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_
21 August 2026
Cleanup LDom Memory Fragmentation
14 August 2026
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
28 July 2026
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
16 June 2026
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
15 May 2026
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
04 May 2026
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).
23 April 2026
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
03 April 2026
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
- 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.
31 March 2026
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
04 March 2026
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.
27 February 2026
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
12 February 2026
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
19 January 2026
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/