Before installing an Oracle Solaris 11 release, refer to the following requirements:
Memory – The minimum memory requirement for installation is 1.5 GB. The Live Media ISO image and both the GUI and text installers are capable of functioning with a limited amount of memory. The exact requirement varies, depending on specific system specifications. See System Requirements for Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 in Oracle Solaris 11.3 Release Notes for more information.
Hardware – Any supported SPARC or x86 platform. See https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/hcl/index.html.
Virtual memory – If you want to install an Oracle Solaris 11 virtual image on Oracle VM VirtualBox, refer to the memory requirements that are listed at https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/solaris11/downloads/virtual-machines-1355605.html.
Oracle Solaris 11 is installed in a ZFS storage pool called the root pool. The root pool installation requirements are as follows:
Disk space – At least 13 GB of disk space is recommended. The space is consumed as follows:
Swap area and dump device – The default sizes of the swap and dump volumes that are created by the Oracle Solaris installation programs vary, based on the amount of memory that is on the system and other variables.
After installation, you can adjust the sizes of your swap and dump volumes to sizes of your own choosing, as long as the new sizes support system operations. See Managing ZFS Swap and Dump Devices in Managing ZFS File Systems in Oracle Solaris 11.3.
Boot environment (BE) – A BE is approximately 6–8 GB in size, but can vary greatly depending on the size of the dump device. The size of the dump device is based on the size of the system's physical memory. In addition, consider that the size of a new BE increases when it is updated, depending on the amount of updates. You will need to monitor the disk space usage of all BEs on the system. All BEs in the same root pool use the same swap and dump devices.
Oracle Solaris OS components – All OS-related subdirectories of the root file system, for example, /etc, /bin, and /usr, cannot be created as a dataset that is separate from the root dataset. The only exception is /var, which the installers create as a separate dataset by default. In addition, all OS components must reside within the root pool, with the exception of the swap and dump devices. For information about specific disk requirements, see Managing Devices.
Support for running multiple operating systems (x86 only) – You can partition the disk that will contain the OS prior to an installation or during an installation. See Partitioning Your System in Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 Systems.
Before installing an Oracle Solaris 11 release, review the following information:
x86: Prepare the boot environment (applies to x86 based systems that will run multiple operating systems) – See Preparing a System for Installing Multiple Operating Systems in Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 Systems.
Ensure that you have the proper device drivers – Before installing Oracle Solaris, determine whether the devices on your system are supported. You can use the Device Driver Utility to ensure that your system has the proper devices. The Device Driver Utility can be accessed through the text installer menu options. See Ensuring That You Have the Proper Device Drivers in Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 Systems. See also the Hardware Compatibility Lists (HCL) at https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/hcl/index.html.
x86: Configure the system's date and time (applies to x86 platforms that are installed with AI only) – Oracle Solaris keeps the Real Time Clock (RTC) in Coordinated Universal time (UTC) format. The behavior on x86 platforms is different than it was in Oracle Solaris 10. AI does not adjust the RTC date and time during an installation. To reconfigure the date and time after an installation, see Reconfiguring Date and Time Before and After an Installation.