The Solaris Operating System (OS) is a free and open UNIX operating system, available as a free download for both x86 and SPARC systems. The current release, Solaris 10, is the result of a $500-million plus investment in development by Sun.
Today, you can choose from two releases: the Solaris OS, for rock-solid, long-term deployments, or the OpenSolaris OS, a view into the next generation of Solaris that's ideal for students and Web 2.0 applications. Sun also offers several Linux operating system distributions and related technologes, and resells Windows Server 2003 with select x64 systems.
To learn more about Solaris 10 visit our Solaris Adoption Learning Center. There you can also listen to the Top 5 reasons why you should be using the Solaris 10 Operating System. Additionally, a Sun VP will discuss the compelling features of Solaris 10, and customers who have achieved real business results by using these features will provide their experience and testimonials.
The free and easy to use OpenSolaris Operating System is a leading-edge open source release with world-class support and unique, innovative features that let you be brilliant faster.
Sun is announcing the immediate availability of the OpenSolaris 2008.05 OS release from Sun and the OpenSolaris community. This release is fully re-distributable and available from OpenSolaris.com and other popular open source distribution sites.
What are the new features of the OpenSolaris 2008.05 release?
The OpenSolaris OS contains many new features that are not available with the current Solaris 10 update but, per the OpenSolaris and Solaris release model, may be included in subsequent Solaris 10 updates and milestone releases. Most notably, the addition of an easy-to-use graphical installation experience, ZFS as the default root file system, a network-based image package management system (IPS) with access to a full suite of software, the ability to more easily update between releases of the operating system, and a more familiar environment for those used to Linux based operating environments.
What's unique about the Solaris OS in comparison to other operating systems?
Solaris 10, released in early 2005, includes more than 600 new features, with even more features added since then in Solaris 10 updates. Many of these features are not available in any other operating system, such as, Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), Solaris Containers, Predictive Self Healing, Solaris ZFS, Solaris Trusted Extensions, and Logical Domains (LDoms). The unique features of the Solaris OS are designed to deliver breakthrough enterprise functionality as well as flexibility in Web 2.0 environments. Solaris advantages are not just on the technical side but it also provides operational benefits to businesses: unique among operating system vendors, Sun protects your IT investments by guaranteeing that existing Solaris applications will run unmodified on Solaris 10, and provides a support life cycle oriented toward deployment longevity.
Solaris 10 is free to end users, regardless of the number or type of systems you want to run it on. In order to use the Solaris 10 Operating System for perpetual commercial use, each system running the Solaris 10 OS must have an entitlement. The Entitlement Document is delivered to you either with a new Sun system, from Sun Services as part of your service agreement, or via e-mail when you register your systems for free through the Sun Download Center.
Where can I get more details about the features in Solaris 10?
Visit the Feature Overview page to find out about key Solaris features, including DTrace, Solaris Containers in the Virtualization section, Predictive Self Healing, and a wealth of security features. Links in each section provide you with in-depth information about Solaris features in the form of white papers, Sun BluePrints articles, feature stories, and more.
The Solaris 10 Operating System is available to you at no charge. You can download Solaris 10 for free today and start taking advantage of its extensive functionality right away, on either x86 or SPARC systems.
Which Sun systems support Enhanced Intel SpeedStep and AMD PowerNow! introduced in Solaris 10 5/08?
With Solaris 10 5/08, Sun servers using AMD Opteron 10h family of processors (codenamed Barcelona) support AMD PowerNow! technology, but not previous generations of AMD Opteron processors; All of the current shipping Sun systems using Intel Xeon processors support the Enhanced Intel SpeedStep power management technology.
Where can a developer go to learn more about building applications on Solaris?
The Solaris Developer Resources page
provides access to tools, downloads, documents, and forums to help developers build applications on the Solaris platform and enhance existing applications by maximizing use of new Solaris 10 functionality.
Sun has experienced a record response to Solaris 10. From the initial release of Solaris 10 in January 2005 to April 2008, customers have registered over 11 millions Solaris 10 licenses. Read what customers, partners, and the media are saying about Solaris 10 today.
What's changed in Solaris since the initial Solaris 10 release?
Per the Solaris Life Cycle model, updates to the current Solaris release come out every few months. The most current update is Solaris 10 5/08. To see what's been added, please see the
What's New table.
Where can I learn more about current and upcoming Solaris virtualization technologies?
Sun has incorporated several virtualization technologies in the Solaris OS such as Solaris Containers and Logical Domains (LDoms), and also works with third party virtualization products. Sun is fully committed to working with, and being an active member of, the Xen open source community. Additionally the Sun xVM project has been underway since February 2006. Sun xVM capabilities to be delivered include using Solaris as both a controlling domain and as a diskful or diskless guest, and a complete management solution for virtualized data centers.
What is the Solaris Operating System life cycle model?
Recognizing that customers need a predictable, stable OS release model as the foundation for application deployment, Sun has designed the Solaris release and support life cycle to provide release availability of
ten years or longer for milestone Solaris Operating System versions, with full support of such releases for a minimum of seven years.
Please refer to the Solaris life cycle model page for further details.
