Switching Solaris 11 repositories

Updated   Read time 1 min 15 sec(s)   (2324 views).  Solaris  

There are two types of repositories available for Oracle Solaris 11 in which you can perform an upgrade to the Solaris 11 operating system.

Actually, there is possibly a third (a local repository) but this will generally contain either the release or support repository locally on your intranet.

To determine which repository you have enabled use the pkg publisher command.

# pkg publisher
PUBLISHER                   TYPE     STATUS P LOCATION
solaris                     origin   online F https://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/support/

The following table outlines the differences between release and support:

RepositoryComments
http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release/ Oracle Solaris's release repository which contains new packages and package updates. This repository doesn't requires oracle support contract and is available to anyone who installs Oracle Solaris 11.
https://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/support/ Oracle Solaris's support repository which is exclusively available for oracle customers who have a valid support contract.
NOTE: The Oracle support repository uses the https connection and the oracle release repository uses http

For testing and non-production environments you can use the release repository but you are recommended by Oracle to use the support repository in any production environment. (actually they insist on it for support purposes)

But there is nothing stopping you from switching between repositories and resetting once you completed your tasks.

  • To set Oracle's release repository: 
    # pkg set-publisher -O http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release/ solaris
  • To set Oracle's support repository: 
    # pkg set-publisher -O https://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/support/ solaris

Once set you can perform the necessary update using the pkg update command.