Solaris 8 Advanced System Administrator's Guide, 3rd Edition

Description

• Copyright 2001
• Edition: 3rd

• Book
• ISBN-10: 0-13-027703-7
• ISBN-13: 978-0-13-027703-9

The widely used reference for experienced system administrators of the Solaris Operating Environment—now fully updated for the Solaris 8 platform.

• Focuses on the tasks experienced sysadmins find most challenging
• Completely updated for the Solaris 8 Operating Environment!
• Includes extensive new coverage of WebNFS technology

Ready to leverage the full power of Solaris 8 software? Now there's a hands-on reference specifically for you. In Solaris 8 Advanced System Administrator's Guide, Third Edition, award-winning author Janice Winsor delivers hundreds of indispensible tips, step-by-step procedures, and quick reference tables, all focused on the features experienced administrators find most challenging. Thoroughly updated, this book's coverage includes:

• The Solaris platform mail services, including detailed procedures for planning and customizing sendmail
• Understanding the NIS+ nameservice environment, and configuring both servers and clients
• All-new coverage of WebNFS technology—concepts, configuration, and day-to-day management
• Advanced security coverage—authentication, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and the Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET)
• New Service Access Facility services for terminals, modems, and printers
• Software management—installation, removal, patching, and more
• Automounter services, volume management, shell programming, and much more

No matter how well you know Solaris, this book will make you far more effective—just as it has for thousands of Solaris sysadmins worldwide.



Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

Understanding Solaris 8 Mail Services

Downloadable Sample Chapter

Click here for a sample chapter for this book: 0130277037.pdf

Table of Contents

Preface.


Acknowledgments.

I. MAIL SERVICES.

1. Understanding Mail Services.

New Mail Service Features. Systems in a Mail Configuration. Gateway. Mail Hub. Mail Client. Mail Service Programs. Mail User Agents (MUAs). Mail Transport Agent (MTA). Mailbox. DNS and sendmail. Aliases. Uses for Alias Files. Syntax of Aliases. Mail Addressing. UUCP Route-Based Addressing. Route-Independent Addressing. How Mail Addressing Works. Mail Services Files and Programs.

2. Customizing sendmail Configuration Files.

How the sendmail Program Works. Message-Header Editing. Configuration File. How sendmail Is Implemented. Mail to Files and Programs. Message Collection. Message Delivery. Queued Messages. Introducing the m4 Macro Processor. Comments. Quoting. Including Macro Files. Diversions. Writing a Custom Macro Configuration File. Including the Sendmail m4 Macro Definitions. Defining Your OS Type. Masquerading. Features. Configuration Options. Mailers. External Configuration Files. Generating the sendmail Configuration File. Testing the Rewriting Rules-the -bt Flag. Using the sendmail Restricted Shell. Reference Tables. Command-Line Arguments. Configuration Options. Mailer Flags. Processing Options.

3. Planning Mail Services.

Single DNS Domain with an Internet Connection. The Client Configuration. The Mail Hub/Gateway Configuration. The DNS Configuration. Single DNS Domain with Internet Connection and Separate Gateway. The Gateway Configuration. The Mail Hub Configuration. The DNS Configuration. DNS Domain and a Subdomain with One Internet Connection. The Gateway Configuration. The Corporate Mail Hub Configuration. The Corporate Client Configuration. The Engineering Mail Hub Configuration. The Engineering Client Configuration. The DNS Configuration. DNS Domain with a UUCP Gateway.

4. Setting Up and Administering Mail Services.

Preparing to Set Up Mail Services. Setting Up Mail Services. Setting Up a Mail Hub. Setting Up a Mail Client from a Command Line. Setting Up a Gateway Host. Creating Mail Aliases. Listing the Contents of an NIS+ mail_aliases Table. Creating a New NIS+ mail_aliases Table. Adding Aliases to an NIS+ mail_aliases Table. Changing Aliases in an NIS+ mail_aliases Table. Deleting Entries from an NIS+ mail_aliases Table. Setting Up the NIS mail.aliases Map. Setting Up Local Mail Alias Files. Configuring Hosts to Use DNS Mail Exchange Records. Setting Up the Postmaster Alias. Testing Your Mail Configuration. Administering Your Mail Configuration. Duties of Postmaster. The Mail Queue. The System Log. Troubleshooting Your Mail Configuration. Checking Aliases. Testing sendmail. Verifying Connections to Other Systems. Obtaining Other Diagnostic Information.

II. NIS+.

5. Introducing the NIS+ Environment.

Comparison of NIS and NIS+. The NIS+ Namespace. Components of the NIS+ Namespace. NIS+ Security. NIS+ Authentication. Access Rights. The NIS+ Updating Model. NIS and NIS+ Compatibility. The Nameservice Switch. NIS+ Administration. NIS+ Commands. NIS+ Installation Scripts.

6. Setting Up NIS+ Servers and Clients.

Setting Up an NIS+ Namespace. Introducing the NIS+ Installation Scripts. Preparing for Setup and Configuration. Preparing an Existing Namespace. Setting Up an NIS+ Root Server. Preparing to Run the nisserver Command. Creating a Root Master Server. Populating the NIS+ Tables. Preparing to Run the nispopulate Command. Populating the Root Master Server Tables from Files. Populating the Root Master Server Tables from NIS Maps. Setting Up NIS+ Client Systems. Preparing to Run the nisclient Command. Security Considerations. DES Authentication. Initializing a New Client System. Verification of the Setup. Verifying That the Cache Manager Is Running. Checking the Contents of the /var/nis Directory. Verifying That the NIS+ Commands Succeed.

III. AUTOMOUNTER AND WEBNFS SERVICES.

7. Understanding the Automounter.

NFS Terminology. Server and Client Systems. Mount Points. The Virtual File System Table. Mount and Unmount. The Mount Table (/etc/mnttab). NIS+ Terminology. Automount Terminology. Automounter. Automount Maps. Automount Maps and Mount Points. Indirect Maps. The Direct Map. Syntax and Shortcuts for Map Entries. Metacharacters. Components of the Automounter. The automount Command. The Autofs File System. The automountd Daemon. How the Automounter Works. Automounter Behavior. Hierarchical Mounting and Unmounting. How to Plan for Automounting. Recommended Automounting Policies. Prerequisites for Using the Automounter.

8. Setting Up the Automounter.

Setting Up Automount Server Systems. Setting Up Automount Client Systems. Displaying Information About NIS+ Automount Maps. Displaying the Format of NIS+ Automount Maps. Displaying the Contents of NIS+ Automount Maps. Setting Up NIS+ Automount Maps. Setting Up the auto_home Map. Setting Up Indirect Maps. Setting Up a Direct Map. Setting Up the NIS+ Master Map. Creating a Project Automount Map. Creating Hierarchical Maps. Administering NIS+ Automount Maps. Using a Public File Handle with the Automounter. Using NFS URLs with the Automounter. Disabling Automounter Browsability. Troubleshooting Automounter Problems. Automounter Error Messages. automount -v Error Messages. Miscellaneous Error Messages. Other Errors with the Automounter.

9. Introducing WebNFS.

The WebNFS Service. WebNFS Security Negotiation. WebNFS Limitations with Web Browsers. Planning for WebNFS Access. WebNFS Access.

IV. SERVICE ACCESS FACILITY.

10. Understanding the Service Access Facility.

Benefits of the SAF. The SAF Daemons. The SAF Commands. SAF Architecture. The init Process. Service Access Controller. Port Monitors. Service Invocations. Port Monitor States. The Line Control Model. UUCP Files. SAF Log Files. Reference to SAF Commands, Tasks, and Options. Quick Reference to SAF Variables. Quick Reference to Service Access Control (sacadm). Quick Reference to Port Monitor Administration (pmadm). Admintool: Serial Ports and SAF. Templates. Starting Admintool: Serial Ports. Starting the SMC Serial Ports Tool.

11. Setting Up Modems and Character Terminals.

Tools for Setting Up Modems and Character Terminals. Using Variables in SAF Commands. The Port Monitor Tag (pmtag). The Service Tag (svctag ). The Device Path (dev-path). The Baud Rate and Line Discipline (ttylabel). Type of Modem. Comments. Setting Up Modems. Modem Connection and Switch Settings. Using Admintool: Serial Ports to Configure Modems. Using the SMC Serial Ports Tool to Configure Modems. Using SAF Commands to Set Up Modems. Troubleshooting Modem Connections. Setting Up SAF for Character Terminals. Connecting the Terminal Cable. Using Admintool: Serial Ports to Add a Character Terminal. Using the SMC Serial Ports Tool to Add a Character Terminal. Using SAF Commands to Set Up Character Terminals. Troubleshooting the Terminal Connection.

12. Setting Up Printing Services.

New Printing Features in the Solaris 8 Operating Environment. Solaris Print Manager. Print Naming Enhancement to the Nameservice Switch File. Enabling or Disabling Global Banner Page Printing. Solaris Print Package Redesign. Redesign of Print Packages. Print Protocol Adaptor. Print Client Software. Enhanced Network Printer Support. Print Administration Tools in the Solaris Operating Environment. Choosing a Method to Manage Printers. System Requirements for a Print Server. Printer Configuration Information. Printer Name. Printer Port. Printer Type. File Content Type. Print Filters. Printer Description (Optional). Default Printer (Optional). Introducing Solaris Print Manager. Solaris Print Manager Prerequisites. Identifying the NIS+ Group That Owns the printers Table. Identifying the NIS+ (xfn) Group That Owns the printers Table. Starting Solaris Print Manager. Adding a New Attached Printer with Print Manager. Adding a New Network Printer with Print Manager. Adding Access to a Printer with the Print Manager. Converting Printer Configuration in NIS+ (xfn) to NIS+ Format. Adding a Network Printer. Adding a Network Printer with Vendor-Supplied Tools. Adding a Network Printer with Solaris Print Manager. Adding a Network Printer with LP Commands. Using Print Client Commands. Printer Configuration Resources. Print Request Submission. Summary of the Print Client Process. Solving Printing Problems. No Output (Nothing Prints). Incorrect Output. Hung LP Print Service Commands. Idle (Hung) Printers. Conflicting Status Messages.

V. APPLICATION SOFTWARE.

13. Installing and Managing Application Software.

Overview of Installing and Managing Application Software. Using Package Commands. Using Admintool. Using Installation Scripts. User Access to Applications. Automating Your Application Environment. Using Wrapper Technology. Designing an Application Server. Installing and Configuring Packages. Developing Wrappers. Using a Common Command Directory. Setting User Configurations. Understanding Distribution Issues. Licensing.

14. Package Commands.

Reviewing Package Commands. Package Formats. Setting Up Package Administration Files. Setting Up the Installation Base Directory. Installing a Package with an Alternative Administration File. Adding Packages. Checking the Installation of a Package. Displaying Package Parameters. Listing Packages. Removing Packages. Using the Package System Log File. Translating Package Formats.

15. Admintool: Software Manager.

Starting Admintool. Installing Software. Accessing Files from a Local CD-ROM Drive. Customizing Installation. Beginning Installation. Removing Software.

16. Solaris Product Registry.

Introducing the Product Registry Tool. Installing Software with the Product Registry Tool. Uninstalling Products with the Product Registry Tool.

17. Installing and Managing System Software Patches.

Patch Distribution. Requirements to Access Sun Patches. Accessing Patches from the Web. Patch Numbering. Installing a Patch. Removing Patches.

VI. INTRODUCING SHELL PROGRAMMING.

18. Writing Shell Scripts.

Basic Concepts. Introducing the Bourne, Korn, and C Shells. Understanding How Shells Process Commands. Naming Shell Scripts. Identifying the Shell. Making Scripts Executable. Storing Shell Scripts. Writing Shell Scripts: The Process. Variables. Displaying Bourne and Korn Shell Variables. Displaying C Shell Environment Variables. Setting Bourne and Korn Shell Variables. Unsetting Bourne and Korn Shell Variables. Setting C Shell Variables. Unsetting C Shell Variables. File Name Stripping. Korn Shell Path Stripping. C Shell Path Stripping. Built-in Shell Variables. Bourne and Korn Shells Built-in Variables. C Shell Built-in Variables. Built-in Commands. Environment Variables. Bourne and Korn Shell Environment Variables. C Shell Environment Variables. Input and Output. Standard In, Standard Out, and Standard Error. Command-Line Input. Interactive Input. Here Documents. Output Generation. Command Substitution. Testing for Conditions. if-then-else-elif. if-else-else if-endif. Nested if Constructs. Multibranching. The Bourne Shell test Command. The Korn Shell [[...]] Command. Controlling the Flow. Using Bourne and Korn Shell for Loops. Using C Shell foreach Loops. Using while Loops. Using Bourne and Korn Shell until Loops. Breaking Loops. Exit Status. Bourne Shell Exit Status. C Shell Exit Status. Mathematical Operations. Bourne Shell Mathematical Operations. Korn Shell Mathematical Operations. C Shell Mathematical Operations. User-Defined Functions. Debugging Shell Scripts. Using Debugging Flags. Understanding Shell Parsing Order.

19. Reference Tables and Example Scripts.

Reference Tables. Environment Files. First Line of Script. Korn Shell Path Operators. C Shell Path Modifiers. Bourne and Korn Shell Built-in Variables Initialized by Shell. C Shell Built-in Variables Initialized by Shell. Shell Built-in Commands. Bourne and Korn Shell Redirection. C Shell Redirection Metacharacters. C Shell $argv Notation. Quoting. Metacharacter Shell Syntax. Variable Shell Syntax. I/O Redirection and Piping. Printing to the Screen. Reading from the Keyboard. Math and Calculations. Command Substitution. Tilde Expansion. Alias Syntax. History Syntax. Function Syntax. Programming Statement Syntax. Test and C Shell Built-in Test. Bourne Shell Mathematical Operators. C Shell Mathematical Operators. Example Scripts. Anonymous ftp Script. arch.sh.fctn Function. array.sh.fctn Function. hostname.sh.fctn Function. osr.sh.fctn Function. whoami.sh.fctn Function.

VII. SYSTEM SECURITY.

20. Understanding System Security.

New Security Features in the Solaris 8 Release. New Default Ownership and Permissions on System Files and Directories. Role-Based Access Control. Sun Enterprise Authentication Mechanism (SEAM) or Kerberos V5 Client Support. New Security Features in the Solaris 2.6 Release. Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM). Executable Stacks and Security. Overview of System Security. Maintaining Physical Site Security. Maintaining Login and Access Control. Restricting Access to Data in Files. Maintaining Network Control. Monitoring System Use. Setting the Correct Path. Monitoring setuid and setgid Programs. Installing a Firewall. Reporting Security Problems. Using the Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET). Using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). File Security. User Classes. File Permissions. Directory Permissions. Octal Values for Permissions. Default umask. File Types. File Administration Commands. Special File Permissions (Setuid, Setgid, and Sticky Bit). Access Control Lists (ACLs). Network Security. Firewall Systems. Authentication and Authorization. Sharing Files. Restricting Superuser (root) Access. Using Privileged Ports. Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET).

21. Using the Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET).

ASET Master Files. ASET Security Levels. How ASET Tasks Work. System Files Permissions Verification. System Files Checks. User/Group Checks. System Configuration Files Check. Environment Check. eeprom Check. Firewall Setup. ASET Execution Log. ASET Reports. Format of Report Files. Examining and Comparing Report Files. ASET Master Files. File Tuning. The uid_aliases File. The Checklist Files. ASET Environment File (asetenv). ASET Shell Environment Variables. PERIODIC_SCHEDULE Variable. TASKS Variable. UID_ALIASES Variable. YPCHECK Variable. CKLISTPATH_level Variable. Running ASET. Running ASET Interactively. Running ASET Periodically. Stopping Running ASET Periodically. Collecting Reports on a Server. Restoring System Files Modified by ASET. ASET Error Messages.

22. Using Authentication Services.

Example: Diffie-Hellman. Example: Secure RPC. DES Encryption. Diffie-Hellman Authentication. How Diffie-Hellman Authentication Works. Administering Diffie-Hellman Authentication. The Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) Framework. PAM Module Types. Stacking Feature. Password-Mapping Feature. How PAM Works. PAM Configuration File. Valid Service Names. Control Flags. Planning for PAM. Configuring PAM.

23. Role-Based Access Control.

What Is a Role? Administrative Rights. Primary Administrator Capabilities. Granting Primary Administrator Rights. Granting Rights to a User. Creating a Role. Regular User Rights. Rights Hierarchies. Real and Effective UIDs and GIDs. The RBAC Databases. Extended User Attributes Database (user_attr). Syntax of the user_attr Database. Authorizations Database (auth_attr). Rights Profiles (prof_attr). Execution Attributes (exec_attr). Policy Configuration File (policy.conf). Commands That Use Role-Based Access Control Authorizations. Commands for Managing Role-Based Access Control.

A: Volume Management.

What's New with Volume Management. Volume Management Files. The /etc/vold.conf File. The /etc/rmmount.conf File. Volume Management Files. Volume Management Log Messages. Volume Management Mount Points. Removable Media Manager. Starting Removable Media Manager. Supported Media Classes. Local and Remote CD-ROMs. Mounting a Local CD-ROM. Sharing Files from a Remote CD-ROM Drive. Diskettes and Volume Management. Formatting Diskettes. Diskette Command-Line Access. Diskette CDE Front Panel Access. Diskette CDE File Manager Access. Using the tar and cpio Commands with Diskettes. Accessing Jaz or Zip Drives. Creating An Alternate fdisk Partition. Accessing DVD-ROM Drives. Hardware and Software Requirements. UDF Compatibility Issues. Connecting a DVD-ROM De~134wevice. Accessing Files on a DVD-ROM Device. Troubleshooting. Using Workman with Volume Management. Disabling Volume Management.

B: Celeste's Tutorial on Solaris 2.x Modems and Terminals.

Introduction. Which Modem Should You Use? Types of Modem Usage. Modem Programming. Modem Speed. Flow Control and Parity. Celeste's Strategy for Configuring Modems and Terminals. Ok, So What Do I Do? Tip and /etc/remote. /etc/remote Example. Basic Modem Programming. Useful Modem Register Settings. USRobotics Courier V.Everything Settings. Enabling Solaris for a Bidirectional Modem. Enabling Solaris for a Dial-out-only Modem. Setting Up a Terminal on Solaris 2.x. Setting Serial Port Modes. /etc/ttydefs Examples. Configuring Serial Ports for UUCP. Parity in UUCP. Flow Control with UUCP. File format: /etc/saf/{pmtag}/_pmtab and /etc/saf/_sactab. Customizing the Login Message (Solaris 2.0-2.3). Customizing the Login Message (Solaris 2.4-higher). Solaris IA Issues. Solaris IA 2.0-2.5 and COM2. Solaris IA 2.6 and COM2. Solaris 7 IA (2.7) and COM2. Automatic Method, Using Device Configuration Assistant. More Manual Method, Using Device Configuration Assistant. PC Serial Ports and Internal Modems. Serial Device Naming in Solaris IA. Vendor List. Serial Cards. Modems. PPP. Kermit/C-Kermit. Terminal Servers. Publishers.

Glossary.
Bibliography.
General References.

Electronic Mail References. SAF References. NIS+ Reference. Printing Reference. Patch Reference. Shell References. Programming Languages. System Security.

Index.

Preface

Preface

This book is for system administrators who are familiar with basic system administration and with the tasks described in the Solaris System Administrator's Guide, Third Edition, cited in the bibliography at the end of this book.

A Quick Tour of the Contents

This book is divided into seven parts, two appendixes, a glossary, and a bibliography.

Part 1, "Mail Services," describes the Solaris mail services in four chapters. Refer to the chapters in this part if you need to set up a new mail service or expand an existing one.

Chapter 1, "Understanding Mail Services," describes the components of the mail service, defines mail service terminology, and explains how the programs in the mail service interact.

Chapter 2, "Customizing sendmail Configuration Files," describes how sendmail works, introduces the m4 macro processor, and describes how to write a custom macro configuration file and generate the sendmail configuration file.

Chapter 3, "Planning Mail Services," describes how to create sendmail configuration files for a number of different mail services configurations.

Chapter 4, "Setting Up and Administering Mail Services," describes how to set up, test, administer, and troubleshoot mail services.

Part 2, "NIS+," introduces the NIS+ nameservice environment. Refer to the chapters in this part if you want to familiarize yourself with the basics of the NIS+ nameservice and its administrative commands. Also refer to these chapters for instructions for setting up an NIS+ client. This part provides only the basic information for a system administrator who must set up and support an NIS+ environment.

Chapter 5, "Introducing the NIS+ Environment," provides an overview of NIS+, explains how NIS+ differs from the NIS nameservice, and introduces the NIS+ commands.

Chapter 6, "Setting up NIS+ Servers and Clients," describes how to use the nisserver, nispopulate, and nisclient scripts to set up one Solaris system as a root master server and others as NIS+ clients.

Part 3, "Automounter and WebNFS Services," describes the Solaris automount services and introduces WebNFS. Refer to the chapters in this part if you need to set up a new automount service or modify an existing one.

Chapter 7, "Understanding the Automounter," describes automount terminology and the components of automounting, explains how the automounter works, recommends automounting policies, and tells you how to plan your automount services.

Chapter 8, "Setting Up the Automounter," describes how to set up and administer automount maps.

Chapter 9, "Introducing WebNFS," contains a description of how WebNFS works and describes how to set up WebNFS files.

Part 4, "Service Access Facility," describes the Solaris Service Access Facility (SAF). Refer to the chapters in this part if you need to set up a new SAF service for terminals, modems, or printers or if you need to modify an existing one.

Chapter 10, "Understanding the Service Access Facility," provides an overview of SAF and describes the port monitors and services used by the SAF.

Chapter 11, "Setting Up Modems and Character Terminals," describes how to set up and administer SAF for modems and terminals.

Chapter 12, "Setting Up Printing Services," describes how to set up and administer SAF for printers and how to troubleshoot printing problems.

Part 5, "Application Software," describes how to install and delete application software. Refer to this part for guidelines on setting up an application server and for information on installing and removing application software and patches.

Chapter 13, "Installing and Managing Application Software," provides an overview of the installation, introduces the package commands and the Software Manager for installation, recommends a policy for installing software on an application server, and describes how to access files from a CD-ROM drive.

Chapter 14, "Package Commands," describes how to use the package commands to administer application software and how to set up the users' environment.

Chapter 15, "Admintool: Software Manager," describes how to use Admintool to administer application software.

Chapter 16, "Solaris Product Registry," describes how to use Solaris Product Registry to install and uninstall software.

Chapter 17, "Installing and Managing Software Patches," describes how to use the patchadd and patchrm commands.

Part 6, "Introduction to Shell Programming," familiarizes you with the basics of shell programming. Use the information in this part to decide which shell language you want to use to perform a specific task. This part does not provide in-depth instructions for writing scripts in the three basic shells.

Chapter 18, "Writing Shell Scripts," introduces the basic concepts of shell programming and the three basic shells available with the Solaris Operating Environment. It describes how shells work and describes the programming elements.

Chapter 19, "Reference Tables and Example Scripts," provides reference tables comparing shell syntax. It also contains examples of shell scripts.

Part 7, "System Security," provides information about creating and administering secure systems. Refer to these three chapters if you want to familiarize yourself with the basics of system security and if you want to use authentication services and ASET security.

Chapter 20, "Understanding System Security," introduces the basic concepts of system security, including file, system, and network security.

Chapter 21, "Using the Automated Security Enhancement Tool (ASET)," describes how to set up and use automated security enhancement tool (ASET).

Chapter 22, "Using Authentication Services," describes how to use authentication services. It provides an overview of secure RPC and explains how to use pluggable authentication modules (PAM).

Chapter 23, "Role-Based Access Control," introduces the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) security feature, new in the Solaris 8 Operating Environment, that enables you to assign a subset of superuser privileges to one or more users. It also describes new RBAC functionality added with the Solaris 8 Update 3 (01/01) release.

Appendix A, "Volume Management," describes the volume management feature introduced in the Solaris 2.2 system software. Volume management automates the mounting of CD-ROMs, diskettes, and DVD-ROM drives. You no longer need to have superuser permission to mount a CD-ROM, a diskette, or a DVD-ROM drive.

Appendix B, "Celeste's Tutorial on Solaris 2.x Modems and Terminals," describes how to set up modems and character terminals if the basic configuration instructions provided in Chapter 11, "Setting Up Modems and Character Terminals," are not sufficient.

This book also provides a glossary of common system administration terms and a bibliography of useful reference books and URLs.

Important: Read This Before You Begin

Because we assume that the root path includes the /sbin, /usr/sbin, /usr/bin, and /etc directories, the steps show the commands in these directories without absolute path names. Steps that use commands in other, less common directories show the absolute path in the example.

The examples in this book are for a basic Solaris software installation without the Binary Compatibility Package installed and without /usr/ucb in the path.

CAUTION. If /usr/ucb is included in a search path, it should always be at the end. Commands like ps or df are duplicated in /usr/ucb with formats and options different from those of Solaris commands.

This book does not contain all the information you need to administer systems. Refer to the complete system administration documentation for comprehensive information.

Because the Solaris Operating Environment provides the Bourne (default), Korn, and C shells, examples in this book show prompts for each of the shells. The default C shell prompt is system-name%. The default Bourne and Korn shell prompt is $. The default root prompt for all shells is a pound sign (#). In examples that affect more than one system, the C shell prompt (which shows the system name) is used to make it clear when you change from one system to another.

SPARC and IA Information

This book provides system administration information for both SPARC and IA systems. Unless otherwise noted, information throughout this book applies to both types of systems. Table 1 summarizes the differences between the SPARC and IA system administration tasks.

Table 1SPARC and IA System Administration Differences

Category	SPARC Platform	IA Platform
System operation before kernel is loaded	A programmable read-only memory (PROM) chip with a monitor program runs diagnostics and displays device information. The PROM is also used to program default boot parameters and to test the devices connected to the system.	The basic input/output system (BIOS) runs diagnostics and displays device information. A Solaris Device Configuration Assistant boot diskette with the Multiple Device Boot (MDB) program is used to boot from nondefault boot partitions, the network, or the CD-ROM.
System booting	Commands and options at the PROM level are used to boot the system.	Commands and options at the MBD, primary, and secondary boot subsystems level are used to boot the system.
Boot programs	bootblk, the primary boot program, loads ufsboot. ufsboot, the secondary boot program, loads the kernel.	mboot, the master boot record, loads pboot. pboot, the Solaris partition boot program, loads bootblk. bootblk, the primary boot program, loads ufsboot. ufsboot, the secondary boot program, loads the kernel.
System shutdown	The shutdown and init commands can be used without additional operator intervention.	The shutdown and init commands are used but require operator intervention to type any key to continue the prompt.
Disk controllers	SCSI and IDE.	SCSI and IDE.
Disk slices and partitions	A disk may have a maximum of eight slices, numbered 0-7.	A disk may have a maximum of four fdisk partitions. The Solaris fdisk partition may contain up to 10 slices, numbered 0-9, but only 0-7 can store user data.
Diskette drives	Desktop systems usually contain one 3.5-inch diskette drive.	Systems may contain two diskette drives: a 3.5-inch and a 5.25-inch drive.

Solaris Operating Environment Evolution

To help you understand how Solaris is evolving, Table 2 provides a list of the major system administration feature differences for each release.

Table 2Solaris Operating Environment Evolution

Release	New Features
Solaris 1.0 (SunOS 4.x)	Berkeley (BSD) UNIX contains SunOS 4.x functionality.
Solaris 2.0 (SunOS 5.0)	A merger of AT&T System V Release 4 (SVR4) and BSD UNIX. To facilitate customer transition, Solaris uses SVR4 as the default environment, with BSD commands and modes as an option. Administration Tool provides a graphical user interface Database Manager and Host Manager.
Solaris 2.1 (SunOS 5.1)	Administration Tool adds a graphical user interface Printer Manager and User Account Manager.
Solaris 2.2 (SunOS 5.2)	Volume management integrates access to CD-ROM and diskette files with the File Manager and provides a command-line interface. Users no longer need superuser privileges to mount CD-ROMs and diskettes. Solaris 2.0 and 2.1 procedures do not work with volume management because volume management controls and owns the devices.
Solaris 2.3 (SunOS 5.3)	Volume management changes Solaris 2.2 mount point naming conventions.
Administration Tool adds a graphical user interface Serial Port Manager with templates that provide default settings, which makes adding character terminals and modems much easier.
The automounter is split into two programs: an automountd daemon and a separate automount program. Both are run when the system is booted. The /tmp_mnt mount point is not displayed as part of the path name, and the local path is displayed as /home/username. Additional predefined automount map variables are provided. (Refer to the Solaris Advanced System Administrator's Guide.)
Online: Backup 2.1 is included with the release. (Not documented in this book.)
Pluggable Authentication Model (PAM) is included with the release. PAM provides a consistent framework to enable access control applications, such as login, to be able to choose any authentication scheme available on a system, without concern for implementation details. (Not documented in this book.)
C2 Security is included in this release. (Not documented in this book.)
The format(1) command changes for SCSI disks. (Not documented in this book.)
PPP network protocol product that provides IP network connectivity over a variety of point-to-point connections is included in this release. (Not documented in this book.)
Cache File System (CacheFS) for NFS is included in this release. CacheFS is a generic, nonvolatile caching mechanism to improve performance of certain file systems by using a small, fast, local disk.
New NIS+ setup scripts are included in this release. The nisserver(1M), nispopulate(1M), and nisclient(1M) scripts enable you to set up an NIS+ domain much more quickly and easily than if you used the individual NIS+ commands to do so. With these scripts, you can avoid a lengthy manual setup process.
Solaris 2.4 (SunOS 5.4)	New Motif GUI for Solaris software installation is added. (Not documented in this book.)
Solaris 2.5 (SunOS 5.5)	New pax(1M) portable archive interchange command for copying files and file systems to portable media is added.
Admintool is used to administer only local systems. Solstice AdminSuite product is available for managing systems in a network for SPARC and IA systems.
New process tools are available in /usr/proc/bin that display highly detailed information about the active processes stored in the process file system in the /proc directory.
Telnet client is upgraded to the 4.4 BSD version. rlogin and telnetd remote login capacity are improved. (Not documented in this book.)
Solaris 2.5.1 (SunOS 5.5.1)	The limit on user ID and group ID values is raised to 2147483647, or the maximum value of a signed integer. The nobody user and group (60001) and the no access user and group (60002) retain the same UID and GID as in previous Solaris releases.
Solaris 2.6 (SunOS 5.6)	Changes to the Solaris 2.6 printing software provide a better solution than the LP print software in previous Solaris releases. You can easily set up and manage print clients by using the NIS or NIS+ nameservices to enable centralization of print administration for a network of systems and printers. New features include redesign of print packages, print protocol adapter, bundled SunPrint? client software, and network printer support.
New nisbackup and nisrestore commands provide a quick and efficient method of backing up and restoring NIS+ namespaces.
New patch tools, including patchadd and patchrm commands, add and remove patches. These commands replace the installpatch and backoutpatch commands that were previously shipped with each individual patch. (Refer to the Solaris Advanced System Administrator's Guide.)
New filesync command ensures that data is moved automatically between a portable computer and a server. (Not documented in this book.)
The previous flat /proc file system is restructured into a directory hierarchy that contains additional subdirectories for state information and control functions. This release also provides a watchpoint facility to monitor access to and modifications of data in the process address space. The adb(1) command uses this facility to provide watchpoints.
Large files are supported on UFS, NFS, and CacheFS file systems. Applications can create and access files up to one Tbyte on UFS-mounted file systems and up to the limit of the NFS server for NFS- and CacheFS-mounted file systems. A new -mount option disables the large-file support on UFS file systems. Using the -mount option enables system administrators to ensure that older applications that are not able to safely handle large files do not accidentally operate on large files.
NFS Kerberos authentication now uses DES encryption to improve security over the network. The kernel implementations of NFS and RPC network services support a new RPC authentication flavor that is based on the Generalized Security Services API (GSS-API). This support contains the hooks for future stronger security of the NFS environment. (Refer to the Solaris Advanced System Administrator's Guide.)
The PAM authentication modules framework enables you to "plug in" new authentication technologies. (Refer to the Solaris Advanced System Administrator's Guide.)
Font Admin enables easy installation and use of fonts for the X Window System. It supports TrueType, Type0, Type1, and CID fonts for multibyte languages and provides comparative font preview capability. It is fully integrated into the CDE desktop. (Not documented in this book.)
TrueType fonts are supported through X and Display PostScript. Font Admin enables easy installation and integration of third-party fonts into the Solaris environment. (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris 2.6 Operating Environment is year 2000 ready. It uses unambiguous dates and follows the X/Open guidelines where appropriate. (Not documented in this book.)
WebNFS software enables file systems to be accessed through the Web with the NFS protocol. This protocol is very reliable and provides greater throughput under a heavy load. (Not documented in this book.)
The Java Virtual Machine 1.1 integrates the Java platform for the Solaris Operating Environment. It includes the Java runtime environment and the basic tools needed to develop Java applets and applications. (Not documented in this book.)
For IA systems, the Configuration Assistant interface is part of the new booting system for the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) software. It determines which hardware devices are in the system, accounts for the resources each device uses, and enables users to choose which device to boot from.
For IA systems, the kdmconfig program configures the mouse, graphics adapter, and monitor. If an owconfig file already exists, kdmconfig extracts any usable information from it. In addition, kdmconfig retrieves information left in the devinfo tree by the defconf program and uses that information to automatically identify devices. (Not documented in this book.)
Release is fully compliant with X/Open UNIX 95, POSIX standards. (Not documented in this book.)
Solaris 7 (SunOS 5.7)	Solaris 64-bit operating environment is added (SPARC Platform Edition only). (Not documented in this book.)
UFS logging improves file system support.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) protocol improves managing name databases. (Not documented in this book.)
Java Development Kit for Solaris significantly improves scalability and performance for Java applications. (Not documented in this book.)
Dynamic reconfiguration significantly decreases system downtime.
AnswerBook2 server runs on a Web server. (Not documented in this book.)
Unicode locales enhanced with multiscript capabilities and six new Unicode locales are added.
RPC security is enhanced with integrity and confidentiality. (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris Common Desktop Environment (CDE) contains new tools to make it easy to find, manipulate, and manage address cards, applications, e-mail addresses, files, folders, hosts, processes, and Web addresses. (Not documented in this book.)
Solaris 8 (SunOS 5.8)	IPv6 adds increased address space and improves Internet functionality by using a simplified header format, support for authentication and privacy, autoconfiguration of address assignments, and new quality-of-service capabilities.
The Solaris Operating Environment provides the Naming Service switch back-end support directory service based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). (Not documented in this book.)
The Java2 Software Development Kit for Solaris significantly improves scalability and performance of Java applications. (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris 8 Installation CD provides a graphical, wizard-based, Java-powered application to install the Solaris Operating Environment and other software. (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris 8 Operating Environment supports the Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system, enabling users to exchange data stored on CD-ROMs, disks, diskettes, DVDs, and other optical media.
The Solaris Smart Card feature enables security administrators to protect a computer desktop or individual application by requiring users to authenticate themselves by means of a smart card. (Not documented in this book.)
The PDA Synchronization (PDA Sync) application synchronizes the data from applications such as Desktop Calendar, Desktop Mail, Memo, and Address, with data in similar applications on a user's Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris 8 Software CDs and Languages CD include support for more than 90 locales, covering 37 languages. (Not documented in this book.)
The Solaris Common Desktop Environment (CDE) contains new and enhanced features that incorporate easy-to-use desktop productivity tools, PC interoperability, and desktop management tools. (Not documented in this book.)
The X Server is upgraded to the X11R6.4 industry standard that includes features to increase user productivity and mobility, including remote execution of X applications through a Web browser on any Web-based desktop, Xinerama, Color Utilization Policy, EnergyStar support, and new APIs and documentation for the developer tool kits. (Not documented in this book.)
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) enables system administrators to create specific roles by which they can assign superuser privileges for specific tasks to one or more individual users.
Solaris 8 Update 3	Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) functionality is enhanced with the addition of a complete set of Solaris Management Console tools used to manage RBAC.
Solaris AdminSuite 3.0 functionality, previously available as a separate free download, has been integrated with the Solaris 8 Update 3 release. This functionality is now provided with the Solaris Management Console set of tools.
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) adds increased address space and improved Internet functionality with support for authentication and privacy and autoconfiguration of address assignments. IPv6 uses a simplified header format and enables new quality-of-service capabilities.
The CDE mailer provides the capability to add attachments to mail messages in the Compose window.
The UFS file system has been enhanced to improve the performance of direct I/O to enable concurrent read and write access to regular UFS files.
During installation, systems can be configured by the system identification commands to be LDAP clients. Previous releases enabled only the configuration of a system as an NIS, NIS+, or DNS client.
The Solaris WebStart 3.0 installation has been updated to enable you to modify selected Solaris Software Group by adding or removing packages.
A new version of the Solaris Product Registry enables you to uninstall individual system packages, display all installed localized Solaris system products in the System Software Localizations folder, and make registry compatible with more installation wizards.
Diskless Client management provides the new smosservice(1M) and smdiskless(1M) commands to manage diskless clients.

Freeware

The following freeware tools and libraries are included in the Solaris 8 release.

• bash—sh-compatible command language interpreter.
• bzip2—Block-sorting file compressor.
• gpatch—Applies patch files to originals.
• gzip—GNU zip compression command.
• less—A pager similar to more.
• libz—Also known as zlib. A library that performs compression, specifically, RFCs 1950-1952.
• mkisofs—Builds a CD image, using an iso9660 file system.
• rpm2cpio—Transforms a package in RPM format (Red Hat Package Manager) to a cpio archive.
• tcsh—C shell with file-name completion and command-line editing.
• zip—Compression and file packaging command.
• zsh—Command interpreter (shell) usable as an interactive login shell and as a shell script command processor.

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