Chapter 1 What's New at a Glance

This chapter highlights new features added to the Solaris^TM 7 operating environment in the 11/99, 8/99, 5/99, and 3/99 releases.

Table 1-1 Solaris 7 Features


Feature	First Released in . . .	Description
Installation (These features are described in the Solaris 7 Installation Collection.)
AnswerBook2 `ab2cd` script updates	8/99	Updates to the `ab2cd` script enable users to read AnswerBook2^TM documentation directly from the Solaris Documentation CD.
DNS configuration during system identification	5/99	Prior Solaris releases only allowed the configuration of a machine as a NIS or NIS+ client. With the Solaris 7 5/99 release, systems can be configured by the system identification utilities to be DNS clients.
Product Registry	3/99	The Solaris Product Registry is a tool to manage installed software. It enables you to: View a list of installed and registered software and some software attributes Uninstall software Browse for and launch an installer
Patch Analyzer	3/99	The Patch Analyzer performs an analysis on your system to determine which (if any) patches will be removed or downgraded by upgrading from a Solaris 7 operating environment to the Solaris 7 11/99 operating environment. This analysis can be performed either at upgrade time or while the system is in production mode.
(Intel Platform Edition only) Added support for PAE mode	3/99	With the release of Pentium Pro, Intel introduced a mode called Physical Address Extension (PAE) on its advanced processors. PAE mode enables you to run multiple instances of databases and memory-intensive applications, and to support large numbers of online users on your machine. This feature is described in the Solaris 7 11/99 Release Notes.
System and Network Administration
Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system	11/99	The UDF file system is the industry-standard format for storing information on optical media called digital versatile disc or digital video disc (DVD) that is both readable and re-writable.
Digital versatile disk or digital video disk	11/99	This release supports digital versatile disc or digital video disc (DVD) that is both readable and re-writable.
(Intel Platform Edition only) PCI hot-plugging with `cfgadm` command	11/99	The `cfgadm` command is updated to provide PCI hot-plugging for supported PCI controllers on x86 systems.
Improved device configuration `(devfsadm`)	11/99	The `devfsadm` command manages the special device files in the `/dev` and `/devices` directories and is updated to detect device configuration changes by any reconfiguration event.
(SPARC Platform Edition only) Inter-Domain Network (IDN)	11/99	Inter-Domain Network (IDN) supports high-speed networking between Dynamic System Domains (DSDs). This enables DSDs to communicate with each other using standard networking interfaces, such as TCP/IP, without the use of cabling or special hardware. See your hardware manufacturer's documentation for information about IDN and to see if IDN supports your server.
`coreadm`	8/99	The `coreadm` command provides improved core file management for Solaris system administrators.
Enhanced SCSI hot-plugging with the `cfgadm`	8/99	The `cfgadm` command now supports SCSI hot-plugging for supported SCSI hardware.
Migrating to BIND 8.1	8/99	This section updates Bind 8.1 in the Solaris Naming Setup and Configuration Guide and the Solaris Naming Administration Guide.
AnswerBook2 server software updates	8/99	Updates in AnswerBook2 version 1.4.1 server software improve navigation and performance.
Remote console	5/99	New system console features, including the `consadm` command, enable system administrators and service providers to remotely troubleshoot systems by dialing in to a system using a modem connected to one of the serial ports and to redirect console messages to the auxiliary device.
(SPARC^TM Platform Edition only) Dynamic reconfiguration	5/99	Dynamic reconfiguration allows the service provider to add or remove and replace hot-pluggable system boards in a running system, eliminating the time lost in rebooting. For more information, see your hardware manufacturer's documentation.
Deferred access time updates on UFS file systems	3/99	New mount options, `dfratime` and `nodfratime`, enable and disable deferred access time updates on UFS file systems.
Improved system boot and error message format	3/99	The system boot and error message format is improved by adding a numeric identifier, module name, and time stamp to messages generated by the `syslog` logging facility.
(SPARC Platform Edition only) Improved handling of `cron` jobs on suspended systems	3/99	When you use Power Management^TM software to suspend and resume a system, there is now a check on whether `cron` jobs were scheduled during the time the system was suspended. If there were, the first instance of a `cron` job is performed when the system resumes. (This improvement was available in the Solaris 7 release and first documented in the Solaris 7 3/99 release.)
Developer (These features are described in the Solaris 7 Software Developer Supplement.)
(SPARC Platform Edition) Dynamic reconfiguration support for SCSI HBA drivers	11/99	In this release, dynamic reconfiguration (DR) support has been updated for SCSI devices. See your hardware manufacturer's documentation to see if your server supports DR.
PCI hot-plugging	11/99	PCI hot-plugging is updated to include information on writing device drivers for x86 servers.
8-bit visual support	8/99	The 8-bit visual shared library enables device drivers with only 24-bit hardware to display 8-bit visual applications.
Solaris 7 64-bit Developer's Guide updates	3/99	This is a list of updates in the Solaris 7 64-bit Developer's Guide.
Updated DDI interfaces for cluster-aware device drivers	3/99	This overview introduces the concept of device classes and the necessary interface modifications and additions for device driver writers.
Java Development Kit (These features are described in the Solaris 7 Software Developer Supplement.)
JDK 1.1.7_08	11/99	The JDK^TM 1.1.7_08 includes: Enhanced Eurocurrency support High-performance Just In Time compiler A Java^TM Runtime Environment (JRE) corresponding to the latest version of the JDK is available for download from the Web. http://www.sun.com/solaris/java
Java 2 SDK 1.2.1_03	11/99	The Java 2 SDK 1.2.1_03 is the first Solaris release of Java technology based on Java 2. It includes: Substantially increased scalability and performance Enhanced memory management system High-performing, scalable Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Fast Java thread synchronization Enhanced diagnostics with the heap inspection tool, which finds memory leaks in programs Optimizing Just In Time compiler
Desktop User (These features are described in the Solaris 7 User Supplement.)
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) synchronization	11/99	PDA synchronization enables data to be synchronized from Sun applications, such as Calendar Manager, with data in a similar application on your PDA. Also, applications and databases can be installed from your workstation or server to your PDA.
Netscape^TMapplication launcher	11/99	The Desktop-Apps folder window has four new icons: Netscape Netscape Composer Netscape Mail Netscape News
Xserver 11R6.4	11/99	The Xserver 11R6.4 provides the following new features: XPrint Xkeyboard Display Power Management Signalling Xinerama Color Utilization Policy WebEnabledX New man pages are available for each of these features.