If you have configured your Oracle Solaris 11 systems to use a local IPS
package repository to install and update software, you might have
wondered whether you can limit the size of the repository and still well
serve the needs of all your systems and their users.

A new article, How to Minimize the Size of Your Oracle Solaris IPS
Package Repository,
reviews the tradeoffs of using a repository that contains all packages
since the first Solaris 11 release or using a repository that contains
all packages associated with one release.

If you decide that a repository that contains only packages for one
release will fulfill your requirements, follow the instructions in the
article for using the repository files that are provided for each
release. These instructions show how to replace the repository with the
least disruption to users when repository files for the next release are
available.

Remember that you cannot create a functional repository by including
only packages with a particular version string, such as @0.5.11-0.175.2.
Such a strategy omits required packages from a previous release that are
still current in this release and required packages that use a different
version numbering scheme.

The following is an example of a minimum repository life cycle:

  1. Download repository files for Solaris 11.n and follow the
    instructions included with those files to create a repository.
  2. Install systems using this Solaris 11.n package repository.
  3. Download repository files for the most current Solaris 11.n SRU. SRU
    content is cumulative, so if the most current SRU is SRU 3, you can add
    just SRU 3 to get all fixes provided by SRU 1, SRU 2, and SRU 3. You
    only need to download and add SRU 1, SRU 2, and SRU 3 if some of your
    systems need to be able to boot to Solaris 11.n SRU 1 or Solaris 11.n SRU 2.
  4. Add this SRU content to your existing Solaris 11.n repository
    according to the instructions included with those files.
  5. Use this updated repository to update your systems.
  6. As additional SRUs are released, download those repository files, add
    that content to your Solaris 11.n repository, and update your systems.
  7. When Solaris 11.n+1 is available, download repository files for that
    release and follow the instructions in the article cited above to
    replace your local Solaris 11.n package repository with a new Solaris
    11.n+1 repository.
  8. Use this new repository to update your systems to Solaris 11.n+1.