Volume 92, Issue 2

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October 10th, 2005 — October 16th, 2005
System News System News for Sun Users  
Volume 92, Issue 2
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Sun Grid's recent trial deployment with the Prediction Company's financial services software tops this week's News headlines [15248] followed by the introduction of the SunToneTM Service Delivery Specification Version 3.0 and the Hershey Company's 99.99 percent availability results with the SunTone Service Excellence Model [15273]. Also in the News, Sun's role in the Participation Age now has the company sponsoring 12 young African civic and technology leaders [15272], and Sun's wholly owned subsidiary StorageTek is honored by Frost & Sullivan with the 2005 Market Penetration Leadership award [15249].

An analysis of the Sun/Google partnership in relation to Microsoft [15263] is offered in the Features section, along with Google Software Engineer Li Moore's take on his company's switch to JavaTM technology's Tiger [15216]. Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) round out this section with a discussion on emphasizing an architectural approach [15202] and how RouteOne LLC effectively maximized SOA [15268].

Documentation outlining the Sun FireTM x64 servers has been released, detailing why these new servers have an edge over the competition [15244] and descriptions of the Sun FireTM X4100 and Sun FireTM X4200 server architectures [15145]are also part of the section. Andy Bechtolsheim shares his view on the Galaxy server line [15218].

The Sun and Standards section covers Sun's issuance of a non-assertion covenant for its patents related to the OpenDocument file format standard [15264]; the U.S. state of Massachusetts' open standard policy [15265]; a recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission statement encouraging standards-setting organizations [15266]; and the newly elected chair of the OASIS Board of Directors [15267].

In Security, read about the benefits of using SolarisTM Containers to enhance the security of deployed systems and services [15195] and Snort's capabilities as a pattern-matching network-based intrusion detection system [15162].

Learning how to manage utility tools in Solaris Containers [15214] and achieve IT operational excellence with SunSM Preventive Services [15220] begins the SysAdmin's Section that also contains highlights of a BigAdminSM Xperts session on Predictive Self-Healing [15194] and the current Sun Net Talks Seminars available free [15196].

News
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Sun Grid Successfully Completes Trial Deployment
Pilot Shows Faster Integration of New Sources of Data
A trial deployment of the Sun Grid Compute Utility has been successfully completed, reports Sun, and the Prediction Company plans on continuing to use the Sun Grid to enable faster integration of new sources of data. The technology-based trading system company deployed its financial services software on the Sun Grid Compute Utility.
SunTone Service Delivery Specification Version 3.0 Introduced
Improves Service Delivery Management and IT Governance
The newest version of the SunTone Service Delivery Specification, version 3.0, was introduced this past week along with results of a customer's deployment of Sun's specification and certification program for the delivery and management of IT services. SunTone helps enterprises derive greater business value from IT.
Using Technology for Social and Economic Advancement
Sun Sponsors Young African Leaders at Upcoming Tech Conference
Sun announced that it will be sponsoring 12 young African civic and technology leaders as Sun Participation Fellows at this year's PopTech conference, a leading forum for exploring the social impacts of technology and its future. Each Fellow is working to advance social and economic agendas in their home countries.
Information Lifecycle Management Solution for Healthcare Honored
Frost & Sullivan Recognize StorageTek's Product and Service Offerings
Frost & Sullivan recently honored Sun's wholly owned subsidiary StorageTek with the 2005 Market Penetration Leadership award for successful, sustained penetration into the European healthcare market. Frost & Sullivan awarded StorageTek's Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) solution for healthcare on the strength of its end-to-end product and service offerings.
Top Ten Articles for Last 3 Issues
Vol 91 Issue 3 and 4, Vol 92 Issue 1

Each week, we determine which articles have been most frequently referenced by logged-in subscribers to provide you with a list of the most popular articles for each of the last three issues. The Web version of this article lists the top 10 articles for each of the last three issues. The top articles for the three most recent issues were:

  • 92.1: Sun to Offer Google Toolbar with JRE Downloads
  • 91.4: Sun Announces 1.5GHz UltraSPARC IV+ Uniboards
  • 91.3: New UltraSPARC IV+ Powering Five Sun Fire Servers
Features
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In This Corner, Sun and Google; In the Other, MICROSOFT
Who Will Come Out on Top?

In the fight shaping up between Sun and Google on one hand and Microsoft on the other, Joshua Macht with TIME Online Edition sees a remake of the classic David and Goliath story. He suggests, however, that more than the IT equivalent of a slingshot will be needed to vanquish the giant.

Google Transitions to Tiger - J2SE 5.0
A Talk with Google Software Engineer Li Moore
Li Moore is a software engineer at Google who had a hand in the company's transition to Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE 5.0). He outlined the experience in an interview with Robert Eckstein hosted on the Sun Developer Network Web site.
The Architectural Approach to Service Oriented Architectures
Calls for a Change of Culture Within an Organization
John Crupi and Dan Malks wrote the book on Java software development, "Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies," a seminal title that help lay the groundwork for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The authors discussed their ideas about SOA in the September 2005 issue of Sun's Inner Circle.
SOA Today: Lessons Learned and Speculation About What's Next
Creation of a Web-based Credit Aggregation Management System
Janice J. Heiss talks with T.N. Subramaniam, director of technology and chief architect at RouteOne LLC and Ashok Mollin, enterprise architect at Sun, about the implementation of an service oriented architecture (SOA) to provide a web-based credit aggregation management system (CAMS) for 80 percent of the 22,000 auto dealerships in the United States.
Standards
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And the Winner for the Most Open Standard of 2005 is...
...the OpenDocument File Format!

Late last month, Sun made an enormously innovative announcement that it hopes will help transform how intellectual property is treated in IT standardization. In a step of inspired leadership, Sun issued a non-assertion covenant for its patents related to the OpenDocument file format standard.

U.S. State of Massachusetts Adopts Open Standard Policy
Chooses the OpenDocument Standard

The state of Massachusetts has created a policy of adopting open standards and chose the OpenDocument format in its first decision that supports this new policy. This action by the state of Massachusetts - and numerous other actions by governments around the globe - indicates a significant shift in thinking about the proper role of IT in economic development and social well-being.

Legal Concerns Diminished for Standards Organizations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Statement Encourages Collaboration

Sun recently co-hosted a conference on technology standardization with the Stanford University law school, titled "Standardization and the Law: Developing the Golden Mean for Global Trade." This conference, part of our Standards Edge series, addressed perceived conflicts between intellectual property and competition law, public policy, standards setting and global trade goals.

Sun Employee Elected Chair of the OASIS Board of Directors
Corporate Standards Team Member Eduardo Gutentag Takes Lead
Eduardo Gutentag, a member of Sun's Corporate Standards team, was recently re-elected to the OASIS Board of Directors and also elected to chair the organization. Mr. Gutentag was the lead advocate for recent productive changes to the OASIS intellectual property policy.
Entry Level Servers
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New for the Enterprise: Sun Fire x64 Industry Standard Servers
Economy, Performance, Reliability in the Sun Server Family

The Sun white paper "Sun Fire X2100, X4100 and X4200 Servers: Redefining x64 Industry Standard Servers" outlines the considerations that give an edge to this new server line. Among those mentioned are the costs of operation and costs of providing cooling and power.

"Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 Server Architectures"
Speed, Reliability, Efficiency in Sun's x64 Server Family
The Sun technical white paper "Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 Server Architectures" describes these two new additions to the Sun product line as "the fastest most reliable and energy efficient x64 enterprise servers in the market. Reportedly, this server line more than one-and-a-half times the performance while providing power and cooling savings over competitors.
Andy Bechtolsheim Shares His Views on Galaxy
Sun Fire x64 Servers Open New Doors for Sun
Since his return to Sun Microsystems, Andy Bechtolsheim has been involved with several projects though none is as important to the future of Sun as the Galaxy project, Sun's internal code name for the AMD Opteron-based Sun Fire x64 servers. Bechtolsheim shared his views on Galaxy and its future in the industry with Tom Yager of Infoworld.
Sysadmin
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"Utility Tools for Management of Solaris Containers"
Discover and Instrument Solaris Zones for Resource Management

Learning how to utilize the Solaris 10 Operating System's (Solaris OS) built-in utility tools to instrument and manage Solaris Zones in Solaris Containers is the topic of a September 2005 Sun PDF by Lei Liu. These utilities allow for the monitoring and alarm setting of zone status for management applications.

Achieve IT Operational Excellence with Sun Preventive Services
Identifies and Manages Risk Conditions Across Entire IT Environment

Striving for IT operational efficiency is a goal for most system administrators. To achieve that goal, a healthy IT environment works on prevention rather than reaction to daily operations, claims Sun, whose Sun Preventive Services is offered as an efficient solution to help data center customers identify and manage risk conditions proactively across the entire IT environment.

BigAdmin XPerts Session Covering Predictive Self-Healing
Sun Engineers Cynthia McGuire and Liane Praza Fielding Questions

System administrators can maximize availability in the face of software and hardware faults and facilitate a simpler and more effective end-to-end experience with the Predictive Self-Healing feature in the Solaris 10 Operating System (Solaris OS), explain Sun engineers Cynthia McGuire and Liane Praza in the current BigAdmin XPerts Session.

Sun Net Talk On Demand Online Seminars
Access Information on Sun's Latest Technologies Anytime

Sun Net Talk On Demand online seminars gives users access to information on the latest Sun technologies at their convenience. Currently, the new "Galaxy" x64 Sun Fire servers is just one of the featured Sun Net Talks available. Interested viewers are only required to register their email address before tuning in.

Security
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Taking Advantage of the Security Features in the Solaris 10 OS
Zones and Containers Prove an Effective Defense Against Exploitations
In a recent article, Glenn Brunette explains the use of the containers and zones available in the Solaris 10 Operating System (Solaris OS) to develop what he calls "...an enhanced ability to detect and contain security breaches, limit privilege escalation, and minimize installation of root kits, Trojan horses, and other malware."
"Introduction to Intrusion Detection With Snort"
Amy Rich Discusses the Pattern-Matching Approach to Security
Amy Rich has written a Sun BigAdmin article entitled "Introduction to Intrusion Detection with Snort" that begins with a survey of intrusion detection systems (IDS) and then moves on to consider Snort, a pattern-matching network-based IDS. The paper considers abundant examples of code.
Trademarks
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For Volume 92, Issue 2

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