Customer Reviews

Pro OpenSolaris: A New Open Source OS for Linux Developers and Administrators (Expert's Voice in Open Source)

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Pro OpenSolaris is an excellent primer to Sun's new operating system - OpenSolaris! The book provides a great introduction to OpenSolaris for anyone not accustomed to a UNIX environment and a great transition guide for anyone looking to transition from older UNIX or Linux platforms. Administrators familiar with earlier Solaris versions will find Pro OpenSolaris a benefit in transitioning to the latest technologies such as the Zetabyte File System (ZFS) and the various ways to employ virtualization. The fluid discussions and excellent screenshots allow the user to quickly learn the ins and outs of the system. This book has shown how easy it is to get an OpenSolaris system up and running and all the fun that can be had for both legacy Solaris users and Linux users alike!

This book is written in an informal, conversational style that makes it easy and fun to read. Unlike other introductory texts, however, this one provides a wealth of technical knowledge and experience, and assumes a minimum level of familiarity with Linux/Unix. It covers everything that makes OpenSolaris an interesting addition to the free software ecosystem. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Containers, ZFS, DTrace, and SMF.

I would have liked to see a little more coverage on the OpenSolaris community and development processes work, and a little less focus on how things are done in the Linux world. Overall, however, the book does a great job of exploring all of the material you need to get started with OpenSolaris.

I hope you have some extra time on your hands, because this is the kind of book that makes you want to install OpenSolaris and tinker with it for hours.

I just got this book today and am already half way through it, it's a great read, authors keep your attention while preserving a level of discussion not too newbie- ish but not too high- level either.
Yes, you could search and search for days through the maze of online articles on OpenSolaris, but this book is more than a compilation of online material.
Its main focus is on the hallmarks of OpenSolaris that make it such a great system, authors explain it in a way that motivates you to try it on your own and join the crowd of Solaris- initiated enthusiasts.
A tiny word of caution: you have to have at least some familiarity with Linux (in any flavor) and its command- line. That familiarity becomes handy to keep up with the discussion.
I have never thought of OpenSolaris as anything more than yet another Linux distro until I got this book.
I hope more from these authors is on the way regarding OpenSolaris, keeping this style and level of discussion.
On a sad note, it seems the OpenSolaris project itself stalled after Oracle took over Sun. Let's hope that's gonna change...

Apress' Pro OpenSolaris is the second English language book to be
published specifically about Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris open
source operating system. The first was the comprehensive,1000-page,
OpenSolaris Bible published by Wiley in March 2009. That book
purposely covered all aspects of OpenSolaris for those with only
basic familiarity with Solaris and UNIX as well as for those with
greater administration and developer experience; it reviewed desktop
tools, networking, shell programming, and system administration
along with the unique features of OpenSolaris.

Pro OpenSolaris, published in April 2009 and based on the OpenSolaris
2008.11 release, assumes the reader is already comfortable with the
user and development environments of GNOME and Linux; it focuses
primarily on the key OpenSolaris features that should be learned
and exploited for Web development. It includes an extensive chapter
detailing a sample Web stack project based on the zones, ZFS,
security, and SMF topics introduced in the preceding chapters. The
book also highlights relevant online references and resources for
further learning. Although all of the information about OpenSolaris
is available on myriad Web sites, books such as Pro OpenSolaris
give you a roadmap and recommended sequence of what to learn first.
It also strongly emphasizes that open source solutions can be
effectively hosted on OpenSolaris as well as on Linux.

This book contains a lot of information that is readily available on the [...] website. Although I wouldn't hold much stock in that site right now anyway. Nothing has changed publicly in about 3 months as of the time of this writing. If you want to know something about Solaris, study up on Solaris 10. The vast majority of what you learn will be upward compatible with new versions of Solaris, (Solaris 11 or whatever they decide to call it).

OpenSolaris is stagnant, and as much as I hate to say it, it's not worth spending your time on anymore. Not unless Oracle decides they are going to make it available to the public again.

For a combination of personal and professional reasons, Pro OpenSolaris is the perfect book at the perfect time for this period in my life.

As a CTO with enterprise-grade experience I know Open Source Software and its many benefits. And as a security professional I have long known of the powerful security features of Open Source in general and Solaris specifically. As a computer scientist I have also been a long time personal user of Solaris (as well as Linux, Mac OS X, XP, and Vista). But things have been moving fast in the open source community and some of the most dramatic changes have been in OpenSolaris, so it has been hard for me to keep up. This book provides a great update of those changes and puts them in a context I needed for continual learning.

But let me tell you why I really liked this book. It presents information on a subject I believe all software developers, programmers, project managers and CTOs really need to know, and it presents it in a way that is fast, fun reading. Harry Foxwell and Christine Tran have mastered the art of expression, and that is a rare gift for technical people to do.

But here is why you really need to read this book: Although you can find loads of information on the Internet covering technical details of Open Source Software and especially Solaris, it can be very hard to find a comprehensive update on the new innovations in OpenSolaris. Things like a massively scalable new data storage approach called ZFS and the significantly enhanced security over the already very secure Solaris. Virtualization is also a key topic, as is the metrics and monitoring ability of Open Solaris (DTrace). And, of importance to Linux and Solaris developers alike, a great overview and context of the OpenSolaris open-source based development environment is provided.

This book gives you everything you need to take a computer from its current state to one that is running OpenSolaris, either alone or as part of a virtualized system. It then provides great context and suggestions for tailoring the environment to be just the way you want it to be.

On a personal note: I've known Harry for about five years. I first met him when I was CTO at DIA. I found him to be one of the most pleasant, easy to interact with professionals in the business. He also has the gift of being able to explain and teach, which is something I have always appreciated. Those gifts come through in this book.

Let me close with another great reason to buy the book: it will give you a great, no-nonsense understanding of what is really coming out of the Open Source software community. All technology professionals need a better understanding of that. Please order you copy of Pro OpenSolaris.