to Oracle Solaris 10 1/13

You can upgrade to Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 by using the standard upgrade process or by using Live Upgrade. For more information about Live Upgrade, see My Oracle Support.

To upgrade to the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release from a release earlier than the Solaris 8 OS, first upgrade to any of the releases in the following list. Then, upgrade to the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release.

SPARC: You can upgrade to Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 on SPARC based systems from the following major releases:

• Solaris 8 OS

• Solaris 9 OS

• Oracle Solaris 10 OS

x86: You can upgrade to Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 on x86 based systems from the following major releases:

• Solaris 9 OS

• Oracle Solaris 10 OS

Support for Products Not Part of the Oracle Solaris OS

The Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release has been tested for compatibility with previous releases in line with the Oracle Solaris compatibility guarantee. This means that applications, including third-party applications, which adhere to the Oracle Solaris published ABI will work without modification on the Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 release.

Your system might run both an Oracle Solaris OS and other products that are not part of the Oracle Solaris software. These products might be supplied by either Oracle or another company. If you upgrade this system to the Oracle Solaris 10 release, make sure that these other products are also supported on the Oracle Solaris 10 OS. Depending on the status of each of these products, you can choose one of the following options:

• Verify that the existing version of the product is supported on the Oracle Solaris 10 software.

• Install a new version of the product that is supported on the Oracle Solaris 10 release. You might need to remove the previous version of the product prior to upgrading to the Oracle Solaris software. See the product documentation for more details.

• Remove the product prior to upgrading to the Oracle Solaris 10 software.