by Matjaz
OpenSolaris 2008.11
OpenSolaris 2008.11 is the latest release of the OpenSolaris Operating System, a powerful and complete operating environment for users, developers and deployers.
Open Storage
ZFS (zettabyte file system), is designed from the ground up to meet the emerging needs of a general-purpose file system spanning the desktop to the data center. Anyone who has ever lost important files, run out of space on a partition, spent weekends adding new storage to servers, tried to grow or shrink a file system, or experienced data corruption knows that there is lots of room for improvement to file systems and volume managers. ZFS may garner the headlines, but the OpenSolaris Open Storage initiative offers an unparalleled breadth and depth of storage stack offerings, e.g.: CIFS, NFSv4, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, etc.
Virtualization
Safely consolidate multiple applications onto one system and increase your utilization rates with the advanced functionality of OpenSolaris.
Networking
With its optimized network stack and support for today’s advanced network computing protocols, OpenSolaris delivers high-performance networking to most applications without modification.
IPS
Image Packaging System is the new network based package management system in OpenSolaris. It provides the ability of installing new software, and receiving updates from network package repositories. With a quick search for the software package you want, IPS will automatically calculate the dependencies for you and download and install in minutes. More software is now available than ever before at your finger tips!
DTrace
For Solaris 10, a new facility for dynamic instrumentation was introduced allowing unprecedented visibility into system performance. With over 30,000 measurement points in the kernel alone, if it runs on Solaris or OpenSolaris, you can measure it with DTrace.
Automated Install
The installation experience is easier than ever, allowing you to take OpenSolaris OS for a ride before needing to install it onto your hardware. Using the LiveCD approach, boot up into a fully functional desktop environment and explore and if you are happy with your experience, start the easy to use graphical installer to install to your disk.
The automated installer is a new enterprise technology providing support for network and local installations of OpenSolaris 2008.11, where one installation specification can be applied to multiple systems. Create an installation service, available on a webserver, for client machines to contact to find an install manifest that matches the client’s machine specifications. Check out the Getting Started with the Automated Installer guide for more details.
New Repositories=New Software
With the new repository structure, you can freely contribute your software and showcase your innovation to worldwide audience. There are many more repositories providing wealth of software in an accessible manner.
Desktop
OpenSolaris includes all the latest and greatest features from the GNOME community, coupled with some great graphical features such as the Compiz window manager, or Avant task bar. Browse the web with Firefox 3, or be productive with the latest OpenOffice 3 release! For more information on specific Open Source projects, please visit the appropriate project sites.
Power Management
The new release of OpenSolaris 2008.11 brings the first few platforms to support suspend and resume to RAM, convenient for mobile users and necessary for those conscious of energy consumption in today’s environment. Close your lid and automatically suspend to RAM.
