Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Planning for Installation and Upgrade

System Requirements and Recommendations

Table 4–1 Memory, Swap, and Processor Recommendations

Requirement Type 

Size 

Memory to install or upgrade

  • For UFS file systems: 768 MB is the recommended size. 256 MB is the minimum size.


    Note –

    Some optional installation features are enabled only when sufficient memory is present. For example, if your system has insufficient memory and you install from a DVD, you install through the Solaris installation program 's text installer, not through the GUI. For more information about these memory requirements, see Table 4–2.


  • In previous Solaris releases, you could not install and boot the Solaris OS from a disk that was greater than 1 terabyte in size. Starting with the Solaris 10 10/09 release, you can install and boot the Solaris OS from a disk that is up to 2 TB in size.

    Starting with the Solaris 10 10/09 release, you can use the VTOC label on a disk of any size, but the addressable space by the VTOC is limited to 2 TB. This feature allows disks that are larger than 2 TB to be used as boot drives, but the usable space from the label is limited to 2 TB.


    Note –

    This feature is only available on systems that run a 64-bit kernel. A minimum of 1 GB of memory is required for x86 based systems.


    For detailed information, see Two-Terabyte Disk Support for Installing and Booting the Solaris OS in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.

  • For ZFS root pools:

    • 786 MB is the minimum memory.

    • 1 GB of memory is recommended for overall ZFS performance

Swap area 


Note –

You might need to customize the swap space. Swap space is based on the size of the system's hard disk.


Processor requirements 

  • SPARC: 200–MHz or faster processor is required.

  • x86: 120–MHz or faster processor is recommended. Hardware floating-point support is required.

You can choose to install the software with a GUI or with or without a windowing environment. If there is sufficient memory, the GUI is displayed by default. Other environments are displayed by default if memory is insufficient for the GUI. You can override defaults with the nowin or text boot options. But, you are limited by the amount of memory in your system or by installing remotely. Also if the Solaris installation program does not detect a video adapter, it automatically displays in a console-based environment. Table 4–2 describes these environments and lists minimal memory requirements for displaying them.

Table 4–2 Memory Requirements for Display Options

Memory 

Type of Installation 

Description 

256-767 MB 

Text-based 

Contains no graphics, but provides a window and the ability to open other windows.  

If you install by using the text boot option and the system has enough memory, you are installing in a windowing environment. If you are installing remotely through a tip line or using the nowin boot option, you are limited to the console-based installation.

768 MB or greater 

GUI-based 

Provides windows, pull-down menus, buttons, scrollbars, and iconic images.