Oracle Solaris end of support dates, release by release
On 24 October 2023 Oracle announced, on both its Solaris blog and its Premier Support blog, that it had postponed the end of Extended Support for Oracle Solaris 10 and Oracle Solaris 11.3 to January 2027. The same announcement moved two more dates to January 2027: the end of Extended Support for Oracle Solaris Cluster 3.3.x and the end of Premier Support for Oracle Solaris 10 Containers.
Those dates are unchanged in Oracle's current documents. Solaris release dates now sit in the Lifetime Support Policy for Oracle Operating System, VM and Integrated Software Options (effective 12 December 2025). Solaris Cluster dates sit in the Lifetime Support Policy for Oracle and Sun System Software (effective 7 August 2026). A separate Oracle coverage summary for Solaris, Linux and Oracle VM releases, modified December 2025, shows the same Solaris 10, 11.3 and 11.4 dates.
Two cautions for planning. First, Oracle publishes these dates to the month only. Neither the announcement nor the policy tables name a day in January 2027, so a risk register entry of "31 January 2027" records a date Oracle has not given; plan as if the change takes effect at the start of the month. Second, the 2023 announcement links to lifetime-support-hardware-301321.pdf. The copy now at that address is the 11 July 2025 edition. It still downloads, but Oracle's Lifetime Support page no longer links to it, so cite the 12 December 2025 and 7 August 2026 editions in audit evidence.
Solaris 11.4 is dated differently. Oracle says 11.4 follows a Continuous Delivery model, that its support dates are evaluated for update annually, and that support will be provided through at least the dates listed. Oracle's general rule for operating systems is a minimum ten-year Premier Support period, to which it may add three years of Extended Support and/or indefinite Sustaining Support for selected releases. If Solaris shares your estate with Microsoft, Red Hat or VMware platforms, our infrastructure software end-of-life calendar sets out their dates.
| Product | General availability | Premier Support ends | Extended Support ends | Sustaining Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Solaris 10 | January 2005 | January 2018 (ended) | January 2027 | Indefinite |
| Oracle Solaris 11.3 | October 2015 | January 2021 (ended) | January 2027 | Indefinite |
| Oracle Solaris 11.4 | August 2018 | November 2031 (at least) | November 2037 (at least) | Indefinite |
| Oracle Solaris 10 Containers | March 2020 | January 2027 | Not available | Indefinite |
| Solaris Legacy Containers (Solaris 8 and 9 Containers) | December 2010 | January 2018 (ended) | January 2024 (ended) | Indefinite |
| Oracle Solaris Cluster 3.3.x | September 2010 | September 2018 (ended) | January 2027 | Indefinite |
| Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.x | December 2011 | November 2031 | November 2034 | Indefinite |
What actually changes for a Solaris 10 or 11.3 host in January 2027
Until January 2027, customers with Extended Support receive what Oracle's policy lists for it: program updates, fixes, security patches, security alerts and Critical Patch Updates for Solaris. Oracle has delivered Solaris 11.3 updates as Limited Support Updates (LSUs) since August 2018, and for systems under Extended Support, fixes may come as IDR updates and/or LSUs. Extended Support already excludes hardware certification and certification with most new third-party products. Oracle's 2017 Solaris 10 explainer put it more simply: Extended Support does not include new hardware support.
After Extended Support ends, the support Oracle lists for both releases is Sustaining Support, shown as indefinite. It gives access to pre-existing program updates, fixes, security patches, security alerts and Critical Patch Updates. Oracle's Hardware and Systems Support Policies (effective 7 August 2026) define these as items created during Premier Support and, where it was offered, Extended Support, so fixes and LSUs Oracle created during Extended Support fall within that definition. Service-request assistance continues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on what Oracle calls a commercially reasonable basis.
What stops is anything new: program updates, fixes, security patches, security alerts, Critical Patch Updates, maintenance releases and upgrade tools. Sustaining Support also excludes certification with most new third-party products, hardware certification, backports and the 24-hour commitment for Severity 1 service requests. Oracle adds that because these releases are no longer fully supported, information and skills about them may be limited. Put simply, a Solaris 10 or 11.3 flaw that Oracle has not fixed by the end of Extended Support will not get a new fix under Sustaining Support.
Oracle's 2023 announcement also says it may offer Market Driven Support (MDS) for these products after Extended Support ends. The announcement gives no scope, terms or commitment beyond that one sentence, so treat MDS as a possibility, not a plan.
Three jobs to finish before January 2027. Record each host's release and its SRU or LSU level. Bring hosts up to the latest fix level your current contract entitles you to, while Oracle is still releasing new fixes. List every system running Solaris 10 Containers or Solaris Cluster 3.3.x, because both reach their own milestones in January 2027. If unpatched hosts will stay in service, our end-of-support server security playbook covers network segmentation and documented risk acceptance.
Which SPARC systems can run Solaris 11.4
Oracle's Solaris 11.4 release notes define the supported platforms: systems based on Oracle SPARC T4 or later processors, Fujitsu SPARC64 X, X+ or XII processors, or x64 CPUs supporting Intel EM64T or AMD64. Oracle's End of Feature Notices for Solaris 11 name the SPARC systems that cannot be upgraded to 11.4 and tell owners to migrate to newer SPARC systems: SPARC Enterprise M3000, M4000, M5000, M8000 and M9000 (SPARC64 VI, VII and VII+), UltraSPARC T1, T2 and T2+ systems, and SPARC T3 systems. The release notes add older Sun x86 models to the same list, among them Sun Fire V20z to X4640 and Sun Blade X6220 to X8440.
For those systems, the release notes point to My Oracle Support Doc ID 2382427.1 (Oracle Solaris 11.3 Support) for keeping 11.3 up to date with critical fixes until the hardware is upgraded. Under Oracle's policy, new 11.3 fixes stop when Extended Support ends in January 2027. That makes an M5000 or T3 host the hardest case in a Solaris estate: it cannot run 11.4, and after January 2027 neither Solaris 10 nor 11.3 receives new fixes.
Eligible hardware may still need work. Oracle says firmware versions able to boot 11.4 were released for SPARC T4, T5, M5, M6 and Fujitsu SPARC M10 systems, but those systems need a firmware update if you want kernel zones. SPARC M7, M8, T7 and T8 systems need no firmware update for kernel zones. Oracle also recommends updating to the latest available system firmware before installing 11.4. Recommended minimums are 4 GB of memory and 6 GB (solaris-minimal-server) to 13 GB (solaris-desktop) of disk. Oracle distributes server firmware through the Patches and Updates tab of My Oracle Support, subject to patch entitlement, so schedule firmware updates while that entitlement is active.
Hardware support runs on a separate clock. Oracle Premier Support for Systems is available for a minimum of five years from a system's Last Ship Date, and after five years replacement parts may not be available or may be delayed. This page does not list Last Ship Dates for SPARC models; confirm the date for each of your systems with Oracle. Oracle's SPARC servers page currently presents the SPARC M8-8, T8 (T8-1, T8-2, T8-4), S7 (S7-2, S7-2L) and Fujitsu SPARC M12, and describes them as including the Oracle Solaris operating system and virtualisation software. For the M12, Fujitsu states it will continue sales until the end of August 2029, with last shipment at the end of November 2029, and support services until the end of November 2034.
Moving 11.3 to 11.4, and Solaris 10 into a branded zone
Oracle's documented path from 11.3 has a step that is easy to miss. The system must first be on Solaris 11.3 SRU 23 or newer. Since Solaris 11.4 SRU 57, you can no longer upgrade directly from 11.3 to any 11.4 release after SRU 56. Instead, update to an 11.4 release between GA and SRU 56, make sure every non-global zone has booted at least once, and only then move to the latest 11.4 SRU. Packages come from the Oracle Solaris support repository (pkg.oracle.com/solaris/support) or from a local repository downloaded through the SRU Index on My Oracle Support (Doc ID 2433412.1). Both are Oracle support channels, so plan the upgrade within an active Oracle support contract.
For Solaris 10 workloads, one route Oracle documents onto 11.4 is the solaris10 branded zone, a complete runtime environment for Solaris 10 applications on SPARC and x86 systems running Solaris 10 9/10 or a later update. It cannot be installed from Solaris 10 media. An existing Solaris 10 system moves in by physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration, and an existing Solaris 10 native zone by virtual-to-virtual (V2V) migration. The zone must sit on its own ZFS dataset, because only ZFS is supported. Zones also do not support statically linked binaries, so check older in-house tools for static linking before you migrate.
Before treating a branded zone as a long-term home rather than a bridge, note that Oracle lists Solaris 10 Containers with Premier Support ending in January 2027 and Extended Support not available. Ask Oracle how that entry applies to your zones.
Where an application can run on 11.4 natively, Oracle's Binary Compatibility Guarantee covers applications that use well-defined Solaris interfaces, as described in the stability(7) man page. Oracle's example is an application that originally ran on Solaris 8 on a legacy SPARC server, which Oracle says can run on Solaris 11.4 on a SPARC T8. Test whether your application meets the interface condition rather than assuming every binary qualifies.
Oracle contract rules to read before you split a SPARC estate
The lifecycle tables decide when fixes stop. Oracle's Hardware and Systems Support Policies (effective 7 August 2026) decide how freely you can mix Oracle support, third-party cover and retired systems. Premier, Extended and Sustaining Support are phases Oracle applies to operating system and system software releases; Oracle Premier Support for Systems is tied instead to each hardware system's Last Ship Date. For how other vendors name their end-of-support milestones, see our end-of-support jargon guide.
| Clause | What Oracle's policy says | Why it matters in January 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Matching Service Levels (page 6) | All hardware systems running Solaris 10 Update 9 or later must be either all supported or all unsupported by Oracle. Systems that have reached end of service life, or that you register with Oracle as retired, are excluded. | Keeping Oracle support on some Solaris 10 Update 9 or later hosts while taking others off it conflicts with this clause, unless those other hosts are at end of service life or registered with Oracle as retired. |
| Extended Support is an add-on (page 6) | Customers adding Extended Support for Operating Systems must keep Premier Support for Systems or Premier Support for Operating Systems on the entire hardware system, and acquire Extended Support for the entire hardware system running that release. | Extended Support cannot be bought on its own, or for only part of a system. |
| Reinstatement (page 6) | If Premier Support for Systems lapses for more than 90 days, or was not purchased when the hardware was acquired, the hardware must be qualified as service-ready through Oracle Premier Support Qualification (OPSQ) before support is reinstated. | After a lapse of more than 90 days, returning to Oracle hardware support requires OPSQ first. |
| Operating system lifetime (page 11) | OS support runs ten years from general availability, Extended Support may add three years for specific releases, and Sustaining Support is available as long as fees are paid. | Sustaining Support for Solaris 10 and 11.3 continues only while fees are paid. |
| Hardware lifetime (pages 10 and 14) | Premier Support for Systems is available for a minimum of five years from Last Ship Date; after five years replacement parts may not be available or may be delayed. | On older SPARC systems, parts availability can become the constraint before the Solaris dates do. |
Your options, and what third-party maintenance cannot supply
Stay with Oracle. Extended Support delivers new fixes for Solaris 10 and 11.3 until January 2027. After that, Sustaining Support keeps pre-existing fixes and service-request assistance available for as long as fees are paid. This suits hosts where an auditor or application vendor requires an Oracle support route. Before letting any contract lapse, read Oracle's 2017 explainer. It says the Solaris support contract carries a licence for additional patches and updates, and that once support lapses you are no longer entitled to any new fixes, patches or updates.
Upgrade. On SPARC T4 or later, or on Fujitsu SPARC64 X, X+ or XII systems, moving to 11.4 puts hosts on a release with Premier Support listed through at least November 2031. Systems that Oracle lists as unable to run 11.4 need replacement hardware to get there, and Oracle's SPARC page presents the M8-8, T8, S7 and Fujitsu M12 as its current range. New hardware then starts its own Last Ship Date clock. Our EOL and EOSL planning guide helps decide, platform by platform, whether to refresh, extend or re-support. If workloads leave SPARC for x86, the server end-of-life checker shows support status for common Dell, HPE, Lenovo and Cisco servers.
Extend hardware cover with third-party maintenance. Servnet's Oracle and Sun third-party maintenance provides hardware break-fix, spares and on-site engineering for SPARC T-series and M-series servers, SPARC SuperCluster, Exadata, ZFS Storage Appliance and older Sun systems. The boundary is firm. Third-party maintenance cannot supply Solaris patches, and it cannot supply Oracle server firmware, which Oracle distributes through My Oracle Support subject to patch entitlement. Servnet is not an Oracle-authorised support provider. Our Oracle support alternative page sets out which layers Servnet covers and which stay with Oracle, and our guide to what TPM covers makes the same split for other vendors.
Check Oracle's Matching Service Levels clause before you combine these routes. For hardware systems running Solaris 10 Update 9 or later, it allows two clean shapes: every such system supported by Oracle, or every such system unsupported by Oracle, for example held at a known patch level with third-party hardware cover. The only exclusions are systems at end of service life and systems registered with Oracle as retired, so confirm any split with Oracle first. Within either shape you can still upgrade eligible 11.3 hosts to 11.4 and retire M-series and T3 systems as their workloads move. Mixed-vendor estates can add SPARC systems as "Other / not listed" in the maintenance quote builder. When hosts are retired, we arrange data erasure and decommissioning through specialist partners; see relocation and decommissioning. Our storage end-of-life checker covers HPE and Dell arrays such as MSA, Nimble, 3PAR and PowerVault; it does not list Oracle ZFS Storage or Sun arrays.
Plan SPARC hardware cover beyond January 2027
Tell us which SPARC and Sun systems you run and which Solaris release is on each. We will scope hardware break-fix, spares and on-site engineering, and tell you plainly where you still need an Oracle contract, because third-party maintenance cannot supply Solaris patches or Oracle firmware.
Questions people ask
When does Solaris 10 support end?
Oracle's Extended Support for Solaris 10 ends in January 2027, the date Oracle set when it postponed the end of Extended Support in October 2023. Oracle gives the month only, not a day. Premier Support for Solaris 10 ended in January 2018. After Extended Support ends, the support Oracle lists for Solaris 10 is Sustaining Support, shown as indefinite: access to fixes and Critical Patch Updates that already exist, plus service-request assistance, but no new security patches.
Is Solaris 11.3 end of life in January 2027?
Extended Support for Solaris 11.3 ends in January 2027, and Premier Support ended in January 2021. After that, the support Oracle lists for 11.3 is Sustaining Support, which brings no new fixes. Oracle's route forward is Solaris 11.4. First bring the system to 11.3 SRU 23 or newer. Then update to an 11.4 release between GA and SRU 56, boot every non-global zone at least once, and update to the latest 11.4 SRU.
What is the Solaris 11.4 end of support date?
Oracle lists Solaris 11.4 Premier Support through November 2031 and Extended Support through November 2037, with Sustaining Support indefinite. Because 11.4 follows a Continuous Delivery model, Oracle evaluates these dates for update annually and says support will be provided through at least those dates.
What does Oracle Sustaining Support include for Solaris?
Sustaining Support gives access to pre-existing program updates, fixes, security patches, security alerts and Critical Patch Updates, meaning those created during Premier Support and, where it was offered, Extended Support. It also includes service-request assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on a commercially reasonable basis. It does not include new fixes, security patches or Critical Patch Updates, new upgrade tools, hardware certification, certification with most new third-party products, or the 24-hour Severity 1 response commitment.
Can my SPARC server be upgraded to Solaris 11.4?
Solaris 11.4 supports systems based on SPARC T4 or later, Fujitsu SPARC64 X, X+ or XII processors, and x64. Oracle lists SPARC Enterprise M3000 to M9000, UltraSPARC T1, T2 and T2+ systems and SPARC T3 systems as unable to upgrade, and tells owners to migrate to newer SPARC systems. SPARC T4, T5, M5, M6 and Fujitsu M10 systems need a firmware update if you want kernel zones. M7, M8, T7 and T8 systems do not.
Has Oracle extended Solaris 10 support beyond January 2027?
Not in its current documents. In October 2023 Oracle postponed the end of Extended Support for Solaris 10 and 11.3 to January 2027, and its current Lifetime Support Policies (effective 12 December 2025 for Solaris releases and 7 August 2026 for Solaris Cluster) still show January 2027 for Solaris 10, Solaris 11.3 and Solaris Cluster 3.3.x. Oracle's announcement says it may offer Market Driven Support afterwards but gives no scope or terms, so do not plan around it.
Can third-party maintenance provide Solaris patches or SPARC firmware?
No. Third-party maintenance covers hardware break-fix, spares and on-site engineering for SPARC and Sun systems. It cannot supply Solaris patches or Oracle firmware, which Oracle distributes through My Oracle Support subject to patch entitlement. Before moving some systems off Oracle support, check Oracle's Matching Service Levels clause. It requires all hardware systems running Solaris 10 Update 9 or later to be either all supported or all unsupported by Oracle. Systems at end of service life and systems registered with Oracle as retired are excluded.
Sources
Every date and policy statement above comes from the vendor’s own documentation, checked on 13 September 2026. Vendors revise these; we re-check this page by 13 December 2026.
- New end date of Extended Support for Oracle Solaris 10 and 11.3 (Oracle Solaris Blog) — 24 October 2023
- New end date of Extended Support for Oracle Solaris 10 and 11.3 (Oracle Premier Support blog) — 24 October 2023
- Oracle Lifetime Support — Accessed 13 September 2026
- Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Operating System, VM and Integrated Software Options (PDF) — Effective 12 December 2025
- Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle and Sun System Software (PDF) — Effective 7 August 2026
- Lifetime Support Policy: Coverage for Oracle's Solaris, Linux, and Oracle VM Releases (PDF) — Modified 12 December 2025
- Oracle Hardware and Systems Support Policies (PDF) — Effective 7 August 2026
- Installation Considerations, Oracle Solaris 11.4 Release Notes (E60973) — Updated May 2021
- End of Feature Notices for Oracle Solaris 11 — Accessed 13 September 2026
- How to Update from Oracle Solaris 11.3 to Oracle Solaris 11.4 (E60977-02) — May 2023
- About the solaris10 Brand, Creating and Using Oracle Solaris 10 Zones — Updated November 2020
- solaris10 Zone Support, Creating and Using Oracle Solaris 10 Zones — Updated November 2020
- SPARC Servers (Oracle) — Accessed 13 September 2026
- Fujitsu SPARC Servers overview (PDF) — PDF created 24 February 2026
- Firmware Downloads and Release History for Oracle Systems — Accessed 13 September 2026
- Oracle Solaris 10 Support Explained (Oracle Solaris Blog) — 4 December 2017
- Oracle Third-Party Maintenance and Support (Servnet) — Accessed 13 September 2026
- Oracle Support Alternative (Servnet) — Accessed 13 September 2026
- OEM end-of-support jargon explained (Servnet Learn) — Accessed 13 September 2026