Oracle Solaris 11.2 Beta Features Full OpenStack Cloud Distribution

Oracle Solaris 11.2 Beta Features Full OpenStack Cloud Distribution

By Sean Michael Kerner

Mark Hurd Sets the Bar High for Solaris

Oracle President Mark Hurd kicked off the Solaris 11.2 launch event making a number of predictions. One of them is that Solaris will enable Oracle to become the leader in high-end computing.

Desktop Options Include GNOME

Solaris is a server operating system, but there is a desktop profile that is available as part of the beta release that leverages the GNOME open-source desktop.

Solaris Users Have Access to Lots of Software

The Package Manager interface is designed so users can easily find and install software packages.

Solaris 11.2 Includes an OpenStack Havana

As part of Solaris 11.2, users have access to a full OpenStack cloud platform, including Nova compute, neutron networking, cinder storage, glance image management and the Horizon OpenStack dashboard.

Unified Archives Enable Easy Cloning

Unified Archives is the new native format to create application and system image archives.

Kernel Zones Provide New Virtualization Options

Solaris has long had virtualization containers for applications known as Zones. With Solaris 11.2, the concept of Kernel Zones is being introduced. It enables a full Solaris kernel to run inside a container.

Elastic Virtual Switch Enables SDN

The Elastic Virtual Switch (EVS) enables Solaris 11.2 administrators to create a fully distributed virtual switch.

Security Compliance Testing Is Built-In

One of the security tools in Solaris 11.2 is the compliance framework that performs a series of tests to assess the security posture of the host operating system.

Solaris Desktop Includes Firefox

For the desktop image of the Solaris 11.2 beta, the familiar Firefox Web browser is part of the default installation.