Reduce the duration of Solaris SRU updates using JomaSoft VDCF

A typical Solaris SRU update on a system with a few zones takes several minutes.

Here an example of a small guest domain with 3 zones.

-bash-5.2$ time node -c upgrade name=g0075 build=s11u4-sru95 >/dev/null
Upgrade started for System g0075 ...
Node g0075 updated to Solaris 11 4.95.0.1.227.1. A new boot environment was created.
Reboot Node g0075 to activate new boot environment.

real    19m42.319s
user    0m1.813s
sys     0m5.892s


Using VDCF we can easily failback and do the upgrade again

-bash-5.2$ node -c upgrade_failback name=g0075 destroy
WARN: BootEnvironment 's11.4.94.0.1.221.2' is already in use (N) on Node g0075. Activating for next reboot...
Destroying BootEnvironment 's11.4.95.0.1.227.1' on Node g0075
Node g0075 is already running on BootEnvironment s11.4.94.0.1.221.2.


This time we execute the VDCF upgrade_check operation to do the planning and the
download of the ips packages in advance. This is typically done during the week.

-bash-5.2$ time node -c upgrade_check name=g0075 build=s11u4-sru95 download | egrep "Upgrade|Finished"

Upgrade Check started for System g0075 ...
Planning: Finished processing linked images.
Download: Finished processing linked images.
Node Upgrade (to Solaris 11 4.95.0.1.227.1) Check was successful for Node g0075

real    15m8.797s
user    0m1.985s
sys     0m5.986s


At the maintenance window only the real upgrade is executed.

-bash-5.2$ time node -c upgrade name=g0075 build=s11u4-sru95
Upgrade started for System g0075 ...
Checking JSvdcf-client package on node g0075 and update if required: OK
doing a 'pkg update  -C 5 --accept --be-name s11.4.95.0.1.227.1  entire@11.4,5.11-11.4.95.0.1.227.1   explorer ddt-incorporation' now ...
 Actions:     1/44039 actions (Removing old actions)
 Actions:  7512/44039 actions (Installing new actions)
 Actions: 12768/44039 actions (Installing new actions)
 Actions: 13575/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 18830/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 19608/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 24254/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 27711/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 31772/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 36696/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 41083/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: 43736/44039 actions (Updating modified actions)
 Actions: Completed 44039 actions in 45.93 seconds.
Finalize: Updating package state database ... Done
Finalize: Updating package cache ... Done
Finalize: Updating image state ... Done
Finalize: Creating fast lookup database ... Done
Finalize: Reading search index ... Done
Finalize: Building new search index ... Done
Finalize: Linked images: 0/3 done; 3 working: zone:v0153 zone:v0183 zone:v0186
Finalize: Linked images: 1/3 done; 2 working: zone:v0183 zone:v0186
Finalize: Linked images: 2/3 done; 1 working: zone:v0183
Finalize: Finished processing linked images.
Finalize: Updating package cache ... Done

A clone of s11.4.94.0.1.221.2 exists and has been updated and activated.
On the next boot the Boot Environment be://rpool/s11.4.95.0.1.227.1 will be
mounted on '/'.  Reboot when ready to switch to this updated BE.

Finalize: Updating package cache ... Done

Current BootEnvironment list:
BE Name            Flags Mountpoint Space  Policy Created
------------------ ----- ---------- ------ ------ ----------------
s11.4.89.0.1.207.2 -     -          1.78G  static 2026-03-16 13:58
s11.4.94.0.1.221.2 N     /          8.03G  static 2026-07-29 15:15
s11.4.95.0.1.227.1 R     -          32.68G static 2026-09-28 14:27
Node g0075 updated to Solaris 11 4.95.0.1.227.1. A new boot environment was created.
Reboot Node g0075 to activate new boot environment.

real    6m52.344s
user    0m3.902s
sys     0m8.390s


The duration of the maintenance window is reduced significantly
from 20 minutes to 7 minutes.

Learn more about JomaSoft VDCF on our webpage

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU95 (September 2026)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

psrinfo -P
pbind -i uid/gid accept username/groupname
zpool monitor [-t provider[,provider...]]
fmdump improvements

FOSS: GCC 16
EOF announce: sar
EOF: SMB1 client (smbfs), MySQL 8.0

Cleanup LDom Memory Fragmentation

Over time after many online memory changes, the memory may become
fragmented like this example. The small blocks prevent the system 
from allocating large pages which causes degraded performance.

The fragments typically arise when you reduce memory
while the domain is running. It is recommended to reduce
memory while the guest domain is down and use start-reconf
for the control domain.

# ldm list-devices -a memory

MEMORY
    PA                   SIZE            BOUND
    0x0                  60M             _sys_
    0x3c00000            32M             _sys_
    0x5c00000            94M             _sys_
    0xba00000            1030M           _sys_
    0x4c000000           64M             _sys_
    0x50000000           2560M           primary
    0xf0000000           256M            marcel
    0x100000000          2560M           primary
    0x1a0000000          256M            marcel
    0x1b0000000          5888M           primary
    0x320000000          256M            marcel
    0x330000000          768M            primary
    0x360000000          256M            marcel
    0x370000000          3584M           primary
    0x450000000          11G             marcel
    0x710000000          15G             g0075
    0xad0000000          6G              g0095
    0xc50000000          8G              g0081
    0xe50000000          1792M
    0xec0000000          2304M           primary
    0xf50000000          2560M
    0xff0000000          128M            _sys_
    0xff8000000          64M             _sys_
    0xffc000000          64M             _sys_
    0x400000000000       2G              g0056
    0x400080000000       1G              primary
    0x4000c0000000       1G              g0056
    0x400100000000       5888M           primary
    0x400270000000       8G              g0056
    0x400470000000       8G              g0079
    0x400670000000       1G              g0056
    0x4006b0000000       8G              g0107
    0x4008b0000000       10G             g0058
    0x400b30000000       4G              g0082
    0x400c30000000       8G              s0004
    0x400e30000000       4G              g0082
    0x400f30000000       3G
    0x400ff0000000       192M            _sys_
    0x400ffc000000       64M             _sys_

Since Solaris 11.4 SRU39 the ldm command add-spconfig offers
the new -m flag to cleanup the memory configuration.

# ldm add-spconfig -m s0003m

we need to power cycle the control domain.
shutdown all guest domains.

For users of JomaSoft VDCF you can use
gdom -c shutdown cdom=s0003

afterwards we poweroff and poweron the control domain
to activate the new configuration.

# init 0

after the system is down at the ok prompt.

{0} ok
Serial console stopped.

-> stop /SYS
Are you sure you want to stop /SYS (y/n)? y
Stopping /SYS

-> show /SYS power_state

 /SYS
    Properties:
        power_state = Off

-> start /SYS
Are you sure you want to start /SYS (y/n)? y
Starting /SYS


this improved the memory allocation of all the domains

# ldm list-devices -a memory

MEMORY
    PA                   SIZE            BOUND
    0x0                  60M             _sys_
    0x3c00000            32M             _sys_
    0x5c00000            94M             _sys_
    0xba00000            1030M           _sys_
    0x4c000000           64M             _sys_
    0x50000000           24G             primary
    0x650000000          15G             g0075
    0xa10000000          8G              g0081
    0xc10000000          8G              g0082
    0xe10000000          6G              g0095
    0xf90000000          1536M           marcel
    0xff0000000          128M            _sys_
    0xff8000000          64M             _sys_
    0xffc000000          64M             _sys_
    0x400000000000       12G             g0056
    0x400300000000       10G             g0058
    0x400580000000       8G              g0079
    0x400780000000       8G              g0107
    0x400980000000       10752M          marcel
    0x400c20000000       8G              s0004
    0x400e20000000       7424M
    0x400ff0000000       192M            _sys_
    0x400ffc000000       64M             _sys_

New postgres packages 08/2026 are ready for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

New postgres packages are ready for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

You don't need to download source and compile yourself for Solaris.

We provide compiled postgres as Solaris 11.4 SPARC IPS pkgs.
Current versions are 18.6, 17.11, 16.15, 15.19, 14.24

Free download and no registration
https://www.jomasoft.ch/downloads/#js-opensource

Only 6 months left for Solaris 10 and 11.3

Oracle does provide patches under Extended Support for 
Solaris 10 and Solaris 11.3 till January 2027. 

The dates are documented in 
https://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-hardware-301321.pdf

You can continue to run this Solaris versions, but who does
that without new patches and the security risks?

Migrate to Solaris 11.4, which will receive patches and new features
till January 2037 for sure, probably longer. Oracle extended
this date in the past already several times.

For Solaris 11.3 systems it is just SRU updates to Solaris 11.4.
For Solaris 10 you have to move the systems into Solaris branded zones
on Solaris 11.4. Your Solaris 10 apps and binaries will then run on 
a current Solaris 11.4 kernel.

If you need help with such migrations you can use our JomaSoft
VDCF management tool and we offer migration and consulting services.

https://www.jomasoft.ch

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU93 (June 2026)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

Kernel Crypto Framework SMF Policy
NFS Sockets

FOSS: Perl 5.42, PHP 8.5, bash5.3
EOF: mySQL 8.0, IKEv1

New postgres packages are ready for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

You don't need to download source and compile yourself for Solaris.

We provide compiled postgres as Solaris 11.4 SPARC IPS pkgs.
Current versions are 18.4, 17.10, 16.14, 15.18, 14.23

Free download and no registration
https://www.jomasoft.ch/downloads/#js-opensource