Software Terminology
On the CD-ROMs, the operating system is bundled in packages. Packages are arranged into software groups. The following sections describe the Solaris bundling scheme.
Software Package
A software package is a collection of files and directories in a defined format. It describes a software application, such as manual pages and line printer support. Solaris 9 contains approximately 80 software packages that total approximately 900MB of disk space.
A Solaris software package is the standard way to deliver bundled and unbundled software. Packages are administered by using the package administration commands, and they are generally identified by a SUNWxxx naming convention.
Software Groups
Software packages are grouped into software groups, which are logical collections of software packages. Sometimes these groups are referred to as clusters. For example, the online manual pages software group contains one package. Some software groups contain multiple packages, such as the JavaVM 2.0 cluster, which contains the Java JIT compiler, JavaVM demo programs, JavaVM developers’ package, JavaVM man pages, and JavaVM runtime environment.
For SPARC systems, software groups are grouped into five configuration groups to make the software installation process easier. During the installation process, you will be asked to install one of the five configuration groups. These five configuration groups are core system support, end-user support, developer system support, entire distribution, and entire distribution plus OEM system support. The following list describes each software group:
Core system support 295MB of disk space is required for the software only. Sun, however, recommends 807MB to support the software, swap, and disk overhead required to support this software group. This software group contains the minimum software required to boot and run Solaris on a system. It includes some networking software and the drivers required to run the OpenWindows environment, but it does not include the OpenWindows software.
End-user system support 784MB of disk space is required for the software only. Sun, however, recommends 1.6GB to support the software, swap, and disk overhead required to support this software group. This group contains the core system support software plus end-user software, which includes OpenWindows compatibility and the Common Desktop Environment software.
Developer system support 1,152MB of disk space is required for the software only. Sun, however, recommends 1.9GB to support the software, swap, and disk overhead required to support this cluster. This software group contains the end-user software plus libraries, include files, man pages, and programming tools for developing software. Compilers and debuggers are purchased separately and are not included.
Entire distribution 1,295MB of disk space is required for the software only. Sun, however, recommends 2.3GB to support the software, swap, and disk overhead required to support this software group. This software group contains the entire Solaris 9 release.
Entire distribution plus OEM system support 1,334MB of disk space is required for the software only. Sun, however, recommends 2.4GB to support the software, swap, and disk overhead required to support this software group. This software group contains the entire Solaris 9 release software plus extended hardware support.
Note
Swap space and necessary file system overhead is included in the disk space recommendations for each software group. A minimum of 512MB is required for swap space, but more space might be needed. By default, Solaris Web Start allocates 512MB for swap space.
In addition, as new releases of Solaris 9 are made available, the size of these software groups might change slightly.
Solaris Media
The Solaris 9 operating system software is distributed on CD-ROM and DVD and is referred to as “the installation media kit.” Table 6.2 describes the organization of the CD-ROMs.
System Configuration to Be Installed
Before installing the operating system, you need to determine the system configuration to be installed. The configurations are defined by the way they access the root (/) and /usr file systems and the swap area. The system configurations are as follows:
Server
Clients, which include the following:
Server
A server is a system that provides services or file systems, such as home directories or mail files, to other systems on the network. An operating system (OS) server is a server that provides the Solaris software to other systems on the network. For diskless clients, operating system servers provide /usr, root (/), and swap file systems. For AutoClient systems, an operating system server provides all system software required to set up the individual root (/) and /usr file systems required for local swapping and caching. There are file servers, startup servers, database servers, license servers, print servers, installation servers, and even servers for particular applications. Each type of server has a different set of requirements based on the function it will serve. For example, a database server will be disk and memory intensive, but it probably will not have many logged-in users. Therefore, when this system is configured, special thought needs to be put into setting up the file systems and fine-tuning kernel parameters that relate to disk I/O and memory usage to optimize system performance.
Systems that rely on servers are called clients. In other words, a client is a system that uses remote services from a server. Some clients have limited disk storage capacity or perhaps none at all; these clients must rely on remote file systems from a server to function. Diskless and AutoClient clients are examples of this type of client. Other clients might use remote services, such as installation software, from a server. These clients don’t rely on a server to function and are referred to as standalone systems.
System types are defined by how they access the root (/) and /usr file systems, including the swap area. Standalone and server systems mount these file systems from a local disk, whereas diskless and AutoClient clients mount the file systems remotely, relying on servers to provide these services. A standalone system has all its Solaris software on its local disk and does not require services from an operating system server. Both networked and non-networked systems can be standalone systems in the Solaris operating environment.
The following is a brief description of the various clients you’ll find in the Solaris 9 environment:
Diskless client A client that has no local disk or file systems. The diskless client boots from the server; remotely mounts its root (/), /usr, and /export/home file systems from a server; allocates swap space on the server; and obtains all its data from the server. Any files created are stored on the server.
JavaStation Also known as a zero-administration client, this client has no local file system, and its /home is accessed from a server across the network. The JavaStation runs only applications that are 100% pure Java. All data, applications, and configuration information resides on a centralized server that is running Netra J software, a Solaris operating environment. Java applications are downloaded on demand and are executed locally.
AutoClient A client system type that caches (locally stores copies of data as it is referenced) all its needed system software from a server. The AutoClient system has a local disk, but the root (/) and /usr file systems are accessed across the network from a server and are loaded in a local disk cache. Files in the / and /usr file systems are copied to the cache disk as they are referenced. If a Solstice AutoClient client accesses an application that is not already in its disk cache, that application is downloaded. If the application already resides in the client’s disk cache, the application is accessed locally. AutoClient replaced the dataless client in Solaris 2.6.
A server system typically has the following file systems installed locally:
The root (/) and /usr file systems plus swap space
The /export, /export/swap, and /export/home file systems, which support client systems and provide home directories for users
The /opt directory or file system for storing application software
Servers also can contain the following software to support other systems:
Operating system services for diskless clients and AutoClient systems
Solaris CD-ROM image and boot software for networked systems to perform remote installations
A JumpStart directory for networked systems to perform custom JumpStart installations
The server must meet a few minimum requirements before Solaris 9 can be installed:
The Solaris 9 release supports all sun4u and sun4m platforms.
To run a graphical user interface (GUI) installation, the system must have a minimum of 96MB of RAM. As a server, however, it is typical to have 512MB of RAM or more.
The disk needs to be large enough to hold the Solaris operating system, swap space, and additional software. You’ll also need to allocate additional disk space on an operating system server in the /export file system for diskless clients or Solstice AutoClient systems. Plan on a minimum of 2GB of disk space, but realistically you should have 9GB to 18GB or more.
Client
A client is a system that uses remote services from a server. Some clients have limited disk storage capacity or perhaps none at all, so they must rely on remote file systems from a server to function. Diskless clients, JavaStation clients, and AutoClients are examples of this type of client.
Other clients might use remote services (such as installation software) from a server, but they don’t rely on a server to function. A standalone system, which has its own hard disk containing the root (/), /usr, and /export/home file systems and swap space, is a good example of this type of client.
Note
Many system administrators have questioned whether support is available for AutoClients and diskless clients in Solaris 9. Solaris 9 includes commands for diskless client management. See the man pages for smosservice(1M) and smdiskless(1M) for more information. AutoClient and diskless client support is still available in Solaris 9, but AutoClients and diskless clients are no longer supported in the Solstice AdminSuite package.
Diskless Client
A diskless client is a system with no local disk. It is dependent on a server for all of its software and storage area. The operating system is located on a server on the network. The diskless client boots from the server, remotely mounts its root (/), /usr, and /export/home file systems from a server, allocates swap space on the server, and obtains all of its data from the server. Any files created are stored on the server.
A diskless client generates significant network traffic because of its need to continually access the server for operating system functions and to access virtual memory space across the network. A diskless client cannot operate if it is detached from the network or if its server is unavailable.
JavaStation Client
The JavaStation is a client designed for zero administration. This client optimizes Java. The JavaStation client takes full advantage of the network to deliver everything from Java applications and services to complete, integrated, system and network management. This type of client can create much network traffic, so make sure your network has the needed capacity. The JavaStation has no local administration; booting, administration, and data storage are handled by servers via the network.
AutoClient
An AutoClient system is nearly identical to a diskless client except that it caches all of its needed system software from a server. AutoClient systems use Solaris diskless and CacheFS technologies. CacheFS is a general-purpose, file-system, caching mechanism that improves performance and scalability by reducing server and network load. (See Chapter 22, “The NFS Environment,” for a complete description of how CacheFS works.) An AutoClient system has the following characteristics:
It requires a 100MB or larger local disk for swapping and caching. Its root (/) file system and the /usr file system are on a server somewhere on the network, but they are cached locally.
It can be set up so that it can continue to access its cached root (/) and /usr file systems when the server is unavailable.
It relies on servers to provide other file systems and software applications.
It contains no permanent data, making it a field- replaceable unit (FRU).
An AutoClient system uses its local disk for swap space and to cache its individual root (/) file system and the /usr file system from a server’s file systems. With the AutoClient configuration, administration is streamlined because the system administrator can maintain many AutoClient systems from a central location. Changes do not have to be made on individual systems. You must obtain a license for each AutoClient system you want to add to your network.
Table 6.3 gives a brief overview of each system configuration. It outlines which file systems are local and which are accessed over the network.
Standalone
On a standalone system, the operating system is loaded on a local disk, and the system is set to run independently of other systems for portions of the operating system. The operating system might be networked to other standalone systems. A networked standalone system can share information with other systems on the network, but it can function autonomously because it has its own hard disk with enough space to contain the root (/), /usr, and /home file systems and swap space. The standalone system has local access to operating system software, executables, virtual memory space, and user-created files. Sometimes the standalone system will access the server for data or access a CD-ROM or tape drive from a server if one is not available locally.
Performance of Clients Relative to a Standalone System
A system administrator decides which system configuration to use based on available hardware and how much to streamline the administration of the network. For example, does the system have a large enough local disk to hold all of the operating system? Also would the features of the AutoClient, diskless, or JavaStation system configurations facilitate the administration of remote systems? For the most part, AutoClient configurations are used to ease system administration in a large network of systems. Because the operating system is downloaded from a server at bootup, maintaining the workstation’s operating system from a centralized location is easy. Diskless clients, on the other hand, are used when disk space on the workstation is limited, but because swapping is done across the network, network bandwidth needs to be considered.
Looking at each system type from a performance and ease-of-management point of view, you see that the standalone system has the best performance but is the most difficult to administer. The diskless client is easy to administer but has the poorest performance of the other client types.
The AutoClient system also is easy to administer and has better performance than the diskless client. With the cost of disk drives decreasing and network bandwidth at a premium these days, this is usually a better alternative than the diskless client or even the JavaStation.
The JavaStation is the easiest to administer but requires more network bandwidth than the AutoClient. Also the applications and services you plan to run must be Java based.