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Continue Getting Support for Solaris 8 With Vintage Patch Service

last updated on 2008-12-19

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You can continue to run your business or favorite applications on the Solaris 8 OS, even though it entered End of Service Life (EOSL) Phase 2 on April 1, 2009. EOSL Phase 2 means that all Solaris customers will continue to receive telephone support and access to patches developed before April 1, 2009, but they will not receive patches developed on April 1, 2009 or after. Even security patches. However, for those of you who want to continue running Solaris 8, Sun provides two options:

• Upgrade to Solaris 10 and run your applications inside Solaris 8 Containers.
• Sign up for our Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service.

1. Running Solaris 8 Applications in Containers on a Solaris 10 System

If you upgrade to Solaris 10, you can take advantage of the new features of Solaris 10 while continuing to run your Solaris 8 applications. All you have to do is get a subscription to Solaris 8 containers, then set them up inside the Solaris 10 OS. A container will host a Solaris 8 environment that will support your Solaris 8 applications. This article explains how.

If you'd like to find out what's involved in the upgrade, or would like Sun to help you with the transition to Solaris 10, sign up for Sun's upgrade service. It will guide you through the entire process.

Sun also offers Solaris 9 Containers. More information about Solaris Containers here.

2. Signing Up for Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service

If you prefer not to upgrade to Solaris 10, you can sign up for our Vintage Patch Service. We developed this service so that those of you who prefer to continue using Solaris 8 can still receive any patches that we might develop for that OS on or after April 1, 2009. Please note: if you don't sign up for the Vintage Patch service, you will have access only to patches developed before April 1, 2009.

You can purchase the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service any time between now and March 31, 2012. Contact your local Sun sales representative or Sun authorized partner.

The Solaris 9 EOL pre-announcement is posted on sun.com. We will provide additional information on Solaris 9 EOSL support as that becomes available.

For More Information

• Sun Support and Services:
  • End of Support Life Status for Solaris Operating System
  • Solaris Support
  • Video: The Value of a Solaris Support Contract
  • Solaris 8 Transition Information
  • Solaris 8 OS End-of-Service Life (Phase 2) Announcement (pdf)
• Resources on BigAdmin:
  • Solaris 10 Upgrade Resources for System Administrators
  • Solaris Containers hub
  • Solaris Information Center - Patching How To
• Other Resources on sun.com:
  • Sun training courses
  • Sun forums
  • Sun Product Documentation
  • Sun wikis
  • Patch Corner Blog
  • Podcast on Patch Entitlement and Solaris 8 Vintage Support

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