Open Source Resources for System Administrators

last updated on 2008-05-16

Sun's Open Source Communities and Software

Sun has open sourced most of its software products, and participates in several open source community projects, including these:

• OpenSolaris is the open source version of the Solaris Operating System. To learn about or participate in the OpenSolaris community and its projects, go to opensolaris.org*. Sun's distribution of OpenSolaris is available here*. (Or, you can get the latest release of the Solaris 10 OS, a tested, certified, and supported enterprise operating system, here.)

  Not sure which version suits your needs? See:

  • Solaris OS Feature Overview
  • OpenSolaris 2008.05 and Solaris Express Developer Edition 1/08 for SPARC platforms
  • Solaris - which flavour do you want?
  • FAQ: Difference between OpenSolaris, Solaris Express, etc, etc.

• The open-source code base of the high availability (HA) Solaris Cluster solution is available from the Open High Availability Cluster (OHAC) Project*.

• The Java Development Kit (JDK)--which is Sun's implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) specification--is available as OpenJDK.

• The Mobile & Embedded community site* provides a central location for the collaborative development of open source technologies and applications for Sun's implementation of the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) specification.

• The Sun Java System Application Server--Sun's implementation of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specification--is available as the GlassFish application server*.

• The Sun StorageTek 5800 System is an open, cost-effective digital archiving solution, which is part of Project Honeycomb*, an OpenSolaris project intended to store and manage large amounts of fixed content. In addition, Sun offers the building blocks of a scalable Open Storage infrastructure.

• The UltraSPARC T1 processor is available as OpenSPARC*, the world's first free 64-bit, 32-threaded, chip multi-threading (CMT) microprocessor.

• Cool Stack* is an open source software stack optimized for the Solaris OS.

• NetBeans* provides a free and open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

• Grid Engine* is an open source community effort to facilitate the adoption of distributed computing solutions.

• OpenOffice.org is a widely distributed multi-platform productivity suite.

Open Source Applications Bundled With the Solaris OS

Sun also bundles and supports over 187 popular open source applications and tools with the Solaris OS and contributes to many of these applications and tools. Examples include:

• MySQL and PostgreSQL* databases

• GNOME, Mozilla suite, and Evolution* software for desktop usability

• Apache Web server*, Tomcat Java servlet engine*, and GNU Zebra* software for network and Web services

• Perl*, GCC*, Python*, and Bison* tools for software development

For more information about open source software bundled with the Solaris OS, see:

• The Solaris OS Freeware list, for a list of included software and the support terms

• What You Get With Solaris 10, for information on Sun software and Sun tools that are integrated with the Solaris 10 OS, for example, Sun Java Enterprise System components, Sun Management Center software, and DTrace

Also see the sunfreeware.com site*, where you can download free software for the Solaris OS.

Support for OpenSource Communities

To learn more about Sun's commitment to open source technologies, check out these sites:

• The main Sun open source web page, which provides an overview of Sun's open source involvement, the benefits of the open source model over the traditional "closed" model, a list of open source projects that Sun contributes to, links to news and reviews, and more

• Community Innovation Awards Program, which provides details on the $1 Million Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program that will recognize the most interesting initiatives within open source communities worldwide (prize winners will be announced in August 2008)

• Q&A: Jonathan Schwartz on Sun's open-source business strategy*

• Community Innovation, a feature story about the ways in which Sun is fostering open communities through open source initiatives, which includes information on various open source initiatives, links to videos, and more

• Free to Innovate, a feature story about the advantages of open source software, which provides links to dozens of open source projects Sun employees contribute to