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From: tristram.scott@ntlworld.com (Tristram Scott)
Subject: MATLAB on Solaris x86 using brandz
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
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Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:13:24 GMT
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As of the 08/2007 release of Solaris x86/x64 it is now possible to run the
Linux version of MATLAB in a branded zone on this platform.  The branded
zones are an extension of the Solaris Containers.  

A Solaris Container is a complete runtime environment for applications,
somewhat like a virtual machine, although all of the containers run under a
single instance of the Solaris kernel.  Containers are very quick to setup,
and may each be given resource limits (CPU usage, memory, swap etc).   

From the Solaris Containers administration guide:

The Solaris Containers for Linux Applications uses Sun's BrandZ technology
to run Linux applications on the Solaris operating system.  The Linux
applications run unmodified in the secure environment provided by the
non-global zone feature.  This allows you to use the Solaris system to
develop, test and deploy Linux applications. 

You can read more on the topic at:

http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/brandz/

There are some limitaions in this version.  In particular, you can only run
32 bit applications, and the effective Linux kernel is 2.4.21,
corresponding to glibc version 2.3.2.  For MATLAB users, this means that
you can run MATLAB versions up to R2006a (7.2).  There is work underway to
allow 64 bit applications, and to provide the system calls for later Linux
kernels.  See the above URL for details, but note that at this stage you
will need to be running later builds of Solaris than the official 08/2007
build.  

For those who are already running Solaris x86, the effort required to set
this up is quite minimal.  If you don't already have a Linux distribution
at hand, there is one for download from the above URL.  You can have a
working MATLAB in under half an hour.

I would be interested to hear from others who are using this technology. 


-- 
Dr Tristram J. Scott               
Energy Consultant