After 12 years using my beloved SunRay – Oracle Sun’s most underrated product by far – I got a new Oracle Solaris x86 workstation in January and for the first time in many years I have a root password. Oh, the power!!!
This has enabled me to play around with IPS and practice what I preach regarding Oracle Solaris lifecycle management. The result is this document, a variant of which has been published to MOS as Doc 2114039.1.
The document provides an overview of the Oracle Solaris release cadence including Releases, Updates, Support Repository Updates (SRUs), Critical Patch Updates (CPUs), and Interim Diagnostics or Relief (IDRs).
It also provides an overview of the Oracle Solaris Binary Application and Source Code Guarantee which protects your long term investment in Oracle Solaris.
It then looks at the Image Packaging System (IPS) used in products such as Oracle Solaris 11 and Oracle Solaris Cluster 4, provides an overview of Oracle Solaris 11 Install Groups and Incorporations, and how IPS is used to apply SRUs and IDRs.
Finally, it shows how the IPS ‘pkg’ command can be used to query Critical Vulnerability and Exposures (CVEs) and Oracle BugID metadata. This is useful for anyone involved in security compliance.
This overview is designed for hands-on IT Executives and Managers, Senior and Junior System Administrators including those responsible for security compliance, and anyone with an interest in understanding the Oracle Solaris lifecycle.
I’ve deliberately used the simplest form of ‘pkg’ commands in my examples. You can play with options like ‘-H’, ‘-o’, ‘-s’, ‘-t’, etc. to manipulate output for beautification or easy parsing. Remember, ‘man pkg’ is your friend.
I hope you find it useful.
Best Wishes,
Gerry.