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Oracle Solaris Reviews

Vendor: Oracle
4.3 out of 5
616 followers
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What is Oracle Solaris?

Oracle Solaris is a trusted business platform that provides consistent compatibility, is simple to use, is always secure, and is designed to help you run your modern and legacy enterprise applications. The solution is the most recommended enterprise operating system for Oracle Database and Java applications and is engineered for large-scale enterprise deployments.

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Oracle Solaris is the #9 ranked solution in top Operating Systems for Business. PeerSpot users give Oracle Solaris an average rating of 8.6 out of 10. Oracle Solaris is most commonly compared to Ubuntu Linux: Oracle Solaris vs Ubuntu Linux. Oracle Solaris is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 65% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 14% of all views.
Buyer's Guide
Oracle Solaris
March 2025
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Oracle Solaris mindshare

As of May 2025, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category stands at 2.3%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business

PeerResearch reports based on Oracle Solaris reviews

TypeTitleDate
CategoryOperating Systems (OS) for BusinessMay 23, 2025Download
ProductReviews, tips, and advice from real usersMay 23, 2025Download
ComparisonOracle Solaris vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)May 23, 2025Download
ComparisonOracle Solaris vs Ubuntu LinuxMay 23, 2025Download
ComparisonOracle Solaris vs Oracle LinuxMay 23, 2025Download
Suggested products
TitleRatingMindshareRecommending
Ubuntu Linux4.313.4%95%147 interviewsAdd to research
Oracle Linux4.210.2%92%118 interviewsAdd to research
 
 
Key learnings from peers

Valuable Features

Oracle Solaris is praised for its robust virtualization capabilities, featuring Containers, Zones, and LDOMs. Its ZFS file system offers unmatched stability, security, and scalability. Users appreciate its performance, fault analysis tools like DTrace, and compatibility with Oracle applications. The operating system's security, reliability, and seamless upgrades stand out. High availability and efficient resource allocation further enhance its value. Its user-friendly interface and integration ease with databases and platforms are highly valued.
  • "Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of dark colors."
  • "We are able to deploy new environments very quickly and securely. Using the virtualization features, we can migrate the environments very flexibly between our servers."
  • "One of the main advantages is the rock-solid reliability. It works. The stability is very good. It has a very good track record in the data security database."

Room for Improvement

Oracle Solaris requires improvements in certification for non-Oracle x86 systems, user interface, compatibility with x86 hardware, and integration with office tools. Better patching without downtime, a simplified learning process, and enhanced third-party support are desired. Performance on non-Oracle hardware, marketing efforts, and documentation need enhancement. Improving ease of use and packaging to resemble Linux could help adaptability. Training availability and cost are challenges, and some users report hardware-specific stability issues.
  • "Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel."
  • "Patching without downtime would be nice."
  • "One of the drawbacks is Oracle itself. Oracle has its good and bad they are not putting resources into the development."

ROI

Oracle Solaris ensures high economic returns due to its seamless integration with other Oracle offerings, leading to reduced implementation time. Its stability minimizes downtime, enabling efficient business operations. Users experience faster troubleshooting with DTRACE and benefit from low maintenance, maximizing time saved. While some challenges arise in pricing structures and architecture, overall performance remains strong, resulting in significant man-hours saved. أOracle Solaris is maintained diligently by Oracle, ensuring enduring performance improvements.

Pricing

Enterprise users have mixed experiences with Oracle Solaris pricing and licensing. Many highlight the software's expensive nature, especially compared to Linux, yet some appreciate its cost-effectiveness when paired with Oracle hardware, as Solaris itself is free. Licensing complexity is noted, with savings possible through core management features like zones and LDOMs. Although support and annual licenses incur costs, some see these as reasonable. Solaris is lauded for performance and integration, though pricing improvements are desired.
  • "We don't use an authorized license."
  • "As a private user or individual, I wouldn't recommend it to others, considering it is a costly product."
  • "It is an expensive product. I rate the pricing a ten out of ten."

Popular Use Cases

Oracle Solaris is utilized for various purposes such as database management in financial institutions, telecoms, and energy sectors. It supports virtualization, core banking, application hosting, and storage solutions. Organizations use it across different platforms including SPARC and x86 servers for mission-critical systems. Companies appreciate its capabilities in managing and monitoring software, as well as operating system flexibility for Oracle applications and databases, leveraging its powerful virtualization features for hosting critical applications and minimizing operational costs.

Service and Support

Oracle Solaris customer service is generally reliable, offering 24/7 availability. Users appreciate professional technical support with knowledgeable staff. Some encounter delays in escalating issues, needing better engagement skills. Online tools like "My Oracle Support" are valued for troubleshooting. Experiences vary by geography, with some praising quick problem resolution. While some users find Oracle slow to respond, others benefit from regular patches and improved support. Many find online resources helpful, reducing the need for frequent contact.

Deployment

Oracle Solaris setup is often described as straightforward and uncomplicated. Documentation and pre-installed features facilitate ease of installation. Users appreciate retaining legacy commands and highlight the need for technical skills for customized environments. Most users find it easy and quick to implement, especially with experience or proper guidance. For some, complex environments require advanced skills, but generally, the setup process is considered efficient and manageable with available resources.

Scalability

Oracle Solaris demonstrates robust scalability, allowing for substantial storage and linear performance enhancements with new SPARC processors. It excels in handling large databases and applications, leveraging its powerful SPARC servers. Although scalability largely depends on hardware and application needs, users appreciate its ease of scaling vertically and horizontally, often rating it highly. While on-premise versions scale well, there are some limitations with cloud versions, yet it remains favored by large organizations for advanced applications.

Stability

Oracle Solaris is widely recognized as a highly stable operating system. Users report minimal downtime, with most issues attributed to external factors like third-party modules or hardware failures. It is praised for its reliability, with features enhancing security and stability. Some users mention minor issues post-patch, but these are rare and often related to planning. Across various platforms, Solaris consistently outperforms in stability ratings, frequently achieving scores of nine or ten out of ten.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
Download our Oracle Solaris Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers
By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
University
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Healthcare Company
4%
Retailer
4%
Hospitality Company
3%
Media Company
3%
Energy/Utilities Company
3%
Insurance Company
2%
Performing Arts
2%
Real Estate/Law Firm
2%
Non Profit
1%
Recreational Facilities/Services Company
1%
Transportation Company
1%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
1%
Construction Company
1%
Outsourcing Company
1%
Legal Firm
1%
Wholesaler/Distributor
1%
Pharma/Biotech Company
1%
Consumer Goods Company
1%

Compare Oracle Solaris with alternative products

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Learn more about Oracle Solaris

Oracle Solaris Features

Oracle Solaris has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

  • Application binary guarantee
  • Unified archives
  • Rich selection of DevOps tools
  • REST-based configuration and monitoring
  • Software security assurance
  • Automated installer
  • Image packaging system and ZFS boot environments
  • Simplified system life-cycle, application life-cycle, and cloud capabilities
  • Constraint packages
  • Fault diagnosis
  • Service management facility

Oracle Solaris Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Oracle Solaris. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

  • Portable and scalable
  • Interoperable and compatible
  • Simple to use
  • Infrastructure designed to scale on large systems without code
  • Supports a wide range of hardware
  • 24 x 7 support from Oracle
  • Portability across different architectures
  • Supports tools optimized for Oracle hardware devices
  • Guarantees binary compatibility for your applications across various Oracle Solaris OS releases
  • Supports programming languages such as Perl, Ruby, and Python
  • Mitigates risk and easily proves compliance
  • Reduces costs
  • Helps reduce planned and unplanned downtime

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Oracle Solaris solution.

A CEO at a computer software company says, “The most valuable feature is virtualization. They have attained virtualization and it's quite simple to create the Oracle Solaris zones. The solution is quite powerful. Oracle Solaris is great due to the fact that it actually is meant for high-end servers. The high availability is great. You can clone and you can do quite a number of things with them. There's also the ZFS File system which is very good. Is one of the best file systems that there is.”

Diego A., Oracle ACE - Specialized in Systems Technologies at Telecom Argentina, mentions, “The most valuable features for me are virtualization (Containers, Zones, Security, PDOM's, LDOM's) and Performance, ZFS, Debugging with Dtrace.”

A Service Manager at a tech services company expresses that the solution is “Stable, scalable, and has easy installation.”

PeerSpot user Marcel H., Oracle ACE Director "Solaris," CEO, Enterprise Consultant at JomaSoft, explains, “Solaris includes two virtualization solutions: LDoms for SPARC and Solaris Zones. Both solutions can be combined to create private clouds. Solaris Zones is ideal to separate applications and to migrate from older to current hardware. LDoms is very efficient because it uses the hardware hypervisor of the SPARC servers. Both technologies increase Security, because they separate the applications from each other. Using the Security Compliance Framework we are sure the systems are set up properly.”

Shafiq K., Senior Manager IT Operations at a financial services firm, states, “The reliability of the solution is excellent. The security has been very good overall. We've found the solution to have good availability. The backup capabilities are quite good. The solution has proven to be quite stable so far. The product can scale. The solution is 100% free to use. It doesn't cost a company anything as it's embedded in the hardware.”

Oracle Solaris was previously known as Solaris 11, Solaris.

Oracle Solaris customers

Siemens, IVV

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Oracle Solaris reviews

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Erick Kathurima - PeerSpot user
CIO at Clarinox Technologies Kenya
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Mar 24, 2025
Product version discussed: 11
Has enabled a user-friendly and lightweight installation with improved performance

Pros

"Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of dark colors."

Cons

"Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel."

What is our primary use case?

I installed Oracle Solaris on a normal PC to test its functionality. It is comfortable to use and provides a good test environment, especially because it is not commonly known or recognized in the market.

What is most valuable?

Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of dark colors. The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (386 words)
PeerSpot user
System Architect at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Sep 2, 2016
Product version discussed: 10 and 11
Oracle Solaris 11 is highly scalable and fault-tolerant.

What is most valuable?

In Solaris 11, Network Virtualization, LDOMs, Zones, ZFS, and Live Upgrade are the most valuable features to me. In Solaris 10, the most valuable features are the Live Upgrade, ZFS, Zones, and SVC Feature.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps a lot in data center consolidation, P2V, and with LDOM live migration. It reduces required overall downtime, and is highly scalable, especially with T5 architecture.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (358 words)
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DA
Oracle ACE - Specialized in Systems Technologies at Telecom Argentina
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Dec 17, 2020
Product version discussed: - all of them
I've worked with different flavors of Unix, but I chose Solaris. I like the constant innovation in the software and hardware.

What is our primary use case?

I work with Solaris Operating systems since a lot of years, every day, as technical support specialist 

How has it helped my organization?

I've worked with different flavors of Unix, but I chose Solaris. I like the constant innovation in the software and hardware.

I've worked with servers E10k, E25k, T7-2, T5, M5, M5-32 and some other older servers. All of them have excellent performance in virtualization, zones, and LDOMs.

Solaris lets you isolate zones and migrate them to other servers. You can also move old releases of OS's from obsolete hardware to containers installed in new hardware.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (858 words)
Zandile Mushi - PeerSpot user
Network Administrator at Mzansi Security and Fire
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Mar 15, 2024
Offers good security features and reliability

Pros

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

Cons

"The tool is quite complex and difficult for anyone trying to use or study it."

What is our primary use case?

In my company, Oracle Solaris is linked to our CRM, which serves as a database of information. For security companies, we have monthly subscriptions to check their credit scores and everything, and the tool is also linked with the Home Affairs department for verification since it is a database that pulls up the details of the users or whoever is trying to join the company.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the solution are its security features and user-friendliness. It can be hard to use but is a reliable and understandable tool.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (627 words)
PeerSpot user
CEO at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Sep 29, 2020
Powerful with high availability and very stable

Pros

"Oracle Solaris is great due to the fact that it actually is meant for high-end servers. "

Cons

"Currently, there are two variants, there's SPARC and there's x86. I would have wanted a scenario where they're all just one product."

What is our primary use case?

Clients mainly use the solution as a database operating system in many environments. Most who are using it are financial institutions, telecoms, or companies in the energy sector. 

What is most valuable?

Of late the most valuable feature is virtualization. They have attained virtualization and it's quite simple to create the Oracle Solaris zones.

The solution is quite powerful.

Oracle Solaris is great due to the fact that it actually is meant for high-end servers. 

The high availability is great. You can clone and you can do quite a number of things with them. There's also the ZFS File system which is very good. Is one of the best file systems that there is.

*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Read full review (1001 words)
DF
Infrastructure as a Service Manager
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Aug 5, 2019
Product version discussed: 2.5.1-11.4
Improve flexibility, automate DR process, and speed up recovery time using Zones

Pros

"The ability to manipulate the zones and the files within the zones from a global OS provides us flexibility that no other virtualization can match."

Cons

"Oracle customer service is slow at times."

What is our primary use case?

I have worked for multiple large enterprise environments and one small environment.

I have touched every Solaris OS from 2.5.1 to Solaris 11.4. In my time, I have maintained Sparc 10 workstations and M8 servers, as well as everything in between.

Businesses I have worked for include Manufacturing (large SAP and Oracle DB shops), Outsourcing, Military, and Logistics companies.

I have extensive knowledge of how the OS performs and its capabilities.  

How has it helped my organization?

We were able to use zones to reduce the hardware footprint by seventy percent in my time at one company. Using zones, we're also able to automate our entire DR process, taking it from a twelve-hour Recovery time (with three people) to a forty-minute Recovery Time (with one person).

The ability to manipulate the zones and the files within the zones from a global OS provides us flexibility that no other virtualization can match.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (643 words)
PeerSpot user
Manager - Systems Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Aug 22, 2016
Product version discussed: 11
The most valuable features to me are ZFS, Automated Installer, and Kernel Zones.

What is most valuable?

In, Oracle Solaris 11, the most valuable features to me are ZFS, Automated Installer, and Kernel Zones. In Solaris 10, they are ZFS, SMF, Live Upgrade, Zones, and JumpStart.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in user adaptability, the poor UI, and in the packaging of the applications. Solaris should look like Linux and the end user should not be afraid of using it. It's way different than linux.

It should have POSIX compatibility with Linux.

*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Read full review (372 words)
PeerSpot user
Senior Infrastructure Specialist at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Verified user of Oracle Solaris
Nov 20, 2023
Exceptional stability, scalability, and efficiency, offering a robust operating system and reliable support

Pros

"Solaris Zones and Containers are my favorite features."

Cons

"The primary drawback with this product is the lack of version updates."

What is our primary use case?

I manage a wide range of systems, from low-end to high-end, including Super Clusters, totaling around 250 physical and virtual systems.

What is most valuable?

Solaris Zones and Containers are my favorite features.

*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Read full review (416 words)