SolarNet
Go to: Benefits for PC Administrators /
Benefits for PC Users /
Take Command of your PC Network with SolarNet PC-Admin /
Leveraging the World's Most Popular TCP/IP Networking Solution for PCs /
SolarNet PC-Admin: A Standards-based Solution with Universal Appeal /
DHCP, a New Standard in Network Configuration /
Flexible IP Address Management /
Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) /
The Right Combination of Centralized Control and Distributed Access /
Customize Your PC Environment /
Support for NIS+, the World's Most Powerful Enterprise Name Service /
Support for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) /
Rigorous Security Across the Enterprise /
The Applications You Need /
Backed by the Strength and Support of Sun Microsystems /
Product Requirements
Solstice(TM) PC Management: SolarNet(TM) is the first PC networking solution based on open industry standards that integrates PC networking and administrative services into the powerful distributed computing operating environment. Solstice PC Management is provided in the
SolarNet(TM) PC-Admin(TM) product. SolarNet PC-Admin makes the most of your investment in mission-critical applications. With SolarNet
PC-Admin desktop PC users can reach client/server applications as easily as they can access file and print services.
SolarNet PC-Admin significantly reduces the cost of PC network ownership by automating many network administration tasks, including installation and configuration. With SolarNet PC-Admin, a network administrator can manage hundreds of local or remote PCs from a single MS Windows desktop or Solaris(TM) environment.
What's more, SolarNet PC-Admin complements your current PC LAN technology by co-existing with Novell(R) NetWare(R), Microsoft(R) LAN Manager(R), or Windows for Workgroups(TM), as you migrate to a large-scale TCP/IP computing environment.
Built by SunSoft, the enterprise management and connectivity specialists, SolarNet PC-Admin incorporates open systems technology that has already withstood the test of real world challenges.
Enhance the productivity of PC users throughout your organization and reduce the time and resources needed to manage it all.
- Centralizes administration of PC environment
- Lowers cost of network ownership
- Rapid deployment of TCP/IP to PCs
- Administer from any MS-Windows(TM) PC, Solaris workstation or X terminal
- Integrates PCs into enterprise network management scheme
- Leading technology built on industry standards
- Scales from tens to hundreds of PCs
- Provides PC and Solaris integration
- Leverages the power of the Solaris operating system
- Co-exists with current PC LAN investments
- Helps manage changing needs for network
- Integrates PCs with backup add-on option
- Connects PCs to TCP/IP enterprise networks
- Easy access to resources located on heterogeneous systems
- Work in the familiar MS-DOS(TM) or MS-Windows operating environments
- Take advantage of mission-critical distributed applications
- Easy to use on-line documentation
- Access host applications through VT52 - VT320 emulation
- Automatic connectivity for mobile PC users
- Download a PC environment that's customized for you - wherever you are on the network
- E-mail exchange across TCP/IP networks
SolarNet PC-Admin delivers the client/server tools you need to automate PC installation and management. SolarNet PC-Admin centralizes information and control while allowing distributed access from the administrator's desktop PC. Add and delete users, PCs, set administration policies and even configure global or user-based PC environments from a single point.
It's easy to install SolarNet PC-Admin on your UNIX(R) server. Then you can quickly perform simple PC client installation and turnkey configuration from the server. SolarNet PC-Admin offers automatic IP address allocation and access to PC startup configuration information.
SolarNet PC-Admin's distributed name services are provided by Network Information Services Plus(TM) (NIS+), which centralizes information on network resources, simplifying administrative tasks. And through SNMP, SolarNet PC-Admin allows you to centrally manage PCs using market leading enterprise network management applications.
SolarNet PC-Admin client software leverages the top rated PC-NFS(R) technology; allowing PCs to become full participants in TCP/IP and ONC+(TM)/NFS networks. Little or no training is required, because users work in the MS-DOS and MS-Windows environments they already know. SolarNet PC-Admin PC users can transparently share information located on heterogeneous NFS(R) servers, as well as printers and other resources. These NFS servers include UNIX systems, minicomputers and mainframes. SolarNet PC-Admin offers broad support for leading MS-DOS and MS-Windows networked applications, cross platform client/server applications such as Lotus Notes(TM), X-Windows servers, Oracle(R), Sybase(R) and Ingres(R) and products optimized for PC-NFS. VT52 - VT320 terminal emulation is included for easy access to host applications.
Straightforward, on-line SolarNet PC-Admin documentation, is accessible from both the Solaris server or MS-Windows client platforms. Users can take advantage of state-of-the-art browsers that provide easy navigation, powerful hypertext links and full-text searching capabilities.

Because it's based on key industry standards, SolarNet PC-Admin maximizes the return on your investment in current systems and technologies - and those you'll acquire in the future.
- Networking standards.
Allows PC users to fully participate in TCP/IP and ONC+/NFS, open, scalable, industrial strength networks. It also supports the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), an extension of the Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP), to provide a framework for passing configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network, and to easily manage the allocation of Internet addresses.
- Network management standards.
Uses the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to manage PC clients together with other network resources.
- Application development standards.
Supports Windows Sockets API, XTI, TI-RPC, and NetBIOS to increase user access to a wide variety of custom and off-the-shelf applications.
- Network driver standards.
Supports NDIS and ODI, giving you the flexibility to choose any network interface card that supports NDIS or ODI.
- Multiple protocol co-existence.
On a single PC, SolarNet PC-Admin client software can co-exist with Novell NetWare and other popular proprietary protocols.
- Windows for Workgroup support.
SolarNet PC-Admin clients can run Microsoft Windows for Workgroups for peer-to-peer connectivity in addition to the client-server networking provided in the product.
SolarNet PC-Admin dynamically allocates and manages IP addressing, eliminating common administrative hassles that arise from frequent user moves. Because SolarNet PC-Admin supports the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for server and client communication, it saves administrators time and effort. DHCP is a new network standard, consisting of two components: (1) a protocol for delivering host-specific configuration parameters from a DHCP server to a host, and (2) a mechanism for allocating network addresses to hosts.
Through DHCP, SolarNet PC-Admin can centralize storage of client network configuration parameters on the server. Client machines automatically receive their configuration parameters during the boot process via the DHCP protocol.
SolarNet PC-Admin offers three ways to allocate IP addresses using DHCP.
(1) Automatic allocation.
Once you configure DHCP for a range of IP addresses and networks, it assigns a permanent IP address to a PC.
(2) Dynamic allocation.
In this flexible option, DHCP assigns an IP address to a PC for a limited period of time, or until the PC relinquishes the address. It's the ideal way to assign addresses to PCs temporarily connected to your network. And it's particularly useful for sharing a limited pool of IP addresses among a group of PCs.
(3) Manual allocation.
You have the control and flexibility to manually assign IP addresses to PCs. You can convey those addresses to your PCs by using DHCP through our Client Manager.
DHCP is based on BOOTP, adding automatic allocation of reusable network addresses and additional configuration options, DHCP captures the behavior of BOOTP relay agents, and DHCP participants can interoperate with BOOTP participants. This functionality preserves your investment in existing resources.
SolarNet PC-Admin centralizes important administrative tasks such as allocating networking licenses, authenticating users and defining and delivering network environments to clients. With SolarNet PC-Admin, the administrator can easily perform common tasks using graphical tools at any MS-Windows-based PC. For example, SolarNet PC-Admin's User Manager helps add, delete and modify user and group information, such as accounts and home directories in the NIS+ name service. SolarNet PC-Admin's Client Manager helps manage PC network client information, such as name of client machines and IP addresses as well as where the PC goes for network services like application, name and print servers.
SolarNet PC-Admin also provides full access to administration tools available on the UNIX server. An administrator who prefers to work in the UNIX environment can easily create scripts that incorporate SolarNet PC-Admin commands to deliver powerful automatic configuration support. Create server-based SolarNet PC-Admin script files, such as system boot time and user login scripts, to set administration policies, run a central virus check, mount drives for users, set up standard PC configuration and much more.
With SolarNet PC-Admin, the network administrator can easily standardize how local or remote users interact with the network. SolarNet PC-Admin offers several options:
1. The Fully Shared View
- A uniform environment. In the fully shared view, all applications and configuration files are shared on servers so that all end-users "see" the same configuration and user preferences. Administrative changes are experienced by all users immediately.
2. The Per User View
- An environment that follows you anywhere. With this option, applications and files are shared on servers, but some configuration and data files are located on a user's home directory. Users can login to any PC on the WAN and download an environment that has been pre-configured to meet their needs. Network-aware applications such as WordPerfect(R), can be made to work according to this custom view.
3. The Workgroup View
- A shared environment for people working together. You can also establish a workgroup view, so teams can share the same resources, applications and access to network drives. For example, you can make a set of mounted files available to a project team.
4. The Local View
- A per machine view. The network administrator has the freedom to customize individual machines, and still gain the benefits of the SolarNet PC-Admin shared view, such as sharing application executables to save disk space. You can also delegate control to PC users, allowing them to customize their own machines.

SolarNet PC-Admin provides PC-based network configuration programs, allowing the administrator to create customized PC users environments.
- The snclient
application configures the network and establishes the shared view environment. It runs from an autoexec.bat file at boot time to configure the network using DHCP information from the server. It also runs a SolarNet PC-Admin script file to establish site-wide administration policies. It downloads the remote configuration and saves the PC environment locally for faster reboot.
- The snlogin
application sets up user identifiers and the per user view, allowing you to establish policies for individual users, workgroups and even entire departments. It allows you to change the user identity and runs a server-based SolarNet PC-Admin login script, permitting you to define what operations happen upon login.
- The snlogout
application replaces the net logout command and "takes down" the environment set up by snlogin, so you can start with a clean slate. As with snlogin, the administrator controls the contents of the script.
SolarNet PC-Admin takes advantage of Network Information Service Plus (NIS+), the hierarchical and distributed name service, to dramatically reduce the time it takes to perform administrative tasks on multi-vendor client/server networks.
A follow-on product to the ONC(TM) Network Information Service (NIS), NIS+ is a secure and robust repository of information about network resources - including hosts, filesystems, users and much more. With NIS+, adding, removing, or reassigning systems and users has never been easier. NIS+ not only simplifies administration on small networks, it can seamlessly scale to manage enterprise networks containing thousands of systems and users. On top of that, the differential update feature in NIS+ ensures maximum performance by sending file differences only, instead of the entire contents of the update file. A standard component of Solaris 2.x, NIS+ is fully compatible with NIS and can co-exist with DNS servers.
SolarNet PC-Admin offer support for SNMP, allowing network managers to obtain vital information about PCs on the network. Now network managers can move to a single comprehensive management console, integrating PCs into the enterprise management system.
SolarNet PC-Admin's support for SNMP makes it compatible with any SNMP network management product, such as Solstice(TM) SunNet Manager(TM), HP(R) OpenView(TM) and IBM(R) NetView(TM).
To provide unprecedented statistics on PC host resources, SolarNet PC-Admin supports the Host Resource Management Information Base (MIB), as well as MIB II. The administrator can request information about any PC, such as hardware configuration, storage capacity, amount of free space, MS-Windows software installed and more. You can use this information to optimize the allocation of resources.
SolarNet PC-Admin extends network security to the PC environment. For example, both PC users and administrators must log in to access full network services. The administrator has the capability to restrict PC user access to server files and directories. In fact, the administrator can use the user views, mentioned above, to deliver access to only the network resources the PC user needs.
SolarNet PC-Admin uses Secure RPC and operation specific authorization to enhance the security of its distributed administration framework. It provides authentication to guarantee user and administrator identity and authorization to determine who has clearance to perform tasks. The administrator has fine-grained control over management access, making it secure and easy to delegate a subset of administrative tasks.
A variety of value-added applications enable you to customize SolarNet PC-Admin to your company's needs:
- SunSoft's E-mail for Windows, a Windows Sockets compliant e-mail package that supports SMTP, POP-2, and POP-3 standards, is included in SolarNet PC-Admin
- With the pre-installed Legato application, SolarNet PC-Admin clients can utilize automatic backup, archiving, and restoration of files via SunSoft's Solstice(TM) Backup(TM) or other Legato servers.
- RUMBA for PC-NFS provides PC users with easy access to data and applications that reside on IBM mainframes.
- There is even a packaged application that allows MS Windows users to access, organize, monitor, annotate and share files on the network; providing an immediate and simple way for users to work together.
- SolarNet PC-Admin also works with hundreds of applications previously developed by independent software vendors (ISVs) for our TCP/IP PC software. In addition, SunSoft is actively partnering with systems integrators and ISV's to develop even more administrative tools for SolarNet PC-Admin.
In the past decade, Sun Microsystems pioneered open network computing. Today, we continue to concentrate our efforts on delivering innovations to the global marketplace.
As a Sun Microsystems Business, SunSoft's mandate is to open the world of enterprise computing to PC users, regardless of desktop hardware or systems in the enterprise. Leaders in PC integration and NFS computing, SunSoft offers vast expertise in PC networking with an installed base that exceeds one million licences.
Choose SolarNet PC-Admin and benefit from the service and support of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Now more than ever - The Network is the Computer.
SPARC and Intel Server Requirements
Hardware and software requirements for the server portion of SolarNet PC-Admin:
- A SPARCserver(TM) 10, SPARCserver 20, SPARCserver 3000 or SPARCclassic(TM) or any platform that supports Solaris 2.3 or later, including Intel-based systems running 2.4 or later
- At least one CD ROM drive on a networked UNIX system
- Network interface (Ethernet or Token Ring)
- NIS+ recommended
Server Disk Space Required:
For complete installation 65 MB
Client Requirements
Hardware and software requirements for client portion of SolarNet PC-Admin
- IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or equivalent with at least 640K memory under Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.1.1, MS-DOS 3.3 (or later). 2 MB free disk space for new installations
- Administrative tools require MS-Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.1.1 or a UNIX console
- Nearly any Ethernet or Token Ring brand can used with SolarNet PC-Admin PC-NFS client, using standard NDIS or ODI drivers
To purchase SolarNet PC-Admin: SolarNet product, in the U.S., call 1-800-SUN-SOFT.
Outside the U.S., please call +1-415-960-3200 for the location of the SunSoft office closest to you.