The free and easy to use OpenSolaris OS is a leading-edge open source release with world-class support and unique innovative features. Check what's new with this release.
Yes, OpenSolaris 2009.06 now supports SPARC, however it is only available as an Automated Install image at this time. As a result, all Sun4v platforms are supported and all Sun4u platforms that have an OBP of 4.17 or greater. In the future we hope to have an interactive media install for SPARC, however not at this time.
You can download it from opensolaris.com/get, as well as from several mirror sites around the world. Available mirror sites are listed here.
Customers wanting to run OpenSolaris as their OS of choice have options for support from Sun including:
You can order free media kit by visiting opensolaris.com/get.
ZFS is the default file system; this brings the benefits of using ZFS much closer to the average user, allowing them to get the advantages of ZFS right from the start. ZFS can snapshot the file system, allowing the user to easily revert changes, for example, if a you decide your current development experiment isn't working and you would like to reset your entire system to a prior state. As another example, the user will easily be able to revert to an initial 'factory install', which may be useful in some kiosk situations.
This first release supports 32-bit and 64-bit x86 systems and all Sun4v platforms, along with all Sun4u platforms with an OBP greater than 4.17.
OpenSolaris 2009.06 requires 10 GB minimum disk space. It is known to work with a minimum memory requirement of 512 MB, though this may vary on some machines. Note that if you intend to use VirtualBox or the xVM Hypervisor, you will typically require several gigabytes of memory to host additional Operating Systems.
Internationalization and localization will be provided similar to existing Sun support options. Please note that the support is only provided in English.
The Image Packaging System (IPS) infrastructure enables the user to download and install additional software and updates, from network package repositories around the world. For details of available repositories see section 2.3 at http://www.opensolaris.com/learn/features/whats-new/200811 The Image Packaging System (IPS) changes the way Sun delivers software to the customer. Rather than having to combine all software into several CDs or DVDs, a single CD image can be provided allowing the user to download additional software that is critical to their needs from network package repositories. This cuts down the size of the image, and allows a faster distribution model. The user will automatically be notified should updates (bug fixes, security alerts, or hardware support) become available; they can then install these updates over the network, with any additional required software or updates automatically determined and downloaded as well. The introduction of “fat” packages allows for space-efficient support of both SPARC and x86 architectures. See more information about IPS on opensolaris.com.
Additional software is available on http://pkg.opensolaris.org/ release and through community contributed http://pkg.opensolaris.org/contrib, and can be installed through the package manager utility, pkg(1), or package manager GUI available in the System > Administration menu.
You can try searching for it in the package repositories. However, it may be likely that your favorite software isn't yet packaged. Contact the SW Porters community on opensolaris.org and suggest it should be packaged. Be careful however, you may be volunteered for the job!
Yes. pkgadd(1), and associated SVr4 packaging utilities, are provided for backwards compatibility.
The OpenSolaris 2009.06 provides many third-party applications (mostly free and open source software), either as part of the default installation, or available on the network package repository. A full list of software can be viewed at http://pkg.opensolaris.org/release.
If you would like to make the original Solaris utilities the default, remove '/usr/gnu/bin' from your PATH.
The OpenSolaris OS operates on a 6 month release cycle. In between releases there will be software updates as new bug fixes, security alerts, or hardware support becomes available.
The latest update of Solaris was just released on April, 2009, Solaris 10 5/09. The date for the next release of Solaris after Solaris 10 has not been set yet. Sun will provide advance notice of the next release once its date has been set. For more information on Solaris 10, visit http://www.sun.com/solaris10
OpenSolaris allows you to bring your ideas to life. This open source OS has a state-of-the-art code base that is well-structured and documented, and is backed by a global community that collaborates to fuel innovation. OpenSolaris features innovative technologies built-in for free, including virtualization and instant roll-back (via ZFS) with Time Slider to protect your work that enable risk-free experimentation on whatever systems students are using today. And, through the expanding OpenSolaris community, students have unfettered access to brilliant minds worldwide to collaborate, innovate and succeed as they graduate into the Network Economy. And, Solaris knowledgeable administrators are always in high demand; get started with OpenSolaris and become Solaris Certified to maximize your career choices after school!
OpenSolaris allows you to take your idea from experiment to global deployment on a single platform in a familiar environment. Free, built-in features help you develop, debug and deploy new applications faster, including ZFS' instant roll-back and continual check-summing to provide guaranteed integrity and availability for your vital data, DTrace to optimize your applications, Project Crossbow for next generation network applications and fully integrated virtualization technologies like Solaris Containers and xVM Hypervisor that enable you to develop, test and deploy complex virtualised workloads which can be deployed on a huge selection of systems, from single CPU machines to clusters of large multiprocessor, multicoree systems.
With OpenSolaris you will be able to:
- Deploy optimized / secured webstack out of the box
- Debug in realtime with DTrace
- Scale linearly on todays multi-core systems
- Manage storage with ZFS and get instant rollback
- Upgrade without breaking existing applications
- Secure your systems, applications and data
- Develop next generation network applications using the capabilities of Project Crossbow
We recommend that you first check the OpenSolaris OS hardware compatibility list (HCL) at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl to see if that hardware is supported. You can check if there are drivers available using the Device Driver Utility which appears as a desktop icon on booting the LiveCD and is available in the Applications->System Tools menu after installation. Additional information on available drivers can be found at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/drivers/
Yes, both are available at http://opensolaris.com/get/
Although the OpenSolaris OS is designed to be fully compatible with existing Solaris applications, at this point, the Binary and Source guarantees currently apply to Solaris releases only. Sun is evaluating how the guarantee will apply to OpenSolaris releases in the future.
OpenSolaris.com is a starting place for users to learn about OpenSolaris and make it easier to access the new community package repository, download the software and learn more about what's happening in the OpenSolaris community. For more information, go to opensolaris.com. To be a part of OpenSolaris community, visit http://forums.opensolaris.com/index.jspa
If there is a download mirror in your location, you may want to use that. The LiveCD install image is fully re-distributable, so if you know of a local mirror who may want to host it we would encourage you to contact them. Available mirror sites are listed here: http://www.opensolaris.com/get/index.jsp#mirrors
Otherwise, you can request a free CD from here: http://www.opensolaris.com/get/
We recommend use of the Sun Download Manager which will allow you to resume downloading if your connection is lost. If you still have problems, request the free CD from here: http://www.opensolaris.com/get/
For information on how to contribute to OpenSolaris, visit http://www.opensolaris.org/