A collection of system administration hints and tips, tricks and articles for the Solaris operating system in all its variants.

Latest posts

How to create 1GB zeroed sparse file

Published   Read time 1 min 7 sec(s)   (2910 visits).

A sparse file is a type of file that attempts to use file system space more efficiently when blocks allocated to the file are mostly empty.

Restoring original Solaris file permissions

Published   Read time 1 min 16 sec(s)   (2866 visits).

In the event of drastic file permission or ownership changes, it is possible to restore the original permissions of the file(s)

Cloning a Solaris zone

Published   Read time 2 min(s) 27 sec(s)   (2640 visits).

The beauty of zones under Solaris for me is the ability to clone any zone and then easily adapt it for it's new resources and function.

How to Setup and Configure NIS/YP Services

Published   Read time 5 min(s) 40 sec(s)   (677 visits).

This is a step-by-step tutorial that explains the installation and configuration of ypserv NIS server and client.

Configuring Solaris Link Aggregation

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 29 sec(s)   (2677 visits).

When we aggregate two or more network interfaces we are forming a new network interface on top of those physical interfaces.

Listing avilable Solaris 10 services

Published   Read time 2 min(s) 21 sec(s)   (2517 visits).

Under Solaris 10 we use the svcs command to provide information about services, including their status.

Troubleshooting a hung process

Published   Read time 1 min 53 sec(s)   (644 visits).

Using truss/strace is a simple method to verify if a running process is performing any activity or is in a hung state whilst making a system calls.