Oracle tightens security with Solaris updates

Oracle has updated its Solaris range, improving security for virtual machines and integrating its disaster recovery tools more closely with Oracle's enterprise applications.

The updates cover Oracle's Solaris 10 9/10 enterprise operating system, its availability and disaster recovery product Solaris Cluster 3.3, and development platform Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2.

John Fowler, executive vice president of Oracle's Systems and Storage group, said in a webcast that the company is giving enterprises a "complete offering from storage to the network".

The latest version of Solaris 10 has a number of fixes and improvements, including performance enhancements for systems using Oracle RAC and Java Runtime.

Fowler explained that the improvements offer enhanced reliability and security when running virtual machines, and that Solaris 10 now works with systems based on Sparc and x86 processors.

The Solaris Studio 12.2 developer tool includes more advanced features for debugging, while Solaris Cluster 3.3 offers improved failover features and better support for virtualisation and storage.

Oracle said that Solaris Cluster 3.3 had been redesigned to offer "the most extensive, enterprise high-availability and disaster recovery solutions".

The software offers the ability to create virtual application clusters, closer links to WebLogic Server, Siebel CRM, MySQL Cluster and Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g, and uses Trusted Extensions for mission critical apps and services.

Oracle's annual OpenWorld user event takes place in just over a week, and it seems unlikely that the firm will make any more major announcements about Solaris at the event after this big overhaul. However, the firm has provided some clues as to its next significant release.

Fowler said that Solaris 11 will be released next year, and will "completely extend what an enterprise operating system is about".

V3.co.uk will be at Openworld in San Francisco posting all the latest news and analysis from the show as it happens. In the meantime, you can get involved in our discussions around the show at our dedicated Openworld forum.