Oracle Solaris vs Windows Server comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Oracle Solaris and Windows Server based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Operating Systems (OS) for Business solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Oracle Solaris vs. Windows Server Report (Updated: September 2023).
744,865 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Solaris' best feature is its stability.""Solaris Zones and Containers are my favorite features.""This product handles databases well; they run on top of the operating system.""The most valuable feature of Oracle Solaris is the incremental backup that happens in the system.""Solaris's best features are high availability, robustness, and database hosting.""The most valuable feature is the ease of setup.""Oracle Solaris's operating system is good.""Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten since we haven't faced any issues."

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"The most valuable features of this solution are its performance, security, and that it is easy to use.""The product is easy to use and adapt. It is known for GUI.""The stability of the Windows Server is good.""The solution is invaluable, we need it for file and emails servers.""There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.""We use this solution for hosting applications on the server.""Windows Server is user-friendly and it is simply to support.""The support that Microsoft provides for this is very good."

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Cons
"The solution is pricey and can be improved by lowering the cost.""If it could support other file systems, it would be better.""Solaris' package management could be improved, especially in comparison to Linux.""The scalability of the solution can be improved.""There is an issue where Solaris doesn't give the correct figures for memory use when checked.""Oracle Solaris can improve by supporting all the recent features that are in the market from other competitors.""I don't want to receive any updates on Oracle""This product is not as flexible as other similar solutions on the market today."

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"Resolving problems in the Windows environment should be improved.""The solution should improve its stability.""The license is a one-time purchase. The cost could be less expensive. We have education pricing, so it's okay now because we pay less than other agencies.""As for additional features, we are very interested in the new feature released by Windows: Azure Virtual Desktop. We are currently exploring it so that instead of people depending on their own desktop, we could work on Azure Virtual Desktop. Integration with Azure Virtual Desktop would be cool.""Sometimes we are getting very quick support, sometimes it takes time.""The product's user interface upgrades and firewall services need improvement.""An improvement would be to have more dashboards.""The only thing that could be improved is the price."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "There are no licensing fees but you can opt to pay for support."
  • "It is a very expensive product."
  • "The price of Oracle Solaris could be less expensive."
  • "The solution is expensive and is based on an annual fee."
  • "Solaris is highly priced compared to other solutions, but since it's a niche product, this is to be expected."
  • "The solution is free to use."
  • "The current setup with hardware devices involves a higher cost, but the performance is top-notch."
  • More Oracle Solaris Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of the solution could improve."
  • "The software costs are dependent on what CAL requirements you have."
  • "I'm not involved much in the payment part, but I believe that we pay a yearly subscription for licensing."
  • "To use Windows Server, we pay for licensing yearly. The licensing cost should be cheaper—it is expensive and should not cost that much."
  • "We pay a license to use Windows Server."
  • "We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft and the price for the license is bundled together. The solution is expensive but for the bank that is using it, the price is fine. We pay for a license every three years."
  • "We have an enterprise agreement."
  • "The price of the solution should be less expensive. There is an annual subscription to use the solution."
  • More Windows Server Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be… more »
    Top Answer:Oracle Solaris's operating system is good.
    Top Answer:The product offers in-house servers. It helps us update them and check any technical issues easily.
    Top Answer:The product's user interface upgrades and firewall services need improvement.
    Top Answer:We use the product to manage databases for various projects.
    Ranking
    Views
    11,418
    Comparisons
    6,963
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    293
    Rating
    8.3
    Views
    20,286
    Comparisons
    15,459
    Reviews
    32
    Average Words per Review
    266
    Rating
    8.1
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Solaris 11, Solaris
    Learn More
    Overview

    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.

    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.”

    Windows Server is a versatile solution for various tasks, including domain control, virtualization, hosting applications, databases, managing user accounts in Active Directory, file sharing, and remote server access. It is also used for endpoint security, running ERP systems, and supporting business applications such as SAP and Microsoft Dynamics. 

    The solution is user-friendly and easy to configure and install, with technical support available. Windows Server is widely used and trusted. It has helped organizations by offering a domain controller and domain service, allowing them to sell products with Microsoft and keep processes running 24/7 without downtime.

    Reviews from Real Users

    There are a number of characteristics that make Windows Server an extremely effective solution. Two major ones are its inherent flexibility and its user-friendly nature.

    PeerSpot user Antonio D., a sales manager at INFOSEC, takes note of Windows Server 2016’s flexibility when he writes, “The product is a good operating system. The features fit our needs very well. For example, with Windows Server, you can use a machine for printing, accessing the internet, or using some applications. You can do it all with one server. You don't need several servers. One is enough.”

    Himanshu T., a system administrator and DevOps engineer at a tech-services company, takes note of the various way in which Windows Server 2016 is easy to use when he writes, “This solution is very user friendly, easy to use for any system administrator, simple to deploy applications, has a wide range of applications available, great UI, and takes less technical skills to operate than some other competitors. Additionally, the active directory has great functionality; if we want to integrate any assets, then we can easily do it.”

    Offer
    Learn more about Oracle Solaris
    Learn more about Windows Server
    Sample Customers
    Siemens, IVV
    Rakuten, Rackspace, Tyco
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm29%
    Comms Service Provider25%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Logistics Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government11%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company13%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company11%
    Government11%
    Educational Organization10%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise65%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    Buyer's Guide
    Oracle Solaris vs. Windows Server
    September 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. Windows Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
    744,865 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Oracle Solaris is ranked 8th in Operating Systems (OS) for Business with 12 reviews while Windows Server is ranked 6th in Operating Systems (OS) for Business with 29 reviews. Oracle Solaris is rated 8.4, while Windows Server is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Oracle Solaris writes "It includes two virtualization solutions: LDoms for SPARC and Solaris Zones. Both solutions can be combined to create private clouds". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Windows Server writes "Simple to set up and use". Oracle Solaris is most compared with Oracle Linux, Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Windows 10 and SUSE Linux Enterprise, whereas Windows Server is most compared with Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Windows 10, Oracle Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise. See our Oracle Solaris vs. Windows Server report.

    See our list of best Operating Systems (OS) for Business vendors.

    We monitor all Operating Systems (OS) for Business reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.