Based on the posts on this board you would think that SPARC and Solaris were dead and buried. But a simple search of the Oracle careers website shows over 100 of openings for SPARC and Solaris. Me thinks there's a bit of misinformation circulating on this board.
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There are plenty of SPARC Solaris jobs at Oracle if you look for them. Saying the product is dead is completely wrong. Source: I am an IC5 who works in HW.
The original poster must be in Oracle marketing as a check at Oracle careers doesn't show a single opening for a SPARC developer. A couple for x86 related technologies, such as one focused on FPGAs. Oracle's insistence that it is not only alive but somehow thriving in the face of incredible evidence only further reinforces the public's perception that Oracle is a dishonest company.
Bare metal support on x86 requires paying developers to support new hardware year after year. Running as a guest means you just support virtualization interfaces, and stop spending money on new hw support.
VM’s need HW, but on x86, that HW will run Linux as the host OS, and Solaris as the guest
Why not just run Solaris on the x86 bare metal? Why have the overhead of a hypervisor?
Yes, there are some of us left. And we are extremely motivated, loving our jobs, and giving it all for the products and the company. Right?
There are still some of us left in ST s org to do the sustaining work.
VM’s need HW, but on x86, that HW will run Linux as the host OS, and Solaris as the guest, so Solaris won’t have to support the HW directly. Bare metal support on SPARC is not a problem as there’s no new HW to support.
Even BN has retired so there's nobody left. The lights have been turned off on Solaris forever. No work being done at all on it as the only engineering staff left from Solaris were moved to Linux.
jeez, not again this discussion...
Solaris is in sustaining, all the "new features and bug fixes every month" are just actually updates to open source apps included in the package, and contractually unavoidable security fixes.
The S12 label sometimes seen in docs and notes is just the old name of the original project never amended, Solaris 12 has been definitely cancelled years ago, and a very reduced version has been published a–11.4, which is the end of the story... S11.5 was expected last august and has been cancelled, there will be nothing after S11.4.
Fujitsu was expected to present a new S64 SPARC cpu next year but since Oracle refused to update the kernel to support it, also this new cpu has been cancelled and replaced with an overclocked S64 XII cpu (i.e. the current one) with no new features. most probably this will be the last SPARC cpu from Fujitsu.
Oracle has not renewed the contract with TSMC, so we got the last batch of M8 in late 2018. once they are finished will be the end of the road for our SPARC servers.
SPARC was never a cloud offering, the ridicolous M300 was made from the beginning to be a failure, ans this was a very clear indicator of what were the real Oracle's plan with SPARC.
The Linux on SPARC project was never born, even if a beta code was released, because the Holy MH was fiercely contrary, and managed to close the project and even cancel the already presented (and sold to a couple of customers) Exadata SL6.
Oracle SPARC business is declining 30% YoY, and even if there is no more any HW engineering, and only very few SW engineers for Solaris maintenance, the cost of sales are still high, and most probably Oracle will stop selling SPARC during next CY even before running out of cpus.
VM's (LDOMs, Zones, hypervisors, etc.) still need HW.
Hardware support from 2025 to 2034 will mainly be VM guest support, not new bare metal systems.
Solaris 12 was released last year, in a trimmed down form, renamed 11.4. Everything else was thrown out, and so many people laid off that there was no one left to go edit the old bugs from before the renaming to get rid of the evidence that there ever was a Solaris 12 plan.
There will never be another full release of Solaris no matter how much out of date info you find. Oracle will simply remove the bug data from public view to end any confusion you may have.
Let it gooooo.....
If they don't have enough spare parts in stock now, then they'd better buy them now from suppliers. Ordering them in say 2025 will probably be too late. That said, I honestly don't have any idea of what the inventory is like now.
Solaris is dead. Live with it. Move on.
ST inherited all of Solaris after BN left, but ST has also picked up other products because Solaris continues to be wound down.
Regarding supporting Solaris until 2034, what hardware would that be running on? Where will the spare parts come from? Ebay?
found a bug report in MyOracleSupport about Solaris 12 Sparc :
Bug 22229116 - Solaris: INS-13001 error during GI/RAC installation on S12 Sparc (Doc ID 22229116.8)
Description
INS-13001 error occurs during GI/RAC installation on S12 Sparc
Rediscovery Notes
CVU checks run with -r 12.1 fail saying Solaris 5.12 is not supported.
Workaround
None
Does it mean Solaris 12 will be finally released ?
"While most has been ported to 64-bit now, not all of it has. "
Well, they have 19 years to do it, though I expect that Solaris will have been sunset by then. They aren't promising any support after 2034.
SOL DOA
Solaris has to fix the ones that come with the OS. Remember that almost all userspace software shipped up through Solaris 11 was 32-bit, since 32-bit kernels were still supported. While most has been ported to 64-bit now, not all of it has.
but all the 32-bit legacy applications are not
Is that Solaris's fault? Wouldn't that be true on any 32 bit OS?
IT shops have almost 20 years to port their apps to 64 bit and migrate their data to new file formats and file systems. That's an eternity. I'll bet that those in charge of those shops today see that as "someone else's problem"
Most 64-bit software is Y2038-safe, but all the 32-bit legacy applications are not, nor are some of the older file formats and file systems that baked 32-bit time stamps into their structures.
S11 support can’t be extended further, because then Oracle would have to spend money on making it Y2038-safe
Aren't 64 bit versions already Y2038 safe?
Solaris is being sustained only so there is zero new feature development work. Anybody who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. 95% of the Solaris org was laid off recently and even BN has left the building now. The End. Game Over.
Will there be more Sun lay-off?
It's all about the BUDGET. If the company approves the HC budget, obviously your manger would love the fit it ASAP. When budget gets cut, they have to select someone for "to go". Very simple. Can you see any bright future of Sparc Solaris that Oracle will approve budget for hiring 1000+ people? It's not about Oracle itself, it is just Sun's BU. Be happy, retirement is not bad.
Solaris group is a sustaining group i.e. meant for the graveyard; turn the lights out after all SLA is met.
Most are headed to retirement or plan to so it doesn't matter to them.
No one, NO ONE who plans on job hunting in the future would want 'solaris' as a recent experience on their resume.
When this topic appear periodically, it implies something is going to happen...
S11 support can’t be extended further, because then Oracle would have to spend money on making it Y2038-safe, and Oracle only wants to take money, not spend it.
Still updating Solaris 11.4 with new features and bug fixes every month as shown here https://support.oracle.com/knowledge/Sun%20Microsystems/2433412_1.html
Solaris is a total cash cow for Oracle, no doubt. But Oracle has no intention of investing any more into it. Oracle is in a pure "milk it till it's dead" mode where we s— our customers dry because we know they are locked in. Oracle doesn't even bother to make Java for Solaris anymore. JDK 11 was the end of the road for Solaris. https://openjdk.java.net/jeps/362
Whatever it is that you're smoking, please share so we can enjoy it too.
S10 support extended to 2024, S11 to 2034, possibly longer. M8, T8, and T7 systems still being sold. M8 and T8 will continue to sell for a number of years, lots of customers need an upgrade path from 10+ year SPARC equipment and have no interest in porting their entire business operation. Cheaper to just replace equipment and run for another 10 years. Many customers also aren’t interested in cloud due to the nature of their business and application profile. As mentioned elsewhere SPARC could get another bump should Fujitsu decide to tapeout a new processor. Check the numbers Oracle publishes, there’s real revenue generated on service, support, and equipment sales for SPARC, excellent margin as well. FWIW, there’s a very good chance that your electronic footprint on any given day has passed through a piece of SPARC equipment running Solaris, and that will continue to happen for a good portion of your lifetime.
My understanding is that because of customer demand full Solaris 10 support has been extended to 2024.
I'm certain that the day when the last Solaris/Sparc machine is shutdown will arrive, but I don't think it's as imminent as some here believe.
SPARC servers are still being sold and supported, as long as people are still buying the existing designs in enough quantity to keep manufacturing going. A 5Ghz 32 core M8 will run quite well for many purposes today - the question is how long it will continue to be competitive as it stands still while others move forward with new products.
Lol. No. It's a sustaining group. 60+ age group only apply.
Those positions are stale/expired and never taken down. Only replacement is if they lose a headcount due to retirement or death.
Would you really want 'solaris' on your resume as recent experience?
@11oQ5uuP-1uzh If you want your entire IT system fresh, you've got to be migrated to linux based system.
Last time I seriously looked, most companies that are after SPARC/Solaris experience is to help them migrate to a Linux based platform.
can last till you can retire, right on!
ageism == not hiring
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/9vqp7w/is_sparc_still_worth_buying/