Sun management software

Question

Hi,
we are looking at sun management software and noticed that it costs about $300+ per client.
what is an alternative to this which is less expensive or free?
what are you other admins doing?
thanks,
~jv

Answer 1

I, too, have been trying to sort out the options and tools for supporting Solaris 9 and 10.
This maybe behond the scope of your question but here is some of what I've uncovered in the last couple of years:
The class Intermediate System Administration (SA 239) has you download the recommended patch cluster and install using ./install_cluster. This works but you will not know which patches will be installed until after the fact. So this process does not support preparing for any changes made by the patches.
The only other process that I have used involve using a non Sun script - pca from http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/intro.html This perl script has many options but the "pretend" option makes it easy to determine which patches will be installed and what revision of the patch is currently installed.
Here are some of the sources I use to try an keep up with patches and other technical details of supporting Solaris
If you have a SunSolve account you can subscribe to email alerts at:
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/editSubscribedDocuments.do
There are 6 "collections" of "New Documents". I receive a single daily email. The email contains a numbered list (with URLs) for each collection that has New Documents. The collections are:
BUG             (includes bug number and very short description URL)
INFODOC         (includes short description, the INFODOC number is imbedded in the URL)
PATCH           (includes patch number short description/title and URL)
SRDB            (Symptoms and Resolutions - includes short description and URL)
SUNALERT        (including short description and URL)
TROUBLESHOOTING (including short description and URL)Another source for patch information is the SUNSOLVE[SM] PATCH CLUB report (sign up at https://subscriptions.sun.com/subscription_center/ecomm.jsp). This a weekly email with four main sections. The first section has one line for each new patch with a short title/description. The second section has an entry for each patch with more details (includes keywords, synopsis, Solaris Release, bugid's fixed and other details) - but no URLs. The thrid section is a list of Withdrawn patches. The fourth section has an entry for each withdrawn patch that includes reason and recommendation details.
SUN(SM) ALERT WEEKLY SUMMARY REPORT is another source. This one covers "critical hardware and software issues". It includes the Sun Alert ID and URL. Sign up is at the same URL as the Patch Club report above.
have good weekend,
Glen