What's New for System Administrators

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) 6to4 Router

IPv6 networks can now transfer packets over Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) networks by configuring one or more routers to support a 6to4 tunnel. System administrators can use 6to4 tunnels as a transitional method for migrating their networks from IPv4 to IPv6.  

For further information on IPv6, see the IPv6 Administration Guide.

4/03 

SPARC: Sun ONE Application Server Integration

Sun ONE Application Server 7, Platform Edition (formerly iPlanet^TM Application Server) is integrated in the Solaris operating environment. The Platform Edition of the Application Server provides the foundation for enterprise-class application services and web services. The server provides a high-performance, small-footprint Java^TM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE^TM). J2EE enables the development, deployment, and management of enterprise applications and web services to a broad range of servers, clients, and devices.

The Sun ONE Application Server provides application portability and fast time to market for new Java and Extensible Markup Language (XML) applications with J2EE 1.3 platform compatibility. The Application Server enables developers to build applications that are based on JavaServer Pages^TM (JSP^TM), Java Servlet, and Enterprise JavaBeans^TM (EJB^TM) technology. This technology supports a broad range of business requirements from small departmental applications to enterprise-scale, mission-critical services.

Some of the main feature highlights include the following: 

• Provides integration of the Sun ONE Message Queue and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server from the Sun ONE Web Server

• Provides scalability with enhanced performance

• Provides comprehensive web services support – Java Web Services, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

• Provides interoperability with the Sun ONE Portal Server 6.0 and Sun ONE Directory Server

• Uses the J2EE Reference Implementation

The following name changes have been made: 

• Sun ONE Message Queue (formerly iPlanet Message Queue for Java)

• Sun ONE Web Server (formerly iPlanet Web Server)

• Sun ONE Portal Server (formerly iPlanet Portal Server)

• Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanet Directory Server)

For further information, see the Sun ONE Application Server 7 Getting Started Guide. See also http://wwws.sun.com/software/products/appsrvr/home_appsrvr.html.

For specific licensing terms, refer to the binary code license.  

12/02 

SPARC: Sun ONE Message Queue

The Solaris operating environment now supports Java Messaging Service (JMS) applications. This Solaris release uses Sun ONE Message Queue (formerly iPlanet Message Queue for Java) as a JMS provider.  

JMS messaging enables applications and application components to exchange messages asynchronously and reliably. Processes that run on different platforms and different operating systems can connect to a common message service to exchange information.  

In this Solaris release, Sun ONE Message Queue, Platform Edition provides a full implementation of the JMS specification. The message queue provides additional features such as the following: 

• Centralized administration

• Tunable performance

• Support for the Java Naming and Directory Interface^TM (JNDI)

• Support for SOAP messaging

For further information, see the Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Administrator's Guide and the Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Developer's Guide. For information on Sun ONE Message Queue editions and features, see also http://www.sun.com/software/products/message_queue/home_message_queue.html.

12/02 

Hosting Multiple Web Sites on a Single Solaris Machine

The Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) kernel module now supports multiple instances of a web server. This support enables you to use a Solaris machine to perform Internet protocol (IP) address-based virtual web hosting. The Solaris software uses a single configuration file, /etc/nca/ncaport.conf, to map NCA sockets to IP addresses.

For further information, see the ncaport.conf(4) man page.

12/02 

IP Quality of Service

IP Quality of Service (IPQoS) is a new feature in the Solaris operating environment. IPQoS enables system administrators to provide different levels of network service to customers and to critical applications. By using IPQoS, the administrator can set up service-level agreements. These agreements provide an Internet service provider's (ISP) clients with varying levels of service that are based on a price structure. A company could also use IPQoS to prioritize among applications so that critical applications get a higher quality of service than less critical applications. 

For further information, see the IPQoS Administration Guide.

9/02 

Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2)

Solaris system software now supports Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2).  

RIPv2 adds Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and Variable-Length Subnet Mask (VLSM) extensions to the RIPv1 protocol. Message Digest 5 (MD5) extensions protect routers against intentional misdirection by malicious users. The new in.routed implementation also includes a built-in Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Router Discovery (RFC 1256) mechanism.

RIPv2 supports multicast, if the point-to-point links are enabled with multicast. RIPv2 also supports unicast. If you configure a broadcast address by using the /etc/gateways file, then RIPv2 supports broadcast.

For information on how to configure RIPv2, see the in.rdisc(1M), in.routed(1M), and gateways(4) man pages.

9/02 

Packet Tunneling Over IPv6

This feature enables tunneling over IPv6 for both IPv4 over IPv6 tunnels and IPv6 over IPv6 tunnels. IPv4 packets or IPv6 packets can be encapsulated in IPv6 packets.  

For more information, see the IPv6 Adminisration Guide.

9/02 

Solaris Flash Differential Archives and Configuration Scripts

The Solaris Flash installation feature enables you to use a single reference installation of the Solaris operating environment on a system, which is called the master system. Then, you can replicate that installation on a number of systems, which are called clone systems. The installation is an initial Solaris Flash installation that overwrites all files on the clone system. 

The Solaris Flash installation feature provides new enhancements for this Solaris release.

• A Solaris Flash installation can now update a clone system with minor changes. If you have a clone system and want to update it with minor changes, you can create a differential archive that contains only the differences between two images, the original master image and an updated master image. When you update a clone system with a differential archive, only the files that are specified in the differential archive are changed. The installation is restricted to clone systems that contain software which is consistent with the original master image. You use the custom JumpStart^TM installation method to install a differential archive on a clone system. Or, you can use Solaris Live Upgrade to install a differential archive on a duplicate boot environment.

• Special scripts can now be run for configuration of the master or clone or can be run to validate the archive. These scripts enable you to do the following:

  • Configure applications on clone systems. You can use a custom JumpStart script for some uncomplicated configurations. For more complicated configurations, special configuration file processing might be necessary on the master system or before or after installation on the clone system. Also, local preinstallation and postinstallation scripts can reside on the clone and protect local customizations from being overwritten by the Solaris Flash software.

  • Identify nonclonable, host-dependent data that enables you to make the flash archive host independent. Host independence is enabled by modifying such data or excluding it from the archive. An example of host-dependent data is a log file.

  • Validate software integrity in the archive during creation.

  • Validate the installation on the clone system.

For further information, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide. For information on using Solaris Live Upgrade to install a differential archive, see the Solaris 9 4/03 Release Notes at http://docs.sun.com.

4/03 

Command-Line Interface Enhancements to the Solaris Product Registry

The prodreg command has been updated to include functionality that is similar to the Solaris Product Registry graphical user interface. You can now use the following prodreg subcommands on the command line or in administration scripts to perform a variety of tasks.

• browse – The browse subcommand enables you to view registered software in a terminal window. By repeating the browse subcommand, you can navigate through the directory hierarchy of registered software.

• info – The info subcommand enables you to view information about registered software. You can use the info subcommand to identify the following:

  • Installation location of the software

  • Other software that the specified software requires

  • Other software that depends on the specified software

  • Software that has been damaged by the removal of packages that the software requires

• unregister – The unregister subcommand removes software installation information from the Solaris Product Registry. If you remove software from your system without properly uninstalling the software from the Registry, you can use the prodreg unregister command to clean up the obsolete entries in the Solaris Product Registry.

• uninstall – The uninstall subcommand enables you to remove registered software from your system by launching that software's uninstall program.

For more information, see the prodreg(1M) man page and the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

4/03 

Support for LDAP Version 2 Profiles

The Solaris installation programs now support LDAP Version 2 profiles. These profiles enable you to configure your system to use a proxy credential level. During the Solaris Web Start or suninstall programs, you can specify the LDAP proxy-bind distinguished name and proxy-bind password. With any installation method, you can preconfigure LDAP before installation by using the proxy_dn and proxy_password keywords in the sysidcfg file.

For information, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide.

12/02 

Excluding and Including Directories and Files From a Solaris Flash Archive

The flarcreate command is used to create a Solaris Flash archive. The command has been updated with new options that increase your flexibility to define archive contents when creating an archive. You now can exclude more than one file or directory. From an excluded directory, you can add back a subdirectory or file. This feature is useful when you want to exclude large data files that you do not want cloned.

For information on how to use these options, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide.

In the Solaris 9 Update releases, note the following name change:

Solaris Flash (formerly Web Start Flash)

12/02 

Netscape 7.0 for the Solaris Operating Environment

The Netscape^TM 7.0 cross-platform browser integrates features for navigating the Web, communicating with colleagues, participating in discussion groups, and creating dynamic Web pages. Netscape 7.0 provides the following:

• Fast and efficient browsing tools

• Integrated mail and instant messaging enhancements

• Faster and streamlined search functions

• Privacy that is more secure

• Enterprise functionality

Netscape 7.0 highlights include the following: 

• Support for Internet users:

  • Netscape Navigator^TM

  • Netscape Mail

  • Netscape Instant Messenger

  • Netscape Composer

  • Netscape Address Book

  • Additional tools and plug-ins

• Support for the latest industry standards, including Java technology, IPv6, Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P), XML, Cascading Style Sheets, level 1 (CSS1), and data output messaging (DOM) – Enables the creation of a new class of Web applications.

• My Sidebar – Connects users to important information such as breaking news stories, stock portfolios, buddy lists, and auctions.

• Fully customized, integrated search – Helps provide faster access to information, and eliminates waiting to load a search page or open a frame.

• Instant messaging that is integrated with browsing and mail – Increases productivity and enhances your communication with colleagues and friends.

• Themes – Enables users to add personal touches to their browsers. Web sites and businesses can create browsers to their customers' specifications.

• Flexible, modular design – Enhances the user's Web experience and increases productivity.

• Global support for English, European, and Asian languages.

• Integrated Java technology – Delivers cross-platform, seamless access to browser-based applications.

For more information on Netscape 7.0, see http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/netscape.

4/03 

Netscape 6.2.3 for the Solaris Operating Environment

In the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release, Netscape^TM 6.2.3 is included in the Solaris operating environment. In the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release, Netscape 7.0 is provided. See the “Netscape 7.0 for the Solaris Operating Envirnment” description.

12/02 

IKE Hardware Acceleration

Public-key operations in IKE can be accelerated by a Sun Crypto Accelerator 1000 card. The operations are offloaded to the card. The offloading accelerates encryption and reduces demands on operating system resources. 

For information about IKE, see the IPsec and IKE Administration Guide.

4/03 

Enhanced crypt() Function

Password encryption protects passwords from being read by intruders. Three strong password encryption modules are now available in the software:  

• A version of Blowfish that is compatible with Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) systems

• A version of MD5 that is compatible with BSD and Linux systems

• A stronger version of MD5 that is compatible with other Solaris 9 12/02 systems

For information on how to protect your user passwords with these new encryption modules, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services. For information on the strength of the modules, see the crypt_bsdbf(5), crypt_bsdmd5(5), and crypt_sunmd5(5) man pages.

12/02 

Password Management Feature in pam_ldap

The pam_ldap password management feature strengthens the overall security of the LDAP Naming Service when used in conjunction with the Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanet Directory Server). Specifically, the password management feature does the following:

• Allows for tracking password aging and expiration

• Prevents users from choosing trivial or previously used passwords

• Warns users if their passwords are about to expire

• Locks out users after repeated login failures

• Prevents users, other than the authorized system administrator, from deactivating initialized accounts

For further information on Solaris naming and directory services, see the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). For information about Solaris security features, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services.

12/02 

Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) Enhancement

The PAM framework was expanded by including a new control flag. The new control flag provides the ability to skip additional stack processing. This skipping is enabled if the current service module is successful and if no failure occurred on the previous mandatory modules. 

For more information about this change, see the System Administration Guide: Security Services.

12/02 

Large Volume Support With EFI Disk Labels

This Solaris release provides support for disks that are larger than 1 terabyte (Tbyte) on systems that run a 64-bit Solaris kernel. 

The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) label provides support for physical disks and virtual disk volumes. The UFS file system is compatible with the EFI disk label, but you cannot create a UFS file system greater than 1 Tbyte. This release also includes updated disk utilities for managing disks greater than 1 Tbyte. 

The EFI disk label differs from the VTOC disk label in the following ways: 

• Support for disks greater than 1 Tbyte in size is provided.

• Slices 0–6, where slice 2 is just another slice, are provided.

• Partitions (or slices) cannot overlap with the primary or backup label, nor with any other partitions. The size of the EFI label is usually 34 sectors, so partitions start at sector 34. This feature means that no partition can start at sector zero (0).

• No cylinder, head, or sector information is stored in the label. Sizes are reported in blocks.

• Information that was stored in the alternate cylinders area, the last two cylinders of the disk, is now stored in slice 8.

For more information on using the EFI disk label, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration. This guide contains important information and restrictions that apply to using the EFI disk label with existing software products.

The Solaris Volume Manager software can also be used to manage disks greater than 1 Tbyte in this Solaris release. See the “Large Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager” description in System Administration Tools.

4/03 

UFS Logging Performance Enhancements

UFS logging enables faster system reboots. Because the file system transactions are already stored, checking the file system is not required if the file system is already consistent. 

In addition, the performance of UFS logging improves or exceeds the level of performance of nonlogging file systems in this Solaris release. Results of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation system file server (SPECsfs) benchmark show that the performance of NFS-mounted file systems that have logging enabled equals the level of non-UFS logging performance. In some I/O-bound configurations, logging UFS file systems exceed the performance of nonlogging UFS file systems by approximately 25 percent. In other tests, performance of logging UFS file systems is 12 times better than the performance of nonlogging UFS file systems.  

For information on how to enable logging on a UFS file system, see the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration or the mount_ufs(1M) man page.

12/02 

Memory Placement Optimization (MPO)

The Solaris dispatcher and the virtual memory subsystem have been enhanced to optimize the time that is required for an application to access memory. This enhancement can automatically improve the performance of many applications. This feature is currently implemented to support specific platforms such as the Sun Fire^TM 3800–6800, the Sun Fire 12K, and the Sun Fire 15K.

9/02 

Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM) Large-Page Support

Large-page support is now provided for Dynamic Intimate Shared Memory (DISM). This large-page support can increase the performance of applications that are capable of dynamically adjusting shared memory sizes. 

For further information on DISM, see System Performance Enhancements.

9/02 

Large Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager

Large volume support enhances Solaris Volume Manager. With this support, the Solaris Volume Manager can create, manage, and delete large (>1Tbyte) RAID 0 (stripe), RAID 1 (mirror), RAID 5, and soft partition volumes. In addition, large volume support enables Solaris Volume Manager to construct volumes on large or EFI-labeled logical unit numbers (LUNs). 

Solaris Volume Manager large volume support is not available for systems that run a 32-bit Solaris kernel. For example, systems that run the Solaris operating environment (x86 Platform Edition) or the Solaris operating environment SPARC 32-bit kernel cannot use large volume support. 

For further information, see the Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.

See also the “Large Volume Support With EFI Disk Label” in File System Enhancements.

4/03 

Reconfiguration Coordination Manager Support in Solaris Volume Manager

Reconfiguration Coordination Manager (RCM) support adds to Solaris Volume Manager the ability to respond appropriately to dynamic reconfiguration (DR) requests. This addition ensures that removal of devices under Solaris Volume Manager control is blocked with an appropriate warning until the devices are no longer in use. This warning prevents system administrators from accidentally removing active volumes from a DR-configured system.  

For further information, see the Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.

4/03 

Solaris Patch Update Feature

You can use the Update option of the Solaris Management Console's Patches Tool or the smpatch update command to analyze, download, and install recommended patches from the SunSolve Online^SM program.

The update feature was previously only available for systems that run the Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, or Solaris 8 releases. 

You must install the PatchPro 2.1 software on your system before running the update feature. Download the PatchPro 2.1 packages from http://www.sun.com/PatchPro and follow the instructions to install the software on your system.

For more information, see the smpatch(1M) man page.

4/03 

Combine Data Address and Test Address for Singleton IP Network Multipathing Group

The use of a dedicated test IP address for failure detection on single-adapter IP network multipathing groups is no longer required. When failover is not possible because only one network information center (NIC) is in an IP network multipathing group, you can now combine the test address and the data address. The in.mpathd daemon uses a data address to detect failure when a test address is not specified.

For further information on Solaris IP multipathing, see the IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide.

12/02 

X Event Interception Extension (XEvIE)

XEvIE is a low-level interface that intercepts all the keyboard and mouse events so that these events can be read, consumed, or modified as needed. This X extension enables better integration of assistive technologies, including those technologies that are planned for inclusion in the GNOME 2.0 Desktop. 

4/03 

FreeType 2.1.x

FreeType 2.1.x is an open source library that provides a simple application programming interface (API) to access font content in a uniform way, independently of the file format. Additionally, some format-specific APIs can be used to access special data in the font file. 

4/03 

Xserver Virtual Screen Enhancement

The Xserver Virtual Screen enhancement provides accessibility support for the upcoming release of the GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris operating environment. This capability enables support of magnification software on systems that have just one frame buffer. 

12/02 

Xrender Extension

The new Xrender feature increases performance for applications, such as the StarOffice^TM software suite, that run on the Solaris operating environment. The Xrender feature provides a modern appearance for these applications. Xrender uses hardware processing for alpha-blending and transparency effects.

12/02 

Extended Accounting Subsystem

In the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release, you can now use extended accounting processes in conjunction with the flow accounting module for IPQoS. For information about IPQoS, see the IPQoS Administration Guide.

For information about the extended accounting feature, see “Extended Accounting” in the System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.

Perl Interface to libexacct

A Perl interface to libexacct is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release. This interface enables you to create Perl scripts that can read the accounting files which are produced by the exacct framework. You can also create Perl scripts that write exacct files.

The new interface is functionally equivalent to the underlying C API. 

You can use the Perl interface to record system resource consumption on a task or process basis or on the basis of selectors provided by the IPQoS flowacct module.

For information about the Perl interface to libexacct, see “Extended Accounting” in System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services.

9/02 

Updated 4/03 

Additional Keyboard Support

Software support for three additional keyboards has been added to the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release: Estonian keyboard Type 6, French Canadian keyboard Type 6, and Polish programmer's keyboard Type 5. This software support gives users in Canada, Estonia, and Poland greater flexibility for keyboard input by modifying standard U.S. keyboard layouts to their own language needs. 

Refer to the Solaris 9 4/03 Release Notes for instructions.

4/03 

Wubi Input Method

The Wubi input method (IM) is widely used in China. The encoding rule for Wubi IM is based on the radical or stroke shape of Chinese characters. Users can rapidly type Chinese characters through a standard keyboard rather than through slower, phonetic-based input methods. 

4/03 

Input Method Support for Indic

Input support for Indian regional language keyboards has been added to the Solaris operating environment. Indic language users can type Indic language characters by using their preferred keyboard layouts in the Solaris operating environment.  

4/03 

Seven Additional Indic Scripts for Support in Unicode Locales

In addition to the current support for Hindi, the following Indic scripts are supported in this Solaris release: 

• Bengali

• Gurmukhi

• Gujarati

• Tamil

• Malayalam

• Telugu

• Kannada

Speakers of these Indian regional languages have language support in the Solaris operating environment for any of the Unicode locale environments that Solaris supports. 

4/03 

New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 4/03 Release

The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release:  

• System Administration Guide: Basic Administration – See the “Large Volume Support With EFI Disk Labels” description in File System Enhancements and the “Solaris Patch Update Feature” description in System Administration Tools. Information on managing signed patches has also been expanded in this book. Also, see “Command Line Interface Enhancements to the Solaris Product Registry” in Installation Enhancements.

• IPv6 Administration Guide – See “IPv6 6to4 Router” in Networking Enhancements.

• Solaris 9 Installation Guide – See “Solaris Flash Differential Archives and Configuration Scripts” in Installation Enhancements.

• Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide – See “Large Volume Support in Solaris Volume Manager” and “Reconfiguration Coordination Manager (RCM) Support in Solaris Volume Manager” in System Administration Tools.

• System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services – See “Perl Interface to libexacct” in System Resources Enhancements.

The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 4/03 Update release:  

• IPsec and IKE Administration Guide in the “IKE Hardware Acceleration” feature description in Security Enhancements.

4/03 

New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 12/02 Release

The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release:  

• Solaris 9 Installation Guide – See “Support for LDAP Version 2 Profiles” and “Excluding and Including Directories and Files From a Solaris Flash Archive” in Installation Enhancements.

• System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) – See “Enhanced crypt() Function” in Security Enhancements.

• System Administration Guide: Security Services – See “PAM Enhancement” in Security Enhancements.

The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 12/02 Update release:  

• Sun ONE Application Server 7 Getting Started Guide – See “Sun ONE Application Server Integration” in Networking Enhancements.

• Sun ONE Message Queue 3.0.1 Administrator's Guide – See “Sun ONE Message Queue” in Networking Enhancements.

• IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide – See “Combine Data Address and Test Address for Singleton IP Network Multipathing Group” in System Administration Tools.

12/02 

NIS+ to LDAP Transition Documentation

The “Transitioning From NIS+ to LDAP” appendix has been moved from the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (FNS and NIS+) to the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). Additionally, explanations and examples of various components have been added to the LDAP-related chapters in the System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP). No new features, however, are documented.

9/02 

New and Revised Documentation in the Solaris 9 9/02 Release

The following new documentation is available in the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release: 

• IPQoS Administration Guide – See Networking Enhancements and System Resources Enhancements for information about the IPQoS feature.

• IPv6 Administration Guide – See the “Packet Tunneling Over IPv6” feature description in Networking Enhancements.

The following revised documentation is available in the Solaris 9 9/02 Update release:

• System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services – See the “Extended Accounting Subsystem” feature description in System Resources Enhancements.

• System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) – See the “NIS+ to LDAP Transition Documentation” description.

9/02