Download |
---|
Oracle Solaris 10 (SPARC) (53e8b066f7f250ce2fd2cef063f8072b 2314731520: sol-10-u11-ga-sparc-dvd.iso) |
Oracle Solaris 10 (x86) (aae1452bb3d56baa3dcb8866ce7e4a08 2254110720: sol-10-u11-ga-x86-dvd.iso) |
Download |
---|
Developer | Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2009) |
---|---|
Written in | C, C++ |
OS family | Unix (System V Release 4) |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Mixed open-source and closed-source |
Initial release | June 1992; 27 years ago |
Latest release | 11.4[1] / August 28, 2018; 13 months ago |
Marketing target | Workstation, server |
Platforms | SPARC, x86-64, IA-32 (except Solaris 11), PowerPC (Solaris 2.5.1 only) |
Kernel type | Monolithic with dynamically loadable modules |
Default user interface | GNOME,[2]Common Desktop Environment in old versions |
License | Various |
Official website | www.oracle.com/solaris |
Legend: | Old version, no support | Older version, still supported | Current stable version | Latest preview version | Future release |
---|
Solaris version | SunOS version | Release date | End of support[49] | License form | Major new features | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SPARC | x86 | |||||
Old version, no longer supported: 1.x | 4.1.x | 1991–1994 | – | September 2003 | Traditional license | SunOS 4 rebranded as Solaris 1 for marketing purposes. See SunOS article for more information. |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.0 | 5.0 | June 1992 | – | January 1999 | Traditional license | Preliminary release (primarily available to developers only), support for only the sun4c architecture. First appearance of NIS+.[50] |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.1 | 5.1 | December 1992 | May 1993 | April 1999 | Traditional license | Support for sun4 and sun4m architectures added; first Solaris x86 release. First Solaris 2 release to supportSMP. |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.2 | 5.2 | May 1993 | – | May 1999 | Traditional license | SPARC-only release. First to support sun4d architecture. First to support multithreading libraries (UI threads API in libthread).[51] |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.3 | 5.3 | November 1993 | – | June 2002 | Traditional license | SPARC-only release. OpenWindows 3.3 switches from NeWS to Display PostScript and drops SunView support. Support added for autofs and CacheFS filesystems. |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.4 | 5.4 | November 1994 | September 2003 | Traditional license | First unified SPARC/x86 release. Includes OSF/Motif runtime support. | |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.5 | 5.5 | November 1995 | December 2003 | Traditional license | First to support UltraSPARC and include CDE, NFSv3 and NFS/TCP. Dropped sun4 (VMEbus) support. POSIX.1c-1995 pthreads added. Doors added but undocumented.[52] | |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.5.1 | 5.5.1 | May 1996 | September 2005 | Traditional license | The only Solaris release that supports PowerPC;[53]Ultra Enterprise support added; user and group IDs (uid_t, gid_t) expanded to 32 bits,[54] also included processor sets[55] and early resource management technologies. | |
Old version, no longer supported: 2.6 | 5.6 | July 1997 | July 2006 | Traditional license | Includes Kerberos 5, PAM, TrueType fonts, WebNFS, large file support, enhanced procfs. SPARCserver 600MP series support dropped.[56] | |
Old version, no longer supported: 7 | 5.7 | November 1998 | August 2008 | Traditional license | The first 64-bit UltraSPARC release. Added native support for file system meta-data logging (UFS logging). Dropped MCA support on x86 platform. Sun dropped the prefix '2.' in the Solaris version number, leaving 'Solaris 7.' Last update was Solaris 7 11/99.[57] | |
Old version, no longer supported: 8 | 5.8 | February 2000 | March 2012 | Traditional license | Includes Multipath I/O, Solstice DiskSuite,[58]IPMP, first support for IPv6 and IPsec (manual keying only), mdb Modular Debugger. Introduced Role-Based Access Control (RBAC); sun4c support removed. Last update is Solaris 8 2/04.[59] | |
Old version, no longer supported: 9 | 5.9 | May 28, 2002 | January 10, 2003 | October 2014 | Traditional license | iPlanet Directory Server, Resource Manager, extended file attributes, IKE IPsec keying, and Linux compatibility added; OpenWindows dropped, sun4d support removed. Most current update is Solaris 9 9/05 HW.[60] |
Older version, yet still supported: 10 | 5.10 | January 31, 2005; 14 years ago | January 2024 | before Oracle acquisition in March 2010, open source under CDDL after March 2010, Post-Oracle closed source | Includes x86-64 (AMD64/Intel 64) support, DTrace (Dynamic Tracing), Solaris Containers, Service Management Facility (SMF) which replaces init.d scripts, NFSv4. Least privilege security model. Support for sun4m and UltraSPARC I processors removed. Support for EISA-based PCs removed. Adds Java Desktop System (based on GNOME) as default desktop.[61]
| |
Old version, no longer supported: 11 Express 2010.11 | 5.11 | November 15, 2010; 8 years ago | November 2011 | Post-Oracle closed source | Adds new packaging system (IPS – Image Packaging System) and associated tools, ZFS (only) for boot, 1 GB RAM min., x86, Solaris 10 Containers, network virtualization and QoS, virtual consoles, ZFS encryption and deduplication, fast reboot,[72] updated GNOME. Removed Xsun, CDE,[73] and the /usr/ucb BSD-compatible commands[citation needed] | |
Older version, yet still supported: 11 | 5.11 | November 9, 2011; 7 years ago | November 2034 | Post-Oracle closed source | New features and enhancements (compared to Solaris 10) in software packaging, network virtualization, server virtualization, storage, security and hardware support:
| |
Older version, yet still supported: 11.1 | 5.11 | October 3, 2012; 7 years ago | November 2034 | Post-Oracle closed source | New features and enhancements:[75][76][77]
| |
Older version, yet still supported: 11.2 | 5.11 | April 29, 2014; 5 years ago | November 2034 | Post-Oracle closed source | New features and enhancements:[79]
| |
Older version, yet still supported: 11.3 | 5.11 | October 26, 2015; 3 years ago | November 2034 | Post-Oracle closed source | New features and enhancements:[81]
| |
Current stable version:11.4 | 5.11 | August 28, 2018; 13 months ago | November 2034 | Post-Oracle closed source | New features and enhancements:[82] |
“ | All in all, Sun has stayed the course with Solaris 9. While its more user-friendly management is welcome, that probably won't be enough to win over converts. What may is the platform's reliability, flexibility, and power. | ” |
“ | Be that as it may, since the Solaris 10 download is free, it behooves any IT manager to load it on an extra server and at least give it a try. | ” |
“ | Solaris 10 provides a flexible background for securely dividing system resources, providing performance guarantees and tracking usage for these containers. Creating basic containers and populating them with user applications and resources is simple. But some cases may require quite a bit of fine-tuning. | ” |
“ | I think that Sun has put some really nice touches on Solaris 10 that make it a better operating system for both administrators and users. The security enhancements are a long time coming, but are worth the wait. Is Solaris 10 perfect, in a word no it is not. But for most uses, including a desktop OS I think Solaris 10 is a huge improvement over previous releases. | ” |
“ | We've had fun with Solaris 10. It's got virtues that we definitely admire. What it needs to compete with Linux will be easier to bring about than what it's already got. It could become a Linux killer, or at least a serious competitor on Linux's turf. The only question is whether Sun has the will to see it through. | ” |
The DTrace trouble-shooting software from Sun was chosen as the Gold winner in The Wall Street Journal's 2006 Technology Innovation Awards contest
Neither Microsoft Windows nor Linux can match Solaris in this type of high-end architecture, said Tony Iams, an analyst at Port Chester, N.Y., research company D.H. Brown and Associates. 'Solaris has earned its reputation over a long period of time,' Iams said. 'They have been working on high-end scalability features for 10 years, and that's the only way you can get solid results.'