Hot skills: Sun's Unix OS takes on Linux with
virtualisation
What is it?
Solaris is an operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. It
was historically closed source, but most of the code base has now
been made open source.
Sun's open sourcing of products such as Java and the Solaris
operating system has more to do with capturing expertise than
sharing the benefits of free software. Play with the technology all
you like, but as soon as you start to do anything serious with it,
you will need to buy licences.
Instead of relying on community support, the latest downloadable
"Express" version of Solaris for developers, based on the open
source Opensolaris, comes with an optional support
subscription.
The open source strategy provides a way for determined
developers to gain experience of some highly paid skills, although
to gain certification they will eventually need to take at least
some expensive training courses.
Sun has been able to coexist with Microsoft, but Linux has
competed with its core markets. Solaris still has some advantages
as a mature, feature-rich industrial-strength operating system, but
Linux is rapidly closing the gap.
Sun's answer is virtualisation technology that allows Linux
applications to be run unchanged on Solaris 10, and also allows
Windows applications to be run on the desktop or laptop as a thin
client. Key Solaris features such as the Dynamic Tracing Framework
can be used on Linux applications.
Sun also offers its own version of the Lamp (Linux, Apache,
MySQL, and Perl, Python or PHP) software bundle, with Solaris
replacing Linux, but the primary open source database platform is
Postgres, which has been more tightly integrated with each Solaris
release.
Where did it originate?
Sun was founded in 1982. Solaris, based on the industry standard
Unix System V Release 4, gradually took over from the proprietary
Sun OS during the 1990s.
What's it for?
Solaris Express Developer Edition 9/07 (numbered by the date of
its release) is based on Opensolaris. It is aimed at both
mainstream Java and Web 2.0 developers.
It comes with the NetBeans 5.5 integrated development
environment, Sun Studio 12 (with compilers for C, C++ and Fortran),
the Glassfish open source application server, and Java Platform
Standard Edition 6.0.
The graphical user interface and productivity software include a
Gnome-based desktop with Mozilla Firefox and Sun's Staroffice
implementation of Openoffice.
What makes it special?
The latest version of the Solaris Containers virtualisation
technology enables Linux applications to run on x86 machines.
How difficult is it to master?
Developers can migrate their existing skills relatively easily,
but systems administrators new to Unix will need to attend a
minimum of three courses.
What systems does it run on?
Sun Sparc, Intel and AMD processors, including 64 bit x86
processors, using a common code base. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell
sell and support Solaris on their x86 systems.
What's coming up?
There are quarterly releases of the Solaris Express Developer
Edition. The most recent upgrades to Solaris 10, including Solaris
Containers for Linux applications and a performance boost to
PostgreSQL, were released in August.
Training
You can download Solaris Express Developer Edition online. Other
downloads and details of training can be found from the Sun
website.
There are also several community sites with free tutorials and
code.
http://developers.sun.com/sxde
www.sun.com/solaris
www.opensolaris.org
Rates of pay
Junior Solaris systems administrators can earn from £28,000, and
senior administrators can expect £40,000-plus. Rates for developers
with Solaris experience tend to be higher than for equivalent
positions using Linux or Windows. Computer Weekly/SSL salary
survey
www.computerweekly.com/ssl