Solaris 11.4 SRU 90 Name Service Checks

Solaris 11.4 SRU 90: Stricter Name Service Validation

I recently upgrading to Solaris 11.4 SRU 90 and found a new service SMF service in a degraded state: svc:/system/check/name-services, which didn't like my DNS client options "timeout:1 attempts:5"

The svc:/system/check/name-services uses the new "/usr/sbin/nscfg check" option to ensure the correct syntax.

# Failed service
$ svcs  svc:/system/check/name-services:default
STATE          STIME               FMRI
degraded       2026-03-04T06:25:11 svc:/system/check/name-services:default

# Checked FMRI name-service logs 
$ tail -4 /var/svc/log/system-check-name-services:default.log
[ 2026 Mar  4 06:25:10 Executing start method ("/lib/svc/method/check-naming"). ]
[ 2026 Mar  4 06:25:11 check-naming: One naming service configuration issue detected: ]
Error: issue in svc:/network/dns/client: bad value in property config/options = timeout:1 attempts:5
[ 2026 Mar  4 06:25:11 Method "start" exited with status 103. ]
[ 2026 Mar  4 06:25:11 "start" method requested degraded state: "One naming service configuration issue detected."

This confused me initially as the legacy /etc/resolv.conf file looked perfectly fine.

# resolv.conf looks correct
$ grep options /etc/resolv.conf 
options timeout:1 attempts:5

# Manual check of SMF Name Service syntax
$ /usr/sbin/nscfg check 
Error: issue in svc:/network/dns/client: bad value in property config/options = timeout:1 attempts:5 

The new validation requires multiple options to be defined as a proper astring array. To clear the degraded state, update your configuration using the following syntax:

# Correctly format the options as an array
$ svccfg -s svc:/network/dns/client setprop config/options = astring: \("timeout:1" "attempts:5"\)

# Apply the changes
$ svcadm refresh dns/client

Once updated, svc:/system/check/name-services should return to online.

Life in the old dog yet - Solaris and me

As I approach my 35th year at WTL, I am reminded of the countless times I have supported, deployed, migrated, and virtualized Solaris systems. Despite its age, Solaris remains an incredibly secure, reliable, capable, and stable platform that delivers critical applications to millions of users every day. And I'm happy to report that Solaris is not going anywhere soon - nor am I.

Over the years, Solaris has proven itself time and time again, earning the trust of organizations that require a dependable operating system for their most critical applications. And while there may be newer, flashier options out there, Solaris continues to provide the features and functionality that many users require.

Solaris and I may be getting up there in years, but we're not ready to slow down just yet. We still have plenty to offer, and we're not going anywhere anytime soon. So if you're looking for a secure, reliable, and stable platform for your critical applications, consider giving Solaris a try - and know that you'll have experienced professionals like me to support you every step of the way.

2016 - 30 Years in Unix - Tools of the trade

Celebrating my 30th Year in Unix.

Expect some reminiscing from the days gone by.

I still have my first "vi" reference guide, dog eared and tea stain (I'm British), dated 1987.
I came to vi late as I started with "ed" writing Cobol on a PDP11/44, AT&T V7 Unix. Yes I did have to use coding sheets, before I could start coding on the terminal.

KeePassX 2.0 On Redhat 6 / Cent OS 6 / OL6

I'm sure we all know the virtues of long, complex and unrememberable passwords and the need for a tool to store them. My favourite has been KeePass, with a shared database on a cloud drive.

KeePassX has long been around for native Linux support, but hasn't been compatibility with the KeePass 2 (Professional Edition) database format kdbx. Well the excellent authors have release KeePassX 2.0 which is a rewrite with kdbx support.  Currently only available as source code, the following instructions will help you to compile and install on Redhat 6/ CentOS 6 /Oracle Linux 6.

Required packages
$ sudo yum install cmake gcc-c++ qt-devel qt libgcrypt libgcrypt-devel libXtst libXtst-devel

NOTE* GIT version https://github.com/keepassx/keepassx uses QT5 plus other packages.

Download source
$ wget https://www.keepassx.org/releases/2.0/keepassx-2.0.tar.gz
$ tar zxvf keepassx-2.0.tar.gz
$ cd keepassx-2.0

Create UNIX Makefiles
$ cmake  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON -DWITH_GUI_TESTS=ON 

Compile and install
$ make
$ sudo make install

Execute
$ /usr/local/bin/keepassx

Solaris Leap second - Time well spent

Stayed on line for the extra second 01:00BST.

Glad to say all Solaris system good so far.


Solaris 11.2 Latest SRU - NTPv4 Slew mode
Jul  1 01:00:01 sol11-2 ntpd[659]: [ID 702911 daemon.notice] Positive leap second, expect slowdown slew soon. System clock will be inaccurate until it finishes.

Solaris 11.1 - NTPv4 Slew mode (bug doesn't handle leap second correctly)
Jul  1 01:00:00 sol11-1 ntpd[3459]: [ID 702911 daemon.notice] Inserting positive leap second.

Solaris 10 NTPv3 client in slew mode
Jul  1 01:01:48 sol10 xntpd[3183]: [ID 774427 daemon.notice] time reset (slew) -0.997015 s

Pocket full of caps!

Pocket full of LC Fibre dust caps, after all-nighter DC relocation and SAN build.

25 years as an IT Professional.

25 years today I started work at WTL PLC. Then known as CEC, which was Data General and Wang broker. I came on board in 1989 at the start of the Unix technical workstation revolution, "Power to the Desktop". Along came Apollo's running Aegis/Domain OS and Sun MicroSystems Sun-3 range with SunOS 3. Installing and patching from QIC tape was the highlight of my day!

A lot of things have changed over the years in IT, which is itself is the catalyst that has kept me challenged, motivated and passionate about delivering solutions to customers.

As the longest serving employee at WTL I've seen a few people come and go, but the core people and values haven't. The technical team around me, are dedicated to the customers challenges and issues and continue to make my life easier. Equally the WTL sales team, driven commitment in finding outstanding projects, to which the WTL technical team can deliver the foremost technology with latest servers, storage, software and networks.

Thanks to all customers and colleagues(friends) for all your support over the years.

Andy