Oracle does now deliver
128 GB DIMM for the SPARC T8 and M8 Servers.
Using this new DIMMs every SPARC M8 CPU has now access to 2 TB of Memory.
All the details on the Oracle Blog
https://blogs.oracle.com/oracle-systems/post/announcing-new-enhancements-to-sparc-t8-and-m8-servers
On Solaris 11.4 NTP does update the time after boot.
By default this can take a few minutes, because the NTP client
waits for a few reply's of the NTP servers.
To update the time quickly it is recommended to use the 'burst iburst'
flags in the ntp.conf
server <ntpserverip> burst iburst
Using this configuration NTP adjusts the time a few seconds after start.
This is an important configuration if you start your apps or databases automatically.
Register now!
EMEA, Dec 1st
JAPAC, Dec 7th
NAM, Dec 8th
The content and size of a
Solaris IPS Repo has impact on your update processes.
Of
course more SRUs increase the size of the repository and the
duration of package downloads and operations.
To compare the difference we have two repos on a SPARC S7 LDom.
A first one with 60 updates: all U4 SRUs and a few U3 SRUs
-bash-5.0$ ipsadm -c
show_repo repository=http://192.168.20.75:8282 | grep entire@ | wc -l
60
-bash-5.0$ ipsadm -c
show_repo repository=http://192.168.20.75:8283 | grep entire@ | wc -l
2
real 4m23.097s
real 0m37.629s
user 0m34.968s
real 8m46.280s
Planning linked: 3/3 done
real 5m59.820s
user 12m59.500s
Solaris 11.4 delivers a new feature to remove data disks from existing zpools.
zpool remove myzpool <disk>
We used this feature a few times without problems on test environments.
But it has performance impact if the removed disk had data on it.
Especially if read performance is important. We know customers with oracle databases
where latency around 1ms is expected. After removing a disk from a
large zpool the performance was terrible and the only solution was to
re-create the zpool.
Important to understand there is an expected performance impact while the disk is removing.
Sure. The data needs to be copied to the remaining disks.
But even after the remove there can be a major performance impact when the data (from the removed disk) must be read, because the data copy added additional internal redirections.
The recommendation is to use this feature only after an accidentally add
of a disk to a wrong zpool. there is no performance impact if the
removed disk has no data.
Find the details of this recommendation in the Solaris 11.4 ZFS Manual:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37838_01/html/E61017/remove-devices.html
To avoid such troubles we disabled the dataset -c remdisk feature for data disks
by default in VDCF Version 8.1.8
More about our VDCF Solaris Management product can be found on
https://www.jomasoft.ch/vdcf/
Look what we have here:
-bash-5.0$ pkg list ksplice
NAME (PUBLISHER) VERSION IFO
system/ksplice 11.4-11.4.29.0.1.82.3 i--
Ksplice supports online Kernel Updates.
Oracle Support delivers in rare cases of Kernel issues
an IDR which are installed online using ksplice.
For a Solaris Admin such an IDR is handled like other IDRs.
It can be installed as usual with the pkg command.
Here a sample:
# pkg info -g ./idr4712.1.p5p idr4712
Name: idr4712
Summary: To back out This IDR : # /usr/bin/pkg uninstall -r idr4712
Description: sparc IDR built for release : Solaris 11.4 SRU # 29.82.3
State: Not installed
Publisher: solaris
Version: 1
Branch: None
Packaging Date: February 12, 2021 at 10:22:38 AM
Size: 4.08 kB
FMRI: pkg://solaris/idr4712@1:20210212T102238Z
-bash-5.0$ pkg list -g ./idr4712.1.p5p -af
NAME (PUBLISHER) VERSION IFO
idr4712 1 ---
system/kernel/platform 11.4-11.4.29.0.1.82.3.4712.1 ---
system/ksplice 11.4-11.4.29.0.1.82.3.4712.1 ---
system/osnet-splice 11.4-11.4.29.0.1.82.3.4712.1 ---
# pkg set-publisher -g file:///var/tmp/idr4712.1.p5p solaris
# pkg install idr4712
Packages to install: 2
Packages to update: 2
Services to change: 3
Create boot environment: No
Create backup boot environment: Yes
..
..
..
Using spliceadm you can verify the installed splices.
# spliceadm
ID STATE CVE BUGID
471201 applied N/A 32407818
in case of a problem you can even revert the fix
# spliceadm reverse 471201
Splice 471201 reversed successfully on Fri Apr 23 13:15:20.
# spliceadm status
ID STATE CVE BUGID
471201 not-applied N/A 32407818
Another powerful and easy to use Solaris Feature
April 13th, 2021 9:00 am - 11:00 am PT
Oracle Webinar: Systems Engineering Forum Oracle Solaris and SPARC
Modernizing Enterprise Infrastructure with Oracle Solaris and SPARC
Simplifying Security and Compliance with Oracle Solaris (Incl. Demo)
Continuous Observability of Systems and Applications on Oracle Solaris (Incl. Demo)
April 27th, 2021 9:00 AM IST | 11:30 AM SGT | 1:30 PM AEST
Oracle Webinar: Infrastructure Modernization Forum: Oracle SPARC & Solaris
Oracle Compute Platforms for On-Prem Deployments
During this virtual event you will learn the vision and strategy of
Oracle Solaris and SPARC servers and more.
To have updated systems is very important for security and stability reasons.
Oracle releases patch updates each quarter for Solaris 10 and Solaris 11.3 till 01/2024.
This patches only fix the most important issues, but not all.
To receive this patches for the older Solaris releases you need Extended Support.
It is highly recommended to update to the current Solaris 11.4 release.
For Solaris 11.4 there is a SRU (Support Repository Update) each month.
Make sure you know which Solaris server are not yet on the recommended level.
With our JomaSoft VDCF management tool for Solaris you have a good realtime overview of the Levels.
Learn more about VDCF
bitly.com/jomasoft
Mar 10, 2021 09:00 - 10:00 CET
Oracle Webinar: Oracle Solaris Update
This webinar will give an update on the Oracle Solaris operating system recent advancements. There is a specific focus on the observability in Solaris and compliance in Solaris. These will help you to improve the performance and secure compliance to regulatory requirements like PCI DSS for example. The webinar consists of a presentation and demonstrations of these features.
Mar 16, 2021 19:00 - 20:30 CET
FRAOSUG - Frankfurt Area OpenSolaris User Group: Virtual Datacenter Cloud Framework
German/Deutsch
Das “Virtual Datacenter Cloud Framework” (VDCF ) ist seit 2006 verfügbar, inzwischen in der Version 8.1. Es deckt den ganzen Life Cycle von Solaris Systemen ab und unterstützt die SPARC und x86 Platform. Mittels einer Handvoll intuitiver Befehle können virtuelle Solaris Umgebungen auch von unerfahrenen Solaris Administratoren erstellt und betrieben werden.
The Oracle database does
automatically increase the priority on Solaris if you run
the
database version 11.2.0.4 or later. On older versions this does not
happen.
If you are on Oracle 12.1.0.2 it could be because of Bug
27092821
- IN 12C CRITICAL DATABASE PROCESSES ARE NOT RUNNING WITH HIGHER
PRIORITIES IN FSS
It is fixed in 12.1.0.2.99
If you run the Oracle
database in a Solaris Zone, make sure you have 'proc_priocntl' set in
limitpriv in your zonecfg. This is required to allow the change of
the priority inside the zone.
ps -efcZ | grep lgwr
