I originally posted this at http://bdgregg.blogspot.com/2006/04/solaris-internals-2nd-edition-this.html.
This book (now 2 volumes) has been sent to the publisher!
Jim and Richard have again made a remarkable effort to create a unique and valuable reference. It covers an incredible range of topics, each with useful explinations you won't find anywhere else.
Richard has posted an entry to describe the books, and links to their tables of contents.
I'm very proud to have helped out, including authoring material for the 2nd volume. For many years I've taught Solaris performance classes for Sun, engaged in Solaris performance consulting, and more recently written freeware performance tools such as the DTraceToolkit. It's been a privilege to share my most useful knowledge in this way.
I have provided scripts inline (listing the source) wherever possible – giving the reader the choice of either using the script, or reading and understanding the script internals – and making their own customisations. We do often discuss such tool internals, which is appropriate for Solaris Internals.
I've also carefully studied both volumes in detail, and it is truly incredible what they cover. This will open the lid on many new topics that have previously not been discussed or exposed. Other engineers and experts have helped out, providing many valuable insights, especially when discussing technology that they themselves created.
I think this has a wider audience than the first edition as we discuss topics closer to home for sysadmins, support staff and developers, such as performance observability and debugging. Check the table of contents for the second volume to see what I mean.
It's now up to the publisher to print out the book. If there is any news on this we can share, we will. Check our blogs (Richard, Jim, and me).
I've been somewhat quiet on the OpenSolaris scene during the last several weeks – this is why! I'm now "back" :)