Very Computer

Hi everyone,

I am thinking of pursuing certification on the Solaris 9 OE ...
the problems are as follows :
- I have no experience with Solaris OE's at all
- I don't have Sun servers or HW
- Solaris 9 is not available for x86 (so I can't play around with it
on my present machines)

You might think that I'm just crazy but my reasoning is as follows :
- I'm looking to find a job as a sys admin
- I don't want to be an MCSE (anyone wanna guess why ?)
- I have experience administering Linux servers
- Solaris OE is used everywhere where I come from and Solaris admins
are rare here

I'm thinking of possibly finding some used Sun servers to play with,
but I don't know if that's even possible in Kuwait.

I would really appreciate any ideas / suggestions ....
Thanks

   Not a handicap, nobody is born with the skill.

Quote:> - I don't have Sun servers or HW

   If the goal is to merely become "paper qualified" this is not
   a handicap.   However, if the thinking ever becomes an actual
   desire, backed by commitment, this is easily solved, the systems
   are reasonably inexpensive particularly if you have your own
   monitor.

Quote:>- Solaris 9 is not available for x86 (so I can't play around with it
>on my present machines)

>You might think that I'm just crazy but my reasoning is as follows :
>- I'm looking to find a job as a sys admin

   Linux is becoming popular.  In fact if you can find a company
   that thinks your linux skills are sufficient and they also have
   Solaris, trade your linux skills for access to solaris until you
   get good enough to take that on as well.

Quote:>- I don't want to be an MCSE (anyone wanna guess why ?)

   Although operating system wars are fun, they are typically fought
   by those with no real basis or skills.  Knowing Solaris, Linux,
   AND Mickeysoft increases your job range... dunno about where you
   are but few companies have only unix or pc, and being able to
   mix them well is very valuable.

|I am thinking of pursuing certification on the Solaris 9 OE ...
|- Solaris 9 is not available for x86 (so I can't play around with it
|on my present machines)

Solaris 8 is available now, and Solaris 9 will be soon.  Start with S8 -
most companies have not yet upgraded production servers to Solaris 9 yet
(many are still running 2.6 or 7 for that matter), and the basics are
the same on both.  (Solaris 9 just has some new features to learn.)

--
________________________________________________________________________


  Working for, but definitely not speaking for, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For the record I now have two servers running Solaris 9 in production.
Fully patched and mirrored.  No problems thus far and I am not expecting any.

Dennis clarke

99% of Solaris sys-admins I saw don't either.  Doesn't bother them...

Quote:> - I don't have Sun servers or HW

Not so long ago there were some really good deals back at Ebay for a
little bit older Sun HW.  Check Solaris 9 hardware compatibility before
buying.

Also, brand new Blade workstations and 1U rack-mount servers can be
found quite cheap.  Sun Fire V100 costs $1000 (US) and is a real (small,
entry level) server that you might encounter on your future job.  Note
that it doesn't support graphics (text console only).  The other option
is Sun Blade 100 workstation, which also costs $1000 plus $325 for Sun
entry level 17" monitor (plus some extra if you want more than default
configuration offers).

Quote:> - Solaris 9 is not available for x86 (so I can't play around with it
> on my present machines)

Get Solaris 8.  Most people don't have Solaris 9 on SPARCs yet.
Everything you learn on Solaris 8 can be applied to Solaris 9.

Quote:> You might think that I'm just crazy but my reasoning is as follows :
> - I'm looking to find a job as a sys admin

If you'll need to hire pricy consulting services once you have a job,
remember me :-)

Quote:> - I don't want to be an MCSE (anyone wanna guess why ?)

Don't get hooked up to a single technology.  Solaris is a great
operating system, but it isn't the only good thing that's outthere.  And
you never know what future brings.

Quote:> - I have experience administering Linux servers

Than you have good starting ground since some (not all) of your
knowledge is transferable to Solaris environment.  You will find things
that are exactly the same, things that are similar and things that are
completely different :-)

Quote:> - Solaris OE is used everywhere where I come from and Solaris admins
> are rare here

Kuwait, here I come (just joking) :-))))
I wish I could say that for Canada...

Quote:> I'm thinking of possibly finding some used Sun servers to play with,
> but I don't know if that's even possible in Kuwait.

Try Ebay, but before that triple check your local duty fees and taxes.
You don't want the price of item with shipping, duty fee and tax to be
larger than buying brand new thing :-)

--

<URL:http://www.milivojevic.org/>

Will work for food!

Thanks for all the advice guys, it's really appreciated.
Another question, is Solaris 8 for x86 the same as that for the Sparc
?
If so, I might just download that for $20 off of Sun's site and
install it on my current machines and learn what I need to until I can
get my hands on a Sparc wk or server.

        More or less. Functionally the same is probably the best description.

Quote:> If so, I might just download that for $20 off of Sun's site and
> install it on my current machines and learn what I need to until I can
> get my hands on a Sparc wk or server.

        If you do get some Sparc hardware, network it and you x86 together
        since you'll need to learn the networking aspects at some point.

        Good luck.

-am     ? 2002

It is almost the same.  You can't run binaries compiled for SPARC
processor (obviously) and there are few little differences because of
different hardware arhitectures.  There's no boot PROM on Intel, so you
don't have things related to it on Intel.

--

<URL:http://www.milivojevic.org/>

Will work for food!

Quote:>Thanks for all the advice guys, it's really appreciated.
>Another question, is Solaris 8 for x86 the same as that for the Sparc
>?
>If so, I might just download that for $20 off of Sun's site and
>install it on my current machines and learn what I need to until I can
>get my hands on a Sparc wk or server.

The only two major differences are things like disk
formatting/partitioning (Solaris makes some efforts to coexist with
other partitions on PC, whilst its expected to be the only OS on a SPARC
machine), and the lack of OpneBoot on PCs. Apart from that, there's more
software for SPARC.

A bientot
Paul
--
Paul Floyd                 http://paulf.free.fr (for what it's worth)
What happens if you have lead in your pants as well as lead in your pencil?