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LittleAdmin: Resources for New Solaris System Administrators

This document is designed to help new Solaris sys admins find the information and training they need to get started in the Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS).

A good place to start for this information is the BigAdmin Education section.

Sun offers comprehensive training for Solaris System Administration for Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 Operating Systems (OS).

You may choose instructor-led courses (Classroom or Live Virtual Class), or for those on a budget, you may wish to explore Web-based or CD-ROM training for the Solaris OS.

For those wanting to make their resumes look more impressive, you may wish to consider certification as a Sun Certified System Administration for the Solaris Operating System.

This guide is designed to cover the most important aspects of Solaris administration and should prove important to those new to the platform. You can download it here.

For students and others who don't have access to hardware based on SPARC chips, you may find the Solaris x86 platform a good way to learn about Solaris administration. Solaris x86 software is available at Sun's Get the Solaris Enterprise System page.

For information and resources on the x86 platform, click on the Solaris x86 Collections page.

See the main Solaris product pages for more information.

Some areas of particular interest include:

• White papers
• Feature FAQs
• Solaris 10 Operating System Technical FAQs
• Data sheets
• Solaris release information
• Features and benefits

Sun has a variety of support offerings and web sites, and it may not always be clear which resources to use.
Understanding Technical Support Options at Sun lists the most up-to-date information on these support offerings.

This short article points you to various resources that should help you develop best practices in a variety of areas.

The Scripts section remains one of the most popular areas of the BigAdmin site. New admins should find the sample script code useful for automating routine tasks and also providing insights into the scripting language.

The ShellMe area provides useful information on using shell commands to debug problems, monitor systems, determine system utilization, and much more. These contributions come from our community of sys admins that work in this environment on a daily basis.

The BigAdmin documentation section is a good place to start for your Solaris documentation needs. Here you will find links to a variety of Sun and third-party resources to answer your pressing questions.

Be sure to look at the BigAdmin software section for the latest downloads.

If you are trying to locate precompiled freeware for the Solaris platform, go to sunfreeware.com.

Locate the latest Solaris patch information to make sure your Solaris software is up-to-date. Visit the following areas:

• Recommended Patch Clusters
• SunSolve Patch Information
• Patch Reports

If you have tried all of the above but cannot find your answer, try asking your question to our community of experts in the discussion forums. You will need to register before posting questions.

You may find it useful to receive regular information relevant to sys admins and the Solaris platform. Some of the offerings include:

• BigAdmin Newsletter
• Solaris Developer Newsletter
• Patch Club Report

We hope you will find these resources useful. As you develop your skills, be sure to give back to the community by submitting your favorite links and information.