InformationWeek

Feburary 8, 1999

Solaris Gets Simpler

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InternetWeek Sun Debuts Solaris Upgrade

Windows-Like Installation
In an effort to improve the ease with which software packages can be installed onto a Solaris system, Sun has licensed InstallShield from InstallShield Software Corp. to make the process more Windows-like. But adding InstallShield will simplify installation for new products only. Any existing products that need to be reinstalled, older software, and software from companies that have not yet complied with Sun's new guidelines will still use the old package manager installation routines.

The AnswerBook online documentation system is a reasonable online product, although sometimes it's a cold substitute for a nice warm book. I experienced too many freezes when attempting to access the documentation or search for help on things like the Web server, but that may have been partly due to the fact that I was working with a prerelease version of Solaris. Many administrators may wish to invest in the hard-copy documents--or at least print out the pages if they have a high-speed laser printer.

For the academic world, developers, and others who want to get started with Solaris, Sun offers the Free Solaris Program. For the cost of media, shipping, and handling, users can get a copy for noncommercial use only. Star Division's Star Office, Personal Edition, is also available. It offers an interface that will be familiar to Microsoft Office users, and compatibility with Office documents. This provides an alternative to Linux in the very low-cost environment, although for non-commercial use only.

For administrators with existing Solaris installations, the upgrade is very much worthwhile for the extended feature sets, 64-bit support, and increased ease of use. For administrators with Unix background wondering if Solaris 7 is a good place to start, it is. For administrators with no Unix background who are trying to decide if they should stick with what they know--whether Novell, NT, or something else--or make the jump to Solaris, the answer is less clear.

Solaris 7 can give a major increase in power over what's available on the Intel platform, with the potential for a 256-CPU cluster. It also has the stability and power characteristic of Unix, and is the easiest version of Solaris yet. I'd recommend that novices with Solaris try a copy, under the Free Solaris Program, or with a purchased copy, and see if they're willing to live with the vagaries of Unix existence. I suspect that most will decide that if the business case for the server isn't important enough to include hiring an experienced Solaris administrator, that some other operating system will be a better fit.

Most buyers of Solaris 7 will be upgrading from Solaris 2.6 or buying new Sparc systems. If you don't have an installed base or a corporate standard of Sparc systems but want to install a heavy-duty Web server, does Solaris make sense? Maybe not.

Not Just Point-And-Click
Administrators used to Microsoft's Windows NT 4.0 Server or Novell's NetWare 5--or even those used to later releases of Linux from Red Hat Software or Caldera Systems--will find Solaris much less accessible. There are still a fair number of places where configuring the server or changing the configuration requires editing text files, knowing where those files are located, what the proper format is for the file, and the commands to start or stop services. It's still a long way yet to the complete point-and-click management interface.

Administrators with no Unix experience will find Solaris 7 has a steep learning curve. While the installation wizard will let an inexperienced administrator successfully install Solaris, that administrator would find it quite difficult to install the Web server, configure a name service, and successfully administer the system without referring to the manuals, which are all on disk--a problem when you have to get Solaris installed before you can read them. The AnswerBook online documentation does have a reasonably usable interface, and the search utility is better than most, although I experienced freezes in the Java-based application on several occasions.

Solaris still isn't competitive with NetWare and Windows NT for small offices that have an inexperienced administrator or lack a dedicated administrator. While a naive user might be able to muddle through a basic NetWare for Small Business or Windows NT installation without technical support, their chances with Solaris are slim.

In all, while there are many improvements over previous versions, this feels more like the first version of a new operating system than like version 7. There are many little things that can be stumbling blocks, and too many things left undone, such as GUI tools for starting and administering the mail and Web server, DNS, NIS+, and others.

Given that many of the GUI tools are simple Java applets that do little more than edit the text files underneath, there is also the possibility that an administrator could make incompatible changes in different places, with no warning until something doesn't work--less of an issue with an integrated management tool that could provide spell checking and dependency checking functions. Inexperienced users may wish to wait for Solaris 8, which promises a fully graphical management interface that will include tools for managing all the server applications.

Selling Points
On the other hand, though it may be less straightforward to administer, the combination of Solaris and the Sparc platform offers advantages not available from any Intel-based platform (or from NT running on other platforms). It offers a full 64-bit environment, both in hardware and software, four-node clustering with up to 64 processors per system, for a total of 256 processors (with the Enterprise Server suite, which will be available later this year), and mature, high-performance tools for running an Internet site. It's no coincidence that many Internet service providers run their businesses on Sparc and Solaris.

Solaris 7 is a good choice for anyone who has the background to handle Unix. For users with other network operating system experience who are looking for a high-performance Internet server, Solaris 7 is less intimidating than ever before--but it will still require a substantial investment in training.