OpenSolaris vs. Linux, For Linux Users 303
An anonymous reader writes "With Sun busy being swallowed up by Oracle, should Linux geeks pay any interest to OpenSolaris? TuxRadar put together a guide to OpenSolaris's most interesting features from a Linux user's perspective, covering how to get started with ZFS and virtualisation alongside more consumer-friendly topics such as hardware and Flash support."
Re:OpenSolaris (Score:3, Informative)
Using JFS:
$ time cp data test2
real 0m0.062s
user 0m0.000s
sys 0m0.040s
Nexenta (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nexenta (Score:0, Informative)
Because Solaris userland sucks donkey balls?
Re:Where are the forks? (Score:5, Informative)
OSOL's own site lists several different distributions. There's also auroraux, which aims to have its own kernel source repository and freedom from any remaining binary bits: http://www.auroraux.org/index.php/Main_Page [auroraux.org]
ZFS is great, but.... (Score:1, Informative)
It still has some real rough edges.
1. If your pool does fail, good luck recovering data from it.
2. There's no way in hell you'll get predictable, deterministic performance from it. This one really sucks, because I really don't care if 99 times it serves file faster than any other file system (and really, it *doesn't*!), but then on the 100th time it takes three orders of magnitude LONGER (and ZFS sure as hell does exactly THAT!). Along the same lines, the way ZFS batches writes is a performance KILLER. What's faster? Writing to your disks continuously, or batching everything up for ten to twenty seconds and then bringing the entire disk system to its knees for a few seconds by flooding it with writes, in between which the drives are idle. (And yes, that's DISK SYSTEM, as in Sun StorageTek 6140 fully-populated with 112 drives...).
Re:Its a Server OS... (Score:2, Informative)
That is why Linux is practical and others aren't. Most isn't good enough. Only ALL is satisfactory.
Re:Its not just a server OS anymore (Score:3, Informative)
OpenSolaris 2009.06 has some excellent new desktop features,
TimeSlider which is similar to Apples Time Capsule
Image - GUI Package Mangement
AutoMagic - Network Configuration Wizards including wifi
Multimedia Codecs and Support
Improved OpenSolaris CIFS for interoprability with Windows networking.
I've been using it at home for a month or so and I'm enjoying it. I've also just gone to Windows 7 which I'm loving so its becoming a bit of a hard choice what I want to run on my notebook.
Re:I really like OpenSolaris (Score:3, Informative)
Here's a short list of keywords or programs you'll need to know abotu. Google for anything that interests you.
Role based access control
prstat instead of top
prtconf
vmstat
iostat
svcs, svcadmn
dtrace
Linux Wins (Score:4, Informative)
I was recently tasked with doing an inventory and repurposing of a stack of older Sun machines (Sunfire, Netra, etc).
What I discovered is that OpenSolaris won't even install on some of the models. Install from CD? Nope. Install remotely via a network install? Nope, and let me go on record as saying that the network install process is *absurdly* complex.
On the other hand, I popped a Debian CD in, and it installed beautifully once I booted into expert mode and loaded fdisk (parted blows when dealing with Sun tables).
That's right, Linux was easier to work with on these Sun servers than OpenSolaris. OSOL has some really cool features (ZFS and DTrace, for example), and I've mucked around in it on my x86 boxes before, but overall Linux is still easier to work with in my experience, even on Sun servers.
I always keep an OSOL VM in VirtualBox, but it doesn't see much use. I'd rather use Linux or BSD.
Re:Linux Wins (Score:3, Informative)
Re:OpenSolaris (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Its a Server OS... (Score:1, Informative)
Actually, you can just create a new RAIDZ[2] and append it to the pool. At least I think you can.
Since a pool can include multiple RAID sets, it would seem that you could just add another one to it.
I'll weigh in... (Score:2, Informative)
One thing I thing the Linux community could take from OpenSolaris is its concentration on the approval and standardization of applications, so long as you stay on the OpenSolaris repositories. There is pretty much one tool for each job. That's it -- generally speaking of course.
It is exactly why the Linux community shun it (cannot find binaries of specific software). When I use a Linux based OS, I feel the ADD in me kick in; too many options. I cannot imagine I am alone.
Anyhow, I think OpenSolaris is rock solid and a powerful option for people to try. It may not have all the bells/whistles of Ubuntu, but it aids me in getting my work done very efficiently.
FWIW, I purchased the Fluendo codec pack, which made a huge impact on usability -- I need my tunes while working. Well worth the money IMO.
Re:I really like OpenSolaris (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My Hope for OpenSolaris (Score:3, Informative)
That is why they are developing btrfs file system, which in theory should be superior to ZFS or at least do more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs [wikipedia.org]
If you really want ZFS in linux right now, it can be done through fuse in linux as I understand.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Where are the forks? (Score:4, Informative)
I'll take a look at OpenSolaris when there's at minimum 3 variants of it being developed.
Here is a list of 13 OpenSolaris distros [opensolaris.org] as of March 2009:
Re:That's the closest anyone has come so far (Score:2, Informative)
But then the WWW came along and the only OSes up to the task were Unix based or Unix like. And, "Windows" certainly never was a "server OS", but it's good for spreadsheets, so in certain types of people's minds "It's a Server OS".
Re:OpenSolaris (Score:1, Informative)
two minutes, at least [kottke.org]