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and removal of old, outdated/insecure software.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/ 

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU87 (Nov 2025)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

useradd -N / -U 
cableinfo
fmthard -c / -e
ldm add-/list-/remove-devalias


FOSS: GCC 15
EOF: PHP 8.1, Python 3.9

JomaSoft provides OpenJDK 17.0.16 package for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

Since three years JomaSoft produces Solaris 11.4 IPS packages
of opensource software. After postgres openjdk was added.
After 17.0.13 in December 2024, we provide now a package
with version 17.0.16.

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.

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU84 (Aug 2025)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

format -r / -n / -q
Threshold alerts for /tmp usage
Improved nscd resilience

FOSS: OpenSSH 10, sudo 1.9.17p1
EOF: Ruby 3.1, PHP 8.1

Oracle ASR Manager manual update

In the past the Oracle ASR Manager did update itself
automatically. This is not the case anymore with newer
releases.

But the manual update on Solaris is very easy.
Only two commands required

pkgrm asrmanager

pkgadd -d ./asrmanager-25.1.0-20250306063253.pkg


Learn more about Oracle ASR on
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/index.htm

 

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU81 (May 2025)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

GRUB 2.12
Zone Migration requires NTP
ipadm set-ifprop -p send-unreachables
dladm show-transceiver
s10 brand compressed install archives
ldm set-logctl =func =v (verbosity)

OVM Manager SPARC Agent does not work anymore

FOSS: PHP 8.4
EOF: OpenSSL 1.0.2, Ruby 3.1, GCC 7, stackdb SMF

More details on the Solaris Blog

Solaris 11.4.78 / iostat -b and wildcards

If you are using Kernel Zones

-bash-5.2$ zoneadm list -v
  ID NAME             STATUS      PATH                         BRAND      IP
   0 global           running     /                            solaris    shared
   1 v0182            running     -                            solaris-kz excl

It is now easier on the global zone to analyze
the I/O of only the disks used by kernel zones

using the wildcard (v0182*) and the new -b (backend) flag

-bash-5.2$ iostat -xnzb -Td v0182* 5 3
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  7:58:29 AM EDT
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   kr/s   kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
   0.3    7.5   18.2   53.7  0.0  0.0    0.0    1.7   0   0 v0182/disk1
   0.0    0.0    0.0    9.3  0.0  0.0    0.0    5.1   0   0 v0182/disk2
   0.0    0.0    0.0    0.0  0.0  0.0    0.0    0.2   0   0 v0182/disk3
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  7:58:34 AM EDT
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   kr/s   kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
   0.6   14.4   25.8   68.4  0.0  0.0    0.0    1.8   0   1 v0182/disk1
   0.4   68.2    0.3 58301.9  0.0  0.4    0.0    6.5   0  24 v0182/disk2
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  7:58:39 AM EDT
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   kr/s   kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
  11.0    0.0   37.1    0.0  0.0  0.0    0.0    0.3   0   0 v0182/disk1
   0.0   87.2    0.0 52939.6  0.0  0.4    0.0    5.1   0  22 v0182/disk2


And we have similar output on control domains for disks
used in logical domains (Ldoms) on SPARC servers.

-bash-5.2$ iostat -znxMb -T d vds* 5 5
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  2:20:19 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
 356.5  120.3   16.7   11.1  0.0  0.3    0.0    0.7   0   8 60002AC000000000000004320001507B@primary-vds0
 187.3    5.1   10.2    0.1  0.0  0.1    0.0    0.5   0   9 60002AC0000000000000048F0001507B@primary-vds0
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  2:20:24 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
 135.2  195.0   80.3  118.0  0.0  0.9    0.0    2.8   0  50 60002AC000000000000004320001507B@primary-vds0
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  2:20:29 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
 178.6  275.6  115.6  103.2  0.0  1.1    0.0    2.3   0  55 60002AC000000000000004320001507B@primary-vds0
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  2:20:34 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
 236.6  306.4  100.2  109.9  0.0  1.1    0.0    2.1   0  61 60002AC000000000000004320001507B@primary-vds0
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at  2:20:39 PM CEST
                    extended device statistics
    r/s    w/s   Mr/s   Mw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t  %w  %b device
 196.2  282.0   95.4  117.2  0.0  1.1    0.0    2.4   0  60 60002AC000000000000004320001507B@primary-vds0

Oracle Systems TechDay 13.05.2025 in Prague

Tuesday, May 13th 2025

Onsite event in Prague, Czech Republic

About
- Oracle Systems/Server/SPARC/ZFS/Solaris
- AI, Cloud
- Hybrid Storage
- Secure Desktop

As usual Oracle Product Managers, Engineering and JomaSoft
are there.

Registration at:
https://eventreg.oracle.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x912115abcd

New Features in Solaris 11.4 SRU78 (Feb 2025)

Another quarterly Solaris SRU including new features

ldm list-domain -s
iostat -b and wildcards
faster utilities, because they use Python 3.11 now

BugFix: User with UP can't login anymore and no sudo and cronjobs

FOSS: Python 3.13, MySQL 8.4, Ruby 3.3
EOF: Python 3.9

 

system-repository SMF access_log cleanup

The system-repository SMF delivers IPS packages to zones.

This SMF produces an access_log file which is not rotated
by default. If you run many zones this logfile grows
to multiple 100 MB. On a customer system with more
than 20 zones this file was over 3 GB in size.

This is a sample on one of our test systems

# ls -lh /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log
-rw-r--r--   1 pkg5srv  bin         148M Jan  8 10:52 /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log

You can manually rotate and compress this logfile using
the following command

# time logadm -c -z 0 /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log

real    0m4.989s
user    0m4.164s
sys     0m0.815s

# ls -lh /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log*
-rw-r--r--   1 pkg5srv  bin            0 Jan  8 10:54 /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log
-rw-r--r--   1 pkg5srv  bin        26.7M Jan  8 10:52 /var/log/pkg/sysrepo/access_log.0.gz

JomaSoft provides OpenJDK17 package for Solaris 11.4 SPARC

Since two years JomaSoft produces Solaris 11.4 IPS packages
of opensource software. After postgres now openjdk was added.

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.