Sun updates Solaris operating system

Sun Microsystems has begun releasing an update for Solaris 8, its version of the Unix operating system, that can dish out Web pages faster and is easier to manage, the company said. Solaris 8 update 07/01 includes an improved Live Upgrade feature that lets an update take place on a separate partition of the hard disk while the computer is still running. A reboot then activates the update, and having it on a separate partition makes it easier to undo the action if necessary. With the new version, Live Upgrade is integrated with the Web Start feature that lets an administrator install a pre-existing server-software configuration.

The update also lets Solaris dole out Internet addresses to hundreds of thousands of computers on a network using a new version of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. And the Network Cache Accelerator feature improves how fast Web pages can be sent across the Internet. The upgrade is free for computers with eight or fewer processors.