- Solaris 2.5 features Common Desktop Environment, an open, flexible user environment that provides transparent access to network resources. Users can effortlessly
access files, printers, and applications where ever they reside on the network. OpenWindows, the previous windowing environment for Solaris, remains available to give
users a smooth the transition to the new power of the Solaris CDE environment. All
OpenWindows applications will run unmodified on Solaris CDE.
Solaris CDE includes the standard desktop applications such as mail, calendar and
file manager. It also includes a graphical application builder and software libraries to
make it easy to create powerful custom applications that link to corporate data.
- Also new in Solaris 2.5 is NFS v3, the first update of NFS in over 6 years. This new
version of NFS has an overall performance gain of 12% when compared against NFS
v2 running on Solaris 2.4. Some of this gain is due to improved write performance
over NFS v2, obviating the need for add-on hardware which can be unreliable.
NFS v3 also includes access to larger files on Solaris-based NFS servers; provides
increased network stability by now using NFS over TCP; and has improved security
by adding POSIX 1003.6-compliant ACLs (access control lists) in UFS.
- Another new feature of Solaris 2.5 is X/Open Federated Naming (XFN) - an enterprise directory name service which provides access to and federation among multiple
naming services such as DCE, ONC+, and Internet DNS.
Most IT departments have multiple naming services embedded in their databases,
middleware, and network operating systems. Multiple directory services are
unavoidable as they are acquired with the technology. XFN provides a solution to
multiple directory services, allowing developers to write to the XFN API and build
applications that are portable, and allowing for management of all the regulated naming systems from a single interface.
- There are several new capabilities in the areas of Graphics and Imaging.
A new version of XIL, which enhances JPEG memory usage, enabling users to download and use images from the Internet more rapidly and efficiently.
A new version of XGL, which is an API that enables software developers to incorporate 3-D modules into their CAD/CAM applications. XGL has performance has been
increased on Solaris 2.5 by 10%. This was achieved by optimization to the set of
graphics pipelines that accelerate to different frame buffers and through the support
of DGA transparent overlays.
- Solaris 2.5 features a new lock manager, improving performance and reliability
- Summarizing, for raw performance, Solaris 2.5 is faster than Solaris 2.4:
- NFS increased by 30%
- 3-D graphics increased by 10%
- X Server performance increased by 15%
- CDE performance increased by 14%
- Overall desktop performance increased by 17%
- Overall multiuser performance increased by 150%
Customers currently running any of the Solaris 1.x versions will want to upgrade to
Solaris 2.5 to use the many new features that make Solaris the leading operating environment for IT professionals, systems integrators, value added resellers, and computer manufacturers. All the Solaris 2.5 capabilities described above provide the industry's most
scalable, reliable and secure operating environment. SunSoft has no plans to end-of-life
the Solaris 1.x operating system, but ongoing development is focused on Solaris 2.x For
example, access to the NEO product line for network objects is available only through
Solaris 2.4 or greater.
Solaris 2.5 provides binary compatibility to enables existing Solaris 2.x applications to
run without modification on Solaris 2.5, and this release features enhanced compatibility
with Solaris 1.x with enhanced binary, shell script, and source compatibility with Solaris 1.x.