Server refused to allocate pty snv_128 and 129

after upgrade to snv_129 I was not able to login using ssh.

this is a known bug which can be solved by editing /etc/minor_perm
add the following:
"clone:ptmx 0666 root sys" to /etc/minor_perm

After reboot you can login again with ssh
(source: http://defect.opensolaris.org/bz/show_bug.cgi?id=12380)

Remote powerdown from Windows with plink.exe

Because I am using a private network without connection to the outside world,
I am not concerned about security.
Usink plink.exe as part of the puTTY package I managed a remote shutdown:
Create a shortcut on windows with the following command:
(I use the user admin for logon)

plink.exe -ssh admin@hostname -pw password -m shutdown

The tricky bit is the remote command with the option -m,
(you have to use the full path because no profile is loaded)
so my "shutdown" saved on the windows box contains this line:

/usr/bin/pfexec /usr/sbin/init 5

very similar to the 'pfexec init 5' you use when logged on in Solaris

Autologon

Go to /etc/X11/gdm/custom.conf and manually modify the required fields in the [daemon] section and add the following;

[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=<username>
Note: You cannot auto-logon as root.

Bare in mind that I’m not concerned about security at this point as the box is not exposed to the open world, and is somewhat protected by the fact it lives on a “private” LAN. (i.e. my home lan)

If you want to run something automatically on logon you can put the commands into the /etc/profile file. Since I’ve been looking for a way to autostart virtualbox machines this will be the place i do it. (mainly because it is one of the easiest way to do it)
(source: http://sigtar.com/2009/01/29/open-solaris-autologin/)

Initial startup of remote Desktop for OpenSolaris

I've not used the xvnc-inetd service on OpenSolaris, but I have been using the vino-server without issue, which is a vnc server. The only gotcha on that is that it requires the keyring password upon first connect to the desktop, so you have to be AT the desktop at least once to "approve" the connection. To get around this and effectively dissociate the vino-server from the keyring, here is a procedure I stole from another web site. This works for me on several installations from 2008.05 on up to 2008.11. Someone may have a more efficient process than this.

Procedure:
First, enable Vino by going to System...Preferences...Desktop Sharing
0. Once you've configured Remote Desktop, go to the
System...Administration...Keyring Manager. Enter your keyring
password when prompted and let it have access to itself if prompted
(!).
1. Highlight the key that contains "vino" in it. Delete that key. Yes.
2. Start gconf-editor
3a. Navigate to desktop...gnome...remote_access.
3b. Click in the empty field to the right of "vnc_password" (the
"value" column). Enter your base64 encoded password from above.
That's it. Don't need to log out. Just connect to the system with a
VNC viewer on display "0" if you didn't change the port number.

Boot sequence with IDE and SATA Disk

Originally set in bios boot section to boot from sata disk. I had my IDE disk which was originally my boot device disconnected.

I want to mirror my boot disk so use both IDE and SATA disk when I connected the power again and tried to boot up It didn’t wanted to boot. Although it still sees my SATA disk as first boot device It apparently wants to boot from IDE no matter what.

In order to boot from SATA and having the IDE disk powered and connected It was mentioned I should disable the device in the main menu where it was recognized by BIOS auto detection. I changed the value into Not installed.

That did the trick, If I do a format the disk is seen by Solaris. So now I can setup the disk as mirror for my boot drive.

Remote Desktop from windows to OpenSolaris

I was looking for some software to take over the whole desktop as in windows with remote desktop. Funny thing is it is already built in OpenSolaris.
On your Solaris box goto System –> Preferences –> Desktop Sharing and set the following:

Yes I know it is not very secure but in my case this will become a NAS server with no connection to the outside world. Now you can start a browser session http://<hostname>:5800 and it will give you RDP like you are used to in Windows.

After shutdown and restart I could not start this remote session http://<ip-address>:5800. Checked the desktop on Solaris and it mentions the Gnome-keyring-daemon-wrapper.

To turn it off:
go to System->Preferences->Sessions and uncheck
>>> GNOME Keyring Daemon Wrapper in the Startup Programs