New Features in Solaris Express 11/06

This section describes all features that are new or have been enhanced in the Solaris Express 11/06 release.

Resource Controls to Limit Locked Physical Memory

This system resource enhancement is new in the Solaris Express 11/06 release.

To limit the amount of locked physical memory available to a zone on a Solaris OS with zones installed, use the zone.max-locked-memory zone-wide resource control. The resource control is set through the add rctl resource property in zonecfg for non-global zones. With the introduction of zone.max-locked-memory, the proc_lock_memory privilege is now part of the standard default set of zone privileges.

The allocation of the locked physical memory resource across projects within the zone can be controlled by using the project.max-locked-memory resource control.

The project.max-locked-memory resource control replaces the project.max-device-locked-memory resource control, which has been removed from the Solaris OS.

For more information, see the following:

System Administration Guide: Virtualization Using the Solaris Operating System
zonecfg(1M) man page
resource_controls(5) man page

x86: `lx` Branded Zones: Solaris Containers for Linux Applications

This system resource enhancement is new in the Solaris Express 11/06 release.

Sun's BrandZ technology provides the framework to create non-global branded zones that contain nonnative operating environments. As a simple extension of non-global zones, branded zones offer the same isolated and secure environment, and all brand management is performed through extensions to the current zones structure.

The brand currently available is the lx brand, Solaris Containers for Linux Applications. These non-global zones provide a Linux application environment on an x86 or x64 machine running the Solaris OS.

The lx brand includes the tools necessary to install a CentOS 3.5 to 3.8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.5 to 3.8 inside a non-global zone. Machines running the Solaris OS in either 32-bit or 64-bit mode can execute 32-bit Linux applications.

For more information, see Part III, Branded Zones in the System Administration Guide: Virtualization Using the Solaris Operating System.

Also see the following man pages:

Name Service Switch and `nscd` Enhancements

This system resource enhancement is new in the Solaris Express 11/06 release.

Starting with this release, the name service switch is updated. The name service switch includes nscd and all getXbyY interfaces that query files and network data from DNS, NIS, NIS+, or LDAP. The behavior of the name service switch enhancements is identical to previous Solaris Express releases.

The major functional change in the Solaris Express 11/06 release is that, when the you enable nscd, nscd performs all name service lookups. Prior to this release, nscd cached only a small subset of lookups. To enable nscd, type the following command:

# svcadm enable name-service-cache

Note - nscd is normally enabled by default.

If incorrect name service behavior such as incorrect getXbyY results or nscd hangs, is detected while nscd is running, either restarting or disabling nscd should correct the behavior. To restart nscd type the following command:

# svcadm restart name-service-cache

Disabling nscd automatically forces applications to perform all their own name service lookups as in prior releases of Solaris Express. To disable nscd, type the following command:

# svcadm disable name-service-cache

nscd will use a naming service, such as NIS, NIS+, or LDAP, only if the Service Management Facility (SMF) has enabled that service.

Forcibly Unmount the PCFS File System

This file system enhancement is new in the Solaris Express 11/06 release.

Starting with this release, you can use the -f option with the umount command to forcibly unmount the PCFS file system.