JomaSoft provides OpenJDK 17.0.21 package for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

Since four years JomaSoft produces Solaris 11.4 IPS packages
of opensource software. After postgres openjdk was added.
After 17.0.19 in April 2026, we provide now a package
with version 17.0.21.0.3.

Based on the work done by Peter Tribble. Thanks Peter!
https://github.com/ptribble/jdk-sunos-builder

Download Page
https://www.jomasoft.ch/downloads/#js-openjdk

Direct p5p Download Link
https://bit.ly/js-openjdk17-sparc

The package is provided without support or warranty.
Use at your own risk.

Solaris and Linux compared: Filesystems

Today we compare Solaris and Linux.
Which steps are required to create filesystems on a new virtual disk?

a) Linux

Here we are on a Redhat 10 system

[root@red10]# uname -ro
6.12.0-211.29.1.el10_2.x86_64 GNU/Linux

We have a new unused disk

[root@red10]# lsblk /dev/sdb
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sdb    8:16   0   2G  0 disk

First we have to initialize the disk

[root@red10]# pvcreate /dev/sdb
  Physical volume "/dev/sdb" successfully created.

and then create a Volume Group

[root@red10]# vgcreate datavg /dev/sdb
  Volume group "datavg" successfully created

Now a Logical Volume

[root@red10]# lvcreate -n data1 -L1g datavg
  Logical volume "data1" created.

[root@red10]# mkfs.xfs /dev/mapper/datavg-data1
meta-data=/dev/mapper/datavg-data1 isize=512    agcount=4, agsize=65536 blks
         =                       sectsz=512   attr=2, projid32bit=1
         =                       crc=1        finobt=1, sparse=1, rmapbt=1
         =                       reflink=1    bigtime=1 inobtcount=1 nrext64=1
         =                       exchange=0   metadir=0
data     =                       bsize=4096   blocks=262144, imaxpct=25
         =                       sunit=0      swidth=0 blks
naming   =version 2              bsize=4096   ascii-ci=0, ftype=1, parent=0
log      =internal log           bsize=4096   blocks=16384, version=2
         =                       sectsz=512   sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1
realtime =none                   extsz=4096   blocks=0, rtextents=0
         =                       rgcount=0    rgsize=0 extents
         =                       zoned=0      start=0 reserved=0

And finally we create a directory and mount the new filesystem

[root@red10]# mkdir /mydata
[root@red10]# mount /dev/mapper/datavg-data1 /mydata

To mount the filesystem automatically at boot we have to 
add it to fstab

[root@red10]# blkid /dev/mapper/datavg-data1
/dev/mapper/datavg-data1: UUID="7fd552b2-1f10-4b87-bcc8-f22a22fc1f6c" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="xfs"

[root@red10]# echo 'UUID=7fd552b2-1f10-4b87-bcc8-f22a22fc1f6c /mydata xfs defaults 0 0' >>/etc/fstab

b) Solaris

We are on a Solaris 11 system

root@vbox-cbe:~# uname -ro
5.11 Solaris

We have a new disk

root@vbox-cbe:~# echo | format | grep c1t3
c1t3d0: configured with capacity of 2.00GB
       1. c1t3d0 <VBOX-HARDDISK-1.0-2.00GB>

With zfs we use one command to initialize the disk.

root@vbox-cbe:~# zpool create mypool c1t3d0

After this step, we already have a first
mounted filesystem to use.

root@vbox-cbe:~# zfs list mypool
NAME     USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
mypool  98.5K  1.95G    31K  /mypool

It is easy to create additional filesystems

root@vbox-cbe:~# zfs create -o mountpoint=/mydata mypool/mydata

root@vbox-cbe:~# zfs list -r mypool
NAME           USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
mypool         149K  1.95G    31K  /mypool
mypool/mydata   31K  1.95G    31K  /mydata

Summary

On Solaris a new filesystem is created with only 2 commands
compared to 8 commands on Linux.

Easy to understand why I prefer Solaris and ZFS 

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

Oracle changes Solaris 11.4 SRU delivery

In the past Oracle provided Solaris SRUs (Support Repository Updates)
each month. This does change now. The types of SRUs are reduced
from 3 types to 2 types. Instead of 12 SRUs per year we will see 8 SRUs
per year.

a) Feature SRU (NEW)

This will be available early in the months 
March, June, September, December
Around 6 weeks after the CPUs.

This SRU includes new features, tools, packages, version updates
and removal of old, outdated/insecure software.

I would recommend to install this SRU on test systems to verify
application compatibility and identify required configuration changes.


b) CPU (Critical Patch Updates)

No changes here. 

Available January, April, July, October
The release dates are predefined and are published on
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/#CriticalPatchUpdates

This SRU includes critical fixes and security updates.
Most of our enterprise customers update to this SRU.


For critical issues Oracle will release individual 
IDRs (Interim Diagnostic or Relief).

Oracle provides JDK17 for Solaris 11.4 SPARC now!

It is free for personal use and development.

Download here: 
https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/#java17-solaris

The installation guide can be found here
https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/17/install/installation-jdk-oracle-solaris.html

Solaris 11.4 Updates/Patching Overview

CBE (Common Build Environment)

For developers Oracle provides a free version for software development
and testing. No patches are available for this version, but around every
year a new version is published. This version is named 
CBE "Common Build Environment" and can be downloaded here

https://www.oracle.com/solaris/solaris11/downloads/solaris-downloads.html

SRU (Support Repository Updates)

For customers with a support contract Oracle provides monthly updates.
The updates are cumulative. If you update to the current SRU you
receive all the updates of the previous SRUs from the past. 
Current SRU as of March 2026 is number 91. This is the 91th update
since the first release of Solaris 11.4 GA in 11/2018.

SRUs can be received by the solaris pkg command from
the Solaris Support Repo
https://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/support

or download the SRU ZIP files from
My Oracle Support / Solaris 11.4 SRU Index Page
https://support.oracle.com/support/?anchorId=&documentId=KB631614

The benefit of monthly updates is the customers are using
the same software levels. A major step forward in
standardization compared to the times of Solaris 10 (or Linux) 
where a lot customers used a different set of individual patches.


There are 3 different types of SRUs. 

a) Feature SRU

Available February, May, August, November
This SRU includes new features, tools, packages, version updates
and removal of old, outdated/insecure software.

I would recommend to install this SRU on test systems to verify
application compatibility and identify required configuration changes.


b) Stabilisation SRU

Available March, June, September, December
This SRU includes small updates, bug fixes and security updates.

c) CPU (Critical Patch Updates)

Available January, April, July, October
The release dates are predefined and are published on
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/#CriticalPatchUpdates

This SRU includes critical fixes and security updates.
Most of our enterprise customers update to this SRU.

IDR (Interim Diagnostic or Relief)

For critical issues Oracle releases IDRs, which are 
individual patches. They are available on request
from Oracle Support. Some of them can be applied
online using Ksplice without reboot.

Summary

Using the options above Oracle provides 

- quick fixes for critical issues using IDRs
- standardized and well tested monthly SRU updates
- free CBE updates for developers to develop and test
  the applications

and the best: Oracle guarantees this updates till AT LEAST January 2037

This update solutions are one of the reasons I like this stable and long term
Solaris Operating System.

Solaris 11.4 / iostat latency reporting

The iostat command is used for IO performance reporting 
and has a lot of options.
Since Solaris 11.4 it includes the -L option to display
the latency distribution.

You can see how many request are sent to the disks and 
how the distribution is

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at  1:23:55 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
   6.8   48.4    0.4    0.3  0.0  0.1    0.0    1.9   0   4 c2d13
latency          range         count      density distribution
                 <16us             0        0.00%        0.00%
               16-32us             1        0.36%        0.36%
               32-64us             2        0.72%        1.08%
              64-128us             0        0.00%        1.08%
             128-256us             7        2.51%        3.58%
             256-512us            59       21.15%       24.73%
            512-1024us            62       22.22%       46.95%
                 1-2ms            73       26.16%       73.12%
                 2-4ms            56       20.07%       93.19%
                 4-8ms            12        4.30%       97.49%
                8-16ms             5        1.79%       99.28%
               16-32ms             2        0.72%      100.00%
                 >32ms             0        0.00%      100.00%
                 total           279
   6.0  387.4    0.3   87.8  0.0  1.1    0.0    2.7   1  56 c2d14
latency          range         count      density distribution
                 <16us             0        0.00%        0.00%
               16-32us             1        0.05%        0.05%
               32-64us             1        0.05%        0.10%
              64-128us             0        0.00%        0.10%
             128-256us             5        0.25%        0.36%
             256-512us            66        3.35%        3.71%
            512-1024us           388       19.70%       23.40%
                 1-2ms           677       34.37%       57.77%
                 2-4ms           491       24.92%       82.69%
                 4-8ms           261       13.25%       95.94%
                8-16ms            64        3.25%       99.19%
               16-32ms            16        0.81%      100.00%
                 >32ms             0        0.00%      100.00%
                 total          1970

The following options are used

iostat -LxnM -Td c2d14 c2d13 5

Td to display date/time
L to display the latency
M to display MB/s
x to display extended output
n to display the disk names

The Next Oracle Solaris 11.4.90 CBE is available for Developers

CBE is the Common Build Environment

The first release 11.4.42 was made available by Oracle 03/2022.
Last year 05/2025 the version 11.4.81 was published.
And now 03/2026 11.4.90 is already available.

This release can be used by Developers to develop, test and demonstrate
their software for free. It includes current compilers and tools.

Download from 
https://www.oracle.com/solaris/solaris11/downloads/solaris-downloads.html

This is great news and confirms Oracle continues investing into Oracle Solaris.

 

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU90 (Feb 2026)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

devnm -s
beadm preserve policy
ls -sh output change
bootadm GRUB unrestricted property
ikev2cert PIN from SMF
nscfg check
new smf svc:/system/check/name-services:default
ipadm _forward_src_routed IPv6 property removed

FOSS: BIND 9.20
EOF: GCC 12

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 18.2, 17.8, 16.12, 15.16, 14.21

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

The State of Oracle Solaris - Jan 2026

Oracle Solaris is not much in the press anymore, but used
for critical systems around the world.

Solaris 11.4 was launched in 2018. Oracle provides updates/patches
every month. Every quarter (Feb,May,Aug,Nov) the update includes new features.
Oracle will provide this monthly updates till at least November 2037.

Documented in:
http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-hardware-301321.pdf

Oracle is working to make sure Solaris will run properly after 2037 for example
with changes in SRU72 delivered in August 2024. It would be no surprise
if the updates will continue after November 2037.
https://blogs.oracle.com/solaris/announcing-oracle-solaris-114-sru72

For developers a pretty current version (CBE) is available
for free to develop and test software.

Solaris CBE Download:
https://www.oracle.com/solaris/solaris11/downloads/solaris-downloads.html

Oracle even provides patches for the older releases Solaris 10
and Solaris 11.3. The last patches are expected by January 2027.
We highly recommend to migrate to Solaris 11.4 and we are
happy to support you with our very experiences engineers.

Oracle's Management and Monitoring tools (OpsCenter and VM Manager for SPARC) 
reached End-Of-Life. No patches are provided anymore. 

We at JomaSoft continue to enhance our VDCF management and monitoring tool 
for Oracle Solaris and Linux
https://www.jomasoft.ch/vdcf/

If you don't have a SPARC server yourself, maybe the JomaSoft
SPARC cloud could be helpful for you.
https://www.jomasoft.ch/services/