Preface

Solaris 10 What's New summarizes all features in the Solaris^TM 10 OS that are new or have been enhanced since the Solaris 9 Operating System (Solaris OS) was originally distributed in May 2002. The current release is the Solaris 10 10/09 release.

Note –

For more information about features in the current release, see Solaris 10 10/09 What’s New.

In the Solaris 10 OS, Sun Microsystems has developed a new architecture for building and deploying systems and services that are capable of Predictive Self-Healing. See Predictive Self-Healing. Also, changes in the installation of the Solaris OS provide a simplified and unified installation process. See Solaris Installation Changes Including Installation Unification.

The Solaris Zones partitioning technology is a key feature that has been added to the Solaris 10 OS. Zones are used to virtualize operating system services and provide an isolated and secure environment for running applications. See Solaris Zones Software Partitioning Technology. Additional key features in the Solaris 10 OS include Process Rights Management, DTrace Dynamic Tracing Facility, and New Architecture for Network Stacks. Enhancements to Java Desktop System Release 3 are now also available in the Solaris 10 OS.

Note –

This Solaris release supports systems that use the SPARC® and x86 families of processor architectures. The supported systems appear in the Solaris OS: Hardware Compatibility Lists. This document cites any implementation differences between the platform types.

In this document these x86 related terms mean the following:

“x86” refers to the larger family of 64-bit and 32-bit x86 compatible products.
“x64” relates specifically to 64-bit x86 compatible CPUs.
“32-bit x86” points out specific 32-bit information about x86 based systems.

For supported systems, see the Solaris OS: Hardware Compatibility Lists.

Who Should Use This Book

This book provides introductory descriptions of the new Solaris 10 features for users, developers, and system administrators who install and use the Solaris 10 Operating System.

Optional Feature Licensing

Certain optional features and products that are described in this document might require individual licensing for use. Refer to the Software License Agreement.

Related Books

For further information about the features that are summarized in this book, refer to the following Solaris 10 documentation at http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/solaris.10.

Related Third-Party Web Site References

Third-party URLs are referenced in this document and provide additional, related information.

Note –

Sun is not responsible for the availability of third-party Web sites mentioned in this document. Sun does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials that are available on or through such sites or resources. Sun will not be responsible or liable for any actual or alleged damage or loss caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services that are available on or through such sites or resources.

Documentation, Support, and Training

The Sun web site provides information about the following additional resources:

Sun Welcomes Your Comments

Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. To share your comments, go to http://docs.sun.com and click Feedback.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic conventions that are used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions


Typeface	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories, and onscreen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. `machine_name% you have mail.`
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with onscreen computer output	`machine_name%` `su` `Password:`
`aabbcc123`	Placeholder: replace with a real name or value	The command to remove a file is `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new terms, and terms to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in the User's Guide. A cache is a copy that is stored locally. Do not save the file. Note: Some emphasized items appear bold online.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default UNIX® system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
C shell	`machine_name%`
C shell for superuser	`machine_name#`
Bourne shell and Korn shell	`$`
Bourne shell and Korn shell for superuser	`#`