Solaris 11 First Steps

What's new in Solaris 11

Package Management

No more patching! The new way to update your operating system is pkg. This tool get's new versions of Software over the network. You can search repositories for software packages and install them over the network. Some examples

Distro Constructor

You can compile your own Solaris 11 distribution ISO image by using the Distribution Constructor. This will make customized installations much faster. There is a good article at Oracle called How to Create a Customized Oracle Solaris 11 Image Using the Distribution Constructor.

Networking (Crossbow)

An enhanced version of the new network stack from the project Crossbow (known from OpenSolaris) is implemented. The new stack virtualizes the network of you Solaris. This means a lot of new features like virtual switches, virtual NICs and so on can be used. You can build even complex networks virtualized inside your Solaris instance.

Interface Names

The new network virtualization covers interface names. They are now named net0, net1, ... and not after their drivers. So now you can just say net0 is frontend traffic. and interface net1 is backend. Independant of which hardware your server is build of. You can even name them after their usage like frontend0 and backend0. So you always now what kind of traffic is at this interface.

Etherstubs and VNICs

Etherstubs are virtual switches inside your OS which can be connected to VNICs and physical interfaces.

ipadm

The tool ipadm is, together with dladm, a powerful tool to manage your network stack.