Solaris vs RHEL - SysAdmin differences
Published 22 Oct 2003
Read time 7 min(s) 30 sec(s) (2688 views).
Solaris
The purpose of this article is to introduce the system and network administration features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for Solaris Administrators and to describe the differences between the Solaris 9 Operating System and Red Hat Linux with respect to system administration tasks.
File System Management
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Default file system type
ufs
ext3
Supported file system types
hsfs, nfs, vxfs, pcfs, udfs
ext2, iso9660, vfat, hfs, nfs, ufs
Temporary file system in memory
tmpfs
tmpfs
Swap file system
swapfs
swapfs
File descriptor file system
fdfs
Process file system
procfs
procfs
ACSII text data on RedHat
binary data on Solaris
Mount file system
mntfs
Partition a disk
format
fdisk, parted
Disk label
VTOC - on first disk sector
bootstrap program (bootblk)
Follow VTOC in Sectors 1-15
Primary superblock
Sectors 16-32
View inodes
ls -i
ls -i
Construct a new file system
newfs, mkfs
mkfs, mke2fs -j, mkfs.ext3
Tune existing file system
tunefs
Determine a file system type
fstyp
Check and repair file system
fsck
fsck
Display file system disk space usage summary
du
du
Display disk space
df
df
Enable disk quotas
quotaon
quotaon
Disable disk quotas
quotaoff
quotaoff
Summarize quotas for a file system
repquota
repquota
Summarize file system ownership
quot
Mount and unmount file systems
mount, umount
mount, umount
Mount all file systems
mountall
mount -a
mount -a
Umount all file systems
umountall
umount -a
umount -a
Display processes using files
fuser
fuser
File systems configuration
/etc/vfstab
/etc/fstab
List devices
sysdef
cat /proc/devices
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Software Installation
Automatic updatessmpatch, smcup2dateup2date requires registration with the Red Hat Network (RHN)
Action Slaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Interactive installation program
suninstall
anaconda
Determine OS level, kernel version
uname -a
cat /etc/release
uname -a
Boot options
CD-ROM, disk, network
CD-ROM, disk, network, floppy
Installation options
CD-ROM, NFS, HTTP, Flash, Live Upgrade
CD-ROM, local disk, NFS,FTP, HTTP
Network installation procedure
jumpstart
kickstart
Install additional software
pkagadd
rpm -i
Uninstall software
pkgrm
rpm -e
List installed software
pkginfo
rpm -qa
Verify installed software
pkginfo -i
pkginfo -p
rpm -V
List files in a package
pkgchk -l
rpm -ql
List installed patches
showrev -p
patchadd -p
Show package owner
pkgchk -l -p
rpm -qf
New software directory
/var/sadm
/var/lib/rpm
Checking patch levels
showrev -p
patchadd -p
Package management GUI
redhat-config-packages
Use gnorpm on RH Linux AS-2.1
Product registry GUI
prodreg
Display unique host id
hostid
hostid
hostid is used by some applications
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System Boot Procedures
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Process control initialisation
init, telinit
init, telinit
Initialization script
/etc/inittab
/etc/inittab
Kernel boot-time module configuration
/etc/system
/etc/modules.conf
Run level 0
System is running the PROM monitor
Halt
Run level s or S
Single-user mode with critical file systems accessible
Run level 1
Single-user administrative state
Single-user administrative state
Run level 2
Multi-user mode without NFS or other network resource servers
Not used
Run level 3
Full multi-user environment (default)
Full multi-user without X-windows
Run level 4
Not used
Not used
Run level 5
Transitional - OS is shutdown, system powered off
Full multi-user with X-windows desktop
Run level 6
reboot
reboot
Identify current run level
who -r
who -r, runlevel
Graceful system shutdown
/usr/sbin/shutdown
/sbin/shutdown
Immediate system shutdown
/usr/sbin/halt
/sbin/halt
Immediate system shutdown and turn power off
/usr/sbin/poweroff
/sbin/poweroff
Immediate shutdown and restart
/usr/sbin/reboot
/sbin/reboot
Boot single user
<OK> boot -s
At the boot loader menu: {lilo} control-x linux S {grub} e select the kernel entry from the listing (kernel vmlinux .....) e add the word single to the end hit return b
Run control script directories
/etc/rcX.d, X=run level
/etc/rc.d/rcX.d
Linux also links each directory from under /etc.
For example: /etc/init.d --> /etc/rc.d/init.d /etc/rc3.d --> /etc/rc.d/rc3.d
Start or stop services and applications manually
/etc/init.d/xxxxx start
/etc/init.d/xxxxx stop
/etc/init.d/xxxxx start
/etc/init.d/xxxxx stop
service xxxxx start
service xxxxx stop
xxxxxx are the scripts in the init.d directory.
Many services also have a restart option.
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User Administration
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Password files
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
Group file
/etc/group
/etc/group
Group passwd file
/etc/gshadow
nobody group number
nobody=60001
nobody=99
nfsnobody=65534
nogroup group number
nogroup=65534
Add user accounts
useradd, smc, admintool
useradd, adduser, redhat-config-users
Remove user accounts
userdel, smc, admintool
userdel, redhat-config-users
Modify user accounts
usermod, smc, admintool
usermod, redhat-config-users
Change password
passwd
passwd
Add a group
groupadd
groupadd
Delete a group
groupdel
groupdel
Modify group name or GID
groupmod
groupmod
Set a group password
gpasswd
List users group membership
groups
groups
Globally update user names and passwords
chpasswd
Change password aging policy
passwd -n
chage
passwd
Change gecos information
passwd -g
chfn
Change user's default shell
passwd -e
chsh
New user startup files
/etc/skel/*
/etc/skel/*
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Printer Management
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Submit print request
lp
lpr
lp
lpr
Cancel print jobs
cancel
cancel
Configure the LP print service
lpadmin
lpadmin
Accept/reject print requests
accept
reject
accept
reject
Display status of print service
lpstat
lpc
lpstat
lpc
Enable/disable printers
enable
disable
enable
disable
Start print service
lpsched
Move print requests
lpmove
lpmove
Printer services daemon
/usr/lib/print/in.lpd
/usr/sbin/lpd
Common UNIX printing system (cups) daemon
cupsd
/usr/sbin/cupsd
cups is the default Red Hat 9, cups is not shipped with Red Hat Linux AS 2.1
Refer to http://www.cups.org for additional information.
The cups configuration file
/etc/cups/cupsd.conf
The cups configuration interface
http://localhost:631
LP print service scheduler daemon
/usr/lib/LP/lpsched
Printer capability database
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/*
/usr/share/terminfo/*
Printers configuration database
/etc/printers.conf
/etc/printcap
LP server configuration directories
/etc/LP
/usr/lib/LP
Print queues directory
/var/spool/*
/var/spool/lpd/
Print request logs directory
/var/LP/logs/
Printer configuration GUI
/usr/sadm/adm/bin/printmgr
redhat-config-printer-gui
redhat-config-printer-tui
Configure serial ports GUI
admintool
smc
Configure serial ports
sacadm
pmadm
setserial
stty
Serial port device files
/dev/ttya
/dev/ttyb
/dev/term/a
/dev/term/b
/dev/cua/a
/dev/cua/b
/dev/ttyS0
/dev/ttyS1
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System Backups and Restores
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Display and manage active processes
prstat, top, sdtprocess
top gnome-system-monitor
Execute commands at a later time
at, batch
at, batch
Display jobs queued to run
atq
atq
at -l
Files associated with the at process
/var/spool/cron/atjobs
/etc/cron.d/at.allow
/etc/cron.d/at.deny
/var/spool/at
/etc/at.allow
/etc/at.demy
Maintain crontab files
crontab -l
crontab -e
crontab -r
crontab -l
crontab -e
crontab -r
Files associated with the cron process
/var/spool/cron/crontabs
/etc/cron.d/cron.allow
/etc/cron.d/cron.deny
/var/spool/cron
/etc/cron.allow
/etc/cron.deny
Print statistics about users' connect time
acctcon acctcon1 acctcon2 acctwtmp
ac
Turns process accounting on or off
acctron
acctwtmp "acctg on"
acctwtmp "acct off"
accton
Show listing of last logged in users
last
last, last
Summarizes accounting information
acctcms
sa
Print out information about previously executed commands
acctcom
lastcomm
Merge or add total accounting files
acctmerg
Process accounting
acctprc
acctprc1
acctprc2
Shell procedures for accounting
acctsh, chargefee, ckpacct, dodisk, lastlogin, monacct, nulladm, prctmp, prdaily, prtacct, shutacct, startup, turnacct
Manipulate connect accounting records
fwtmp
wtmpfix
List open files
pfiles
lsof
Display process tree
ptree
pstree
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Software Installation
Action Solaris RHEL Reference/Comment
Magnetic tape control
mt, rmt
mt, rmt
Archiving utilities
tar, cpio, jar, pax
tar, cpio, jar, pax
File copy and conversion
dd
dd
File system backup
ufsdump
dump (ext2 filesystem)
File system restore
ufsrestore
restore
Record of backups
/etc/dumpdates
/etc/dumpdates
Tape device names
/dev/st0
/dev/rmt
/dev/nth0 - IDE/ATAPI
/dev/st0 - SCSI
/dev/rft0 - floppy
tape
Create, query or delete a temporary read-only snapshot of the file system
fssnap
Create an hybrid ISO9660/JOLIET/HFS file system with optional Rock Ridge attributes
mkisofs
mkisofs
Utilities for dumping and verifying ISO9660 images
devdump, isoinfo, isovfy, isodump
devdump, isoinfo, isovfy, isodump
Amanda (Advanced Maryland Network Disk Achiever)
amdump, amflush, amcleanup, amrecover, amrestore, amlabel, amcheck, amadmin, amtape, amverify, amrmtape, amoverview, amplot, amreport, amtoc, amcheckdb, amgetconf
http://www.amanda.org/
Amanda is a client-server backup utility that uses tar or dump on the back end.
Amanda works with the Solaris also, but it is not distributed with the Solaris
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Additional Resources
The following documenation sources provide detailed information for the Solaris 9 and Red Hat operating systems:
Title Online documentation
Solaris 9 documentation
http://docs.sun.com
Red Hat 9 documentation
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/
Red Hat Enterprise documentation
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/
