A new WiFi architecture has been integrated into Nevada Build 54 which will pave the way for some pretty cool features in the future, and also will start to bring Solaris inline with (and dare I say, overtake) the likes of Linux on the WiFi front.

Of the changes, the most significant are:

  • The drivers are now part of the GLDv3 (aka nemo) network framework. Or should I say, the GLDv3 framework now supports WiFi.
  • The kernel now has a dedicated net80211 kernel module which facilitates code sharing across WiFi drivers, thus easing the development of drivers for different chips.
  • The preferred way to manage WiFi is with the GLDv3 administration command, dladm instead of wificonfig. Whilst wificonfig won't be removed immediately, it's use will be discouraged.

Now that these enhancements have been made, we'll start to see the cool stuff really come to life like:

... and of course, a final goodbye to ndd(1M) is even more likely to happen - they've been saying this for ages, now it looks like it's going to finally happen.

Whilst it's a bit sad Solaris has had to play catchup (it's kind of expected from an OS that has spent most of it's life in the data centre/corporate world), at least Sun has had time to sit back, watch the rest, and now implement things properly.

Check out Peter Memishian's WiFi/GLDv3 post for more details.