Some differences exist for users and administrators moving to a Solaris 2.5 system environment from the Solaris 2.1 release. For example, installation procedures follow a different order, there are changes in the way disks are formatted, and printing commands are different.
Keyboard mapping for x86 keyboards has changed. For complete key-map table, see Appendix C, Modifying the Keyboard.
There are differences in installation of Solaris 2.5 software on a networked x86 system:
kdmconfig is called by sysidconfig and replaces devconfig during installation.
When bootparams database server is queried, if the ethernet and hosts maps are set correctly, installation proceeds without questions. If there are discrepancies, or the system is stand-alone, a series of screens appear asking you to define the keyboard, mouse, and display attached to the system. See kdmconfig(1M).
There are differences in formatting SCSI and IDE disks for x86 systems.
The format(1M) utility is now available to format, label, analyze, and repair SCSI disks. This utility is included with the addbadsec(1M), diskscan(1M), fdisk(1M), and fmthard(1M) commands available in the Solaris 2.1 for x86 release. To format IDE disks use the DOS format utility; however to label, analyze and repair IDE disks on x86 systems use the Solaris format(1M) utility.
There is a change in the support for parallel PostScriptTM printers on x86 systems:
The lp driver has been modified, so that setup for a parallel PostScript printer in x86 systems is now identical to the setup of a serial printer. The only difference is when you need to specify the device name of the port.
The following files are no longer part of Solaris 2.5:
/etc/lp/fd/ppostio.fd
/etc/lp/fd/ppostior.fd
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/P/PPS
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/P/PPSR
The x86 lp driver now takes advantage of added ioctls in postio.
System administration benefits of the Solaris 2.5 release are the result of enhancements to the Solaris system software and the ONC networking protocols and administration applications. For the benefit of x86 users who may not have seen intervening releases, these enhancements are described in the following sections.
The following administration features have been enhanced since the release of Solaris 2.3:
Keyboard, mouse, and display configurations are updated with kdmconfig
Booting sequence is different on x86 machines
The following administration features have been enhanced since the release of Solaris 2.1:
Administration Tool is enhanced to simplify terminal and modem setup.
Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET) enables administrators to easily increase a system`s security.
Dynamic kernel and loadable modules simplify:
Kernel management for heterogeneous systems
Adding new devices to running systems
Adding device drivers without rebuilding the kernel
NIS+ name service creates subdomains and assigns security to network resources.