Difference Between AIX and Solaris Operating System

An Operating System (OS) is a collection of software that manages computer hardware resources and provides common services for computer programs. In this article, we will learn the difference between AIX and Solaris.

What is the AIX Operating System?

AIX is a series of proprietary operating systems which is provided by IBM. AIX stands for Advanced Interactive executive. Initially, it was designed for the IBM RT PC RISC workstation, and later it was used for various hardware platforms like IBM RS/6000 series, PowerPC-based systems, System-370 mainframes, and PS-2 personal computers, and Apple Network Server. It is one of the five commercial operating systems that have versions certified to UNIX 03 standard of The Open Group. The first version of AIX was launched in 1986. The latest stable version of AIX is 7.2. 

What is Solaris Operating System?

Solaris is a proprietary operating system which is provided by Oracle Corporation. It is a Unix-like operating system. It is written in C language and C++. It has a mixed source model i.e. open and close source both. It was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2010. The first version of Solaris was launched in 1992. The kernel used in this operating system is Monolithic with dynamically loadable modules. 

Difference Between AIX and Solaris Operating Systems

AIX Operating System	Solaris Operating System
It was developed by IBM.	It was developed by Sun Microsystems.
It was launched in 1986.	It was launched in 1992.
Its target system type is Server, NAS, and workstation.	Its target system types are server and workstation.
It is owned by IBM.	It is owned by Oracle Corporation.
Computer architectures supported are POWER, PowerPC-AS, PowerPC, and Power ISA.	Computer architectures supported by Solaris are IA-32, x86-64, and SPARC.
Kernel type is Monolithic with modules.	Its kernel type is Monolithic with dynamically loadable modules.
The native APIs are SysV/POSIX.	Its native APIs are SysV/POSIX, GTK, and Java.
The preferred license is Proprietary.	It has the preferred license of CDDL.
Update management is Service Update Management Assistant (SUMA).	Its update management is the Image Packaging System.
AIX does not support Real-time Application Data Integrity (ADI)	Solaris supports Real-time Application Data Integrity (ADI).
File systems supported are JFS, JFS2, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS, SMBFS, and GPFS.	File systems supported by Solaris are UFS, ZFS, ext2, FAT, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS, and QFS.

Frequently Asked Questions on Difference Between AIX and Solaris – FAQs

Are AIX and Solaris the same?

When compared to AIX or HP-UX, Solaris is a more command-line oriented Unix operating system.

What is the purpose of Solaris?

With the help of its cutting-edge virtualization technology, several operating systems and apps can operate on a single physical server.

Why is AIX used for?

Workstations, NAS, and corporate servers are the typical uses for IBM AIX. It enables you to divide up memory, CPU, and disk access among several jobs.