[afnog] Sun systems architecture, free applications

[Patrick Okui]

Hello,

On 15/12/2011 3:09 PM, muchiri wambui wrote:
> My question is that i want to acquire a sunfire 6900 Server, which is a
> sun systems architecture,but i do not know if
> i can still run the above applications/services in the sun systems. And
> if i can , do we have any free sun licenses for the above applications?

Ok, first things first. The licenses for applications like Squid or
Asterisk apply whether they are run on a Linux distro (like Ubuntu) or
FreeBSD or Solaris[*] (which is what will come on your sunfire e6900
server).

So. Your options are:

1. Keep Solaris and find ways to install those packages on Solaris. If
you are used to aptitude and/or apt-get then http://www.blastwave.com
and http://www.opencsw.org will have OSS packages built to work with the
Solaris package management tools (pkg-get and/or pkgutil). Some things
like LDAP do come with Solaris already.

2. As Amos suggested, download the SPARC version of your favourite UNIX
(Linux/*BSD) distro. Ubuntu seems to have discontinued support for SPARC
according to
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/20/ubuntu_sparc_itanic_dead/> so
the latest you'll run on those systems is 10.04 LTS. Other penguin
distros like Debian still have active SPARC ports. Once done, you use
the relevant package management tools to get your software installed.

Your choice between 1 and 2 will depend on

a. If any business requirements are going to force your hand either way.
b. How you weigh the Solaris learning curve VS installing a more
familiar OS and dealing with possible hardware support issues.

I must say, though, if you're going to wipe the machine and put some
penguin on it then maybe you're purchasing the wrong kit?

--
patrick

[*] Please note that Solaris itself is _NOT_ free in both senses of the
word it seems. You'll probably find a licensed copy installed on your
Sunfire but you need to look up the fine print on how to update/patch it
etc.

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 259 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://afnog.org/pipermail/afnog/attachments/20111216/8b411f08/attachment.pgp>