This is more of a personal note than anything else, but hopefully it might filter to the top of web searches too.
If you want to update the dynamic library loading path in Solaris 10 you must use the tool crle.
If you want to add a path, say /usr/local/lib make sure you use the -u option to update rather than replacing the existing library path info:
# crle -u -l /usr/local/lib
Just in case you think I’ve forgotten about things, I haven’t, I’m just somewhat buried.
What’s been happening? Well Busy New Year will explain part of it.
On the Sun/Solaris front:
Stay up to date with Planet MCslp.
Frank Mash has started a brilliant series on making the best of running MySQL on the Solaris platform:
No, I haven’t missed one out, Frank assures us that Part 5 is on the way!
I wish we had a DTrace interface to MySQL…
Sun have announced a series of new servers and workstations, just as I finish up testing of the T1000 and begin testing of the Ultra 20M2.
The key elements are:
There’s a more detailed press release and a brief summary at Computerworld.
Sun have released an updated list of PCI devices for Solaris x86; check this if you plan to run Solaris on your PC.
I’m really only just getting used to the Sun Studio 11 environment after years of using gcc, so quick guides to the Sun Studio 11 command line environment are a great way to get familiar.
There’s just such a list on BigAdmin: Commands for Sun Studio 11 Software.
There are some gems here I wasn’t aware of, like xscapture for capturing user interface design from a running Motif/Xt application; anaylyzer for a GUI performance monitor and dmake, for distributed building.
I think I need to spend some time going through each tool on this list and finding out how best to use it.
My T1000 review at Computerworld has made it to the Sun News page.
Cool!
Sun have very kindly me a sun Ultra 20M2 to test. I’ve only had it a few days, and already I’m hooked.
The spec of the unit they have sent me is:
The LCD monitor is superb, and highly recommended; I’ve been using an identical for years, as the Sun unit is a rebadged 20″ NEC unit (my NEC 2070NX only differs by the inclusion of a USB hub).
In use the machine is fast and very responsive. Raw computing power is available if you want it, but the dual core approach means that using the machine, even when compiling something in the background, remains just as responsive.
For an example of the raw power, I did a very simple test of building the 5.1 version of the MySQL Reference Manual in PDF format. This is a consuming process, as it converts the XML into FO (through XSLT) and then uses Apache’s FOP took to translate the FO into a PDF.
Full reviews, breakdowns, performance testing and other more detailed thoughts as time goes on.
A Sun engineer provides a detailed (and occasionally light-hearted) look at how to set up an X4200 server through a series of video guides on YouTube.
I noticed for the first time recently the ATA over Ethernet product from Coraid.
There’s a Solaris driver available (impressively in both SPARC binary, Solaris 7+ (direct download) and source (direct download), under a BSD-like license. The release notes are required reading too.
ATA over Ethernet is an interesting concept, albeit an expensive one at the moment, but I like the idea of remote disks, rather than remote computers. The reason is simple: in many ways it would make much more sense for those situations where you want a lot of storage, but still with direct access to the hardware you want to use it on. Traditionally you’d use NFS for that, but that would require a cheap-ish server, which seems a waste. Move the hard disks away (for noise/heat reasons) and keep the CPU and graphics interface local; video production and even large (but not necessarily fast) databases.
Now marry up ATA over Ethernet with ZFS and you could have a phenomenal ZFS pool, accessibly directly from the desktop, and without the need to keep a unit like Thumper in a cabinet next to your desk.
Shame I probably wont get the chance to try it out.