The Solaris 7 Operating Environment Extensions

A. This release is marketed under the name Solaris^TM 7 Operating Environment. This marks a change in naming; the "2." has been eliminated (as in the previous Solaris 2.6 version) and the new name is simply Solaris 7 Operating Environment. This release marks a new version of the operating environment as well as the new naming scheme.

Q. What is the relationship between the Solaris Operating Environment and the extensions - are they different cores or operating systems?

A. The Solaris^TM Operating Environment is the base level operating system required for all server and desktop systems. The server extension products can be layered on the operating environment to provide additional, value-added functionality.

Three server software extensions - the Solaris^TM Easy Access Server, the Solaris Enterprise Server and the Solaris ISP Server^TM software - highlight the incremental value provided by the extensions and add distinct capabilities to the Solaris Operating Environment. The extensions are designed to meet the needs of specific markets. In addition, this model allows for getting features into the hands of customers quickly.

64-bit general

A. There are three areas which distinguish a 64-bit operating system from a 32-bit operating system.

• Extended Precision
• Large Dataset Support
• Large Virtual Address Space

Q. What is Sun doing about these areas?

A. Sun has implemented its 64-bit operating system in phases. The Solaris 2.5 Operating Environment provided support for increased precision with 64-bit math and also included support for 64-bit asynchronous I/O. The Solaris 2.6 Operating Environment added support for large datasets with large (1 Terabyte) filesystems while allowing co-existence of 32-bit and 64-bit files. The Solaris 7 Operating Environment now provides support for large virtual address spaces with a full 64-bit, operating system. Sun began shipping 64-bit hardware in 1995. By phasing in operating system support for 64-bits Sun has provided 64-bit features as the market has demanded them while guaranteeing compatibility for existing 32-bit applications.

Q. Does the Solaris 7 Operating Environment support binary compatibility with previous releases?

A: Yes. 32-bit applications will run without modification on the Solaris 7 Operating Environment. Customers will not be forced to convert their 32-bit applications to 64-bit, but can do so when they are ready.

Q. What is the data model used for the Solaris 7 Operating Environment?

A: LP64 is the de facto industry standard. The L represents long and the P represents pointer. Both are 64-bit, whereas int is 32-bit.

Q. Is the Solaris 7 Operating Environment exclusively a 64-bit Operating System?

A: The Solaris 7 Operating Environment supports both 32-bit and 64-bit hardware. Customers with 32-bit hardware can run the Solaris 7 Operating Environment and take advantage of the many features in the Solaris 7 Operating Environment that are not explicitly related to 64-bits (e.g., dynamic reconfiguration, scalability enhancements, performance improvements). Customers can run a 32-bit application on 64- or 32-bit hardware with the Solaris 7 Operating Environment without any change to the application.

Q. When a customer upgrades from a 32-bit Solaris Operating Environment system to the Solaris 7 Operating Environment in 64-bit mode, will they have to reload or reformat their data?

A. There has been no change to the on-disk filesystem format. All data accessible before the upgrade will be accessible afterwards.

Q. To which standards does the Solaris 7 Operating Environment conform?

A: Some of the standards the Solaris 7 Operating Environment conforms to are:

• ANSI/IEEE P1003.1-1996 (POSIX system calls and libraries) and P1003.2 (POSIX commands)
• Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS-151-2 (P1003.1 plus Federal interpretations) and FIPS-189
• X/Open Portability Guide release 4 (XPG4) and UNIX95 of XPG4 specifications
• LP64 industry de facto standard 64-bit data model
• UNIX98

64-bit Developer Environment/Compilers

A: ANSI C, K&R C, ANSI C++, FORTRAN 77, FORTRAN90

Q. What debugger supports 64-bit?

A: dbx supports 64-bit.

Q. What tools exist to help me move to the Solaris 7 Operating Environment?

A: The Solaris 7 Operating Environment documentation provides the information you need to facilitate your transition of source code to 32-bit or 64-bit.

Q. What tools exist to help in converting 32-bit code to 64-bit code?

A: The C compiler/lint provides an option "-errchk=longptr64" that can be used to detect 64-bit data model coding problems. This functionality is available in all versions of the SPARCompiler^TM suite from 4.2 onwards.

Q. Can I develop 64-bit applications in a 32-bit environment?

A. Yes, as long as you're running the Solaris 7 Operating Environment with the appropriate OS packages installed (header files and libraries), you can compile and link 64-bit libraries. However, you cannot execute 64-bit applications in a 32-bit environment. Execution and debugging of 64-bit binaries requires you to be running the Solaris Operating Environment in the 64-bit mode.

Q. Can I develop and run 32-bit applications in a 64-bit environment?

A. Yes, if you compile your applications without using -xarch=v9 flag, your application will run on the Solaris 7 Operating Environment in 32-bit mode.

Q. Can I generate two binaries (one 32-bit and one 64-bit) from a single source file?

A. Yes. The Solaris 7 compilers have compile-time flags that can create a resulting object file that is 32-bit or 64-bit. Both the 32-bit and the 64-bit portions of the system, including the kernel and libraries, are built from the same source files. 64-bit specific code in the header files and source files are defined using #ifdef as appropriate to support the single source file for both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Reliability, Availability, and Servicability (RAS)

A. RAS stands for Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability.

Reliability is the period of time a system will run without a failure. A common measurement is Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).

Availability is the time a system is accessible and usable. A common measurement is Percentage of Uptime.

Serviceability is the time to service of a system or component. A common measurement is Mean Time to Repair.

Q. What are the Solaris RAS features designed to accomplish?

A.

1. Minimize unplanned downtime
2. Minimize planned downtime
3. Rapid recovery after failure

A. Dynamic Reconfiguration: Allows service provider to add, remove or replace hot-pluggable system boards in a running system to avoid system crashes before they occur. UNIX« File System Logging: Prevents file systems from becoming inconsistent, greatly speeds reboot, and allows the Solaris Operating Environment to recover rapidly from file system errors. Improved Device Configuration Library.

Q. Which major Solaris Operating Environment RAS features minimize planned downtime?

A. Improved Hot Plug Capability allows cards and subsystems to be physically added or removed from a running system without interrupting service.

Q. Which major Solaris Operating Environment RAS features make recovery from failure more rapid?

A.

• Improved Core Dump Analysis: Faster debug time
• Traceroute Utility - allows administrator to determine routing misconfigurations
• Kernel Debugging Enhancements
• Improved Logging of Kernel and Events and Errors

Solaris (Intel Platform Edition)

A. The Solaris Operating Environment for both SPARC^TM and Intel platforms is built from the same source code base, a code base which is approximately 95% common and 5% platform-specific. Platform-specific code is that which is necessary to accommodate the differences between SPARC system and Intel system platforms. For example, the booting and configuration facilities differ substantially between architectures.

Q. How easy is it to port my Solaris (SPARC Platform Edition) applications to Solaris (Intel Platform Edition)?

A. For the majority of applications, it will be a simple recompile. There is only one Solaris for SPARC and Intel platforms. This means that all of the application programming interfaces for applications on Solaris are independent of underlying hardware.

Q. Are there any big-endian, little-endian issues for the Solaris Operating Environment (Intel Platform Edition)?

A. Since 1994, Sun has eliminated any endian compatibility issues by advocating portable, non-endian dependent code for both the Solaris Operating Environment on the SPARC platform and Intel. Sun's software architecture allows big-endian applications for the Solaris Operating Environment on the SPARC platform to run on the Intel platform simply by recompiling. In addition, the Solaris Operating Environment IA-64 native applications will interoperate with existing IA-32 applications without change or recompilation. It means that the Solaris Operating Environment on IA-64 interfaces will be identical to the Solaris Operating Environment interfaces on all other platforms.

Q. How can I find out what devices are supported on the Solaris Operating Environment on the Intel platform?

A. See the Solaris Intel Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), a complete guide to the Solaris Operating Environment Intel certified machines and devices. The HCL can be found at Sun Developer Technical Support.

Java^TM on the Solaris Operating Environment

A. The Solaris 7 Operating Environment was updated to include the JDK 1.1.6 Production Release.

Q. What's new about this version of the JDK software?

A. In addition to providing increased stability, the JDK v. 1.1.6 Production Release offers significant performance improvements to certain types of applications (e.g., applications that are computationally intensive) due to numerous optimizations in the Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. This version also includes support for large files. So, Java technology classes and methods can now access files greater than or equal to 2 GBytes in size, without any API changes. As a result, a Java application running on this version of the JDK software will now be able to access large files.

Q. How can I get the latest version of the JDK software once I've purchased the Solaris Operating Environment?

A. To ensure that our customers have fast and easy access to the latest advances in Java technology, the production release of the JDK for the Solaris Operating Environment tends to release on a quarterly basis.

Simultaneously, pre-release versions of the JDK are also made available from Sun's website. Chief among these is the current early access version of the Java 2 SDK Production Release which provides industry leading performance and scalability due to an enhanced Java Virtual Machine (JVM) with optimizing JIT Compiler, fast thread synchronization and new, generational memory system.

Q. How does my customer get support for the JDK?

A. As an integrated part of the Solaris Operating Environment, the Java Development Kit (JDK) software includes varying levels of technical support through the standard Solaris Operating Environment support channels.

Q. What is a JRE?

A. The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is a subset of the files included in the JDK. It provides the minimum runtime for Java applications (i.e., the JVM, JFC, JIT and supporting files).

Q. Is there a corresponding version of a JRE for this release?

A. Java Runtime Environment based on the JDK 1.1.6 Production Release for the Solaris Operating Environment is now available.

Q. What advances have been made to the production release of the JDK 1.2?

A. Beyond the numerous additions to the core class libraries provided in the reference implementation, the production release of the JDK includes significant advances in the Java runtime technology or JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Specifically, the JVM takes advantage of ultra-fast thread synchronization, for maximum performance of thread safe Java applications along with an entirely new memory management system that is not only extremely fast, but also robust in design. These enhancements combined with optimizations to the JIT compiler serve to ensure fast and reliable Java application delivery.

Q. Where does the production release of the Java 2 SDK stand on performance and scalability?

A. Though not yet shipping, the production release of the Java 2 SDK has already demonstrated industry leading performance and scalability on the VolanoMark 2.0 server-side benchmark. And with the recent release of the SPECjvm98, the first industry standard, Java performance benchmark, the production release of the Java 2 SDK now leads in client-side Java performance.

Globalization

A. The Solaris 7 Operating Environment has expanded language support for six new locales: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Europe. (Europe will return the Euro as the default currency symbol). Also enhanced Unicode locale with multiscript capability is included. Users can input and display text from different writing scripts such as Japanese, Thai, and Russian, and easily switch between the scripts without having to change or to install a new locale. Here are some of the scripts users can input and display in when using any locale: Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Thai, Cyrillic, the Western, Eastern, and Northern European scripts, Turkish, and Greek.

Complex text support has been integrated for complex text layout languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai, which require special text pre-processing to handle bidirectional, composite, and context-sensitive text. Developers can take advantage of the new text processing and rendering support to create applications tailored for these markets.

Q. What is Unicode?

A. Unicode is a standard that defines a Universal character set, merging almost all of the worlds writing scripts into a single environment, or locale. Unicode also provides a common data encoding format, regardless of the platform or language environment that it's running in, significantly improving data interoperability across platforms. Java, for example, is Unicode based.

Q. Why should I care about Unicode support in the Solaris 7 Operating Environment?

A. Unicode is an important enabling technology for creating multilingual applications. Multilingual applications are an emerging class of applications that are expected to be important in implementing e-commerce and web based global computing, where language interoperability is important. Unicode allows developers to simplify development and testing of localized applications, reduces time to market, and provides a common data format for otherwise incompatible data types.

Q. Does Sun support the new Euro currency standard in the Solaris 7 Operating Environment?

A: Yes. There have been a number of European locales added to the Solaris 7 Operating Environment to support the new Euro currency, either as single or dual currency output.

Q. Do I have to order a special product to develop or run Unicode applications?

A: Unicode support is included with all language versions of the Solaris 7 Operating Environment. No additional software or language kits are needed. As long as your application uses standard UNIX/MOTIF APIs, it is Unicode enabled when running on the Solaris 7 Operating Environment. No relinking or recompiling is needed.

Q. What changes do I have to make to my existing application to be able to take advantage of newly supported complex text languages (CTL) such as Thai, Hebrew and Arabic in the Solaris 7 Operating Environment?

A: Any Motif based application will be CTL-enabled by a simple recompile to link to the bundled Motif 2.1 libraries that have been modified for Complex Text Layout support.

Security

A. The Solaris 7 Operating Environment includes an industry standard security framework, Generic Security Service API (GSS-API) allowing customers to "plug-n-play" their specific mechanism. This will enable authentication mechanism such as Sun Enterprise Authentication Mechanism (SEAM) to be plugged-in to GSS-API to secure NFS and network services such as ftp, telnet, rsh and rlogin. Other security features include enhancements to NIS+ authentication, and Berkeley Internet Name Deamon (BIND) version 8.1.2 for better network security through the use of access control lists (ACL's).

Q. What are the specific changes made to NIS+?

A. NIS+ enhancements include an increase in the authentication key length from 192-bits to 640-bits making it harder for a hacker to break the key.

Q. If I am interested in Internet Security, then what do you recommend?

A. If users are interested in Internet Security, then products such as SunScreen EFSTM, SunScreenTM SPF-200 and SunScreenTM SKIP are recommended.

Year 2000

A. Yes. An independent third-party testing organization, Software Laboratory (based in UK) certified with over 1,000 tests that the Solaris Operating Environment is Year 2000 Compliant for both the SPARC and Intel platforms.

Standards

A. Yes. In fact, the Solaris 7 Operating Environment is UNIX 98 certified.

Q. What are the benefits of the UNIX 98 brand?

A. Benefits for Application Developers include:

• Greater consistency amongst UNIX operating systems
• Improved portability
• Faster development through the increased number of standard interfaces
• More innovation is possible, due to the reduced time spent porting applications

Benefits for Customers include:

Protecting their investment in existing systems and applications. Gives customers freedom of choice rather than being locked in to a single supplier.

Common Desktop Environment (CDE)

A. The the Solaris Common Desktop Environment (CDE) is an easy-to-use interface that provides a consistent look and feel across UNIX environments. Sun Microsystems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, and Novell, Inc. each contributed "best-of-breed" technologies to establish a new standard for user and application interfaces based on the X Window System and Motif.

Q. Is the Solaris Operating Environment CDE the same CDE available from other vendors?

A. The base level functionality provided in the Solaris Operating Environment CDE is the same as that provided in other CDE offerings. However, the Solaris Operating Environment CDE also contains value-added components that are not found in other CDE offerings.

Q. What are the elements of the CDE environment?

A. The CDE environment consists of:

• Login Manager - a window for logging in to the desktop
• Session Manager - a service for launching your applications on the desktop
• Window Manager - a service that controls CDE application windows

Q. Why should I care about CDE?

A. CDE raises the bar for standards by providing a standard set of APIs across multiple platforms which define the application's look and feel, its communication links with other applications, and requirements for being a good CDE citizen. Because CDE is so widely endorsed, CDE will become the lowest common denominator for UNIX systems and many UNIX applications.

Q. Who can benefit from CDE?

A. Enterprises that have a multi-platform environment will benefit from having a common desktop environment and standardized APIs. This saves the company money on user training, system administration, and in-house development.

Q. How is the Solaris Operating Environment CDE made available?

A. Solaris CDE 1.3 is the default desktop environment for the Solaris 7 Operating Environment.

Q. Can the Solaris Operating Environment CDE interoperate with PC applications?

A. The Solaris Operating Environment CDE can support a number of PC emulators and hardware coprocessors to allow the running of PC applications. Users can also run X-terminal sessions to a Windows application server. Data exchange between PC applications and UNIX applications need to go through the normal conversion with tools available from third parties or embedded in the applications. Users can exchange postcript files and use a postcript viewer as well.