Chapter 3 What's New in the Solaris 10 10/08 Release

This chapter summarizes new features in the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Installation Enhancements

The following installation features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Solaris Installation for ZFS Root Pools

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, you can install and boot a ZFS root pool.

The following installation programs perform an initial installation of a ZFS root pool:

• The Solaris text installer performs an initial installation for a ZFS root pool. During the installation, you can choose to install either a UFS file system or a ZFS root pool. You can set up a mirrored ZFS root pool by selecting two disks during the installation. Or, you can attach or add additional disks after the installation to create a mirrored ZFS root pool. Swap and dump devices on ZFS volumes are automatically created in the ZFS root pool.

  For step-by-step instructions, see Chapter 3, Installing With the Solaris Interactive Text Installer for ZFS Root Pools (Planning and Tasks), in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Basic Installations.

• With custom JumpStart, you can create a profile to create a ZFS storage pool and designate a bootable ZFS file system. New ZFS profile keywords install a ZFS root pool for an initial installation. A ZFS profile contains a limited set of keywords.

  For more information about JumpStart and ZFS, see Chapter 9, Installing a ZFS Root Pool With JumpStart, in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.

You can use Solaris Live Upgrade to perform the following tasks:

• Migrate a UFS root (/) file system to a ZFS root pool

• Create a new boot environment in the following ways:

  • Within an existing ZFS root pool

  • Within another ZFS root pool

  • From a source other than the currently running system

  • On a system with non-global zones installed

After you have used the lucreate command to create a ZFS boot environment, you can use other Solaris Live Upgrade commands on the boot environment, such as the luupgrade and luactivate commands. For more information on using Solaris Live Upgrade for ZFS, see Chapter 12, Solaris Live Upgrade and ZFS (Overview), in Solaris 10 10/08 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

System Administration Enhancements

The following system administration features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Solaris Installation Tool Support of ZFS File Systems

The following Solaris installation tools have been enhanced in the Solaris 10 10/08 release to support ZFS file systems:

• Solaris interactive text installer to install a UFS or a ZFS root file system. The default file system is still UFS for the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

• Custom JumpStart features to set up a profile to create a ZFS storage pool and designate a bootable ZFS file system.

• Migrate a UFS root file system to a ZFS root file system by using the Solaris^TM Live Upgrade feature. The lucreate and luactivate commands have been enhanced to support ZFS pools and file systems. The lustatus and ludelete commands work as in previous Solaris releases.

• Set up a mirrored ZFS root pool by selecting two disks during the installation. Or, you can attach or add additional disks after the installation to create a mirrored ZFS root pool.

• Automatically create swap and dump devices on ZFS volumes in the ZFS root pool.

For more information, see the Solaris ZFS Administration Guide.

For previous Solaris 10 releases, see the following limited Solaris installation tool support for ZFS file systems:

• Custom JumpStart – You cannot include ZFS file systems in a JumpStart profile. However, you can run following scripts from a ZFS storage pool to set up an install server or install client:

  • setup_install_server

  • add_install_server

  • add_install_client

• Live Upgrade – Preserves your original boot environment and carries over your ZFS storage pools into the new environment. Currently, ZFS cannot be used as a bootable root file system so your existing ZFS file systems are not copied into the boot environment.

• Solaris Initial Install - ZFS file systems are not recognized during an initial installation. However, if you do not specify any of the disk devices that contain ZFS storage pools to be used for the installation, you should be able to recover your storage pools by using the zpool import command after the installation. For more information, see the zpool(1M) man page.

  As with most reinstallation scenarios, you should back up your ZFS files before proceeding with the initial installation option.

• Solaris Upgrade – Your ZFS file systems and storage pools are preserved.

SunVTS 7.0 Patch Set 3

SunVTS^TM 7.0 Patch Set 3 follows a conventional three-tier architecture model that includes a browser-based user interface, a Java^TM technology-based middle server, and a diagnostic agent. SunVTS Patch Set 3 has the following enhancements:

• Disk and Network tests provide device selection and deselection capability.

• The browser-based UI and TTY UI provide support for checkboxes in the logical test (LT) options.

• fputest and cache tests have been enhanced for x86 platforms.

• disktest has been updated and does not perform any write-test on file system partitions.

For more information about SunVTS, see http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/test.validate.

lockstat Provider for DTrace

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, DTrace lockstat probes that displayed the spin count (spins) now returns spin time in nanoseconds. The lockstat provider interface and the lockstat command options have not changed.

System Resource Enhancements

The following system resource features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

New Solaris Zones Features

The following Solaris Zones enhancements are found in the Solaris 10 10/08 release:

• Update on Attach – If the new host has the same or later versions of the zone-dependent packages and their associated patches, using zoneadm attach with the -u option, updates those packages within the zone to match the new host. If the new host has a mixture of higher and lower version packages and patches as compared to the source host, then an update during the attach operation is not allowed. This option also enables automatic migration between machine classes, such as from sun4u to sun4v.

  For more information, see the zoneadm(1M) man page and System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

• Ability to Set Default Router in Shared-IP Zone – A defrouter property has been added to the net resource in the zonecfg utility for shared-IP non-global zones. You can set the default router for the network interface through this property.

  For more information, see the zonecfg(1M) man page and System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

• ZFS Zone Path Permitted – Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the zonepath can be on ZFS and the system can be upgraded. For a zone with the zonepath on ZFS, only Solaris Live Upgrade can be used to upgrade the system. For more information, see System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

x86: New GRUB findroot Command

All Solaris installation methods, including Solaris Live Upgrade, now use the findroot command for specifying which disk slice to boot on an x86 based system. Previously, the root command, root (hd0.0.a), was used to explicitly specify which disk slice to boot. This information is located in the menu.lst file that is used by GRUB. The most common form of the entry in the menu.lst file is:

findroot (rootfs0,0,a)
kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix
module$ /platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive

The findroot command has the ability to discover the targeted disk, irrespective of the boot device. In addition, the findroot command provides enhanced support for booting systems with ZFS roots, as well as those with UFS roots. In addition to the findroot command, the name of a signature file on the slice, (<mysign>, 0, a) is now provided. The boot signature is located in the /boot/grub/bootsign directory on the system. The name of the signature file varies, depending on the installation method that is used.

For more information, see Implementation of the findroot Command in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

x64: Support for 256 Processors

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the Solaris 64-bit operating system supports up to 256 processors on the x86 platform. Previous releases of the Solaris OS supported only up to 64 processors on x86 platforms in the 64-bit mode.

Support for 256 processors provides users the following benefits:

• Users can use this release of Solaris on their existing x86 systems with up to 256 processors.

• Users need not upgrade their OS when they upgrade to machines with over 64 processors in the future.

Users using this release of Solaris will be able to retain their entire software stack including the operating system, when they purchase larger machines.

System Performance Enhancements

The following system performance features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

SPARC: Solaris SPARC Boot Architecture Redesigned

The Solaris SPARC bootstrap process has been redesigned to increase commonality with the Solaris x86 boot architecture.

The improved Solaris boot architecture brings direct boot, ramdisk-based booting, and the ramdisk miniroot to the SPARC platform. These enabling technologies support the following functions:

• Booting a system from additional file system types. For example, a ZFS file system.

• Booting a single miniroot for software installation from DVD, NFS, or HTTP

Additional improvements include significantly faster boot times, increased flexibility, and reduced maintenance requirements.

As part of this architecture redesign, the Solaris boot archives and the bootadm command, previously only available on the Solaris x86 platform, are now an integral part of the Solaris SPARC boot architecture.

The primary difference between the SPARC and x86 boot architectures is how the boot device and file are selected at boot time. SPARC-based systems continue to use the OpenBoot PROM (OBP) as the primary administrative interface, with boot options selected by using OBP commands. On the x86 based platform, these options are selected through the BIOS and the GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) menu.

In the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the ability to directly load and boot the UNIX kernel is only available on the SPARC platform. The x86 platform continues to use the multiboot style of booting.

Although the implementation of the Solaris SPARC boot has changed, no administrative procedures for booting a SPARC-based system have been impacted. Boot tasks that are performed by the system administrator remain as they were prior the boot architecture redesign.

For more information, see the following:

• bootadm(1M) and boot(1M) man pages

• Chapter 12, Booting a Solaris System (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration for instructions on booting a Solaris system

x86: Kernel Support for Intel SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, and AMD SSE4A

The kernel now detects the presence of existing Intel SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, and AMD SSE4A instruction sets. This feature enables loading and executing programs that require these hardware capabilities. dis(1) now supports disassembly of instructions from these instruction set extensions.

For a list of hardware capability requirements for a given binary, see the file(1) command. For a list of hardware capabilities supported by the loader on a given machine, see isainfo(1).

Security Enhancements

The following networking features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Separation of Duty Enforcement Through the Solaris Management Console

This feature enforces that two or more people are required to manage users through the Solaris Management Console (SMC). Separation of duty is enforced by rule. The System Administrator role creates users, but cannot assign passwords and rights. The Security Administrator role assigns passwords and rights, but cannot create users.

Separation of Duty is an accreditation requirement for government customers. SMC now supports this feature and makes it easier to achieve security-level certification.

For more information, see Create Rights Profiles That Enforce Separation of Duty in Solaris Trusted Extensions Configuration Guide.

SHA256/SHA512 crypt(3C) Plug-in

This feature provides an additional pair of crypt(3C) plug-ins based on the SHA256 and SHA512 digest algorithms. This plug-in provides a crypt(3C) hash that uses FIPS 140-2 approved algorithms and discontinues using MD5–based hashes.

pam_list Module

The pam_list module provides functions to validate the user's account on a specific host based on a list of users and netgroups. This module can be used as a quick replacement for account validation through the passwd_compat mode.

For more information, see the pam_list(5) man page.

Desktop Enhancements

The following desktop features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

SPARC: Adobe Reader 8.1.2

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, Adobe® Reader 8.1.2 is included with the Solaris OS. The new version of Adobe Reader includes many new features, including a much improved user interface, support for Shared Reviews, and several security fixes.

For more details, see http://blogs.adobe.com/acroread/2008/02/adobe_reader_812_for_linux_and.html.

Flash Player 9.0.124.0

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the Solaris OS includes Adobe Flash Player 9.0.124.0. New features in this version of the Flash Player include the following:

• H.264 video and HE-AAC audio codec support

• Full screen mode for the Solaris OS

• Improved performance due to multi-core support, hardware and image scaling, multi-threaded video decoding, Flash Player cache, and Flash Media Server buffering

For more information, see http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/features/.

Networking Enhancements

The following networking features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Communication Protocol Parser Utilities

Session Description Protocol (SDP), RFC 4566, is used for describing multimedia sessions for session announcement, session invitation, and other forms of multimedia session initiation. SDP conveys media details such as type and encoding, transport protocol, session name, purpose, owner, and other session description metadata to the participants.

The libcommputil(3LIB) library provides public interfaces that parses the SDP description and checks for syntax conformance. This library also contains interfaces to generate SDP messages and convert the messages to byte-strings. SDP is used predominantly by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). With the libcommputil(3LIB) library, Solaris SIP developers can leverage these interfaces in developing SIP applications on the Solaris platform.

For more information, see the libcommputil(3LIB) man page.

SIP End-to-end Traffic Measurements and Logging

The Solaris SIP stack now provides SIP application developers with the following two new features:

• End-to-end traffic measurements – The end-to-end traffic measurement feature tracks the following activities.

  • Total number of bytes sent and received by the stack

  • Total number of SIP requests and responses sent and received

  • Number of SIP requests sent and received broken down by methods

  • Number of SIP responses sent and received broken down by response codes

• SIP dialog or transaction logging – The SIP logging feature can enable and disable dialog or transaction logging. All SIP messages that are exchanged within a dialog or transaction are captured and stored in a log file provided by the application, when the dialog or transaction is terminated. The SIP logging feature helps developers in call tracing and debugging.

Device Management Enhancements

The following device management features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Faulty Device Retirement Feature

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the Solaris OS includes a new device retirement mechanism to isolate a device as faulty by the fault management framework (FMA). This feature allows faulty devices to be safely and automatically inactivated to avoid data loss, data corruption, panics, and system down time. The retirement process is done safely, taking into account the stability of the system after the device has been retired.

Critical devices are never retired. If you need to manually replace a retired device, use the fmadm repair command after the device replacement so that system knows that the device is replaced, in addition to the manual replacement steps.

The fmadm repair process is as follows:

• Identify the faulty device with the fmadm faulty -a command.

  # fmadm faulty STATE RESOURCE / UUID -------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- faulty <fmri>

• Clear the fault by using the fmadm repair command.

  # fmadm repair <fmri>

• Run the fmadm faulty command again to be sure the fault is cleared.

  # fmadm faulty -a STATE RESOURCE / UUID

For more information, see fmadm(1M).

A general message regarding device retirement is displayed on the console and written to the /var/adm/messages file so that you aware of a retired device. For example:

Aug 9 18:14 starbug genunix: [ID 751201 kern.notice] 
NOTICE: One or more I/O devices have been retired

You can use the prtconf command to identify specific retired devices. For example:

# prtconf
.
.
.
pci, instance #2
        scsi, instance #0
            disk (driver not attached)
            tape (driver not attached)
            sd, instance #3
            sd, instance #0 (retired)
        scsi, instance #1 (retired)
            disk (retired)
            tape (retired)
    pci, instance #3
        network, instance #2 (driver not attached)
        network, instance #3 (driver not attached)
    os-io (driver not attached)
    iscsi, instance #0
    pseudo, instance #0
.
.
.

MPxIO Support for Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage Series Arrays

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) and Hitachi Workgroup Modular Storage systems are integrated with MPxIO. Dual controller Adaptable Modular Storage and Workgroup Modular Storage models can fully utilize multiple paths in MPxIO environments. This support also enables the full functionality of MPxIO with the Hitachi storage systems in Sun Cluster environments.

Driver Enhancements

The following driver features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

x86: NVIDIA ck804/mcp55 SATA Controller Driver

nv_sata is a SATA HBA driver capable of hot-pluggable functions, for NVIDIA ck804/mcp55 and compatible SATA controllers.

For more information, see the nv_sata(7D) man page.

x86: LSI MegaRAID SAS Controllers Driver

The new LSI mega_sas driver supports the following controllers:

• Dell PERC 5/E, 5/i, 6/E, and 6/i RAID Controllers

• IBM ServeRAID-MR10k SAS/SATA Controller

• LSI MegaRAID SAS 8308ELP, 8344ELP, 84016E, 8408ELP, 8480ELP, 8704ELP, 8704EM2, 8708ELP, 8708EM2, 8880EM2, and 8888ELP Controllers

The mega_sas driver supports the following RAID features:

• RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 6, and RAID spans 10, 50, and 60

• Online capacity expansion (OCE)

• Online RAID Level Migration (RLM)

• Auto resume after loss of system power during array rebuild or reconstruction (OCE/RLM)

• Configurable stripe size up to 1 Mbyte

• Consistency check for background data integrity

• Patrol read for media scanning and repairing

• 64 logical drive support

• Up to 64TB logical unit number (LUN) support

• Automatic rebuild

• Global and dedicated hot spare support

For more information about the LSI MegaRAID products, see http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/internal_raid/megaraid_sas/index.html website.

ixgbe Driver

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the ixgbe driver is integrated with the Solaris OS. The ixgbe is a 10 Gigabit PCI Express Ethernet driver that supports Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller.

SPARC: Support for aac Driver

Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, the HBA driver for Adaptec Advanced RAID Controller, aac, now supports the SPARC platform.

For more information, see the aac(7D) man page.

Additional Software Enhancements

The following additional software features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

Perl Database Interface and Perl PostgreSQL Driver

Perl Database Interface (DBI) is a generic database interface to talk to specific database back-end. DBD::Pg is a PostgreSQL driver which enables Perl applications to interact with PostgreSQL database through DBI.

For more information, see the following:

• http://dbi.perl.org

• http://search.cpan.org/~timb/DBI-1.58/DBI.pm

PostgreSQL 8.3

PostgreSQL is an advanced, open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). The important features of PostgreSQL 8.3 version are integrated text search, XML support, and performance improvements in many areas.

For more information, see the community web site, http://www.postgresql.org/.

Language Support Enhancements

The following language support feature has been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

IIIMF Hangul Language Engine

The Hangul LE (Language Engine) is a new Korean input method that enhances user experience. Hangul LE has the following features:

• User-friendly GUI

• More convenient Hangul or Hanja input functionalities

For more information, see the Hangul LE help.

Freeware Enhancements

The following freeware features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 10/08 release.

C-URL - The C-URL Wrappers Library

C-URL is a utility library that provides programmatic access to the most common Internet protocols such as, HTTP, FTP, TFTP, SFTP, and TELNET. C-URL is also extensively used in various applications.

For more information, see http://curl.haxx.se/.

Libidn - Internationalized Domain Library

Libidn provides implementations of the Stringprep (RFC 3454), Nameprep (RFC 3491), Punycode (RFC 3492), and IDNA (RFC 3490) specifications. This library provides new functionality and facilities to the Solaris OS.

For more information, see the following resources:

• http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/

• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3490.txt

• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3492.txt

• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3490.txt

• http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr28/tr28-3.html

LibGD - The Graphics Draw Library

LibGD is a graphics conversion and manipulation utility library. This library is used extensively in web-based application frameworks. The command-line utilities of LibGD provide easy-to-use graphics-conversion facilities.

For more information, see http://www.libgd.org/.

TIDY HTML Library

TIDY is an HTML parser. This parser is the HTML equivalent of lint(1). TIDY is useful in validating the accuracy of static and dynamic HTML pages.

For more information, see http://tidy.sourceforge.net/.