Solaris Server 2.6 I tested Solaris in our University of Wisconsin lab. Installing Solaris was as easy as any operating system I've seen. With Solaris Web Start, Solaris' Web-based installation utility, novices and Unix gurus alike will have no trouble getting the system up and running. And there's more to Web Start than just a pretty GUI. Its most noticeable feature is the degree of help and guidance that is available once the HotJava browser is started.

In the lab, the ability to select documentation and copackaged software (such as Sun Web Server, Solstice Mail Server and TotalNET) made software installation more intuitive. Previous versions of Solaris did not afford ample space in the /opt directory for copackaged software. Since Web Start knows what software will be instal led in /opt, it allocates space for it.

The shortcomings that I did notice during installation are not new to this release of Solaris. In particular, the choice of name services does not include DNS. Additionally, the network setup does not ask for a default route. These omissions usually aren't a problem for the experienced Unix administrator, and Sun's online documentation system, AnswerBook2, can assist those with questions. An AnswerBook2 search for "default route" quickly led me to the appropriate section of the TCP/IP and Data Communications Guide.

AnswerBook2 greatly improves upon earlier versions. Before the release of Solaris 2.6, all documentation was accessible only through Sun's AnswerBook Viewer, which required that the documentation be viewed on a terminal using Display PostScript. If you remotely administer a group of Solaris servers using most any platform other than Solaris, then searching and viewing the majority of the documentation is all but impossible. AnswerBook2 addresses these issues by providing a Web interface, while preserving the printed appearance found with AnswerBook. The real advantage is when your AnswerBook2 server is down: Just point your Web browser at docs.sun.com/ab2/ to see Sun's copy.

After my experience with Web Start, I fully expected to see a highly functional, helpful replacement or upgrade to admin tool. Unfortunately, Solstice Admin Suite, which is new to Solaris 2.6, is not comprehensive enough for a novice administrator to run Solaris. Of the components, DiskSuite Tool is a highly developed tool that facilitates almost effortless creation of various RAID devices. In contrast, the Storage Manager tool, which can be used to add mount points, doesn't offer any hints pertaining to the name of the device that you may be trying to mount. To its credit, the Storage Manager tool makes use of nondefault mount options quite easily and provides excellent help on their use. According to a Sun representative, the development and improvement of Solstice Admin Suite is v ery much a work in progress, and you should plan on semiannual updates to it.

Performs Like a Champ In terms of performance, Solaris 2.6 has improved noticeably over Solaris 2.5.1. Disk I/O has improved substantially for raw device access and UFS files.