Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Introduction
This chapter covers the Solaris 9 distribution, which is the mechanism used
to deliver the Solaris Operating Environment in an installable format. The
next section covers installing the operating system, including different meth-
ods used to install Solaris. The last two sections address the procedures used
to perform software package administration and patch administration.
The Solaris 9 Distribution
The Solaris 9 system and its application software are delivered as collections
of files and directories, referred to as packages. These packages can be copied
onto the system from the CD-ROM or DVD as a single compressed file and
uncompressed for installation.
Included with the package is information about it, such as the title, storage
requirements, and version. Also included are any custom scripts needed to
properly install the software.
System software is sometimes distributed in more than one package, but the
packages need to be distributed and installed as a unit. A collection of two or
more related packages is referred to as a software cluster . A software cluster is
a logical grouping of packages.
The Solaris 9 operating system is configured into software groups, which con-
sist of different collections of software clusters and packages. The five soft-
ware groups are listed in Table 1.1.
Some Solaris 9 documents (and documentation for previous versions) refer to the
software groups as software configuration clusters or simply clusters . Because the
term software cluster refers to a collection of packages, this creates some confusion.
In this topic, the term software groups is used, because this is the term used in the
Solaris 9 Installation Guide .
Table 1.1
Solaris 9 Software Groups
Software Group
Contents
Core
Required operating system files
End-User System Support
Core plus windowing environments
Developer System Support
End user plus development environment
Entire Distribution
Developer system plus enhanced features
Entire Distribution Plus Original
Entire distribution plus third-party hardware drivers
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)
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