c0t0d0s0.org

Until now you were only able to test BrandZ by BFUing your installation. Now you can download a OpenSolaris-Installation-DVD with an already integrated BrandZ or a VMware-Image with OpenSolaris, BrandZ and an already installed Linux-Zone.

Erster Tag des Urlaubs und ich hab anscheinend bereits Langeweile, denn : Ich war gerade Trolle füttern.

I assume, you can see in every advantage a disadvantage, when you want and when you don´t think about it in a greater context:The Inquirer reports about BrandZ.

On the downside Solaris users will need to install the version of Linux that they want to use with BrandZ and get extra support licenses in order to get compatibility with products like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In other words pay for two licences.

Okay, this statement is correct but: With Solaris Zones you have the unique capability to virtualize your linux installation. So you pay for Solaris Support (the is no spoon ... sorry .. no Solaris licences anymore ) and you have to pay for Red Hat Support in the case you want an enterprise linux only one time on a bigger system (and not one license for you mailserver, your webserver, your application server).
So at the end you save several licenses for Redhat. To be honest, i´m not absolutly sure, that there is no sentence in the legal fineprint that enforces a licence of every zone. But I´m pretty sure there is no such sentence, as Zones works completly different as for example VMware, you run one kernel on your system. And to be exact, you don´t run a Linux kernel on your system. You disembowl it and use only the RedHat Operating Environment.
At the end Zones and BrandZ will reduce the amount of RedHat licenses in an additional way: "Heck ... i don´t need BrandZ for my webserver, mailserver and application. I use Solaris directly. Okay, i need Redhat for ApplicationA. Okay!!" Three licences saved ...
Okay, from the monetary point of view the Inquirer is correct: It would be not really sensible, to substitute a single server with RedHat with a single server with Solaris and RedHat. From the technical standpoint even this would be good choice: By constructing such an system you get DTrace for Linux and you will get ZFS for Linux. Both features would be worth the cost for the additional Solaris Support alone.

BrandZ made it into the press. A positive article in Techworld
One thought regarding the speed BrandZ came into my mind: In the case of 5% overhead (FAQ: "Our expectation is that at when we ship, most Linux applications will run with a minimal performance overhead of around 5% compared to the equivalent, native Linux environment.")from BrandZ and a lead of 15% over linux in networking tasks, the linux application would be faster on solaris than on native linux. Or as a marketing term: Solaris is the faster Linux. Weird thought .... i have to check this ...