# Is anyone using Solaris 11?



## ring_zero (Apr 1, 2012)

Is anyone using OpenSolaris 11?  If so, what are your thoughts?  If not, why?  I was thinking about installing it on a spare machine that I have lying around doing nothing, and thought I would ask for some input.


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## SirDice (Apr 1, 2012)

Only Solaris 8, 9 and 10 at work. With the right hardware it's as stable as it could get. The only issue we have with them is admins not doing their job properly.


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## pkubaj (Apr 1, 2012)

There's no OpenSolaris 11. The last version is 2009.06. I presume you meant Solaris 11?


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## ring_zero (Apr 1, 2012)

Yes, sorry for my mistake.  I did mean Solaris 11.  I was interested in playing around with it.  I have heard many different things, i.e. it is not Solaris, not supported, etc.  I wanted to ask here though, as the FreeBSD Forums have proven time and time again to offer sound advice.



			
				SirDice said:
			
		

> Only Solaris 8, 9 and 10 at work. With the right hardware it's as stable as it could get. The only issue we have with them is admins not doing their job properly.



What kind of applications are you using it for?  I would assume as a server platform but what type of serving ie, DB, Web, Files, etc.  I am looking for a home solution for serving backups, media, and files via NFS, and a web interface that I have written.

I have also read that it is nicknamed "Slowlaris" has speed improved, or is that mainly only an issue during boot time?  I would like to familiarize myself with some of the other Unices, but I am finding it to be cost prohibitive, my university is Windows based using mainly Java.  This creates a problem for someone who is Unix based, using mainly C.


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## _martin (Apr 1, 2012)

I'm using OpenIndiana, which is based on Illumos, which is fork of OpenSolaris .

I use it as an iSCSI storage and I can say there's not a better solution out there, not an open-source anyway. 

But still the question is what do you want to use it for? When considering desktop, my subjective opinion is: the only unix usable on desktop is OSX. Anything else is just pain, more or less depending what you'll use. Again, _subjective_ opinion.

If you consider using it on server (which won't be application specific, something like SAP application server, etc.), you can't go wrong with Solaris and/or OpenSolaris forks. But same goes for *BSDs and even Linux, though it wouldn't be my OS of choice.

If you want to get familiar with specific OS and don't have free hardware you start in virtual environment - VMware player or VirtualBox OSE, both solutions are free and supported on Windowsâ„¢.

EDIT: I forgot to ask: what kind of sparc do you have? Not all sparc hardware is supported by Solaris 11, check this HCL link for further details.


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## ring_zero (Apr 2, 2012)

matoatlantis said:
			
		

> EDIT: I forgot to ask: what kind of sparc do you have? Not all sparc hardware is supported by Solaris 11, check this HCL link for further details.



I don't have a sparc.  Solaris 11 is also available for the x86 architecture.  I love FreeBSD, and I generally use it for everything, including the desktop, (The only trouble that I have had with the desktop is porting applications to it.)  I was just wanting to try out Solaris 11, and as I have a spare machine that is not being used for anything right now, it seemed like a likely candidate. I have used virtual machines in the past for testing other OSes.  By cost prohibitive, I was referring to the cost of purchasing AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, to name a few, and that's excluding the price of the hardware necessary to run them.    

As far as applications for the machine are concerned iSCSI is an interesting use that I had not considered.


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## SirDice (Apr 2, 2012)

ring_zero said:
			
		

> What kind of applications are you using it for?  I would assume as a server platform but what type of serving ie, DB, Web, Files, etc.  I am looking for a home solution for serving backups, media, and files via NFS, and a web interface that I have written.


Two of them are our database servers. Running on Sun Sparc hardware they run MySQL in a master-master configuration. Most of the other servers are running expensive commercial software. It's all tied together with lots of perl scripting.


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