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Roadmap to Sun Developer Documentation

 
By John Stearns, February 2005, updated November 2006  

Abstract:

This article provides a roadmap to information sources for Sun products for developers, with links that readers can use to bookmark the sources.

Contents:

Introduction

A wealth of information is available to developers working with Sun software products. This article, which is an expanded version of the new manual Introduction to the Solaris Development Environment, serves as a general roadmap to the developer documentation for these products, that is, manuals, specifications, and documentation web pages, as well as other sources of information for developers.

Note that the links provided here connect to the current versions of the collections and manuals as of the publishing of this article. You should always check that you are accessing the version of the manual that is appropriate for the release of the Sun product you are using.

Roadmap to Documentation for Developers Working With the Solaris Operating System

The documentation for developers working with the Solaris Operating System (OS) is broken down into the following topics:

  • Building Applications
  • Programming to Specific Sun Hardware and Configurations
  • Network Programming in the Solaris OS
  • Programming With Solaris OS Interfaces and Frameworks
  • Documentation for Solaris System Administrators and End Users

The Solaris 10 Software Developer Collection is accessed through docs.sun.com and appears as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1: Docs.sun.com: Solaris 10 OS
docs.sun.com: Solaris 10 OS

Building Applications

The Solaris OS provides various facilities for packaging, compiling, debugging, and tuning applications.

Packaging Applications for the Solaris OS

All software programs must be incorporated into a package to be installed in the Solaris OS. The Application Packaging Developer's Guide provides step-by-step instructions and relevant background information for designing, building, and verifying packages. A chapter with case studies provides several package creation examples in a variety of situations. This document also includes descriptions of advanced techniques that you might find helpful during the package creation process.

  • Packages that are not part of the Solaris OS (unbundled packages) can use the class mechanism to customize server/client installations.

  • Relocatable packages can be designed to accommodate the desires of the administrator.

  • A complex product can be delivered as a set of composite packages that automatically resolve package dependencies.

  • A package designer can customize the upgrading and patching process.

  • Patched packages can be delivered in the same way as unpatched packages. Archives for backing out the software can also be included in the product.

Using the Runtime Linker and Link Editor

The Solaris OS provides a link editor and runtime linker. The Linker and Libraries Guide covers the link editor ld(1), the runtime linker ld.so.1(1), the ELF object file format, and shared objects, which are sometimes referred to as shared libraries.

The manual is intended for a range of programmers who are interested in the Solaris linkers, from the curious beginner to the advanced user. Beginners learn the principal operations of the link editor and runtime linker. Intermediate programmers learn to create and use efficient custom libraries. Advanced programmers, such as language-tools developers, learn how to interpret and generate object files. A chapter on application binary interfaces describes how to manage the evolution of an interface that is provided by a dynamic object. Other chapters cover thread-local storage and mapfile directives.

Using Sun Studio Software

Sun Studio software, a Sun product separate from the Solaris OS, provides modules for creating, editing, building, debugging, and analyzing the performance of a C, C++, or Fortran application. Java Native Interface (JNI) development is also supported. Many Sun Studio tools have both a GUI and command-line equivalent. Those tools with GUIs provide online help. For the command-line versions, use the associated man pages. See the Compilers and Tools -- Documentation page on The Source for Developers web site for documentation of the tools and other useful information.

Sun Studio software encompasses the following tools:

  • Integrated development environment (IDE) -- Provides access to the Sun Studio tools. In addition to C, C++, and Fortran tools, the IDE includes a set of basic support modules for the Java programming language that can be enabled for JNI development.

  • Sun Studio C compiler -- Includes a C compiler, incremental link editor, and lint program.

  • Sun Studio C++ compiler -- Includes a full-featured C++ compiler and interval arithmetic library.

  • Sun Studio Fortran compiler -- Includes full-featured environment and libraries for both f95 and f77.

  • dbx Debugger -- An interactive, source-level, command-line debugging tool.

  • Sun Studio dmake make tool -- A command-line tool for building targets in distributed, parallel, or serial mode.

  • Math libraries -- A floating-point environment that is supported by software and hardware on SPARC and x86 platforms that run the Solaris OS.

  • OpenMP API -- Directives and pragmas for converting legacy Sun parallelization directives to OpenMP, which is a portable, parallel programming model for shared memory multiprocessor architectures.

  • Performance Analyzer -- A GUI and command-line tool for collecting and analyzing performance data.

  • Sun Performance Library -- A library of Sun-specific extensions and features for using optimized, high-speed mathematical subroutines for solving linear algebra and other numerically intensive problems.

Kernel-Level Debugging

The Modular Debugger mdb is an extensible, general-purpose debugging tool for the Solaris OS. The Solaris Modular Debugger Guide describes how to use the mdb(1) command to debug complex software systems. The guide emphasizes the facilities that are available for debugging the Solaris kernel and associated device drivers and modules. The guide includes a complete reference for the mdb language syntax, debugger features, and the mdb module programming API.

The Solaris Modular Debugger Guide also features information on kmdb, the kernel-level analogue to mdb.

Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace)

DTrace is a comprehensive dynamic tracing framework for the Solaris OS. DTrace provides a powerful infrastructure to enable administrators, developers, and service personnel to concisely answer arbitrary questions about the behavior of the operating system and user programs. The Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide describes how to use DTrace to observe, debug, and tune system behavior. This book also includes a complete reference for bundled DTrace observability tools and the D programming language provided with DTrace.

For an introduction to DTrace, see the DTrace User's Guide. If you need a quick reference to DTrace functions, see the article DTrace Quick Reference Guide on the Solaris Developer Center.

Using the Java Programming Language to Write Programs for the Solaris OS

The JDK for Solaris Developer's Guide is intended for application developers who use the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5, on the Solaris OS. Java software is optimized to deliver superior performance to server-side and client-side Java technology-based applications in an enterprise environment.

Supplying Online Help for Java Technology-Based Applications

The JavaHelp System User's Guide offers information for developers providing online help for Java technology-based applications. The JavaHelp system is a URL-based facility that points to topics contained in files and also provides context-sensitive help. The help files are displayed in the help viewer one file at a time. The manual covers both authoring and packaging.

Using the ToolTalk Service

The ToolTalk User's Guide explains how the ToolTalk service enables independent applications to communicate with each other without having direct knowledge of each other.

Programming to Specific Sun Hardware and Configurations

The following manuals apply to programming for specific Sun hardware and configurations.

x86 Hardware Known To Be Compatible With the Solaris OS

The Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) identifies x86 hardware that is compatible with the Solaris OS. Separate lists identify systems and controllers that are certified for Solaris 8, Solaris 9, and Solaris 10 versions of the operating system. The HCL is available in a comma-separated value (CSV) format for advanced users who want to search or sort the list using a spreadsheet or database.

Testing x86 Hardware for Solaris Compatibility

The Hardware Certification Test Suite (HCTS) includes system certification tests, controller certification tests, utilities, and a browser-based user interface. HCTS tests certify systems, motherboards, and various network, storage, and serial I/O controllers to work with the Solaris OS. HCTS collects log files, determines test pass or fail results, and generates a final test report. Hardware that passes either Level 1 or Level 2 Certification is eligible to be included in the Hardware Compatibility List as Test Suite Certified.

Developing in the x86 Assembly Language

The Solaris OS provides an assembly language for the x86 platform. The x86 Assembly Language Reference Manual describes the assembler that generates code for the 32-bit x86 processor architecture and translates source files that are in assembly language format into object files in linking format. This book describes the syntax of the x86 assembly language for the Solaris OS. The guide also maps the x86 assembly language instruction mnemonics to the native x86 instruction set.

Developing in the Assembly Language for SPARC Technology

The Solaris OS provides an assembly language for the SPARC platform. The SPARC Assembly Language Reference Manual describes the assembler that runs on the SPARC architecture and translates source files that are in assembly language format into object files in linking format. The description includes the assembler syntax, the executable and linking format, and the relationship between hardware instructions of the SPARC architecture and the assembly language instruction set. The book contains a description of the SPARC-V9 instruction set. Appendixes list the pseudo-operations that the assembler on a SPARC platform supports, with examples of their use. Other appendixes describe the available assembler command-line options and an example of the correspondence between the assembly code and the C code.

Developing 64-bit Applications for the Solaris OS

The Solaris OS provides a 64-bit computing environment along with backward compatibility for 32-bit applications. The Solaris 64-bit Developer's Guide, written primarily for the application developer, supplies guidance on choosing whether to use the 32-bit or 64-bit Solaris application programming environment. The manual explains the similarities and differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit application environments and explains how to write code that is portable between the two environments. This book also describes some of the tools provided by the operating system for developing 64-bit applications.

Writing for a Cluster Environment

The Solaris OS can be configured into a cluster environment to improve availability. The Sun Cluster Data Services Developer's Guide for Solaris OS describes the data service API in Sun Cluster software. Developers can use this API to turn a standard user application such as a web browser or database into a highly available data service that can run in the Sun Cluster software environment.

Network Programming in the Solaris OS

The following documentation provides information on topics related to network programming: making remote procedure calls, programming a system management agent, and developing web-based enterprise management applications.

Making Remote Procedure Calls

The Solaris OS provides ONC+ distributed services for making remote procedure calls (RPC). The ONC+ Developer’s Guide describes the ONC+ distributed services that were developed at Sun Microsystems. ONC+ technologies consist of a family of technologies, services, and tools:

  • Remote procedure calls (RPC).

  • Transport-independent remote procedure call (TI-RPC) was developed to make RPC applications transport independent.

  • External data representation (XDR) is an architecture-independent specification for representing data.

  • Network Information Services Plus (NIS+) is the enterprise naming service in the Solaris environment. This service provides a scalable and secure information base.

The guide contains information on the rpcgen tool and the portmap utility, as well as code examples on the use of RPC.

Writing a System Management Agent for the Solaris OS

The System Management Agent (SMA) is an agent for receiving and transmitting SNMP messages through the transports TCP, UDP, and UNIX Domain Sockets. The SMA agent is based on the open source Net-SNMP agent. The Solaris System Management Agent Developer’s Guide provides information for developers who want to create Management Information Base (MIB) modules to extend the functionality of the agent. The manual also provides information on the creation of SMA modules and the interfaces that MIB modules use. An appendix provides information for developers who want to migrate an SEA subagent from the Solstice Enterprise Agents software for use in a System Management Agent.

Developing Web-Based Enterprise Management Applications

The Solaris WBEM Developer's Guide describes the components of the Solaris Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Software Development Kit (SDK) and explains how to use these components to develop WBEM-based applications. The book describes the following subjects:

  • The Common Information Model (CIM) Object Manager

  • The WBEM Query Language (WQL)

  • Creating JavaBeans components using the Managed Object Format (MOF) compiler

  • WBEM security mechanisms

Programming With Solaris OS Interfaces and Frameworks

The Solaris OS provides numerous interfaces and frameworks that enable developers to create software that takes advantage of the features and services in the operating system.

Multithreaded Programming in the Solaris OS

The Solaris OS provides the ability to develop applications with separate, parallel threads to improve application performance. The Multithreaded Programming Guide covers the APIs for POSIX and Solaris threads, programming with synchronization objects, and compiling multithreaded programs This guide is for developers who want to use multithreading to separate a process into independent execution threads, improving application performance and structure. Appendixes contain examples of code for both POSIX and Solaris threads.

Programming Interfaces

The Programming Interfaces Guide describes programming interfaces that are specific to the Solaris environment. This book has information on the following subjects:

  • Memory and CPU management
  • Process scheduling
  • Input and output interfaces
  • Interprocess communication and sockets
  • Transport Layer Interface (TLI) and the X/Open Transport Interface (XTI)
  • Transport selection
  • The Solaris application binary interface

The Solaris OS includes two utilities that enable application developers to verify an application's compliance with the Solaris Application Binary Interface (ABI). Compliance with the Solaris ABI ensures that your software code will be portable across releases of the Solaris OS. The Solaris ABI defines the interfaces that are available for the use of application developers.

The appcert utility statically examines the Solaris library interfaces used by ELF binaries for instances of private interface usage. The apptrace tool uses the link-auditing capability of the runtime linker to dynamically trace Solaris library routine calls as the application runs.

Developing Custom Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Applications

The Solaris OS provides dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) services as well as a framework for developing custom DHCP applications. The Solaris DHCP Service Developer’s Guide provides information for developers who want to use a data storage facility that is not currently supported by the DHCP service in the Solaris OS. The manual gives an overview of the data access framework used by DHCP in the Solaris OS and general guidelines for developers. The book describes the service provider layer API and provides sample code templates.

Developing Security Applications and Services in the Solaris OS

The Solaris Security for Developers Guide is for developers of applications that consume security services as well as developers of applications that provide security services for the Solaris OS. Programming interfaces are documented for the following services: PAM, SASL, GSS-API, the Solaris cryptographic framework, and process privileges. The book provides working examples that demonstrate the security services in the Solaris OS.

Developing Device Drivers

The Solaris OS provides a family of interfaces for facilitating the development of robust, portable device drivers. The Writing Device Drivers manual provides information on developing drivers for character-oriented devices, block-oriented devices, USB devices, and SCSI target and HBA devices for the Solaris OS. This book discusses how to develop multithreaded reentrant device drivers for all architectures that conform to the DDI/DKI (Device Driver Interface/Driver-Kernel Interface) for the Solaris OS.

Additional topics include:

  • Porting drivers for the Solaris OS to a 64-bit environment
  • Cluster-aware drivers
  • Driver autoconfiguration
  • Programmed I/O
  • Direct Memory Access (DMA)
  • Power management
  • Device context management
  • Compilation, installation, and testing of drivers
  • Debugging drivers

Appendixes provide information on hardware issues, kernel functions available to device drivers, and guidelines on device drivers for 64-bit environments.

A separate book, the Device Driver Tutorial, provides an overview to device driver development, several basic driver examples, and a list of tips for developing drivers in the Solaris OS.

Writing System Resource Management Applications

The Solaris 10 Resource Manager Developer’s Guide describes how to write applications that partition and manage system resources such as processor sets and scheduling class. This book references the programming APIs provided to partition, schedule, and set bounds on the consumption of system resources and to make the configuration of resources persistent. This book offers programming examples and a discussion of programming issues to consider when writing an application.

Developing Software for International Audiences

The Solaris OS provides an internationalization architecture to assist in the development, the deployment, and the management of applications and language services from around the world. A single multilingual product provides support for 39 different languages and 162 locales. In addition, support is available for the complex text layout that is required for Thai and Hindi scripts. Bidirectional text capability is also supported for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. The International Language Environments Guide describes how to use the current Solaris release to build global software products that support a variety of languages and cultural conventions.

Documentation for Solaris System Administrators and End Users

Although the documentation described in this section is intended for system administrators and other end users, you may find it useful to learn about the behavior of Sun products from the end user's perspective.

The Solaris System Administration Guide is arranged into the following volumes:

Some other volumes and collections for system administrators are as follows:

  • Solaris Smartcard Administration Guide -- The Solaris Smart Card Framework enables a user to log in securely to the desktop environment for the Solaris 8, Solaris 9, or Solaris 10 releases. A smart card is a plastic card that allows you to access a system by inserting a programmable card into a card reader. This guide shows how to configure systems and smart cards for this form of authentication. The guide also explains how to use a smart card after the Solaris Smart Card Framework has been configured.

  • Solaris System Management Agent Administration Guide -- This guide explains how to install, configure and work with the System Management Agent (SMA). The System Management Agent is the Sun Microsystems implementation of the open source Net-SNMP agent, which is used to query, monitor, and manage devices connected to IP networks.

  • Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual -- This reference manual provides reference information on the tunable parameters for the Solaris OS kernel and network, for systems based on both SPARC and x86 processors.

  • Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide -- The volume manager guide explains how to manage disk storage, including creating, modifying, and using RAID-0 (concatenation and stripe) volumes, RAID-1 (mirror) volumes, RAID-5 volumes, and soft partitions.

  • Solaris 10 Release and Installation Collection -- This collection contains release notes and installation guides for various methods of installing the Solaris OS.

  • Solaris 10 on Sun Hardware Book Collection -- This collection contains information on Solaris 10 hardware platforms and the SunVTS validation test suite. The SunVTS validation test suite is a diagnostic tool designed to test Sun hardware. These tests verify the connectivity and functionality of most hardware controllers and devices for SPARC and x86 architectures. SunVTS software also provides an infrastructure for programmers to develop their own tests and run them using the SunVTS interface.

Roadmap to the Man Page Collection

As in all UNIX systems, the Solaris OS provides detailed information about system internals through man pages. If you are unfamiliar with the man page concept, see the man page for the man(1) command itself or type man man on the command line. The Solaris OS provides more than 13,000 man pages. All man page collections are broken up into sections, which vary slightly from vendor to vendor or even release to release. Large sections are sometimes divided into volumes.

Viewing man pages on the Sun Product Documentation site at http://docs.sun.com offers several advantages over viewing man pages from the command line. Each section or volume is presented as a book with an index, preface, and an alphabetized list of items with links and short descriptions. For example, the following partial list comes from the Section 2 System Calls web page.

Figure 2: Docs.sun.com: System Calls
docs.sun.com: System Calls

In some sections, an introductory page provides an overview of the section. The man pages for the Solaris 10 OS are organized into sections and volumes as follows:

Roadmap to Documentation for Developers Working With Java Technology

Two good resources with pointers to current documentation for Java technology are the Java Technology Documentation web page and the Development Tools web page. These web pages refer to the following technologies:

  • J2SE Platform -- Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) provides a complete environment for application development on desktops and servers. It also serves as the foundation for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java technology-based web services. There are two principal products in the J2SE platform family: Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and J2SE Development Kit (JDK). The JRE provides the Java APIs, Java virtual machine, and other components necessary to run applets and applications written in the Java programming language. It is also the foundation for J2EE technology for enterprise software development and deployment. The JRE does not contain tools and utilities such as compilers or debuggers for developing applets and applications.

  • J2EE Platform -- The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) defines the standard for developing multitier enterprise applications. The J2EE platform simplifies enterprise applications by basing them on standardized, modular components, by providing a complete set of services to those components, and by automatically handling many details of application behavior, thus reducing programming complexity.

  • Java Technology and Web Services -- Web services are web-based enterprise applications that use open, XML-based standards and transport protocols to exchange data with calling clients. The J2EE platform provides the APIs and tools you need to create and deploy interoperable web services and clients. The Java Web Services Tutorial is a guide for programmers who are developing and deploying web services and web applications on the Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8 Update 1 (version 8.0.0_01).

  • J2ME Platform -- The Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) provides a robust, flexible environment for applications running on consumer devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, and TV set-top boxes, as well as a broad range of embedded devices. Like its counterparts for the enterprise (J2EE), desktop (J2SE), and smart card (Java Card) environments, J2ME includes Java virtual machines and a set of standard Java APIs defined through the Java Community Process by expert groups whose members include leading device manufacturers, software vendors, and service providers.

  • Java Card Platform -- Java Card technology provides a secure environment for applications that run on smart cards and other devices with very limited memory and processing capabilities. Multiple applications can be deployed on a single card, and new applications can be added to a card even after it has been issued to the end user. Applications written in the Java programming language can be executed securely on cards from different vendors.

  • XML -- Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a cross-platform, extensible, and text-based standard for representing data. It is also a key technology in the development of web services. The following architectures and APIs are provided for developing XML-based applications:

    • Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB)
    • Java API for XML Processing (JAXP)
    • Java API for XML Registries (JAXR)
    • Java API for XML-based RPC (JAX-RPC)
    • SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ)

  • API Specifications -- API specifications for the Java platform and related products and libraries are freely available to the community of Java technology users.

  • Java Performance Documentation -- A large body of information is available for tuning performance of Java technology throughout the stack.

  • Java Technology-Based Development Tools -- Sun offers three powerful, integrated development environments for developing and deploying Java applications that are fully compliant with Java technology standards:

    • The open source NetBeans IDE is a tool for developing and deploying components and applications based on J2SE, J2ME, and J2EE technology. NetBeans is a code-centric IDE, that is, it is designed for developers who prefer to focus on the edit/compile/debug cycle.
    • Sun Java Studio Creator IDE, a visual design tool based on the NetBeans platform, enables the rapid development of Java applications for the web. The Java Studio Creator environment uses:
      • A visual design center
      • Standard components based on JavaServer Faces technology
      • Rowset technology found in Java DataBase Connectivity DataBase (JDBC) software for working with relational databases
      • A simplified event coding model to increase developer productivity
    • Sun Java Studio Enterprise 7 software allows for model-driven development based on the NetBeans platform and supports complete application development for the J2EE platform in addition to Java applications for the desktop and web tier programming. Features include visual UML Java class diagramming, reverse engineering of Java (and J2EE) classes, real-time communication and collaboration on coding projects, and execution profiling of deployed J2EE applications. In addition, the Sun Java Enterprise System is packaged with Sun Java Studio Enterprise 7 software so that developers can leverage the powerful functionality provided in this system. To learn more, check out the numerous resources, including:

Roadmap to Documentation for Developers Working With Sun Java Enterprise System

The Sun Java Enterprise System is a software infrastructure that provides the services needed to support enterprise-strength applications distributed across a network or Internet environment, specifically:

  • Portal services. Portal services enable mobile employees, telecommuters, knowledge workers, business partners, suppliers, and customers to use the Internet to securely access their personalized corporate portal from anywhere outside the corporate network. These services provide anytime, anywhere access capabilities to user communities, delivering integration, aggregation, personalization, security, mobile access, and search.

  • Communications and collaboration services. These services enable the secure interchange of information among diverse user communities. Specific capabilities include messaging, realtime collaboration, and calendar scheduling in the context of the user's business environment.

  • Network identity and security services. The services improve security and protection of key corporate information assets by ensuring that appropriate access control policies are enforced across all communities, applications, and services on a global basis. These services work with a repository for storing and managing identity profiles, access privileges, and application and network resource information.

  • Web and application services. Based on J2EE technology, these services enable IT organizations to develop, deploy, and manage applications for a broad range of servers, clients, and devices.

  • Availability services. These services deliver a unique approach to application service-level management. Availability services provide the patented "Always-On" technology for application and web services, delivering near-continuous availability and scalability.

The documentation collection for Sun Java System Application Server software contains information about all elements in the Sun Java Enterprise System. The collection includes the Sun Java Enterprise System 2004Q2 Documentation Roadmap, which can give you an idea of the available documents. For information that is of specific interest to developers, see the current versions of the following manuals:

Roadmap to Documentation for Programming With Other Sun Products

If you develop applications in the Basic programming language, see the StarOffice 7 Office Suite - Basic Programmer's Guide.

Developers who write applications for the Sun Java Desktop System (JDS) should refer to the Java Desktop System Configuration Manager Developer Guide to enable the applications to be managed by the JDS Configuration Manager.

Developers working on components for the N1 Grid Service Provisioning System product can use the N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Plug-in Development Guide to design plug-ins and the N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Plan and Component Developer's Guide to learn about managing applications.

Other Information Sources for Sun Products

In addition to Sun documentation, you can learn about Sun products from the following sources:

  • Sun Developer Services -- Sun Developer Services are provided by Sun to help developers specifically with programming advice and product support issues.

  • Sun Forums -- The Solaris forums provide the means for you to post questions and other topics to the Solaris and other Sun product/technology communities.

  • SunSolve online support documents -- SunSolve maintains a knowledge base of short articles that provide solutions for specific issues concerning Sun hardware and software products. See the Support Documents and Knowledge Base web pages at the SunSolve web site. SunSolve also provides patch information, special bulletins, a FAQ for Forte for Java tools, and articles on StarOffice software.

  • Sun instructor-led and online courses -- Courses on the Solaris OS, as well as other technologies offered by Sun Microsystems, are listed in the course catalog.

  • Sun Developer Network articles -- Where the Sun documentation provides the fundamentals about technologies, articles on the Sun Developer Network complement documentation by providing information on special techniques and aspects of technologies of a more specialized nature. The Sun Developer Network provides detailed technical articles.

  • BigAdmin web site -- The BigAdmin portal is a valuable resource for the administrator community and offers a lot of good information to developers as well, considering the importance of knowing how to maintain one's system. The web site provides articles, a list of Solaris OS-compatible hardware, and a library of scripts, among other resources.

  • Other books -- You can also find good information for developing on Sun products from books published by Sun Microsystems Press.

  • Solaris OS product literature -- For product literature on the Solaris OS including data sheets, tours, case studies, and white papers, see the Solaris Operating System web site.

  • Java product literature -- For product literature on the Java language and associated products, refer to the Java technology web page.

About the Author

John Stearns is an SDN information architect at Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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