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Optimized Open Source Software Stack (Cool Stack)

for the Sun Solaris Operating System(TM)

Overview

Cool Stack is a collection of some of the most commonly used open source applications optimized for the Sun Solaris OS platform. By using these binaries you will enjoy the best levels of performance from your system, while also reducing your time-to-service.

Cool Stack features

Cool Stack includes several packages in the SVR4 package format, so you can install just the ones you need. Some of the applications in Cool Stack already ship with Solaris, but these are either older versions and/or not built with full optimization. Further, Cool Stack has been pre-configured to have the most popular applications (Apache, PHP, MySQL) to work seamlessly out of the box.

Cool Stack contents

The following sections lists all of the packages available. For details on version numbers, modules/extensions included etc. please read the documentation available on the download site.

CSKamp. This package is comprised of 3 packages: CSKapache2, CSKphp5 and CSKmysql32 for a more flexible installation. The 3 components are pre-configured to work together. The MySQL included in this package is a 32-bit version with client-side support to work with PHP. For the database server, we recommend the CSKmysql package which is a 64-bit version, allowing the use of larger caches to deliver improved performance for large databases. However, on smaller systems you can use the 32-bit MySQL in this (CSKamp) package for the database server.
CSKruntime. This package containes core libraries used by many of the other packages and should be installed first.
CSKmysql. This package includes a 64bit version of MySQL and is built with innodb. See the README file in the mysql install directory for details.
CSKperl. This package includes Perl 5. In addition to being better optimized, CSKperl includes several perl extensions used by popular applications.
CSKlibsbundle This package consists of libraries required by various PHP extensions and is made up of 3 packages: CSKtds, CSKncurses, CSKlibs
CSKmemcached. This package includes memcached, a distributed object cache system.
CSKruby. This package includes ruby, rubygems and rails.
CSKsquid. This package includes Squid Web Proxy Cache.
CSKtomcat. This package includes two packages CSKtomcat5 and CSKtomcat6. Apache Tomcat is a pure Java application. It is provided for convenience as it is no different from the one on tomcat.apache.org.
CSKlighttpd. This package includes lighttpd, the increasingly popular, light-weight http server.

CSKpython. New! This package includes python and mod_python.

CSKnginx. New! This package includes nginx, another light-weight http server.

Downloads

Cool Stack is available for download from the Sun Download Center:

Latest Release:
- Cool Stack 1.3
Previous Releases:

Documentation for Cool Stack 1.3

Full text version of Release Notes for 1.3

PDF documentation for 1.3

Brief List of Changes in Cool Stack 1.3

Apache version upgraded to 2.2.9.
CSKphplibs have been renamed to CSKlibs.
CSKtomcat renamed to CSKtomcat5 and installs in /opt/coolstack/tomcat5. CSKtomcat6 has been added.
dtrace probes have been added to mysql, ruby and memcached.
Ruby version upgraded to 1.8.6p230 with patches.

Known Issues

Wordpress installation on SPARC has probems if both 'suhosin' and 'apc' extensions of PHP are enabled. Please disable suhosin.
Memcached dtrace probes doesn't work on Solaris x86.
Semaphores are not cleaned up when apc is used with fastcgi php. See http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45423
Live upgrade has problems with Cool Stack packages.
Ruby dtrace probes has only been enabled on Solaris x86 as they don't work on SPARC (yet).

Refer to the Release Notes for full details and a list of known issues.

Cool Stack Installation on Solaris 10

You must be 'root' to install the packages. Download the packages you are interested in into any directory. For each of the downloaded packages, run the following bunzip2 and pkgadd commands:

bunzip2 [package.pkg.bz2]

For example: bunzip2 CSKmysql_1.3RC1_sparc.pkg.bz2

pkgadd -d [package.pkg]

For example: pkgadd -d CSKmysql_1.3RC1_sparc.pkg

This process will install the package in /opt/coolstack, along with all dependent libraries.

After installation, please refer to the README file included in each of the application's directories. The README includes detailed information on the following:

how the application was built
Solaris-specific configuration and tuning notes.
Pointers to other relevant documentation.
Instructions for setting up SMF service (if applicable).

Cool Stack Installation on OpenSolaris/Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE)

Due to some incompatibility in package processing, the data stream format of the packages do not work on some OpenSolaris and older SXDE releases. The solution is to convert the streams to filesystem format. Here is an example :
# pkgtrans CSKamp_1.3RC1_x86.pkg /var/tmp
# pkgadd -d /var/tmp
pkgadd will display all the packages available in /var/tmp and you can now choose to install whichever packages you want.

Upgrading from Cool Stack 1.2

If you already have packages from Cool Stack 1.2 installed, please be aware that these will be over-written with the new version. You should back up whatever files you have changed (e.g. apache2/conf directory, php5/lib/php.ini etc.) A safe way to do this is to first rename the current /opt/coolstack directory and then remove the currently installed Cool Stack packages using pkgrm CSKpkgname. Note that pkgrm will not remove files that you added as for e.g. In apache2/htdocs or elsewhere. You can save these files before installing the new packages, then re-copy your saved files back. This process is illustrated below assuming you had only CSKamp installed :
# Save entire coolstack (temporarily)
bash-3.00# mv /opt/coolstack /opt/coolstack1.2
# Delete old Cool Stack 1.2 package
bash-3.00# pkgrm CSKapache2

# Save any files you added after installation
bash-3.00# cd /opt/coolstack
bash-3.00# mkdir /var/tmp/CS_save; cp -rp . /var/tmp/CS_save
bash-3.00# cd /var/tmp/CS_save
# delete all files in /var/tmp/save you don't care about e.g. apache2/logs/*

# Add new Cool Stack 1.3 package from wherever you downloaded it to
bash-3.00# bunzip2 CSKamp_1.3RC1_sparc.pkg.bz2; pkgadd -d CSKamp_1.3RC1_sparc.pkg

# Copy back the saved files. Be cautious and ensure that you're copying back ONLY required files or otherwise you could mess up your package
bash-3.00# cp -rp /var/tmp/CS_save/selected_files /opt/coolstack

# Copy your original config files back from /opt/coolstack1.2. For example:
bash-3.00# cd /opt/coolstack; cp ../coolstack1.1/apache2/conf/httpd.conf apache2/conf

Cool Stack 1.2

Changelog for Cool Stack 1.2

Patches for Cool Stack 1.2

Where to look for help

Take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ.

Cool Stack Tools Community can assist with questions about Cool Stack open source software within the Cool Tools Forums.

Developer support for Cool Stack is now available. See the announcement

Note: Support for Cool Stack software is not covered by Sun's support agreements associated with Solaris or Sun Fire servers.

If you wish to send feedback to the developers of Cool Stack, please send an email to Please send your feedback to: . We would love to hear whether you find Cool Stack useful, what additional functionality would help etc.

Please also ensure all the latest product updates have been applied to your system. Please refer to the product notes for your system.