Sun subscriptions target Linux

Scheme lures Red Hat users

Sun is taking on Linux in server support with a new programme offering support subscriptions and migration sweeteners to attract green-field sites and convert users to Solaris running on x86 servers.

Having turned Solaris over to open-source, Sun is now attempting to cash in on the operating system’s feted scalability, robustness and security. Sun said its new Solaris support subscriptions are priced at about half of similar offerings from Red Hat, the Linux market leader.

The subscriptions cover legal indemnification and free updates and enhancements to Solaris. Tariffs span $49 per-incident developer cover to the enterprise-focused Solaris Everywhere Plan.

“This is aimed at the commercial Linux people [such as] Red Hat and Suse,” said Jim Craig, Sun software marketing manager. Craig added that most new Solaris x86 users are not running the OS on Sun servers, making a subscription support programme more attractive.

Red Hat and Novell were not immediately available for comment.

At the same time, Sun is offering its Connection provisioning service that can be used to deploy Red Hat and Suse Linux as well as Solaris.

Separately, Sun announced Solaris updates that fold the Trusted Solaris security extensions into the core OS. Now called Solaris Trusted Extensions, the technology lets administrators tag sensitive data to screen it from lower-security programmes and data.

Another new feature, Secure By Default Networking, has a similar name and attempts a similar trick to Microsoft’s Security By Default in automatically disabling unused services.