Summary

This chapter discussed the various device drivers and device names used in Solaris 9. I described the Solaris commands and utilities used to obtain information about these devices and drivers. In addition to the devices that come standard with Solaris, this chapter also described Solaris Volume Manager and the added functionality it provides.

Device drivers are discussed in several chapters of this book because they are used in many aspects of the system administrator’s job. Devices are referenced when we install and boot the OS (see Chapter 6, “Installing the Solaris 9 Software,” and Chapter 10, “OpenBoot”), when creating and mounting file systems (see Chapter 14, “Managing File Systems”), when setting up printers (see Chapter 24, “LP Print Service”), and in general troubleshooting of system problems. It is very important that you have a good understanding of how device drivers are configured and named in the Solaris operating system.

The next chapter will explain how the Solaris software is bundled. The chapter will describe software packaging concepts, how to install additional software packages, and tools to use for managing the software currently installed on your system.