Tip of the Trade: Sun’s SAMP Stack

Nearly everyone has heard of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack — four great tastes that taste great together. They are the foundation of open source Web applications everywhere. Variations on this are abound, such as using Lighttpd instead of Apache, PostreSQL instead of MySQL, and Perl or Python in place of the notoriously porous PHP, but for the most part, the LAMP stack is the basic standard.

Other ways to mix up the stack include: WAMP (Windows + AMP), FAMP (FreeBSD + AMP), MAMP (Mac OS X + AMP), and on and on, including the Unix-based PUMA, for as long as you care to continue the game.

Today, we are looking at SAMP, which is Solaris + AMP. You might also call it AMPS, which makes it sound powerful; MAPS, as in your guide to reliable Web applications; or SPAM, which probably does not convey the desired meaning.

SAMP comes in two editions: the Solaris Express Developer Edition and Solaris 10 + Cool Stack. The first one, as the name suggests, is targeted for software developers. It comes with gobs of compilers, an integrated development environment, NetBeans, and other essential goodies for building stout Web applications. Solaris 10 + Cool Stack is great for hosting Web applications on your production servers. It includes Tomcat, Squid, Ruby, and many other useful applications and servers.

So, with all of the *AMP stacks from which to choose, why use Solaris?

• Runs on either SPARC or x86 hardware
• Is a genuine, free-of-cost Unix
• Includes ZFS
• Contains DTrace
• Has Containers for virtualization
• Choice of vendor or community support

Worried about performance? Are you remembering the old “Slowlaris”? Well, that was then. Solaris 10 is a speedy powerhouse. Put it on Sun hardware to optimize performance and get all the capabilities of Solaris. You can even get a 60-day free trial; see this page for details and hardware options.