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Solaris 10 to 11: what changed

Translate legacy administration habits to IPS, SMF, ZFS and modern networking

Scope: Oracle Solaris 11.4 and, for LDoms, compatible SPARC hardware with Oracle VM Server for SPARC. Examples are educational: verify release, privileges, target names and backups before running changes.

How it works

Packaging

Solaris 11 uses IPS publishers and package FMRIs rather than treating SVR4 pkgadd as the primary software lifecycle.

Networking

ipadm and dladm separate IP-layer and datalink administration.

Services

SMF replaces ad hoc init-script-centric service management.

Root storage

ZFS boot environments are central to safe updates and rollback.

Worked examples

Each example explains the question it answers, a reproducible starting point, what to look for, and operational precautions.

1. Compare packages

Use this as a starting point for compare packages.

pkg list
pkg publisher

Interpretation: Check command output against the expected host configuration; record the before/after state.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

2. Compare interfaces

Use this as a starting point for compare interfaces.

dladm show-link
ipadm show-addr

Interpretation: Check command output against the expected host configuration; record the before/after state.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

3. Find service failures

Use this as a starting point for find service failures.

svcs -xv
svcs -a

Interpretation: Check command output against the expected host configuration; record the before/after state.

Operational note: Run commands in a test environment first; confirm device names, privileges and release-specific options.

Primary documentation

Read the relevant Oracle documentation for exact version-specific flags, supported platforms and limitations: Oracle primary reference ↗.

This field manual is independent, not affiliated with or endorsed by Oracle. Command examples should be adapted to your environment.