Virtualization under Solaris comes in different flavor. Logical Domains (LDom's) or Oracle VM for SPARC (OVM for SPARC) enables different OS's to be hosted on newer hardware without expensive electrical partitioning using ASIC's. Oracle has released LDom or OVM for SPARC 3.2.
Oracle Logical Domains or Oracle VM for SPARC composes a very reasonable platform for hosting various Solaris Server instances. Solaris 11 bundles the latest version of OVM Server, simplifying a physical environment and providing additional flexibility to reduce planned downtime on current modern hardware.
Oracle has released Solaris 11.3 Beta. The networking sub-system has been greatly improved, for Solaris to operate as a sophisticated service provider for firmware based hypervisor such as LDom or Oracle VM for SPARC. SPARC Solaris 11.3 is the only serious hypervisor Control Domain from Oracle which supports features like VXLAN and ZFS.
Documentation
[http] What's New?
[http] System Requirements
[http] Frequently Asked Questions
[http] Release Notes
[http] Information Library
A System Controller (SC) is a thin facility to gain some level of access to a server chassis during the time an operating system is not booted. Sun Microsystems released various Lights Out Management (LOM) interfaces on their various server SC Cards. After the purchase of Sun by Oracle, the use continued such server features. The following lists the various LOM interface types on the Sun/Oracle system SC's.
LOM Table for System Controllers
The following table lists the various types of systems according to their lights out management system controllers.
Sun Microsystems created OpenSolaris on May 8 in 2008 as an Open Sourced version of it's enterprise and managed services grade Solaris operating system. In 2010, Sun was acquired by Oracle, OpenSolaris project was closed, Community based OpenIndiana was born, and the Oracle Solaris Express binary release program was officially re-instantiated. Independent maintainer Martin Bochnig produced his own Intel and SPARC release of MartUX in 2006, produced the first (and last) SPARC release of OpenIndiana in 2012, and later forked (and maintaining) his own SVR4 package based SPARC and Intel distributions called OpenSXCE. The most current OpenSXCE release is now 2015.05... perhaps the first OpenSolaris based SPARC distribution which offers USB boot support!
OpenSXCE
2014.05 is an enterprise-class OpenSolaris based
server and desktop
oriented distribution. Options include: Live-DVD, Live-USB, Virtual Box,
LDOM - with local or remote SVR4 package network repository options.
Both SPARC and Intel continue to be made available. This may be the
FIRST USB Bootable OpenSolaris based release in history! Many
congratulations
to for maintaining platform-independent OpenSolaris releases,
originally promised by the Illumos community.
2014.05 Release
[http] Main Web Site with Downloads
[txt] 2015.04 Release Notes
[http] 2014.05 x86/x64 Live DVD
[http] 2014.05 x86/x64 Live USB
[http] 2015.05 x86/x64 Virtual Box
[http] 2015.05 x86/x64 SVR4 Repository
[http] 2014.05 SPARC Live DVD
[http] 2014.05 SPARC Live USB
[http] 2015.05 SPARC LDOM
[http] 2015.05 SPARC SVR4 Repository[email] Maintainer - Martin Bochnig
Viruses, Worms, Vulnerabilities and Spyware concerns during and just prior 2015 Q1.
[2015-03-07] Litecoin-mining code found in BitTorrent app, freeloaders hit the roof "μTorrent users are furious after discovering their favorite file-sharing app is quietly bundled with a Litecoin mining program. The alt-coin miner is developed by distributed
computing biz Epic Scale, and is bundled in some installations of
μTorrent, which is a Windows BitTorrent client. Some peeps are really annoyed that Epic's code is running in the background while they illegally pirate torrent movies and Adobe Creative Suite Linux ISOs, and say they didn't ask for it to be installed."
[2015-03-06] FREAKing HELL: All Windows versions vulnerable to SSL snoop "Microsoft has confirmed that its implementation of SSL/TLS in all versions of Windows is vulnerable to the FREAK encryption-downgrade attack. This means if you're using the firm's Windows
operating system, an attacker on your network can potentially force
Internet Explorer and other software using the Windows Secure Channel
component to deploy weak encryption over the web. Intercepted HTTPS connections can be easily cracked,
revealing sensitive details such as login cookies and banking
information, but only if the website or service at the other end is
still supporting 1990s-era cryptography (and millions of sites still are)."
[2015-03-05] Broadband routers: SOHOpeless and vendors don't care "Home and small business router security is terrible. Exploits emerge
with depressing regularity, exposing millions of users to criminal
activities. Many of the holes are so simple as to be
embarrassing. Hard-coded credentials are so common in small home and
office routers, comparatively to other tech kit, that only those with
tin-foil hats bother to suggest the flaws are deliberate."
[2015-03-05] Obama criticises China's mandatory backdoor tech import rules "US prez Barack Obama has criticised China's new tech rules, urging
the country to reverse the policy if it wants a business-as-usual
situation with the US to continue. As previously reported,
proposed new regulations from the Chinese government would require
technology firms to create backdoors and provide source code to the
Chinese government before technology sales within China would be
authorised. China is also asking that tech companies adopt
Chinese encryption algorithms and disclose elements of their
intellectual property."
[2015-03-05] Sales up at NSA SIM hack scandal biz Gemalto "Sales at the world's biggest SIM card maker, Gemalto, which was last
month revealed to have been hacked by the NSA and GCHQ, rose by five per
cent to €2.5bn (£1.8bn) in 2014. Following the hack, the company's share price fell by $470m last month. In February, it was revealed that the NSA and Britain's GCHQ had hacked
the company to harvest the encryption keys, according to documents
leaked by former NSA sysadmin, whistleblower Edward Snowden."
[2015-02-24] SSL-busting adware: US cyber-plod open fire on Comodo's PrivDog "Essentially, Comodo's firewall and antivirus package Internet
Security 2014, installs a tool called PrivDog by default. Some versions
of this tool intercept encrypted HTTPS traffic to force ads into
webpages. PrivDog, like the Lenovo-embarrassing Superfish,
does this using a man-in-the-middle attack: it installs a custom root
CA certificate on the Windows PC, and then intercepts connections to
websites. Web browsers are fooled into thinking they are talking to
legit websites, such as online banks and secure webmail, when in fact
they are being tampered with by PrivDog so it can inject adverts. If that's not bad enough, PrivDog turns invalid HTTPS
certificates on the web into valid ones: an attacker on your network
can point your computer at an evil password-stealing website dressed up
as your online bank, and you'd be none the wiser thanks to PrivDog."
[2015-02-23] Psst, hackers. Just go for the known vulnerabilities "Every one of the top ten vulnerabilities exploited in 2014 took
advantage of code written years or even decades ago, according to HP,
which recorded an increase in the level of mobile malware detected. “Many of the biggest security risks are issues we’ve
known about for decades, leaving organisations unnecessarily exposed,”
said Art Gilliland, senior vice president and general manager,
Enterprise Security Products, HP. “We can’t lose sight of defending against these known
vulnerabilities by entrusting security to the next silver bullet
technology; rather, organisations must employ fundamental security
tactics to address known vulnerabilities and in turn, eliminate
significant amounts of risk," he added."
[2015-02-20] So long, Lenovo, and no thanks for all the super-creepy Superfish "Chinese PC maker Lenovo has published instructions on how to scrape
off the Superfish adware it installed on its laptops – but still
bizarrely insists it has done nothing wrong. That's despite rating the severity of the deliberate infection as "high" on its own website. Well played, Lenonope. Superfish was bundled on new Lenovo Windows laptops
with a root CA certificate so it could intercept even HTTPS-protected
websites visited by the user and inject ads into the pages. Removing the
Superfish badware will leave behind the root certificate – allowing miscreants
to lure Lenovo owners to websites masquerading as online banks, webmail
and other legit sites, and steal passwords in man-in-the-middle
attacks."
[2015-02-15] Mozilla's Flash-killer 'Shumway' appears in Firefox nightlies "Open source SWF player promises alternative to Adobe's endless security horror. In November 2012 the Mozilla Foundation announced “Project Shumway”, an effort to create a “web-native runtime implementation of the SWF file format.” Two-and-a-bit years, and a colossal number of Flash
bugs later, Shumway has achieved an important milestone by appearing in a
Firefox nightly, a step that suggests it's getting closer to inclusion
in the browser. Shumway's been available as a plugin for some time, and appears entirely capable of handling the SWF files."
[2015-01-29] What do China, FBI and UK have in common? All three want backdoors... "The Chinese government wants backdoors added to all technology
imported into the Middle Kingdom as well as all its source code handed
over. Suppliers of hardware and software must also submit to invasive audits, the New York Timesreports. The new requirements, detailed in a 22-page document
approved late last year, are ostensibly intended to strengthen the
cybersecurity of critical Chinese industries. Ironically, backdoors are
slammed by computer security experts because the access points are ideal
for hackers to exploit as well as g-men."
[2015-01-15] Console hacker DDoS bot runs on lame home routers "Console DDoSers Lizard Squad are using insecure home routers for a paid service that floods target networks, researchers say. The service crawls the web looking for home and
commercial routers secured using lousy default credentials that could
easily be brute-forced and then added to its growing botnet. Researchers close to a police investigation into Lizard Squad shared details of the attacks with cybercrime reporter Brian Krebs. The attacks used what was described as a 'crude' spin-off of a Linux trojan
identified in November that would spread from one router to another,
and potentially to embedded devices that accept inbound telnet
connections. High-capacity university routers were also
compromised in the botnet which according to the service boasted having
run 17,439 DDoS attacks or boots at the time of writing."
[2014-12-14] CoolReaper pre-installed malware creates backdoor on Chinese Androids "Security researchers have discovered a backdoor in Android devices sold by Coolpad, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The “CoolReaper” vuln has exposed over 10 million
users to potential malicious activity. Palo Alto Networks reckons the
malware was “installed and maintained by Coolpad despite objections from
customers”. It's common for device manufacturers to install
software on top of Google’s Android mobile operating system to provide
additional functionality or to customise Android devices. Some mobile
carriers install applications that gather data on device performance.
But CoolReaper operates well beyond the collection of basic usage data,
acting as a true backdoor into Coolpad devices - according to Palo Alto.CoolReaper has been identified on 24 phone models sold by Coolpad."
[2014-11-24] Regin: The super-spyware the security industry has been silent about "A public autopsy of sophisticated intelligence-gathering spyware Regin is causing waves today in the computer security world... On Sunday, Symantec published a detailed dissection of the Regin malware, and it looks to be one of the most advanced pieces of spyware code yet found. The software targets Windows PCs, and a zero-day
vulnerability said to be in Yahoo! Messenger, before burrowing into the
kernel layer. It hides itself in own private area on hard disks, has its
own virtual filesystem, and encrypts and morphs itself multiple times
to evade detection. It uses a toolkit of payloads to eavesdrop on the
administration of mobile phone masts, intercept network traffic, pore
over emails, and so on... Kaspersky's report on Regin today
shows it has the ability to infiltrate GSM phone networks. The malware
can receive commands over a cell network, which is unusual."
Larry Ellison: Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO introduces Oracle's 5th Generation of Oracle Engineered Systems. Provide the Highest Performance systems and Lowest Service Price at the core. Oracle effectively targets Cisco UCS, HP, EMC.
Summary of Major Announcements
Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance X5
Converged compute and srorage; Runs all datacenter applications. High Performance and Lowest Purchase Price... Combines compute servers, networking, and storage servers in the same box... highly available and fully redundant Compute Infrastructure: Scalable from 2-25 nodes; Linux, Solaris, and Windows; Network Infrastructure: High speed, low latency, fully configured fabric, integrates to existing Ethernet & Storage Networks Management Infrastructure: Redundant management servers; virtual assembly builder with templates included Half Price Oracle List to Cisco Discount; almost a third price
Oracle Storage Appliance X5
Twice as fast, half as much
Extreme Flash Storage Server
High Capacity Storage Server
12.8 TB PCIe Flash or 6.4 TB PCIe Flash with 48 TB SAS Disks
Oracle Database Appliance X5
2x Servers: 2x18 cores; 8x32 GB (256GB DIMM); 2x Infninband; 4x 10 Gbit Ethernet Storage: 4x 200 GB Flash for Redo Logs; 4x 400 GB Flash for ODA Accelerators; 16x 4TB Hard Drive (Data + Temp Tables + Archive Logs)
Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance
Fully automated, point in time recovery, no data loss, thousands of databases Backup and log to another rack, another data center, or to Oracle Public Cloud
Big Data Appliance
Oracle Big Data SQL joins: Hadoop, NoSQL, and Oracle RDBMS
Exalogic Elastic Cloud X5-2
Private Cloud for Applications & Middleware Portability to Oracle Cloud Compute: 2x 18 cores, 256 GB RAM/node, 800 GB Flash/node Network: 40 Gbit InfiniBand internal; 10Gb or 1Gb Ethernet external Storage: 80 TB Disk; 256GB Storgage DRAM
Exadata Database Machine X5
Workloads: Warehousing, OLTP, Database as a Service, In-Memory Database Flash Disks replaced High-Performance Disks because Flash Capacity Increase and Price drop! Elastic Configurations: 2x DB and 3x Storage Servers... Full Rack... Multi-Rack Optimize for: In-Memory Max DRAM; OLTP Equal DB & Flash; Warehouse High Capacity Storage and Compute
Oracle SuperCluster
Two SPARC Options:
SuperCluster T5-8
SuperCluster M6-32
Same Storage Server and Software as Exadata X5
Data Center of the Future with Public Cloud
Options Include: - Logging Backups to the Cloud - Cloud as Backup Datacenter - Test and Development in Cloud with Production Local - Production in Cloud with Test and Development Local
The Deep Dive Sessions
The following Deep Dive sessions are for both newly announced hardware as well as for some existing software noted at the bottom of this section. Written summaries provided can assist in helping select which videos to watch.
Oracle SuperCluster
Oracle Largest, Most Advanced, and Most Secure Appliance
Exadata Storage Grid
Firmware based Hypervisor (vs re-purposed Linux OS as Hypervisor)
Cloud Tenant Self Service Portal
Rule Based Access Control Metering and Limiting by Account for customer's self service
IO Domain Recipes (i.e. Small, Medium, Large selections)
Templates on top of Recipe (Pre-configured Recipe with OS Patches and Application)
Extreme Tenant Isolation through Zone, Network Paths, and Disks
Automated Compliance Validation of isolation
Oracle Exadata X5-2
Exadata X5-2: Extreme Flash and Elastic Configurations
Oracle Exalogic X5
Oracle Exalogic X5-2 and Exalogic Elastic Cloud Software 12c
Engineered system designed to run the mid-tier components
Oracle Applications
Java Applications
Fusion Middleware
Exabus Technology, shared with Exadata, which reduced latency between servers. Platform as a Service (Software made available in a cloud) and Infrastructure as a Service deployed on the customer premise.
Virtual Compute Appliance
Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance: Simplify IT and Save Money
Goals:
Simplify Deployment
Reduce Cost
Pre-built system which is ready to use in a Data Center with a minimal number of steps
Compute Capability: 2 - 25 nodes
Software defined network with Dual Redundant InfiniBand
Ethernet and FibreChannel external connectivity
Active-Passive Management Server
ZFS Storage Appliance with Redundant Controllers
Self-Service
Provisioning of VM's, Storage, and Network
Policy Driven
Metering and Chargeback
RESTful Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) interface
Oracle Enterprise Manager drives IaaS
Fault Detection
Incident Management
Lifecycle Managment
Change Managment
Search & Compare of VM's
Apply Patches
Gold Templates
Compliance reporting
All software is bundled (Linux, Solaris, OEM 12c, Oracle VM, Orchestration, Oracle Virtual Networking, Oracle Trusted Partitioning)
Oracle Database Appliance
Oracle Database Appliance X5-2
Provides everything to deploy a high availability database & application
Oracle High Availability Software Stack (Real Application Cluster or RAC)
Affordable with Capacity on Demand
Oracle Multitenant Option bundled License
In-Memory Database Option bundled License
OS and Virtualization Licenses
Refreshed hardware, higher consolidation density Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-In for Monitoring and Management with Analytics across Appliances Same software stack as Exadata for affordable Test and Development
Oracle FS1 Flash Storage System
Oracle FS1 Flash Storage System
Summary of Features
2 - 16 Highly Available Nodes
Petabytes of Flash
2M 50/50 Read/Write IOPS
80 GB/sec or 5 TB/minute Data Movement
Designed to leverage Flash, not existing Hard Disk solutions. Supports both Flash and Disk, Designed for Flash with Economies of Disk
Oracle Big Data Appliance X5-2
Big Data Appliance
Solves problems surrounding:
Performance
Optimized Hardware
Time
30% Quicker to Deploy
Cost
21% Less Expensive to Purchase
Integration
Data Transparently into the Infrastructure
Oracle Big Data SQL for simple insertion Oracle Enterprise Manager Compatibility
Oracle for Enterprise Big Data
The Move to Big Data
Oracle Linux
Oracle: A Complete, Independent Linux Vendor
Nothing significantly new, basic key points:
Oracle Linux Premier Support included with Oracle Hardware
Stand-Alone Oracle Linux Premier Support offered for other servers
