- Sun Solaris on SPARC processors only. Sorry, no Intel.
- None. You need to be on 8.10 to use Linux as an application server. You can still use Linux as your OS for hosting the database of your choice (so long as it is Oracle or DB2 UDB), but you are limited to 32-bit processing in the supported configuration (RedHat Linux Advanced Server 3.0 for x86.) If you are looking at Sun on Sparc, why bother with an OS limited to 32-bits? Solaris has been 64-bit for a long time and they scale up very, very well. Sun is planning on open sourcing Solaris. The big news of the week is that Sun will be offering 100% compatibility with all Linux applications running on RedHat Enterprise Server 3.0. The catch is this support is only offered on the x86 platform. Sun has gone back and forth supporting their proprietary OS on Intel hardware. Now that Linux is kicking their tail, they are on the bandwagon like most everyone but the usual suspects (Microsoft, Dell, Apple and don't forget SCO!)
- Oracle 9.2 in it's various iterations is supported. I believe 9.2.0.4 with RAC is supported starting with 8.10.
What I think you are going to find as time goes by is more support for a wide range of hardware and software from multiple vendors. The reason PeopleSoft is now supporting WebLogic 8.1 for EnterpriseOne is because this is their preferred web application server platform This means their larger customers win when it comes to competitively pricing WebSphere against WebLogic. I'm sure more than a few customers have been told they need to purchase the entire technology foundation for WebSphere when they really didn't need it. I believe there were plans to require it for security beginning with SP3 but it was obviously shelved due to changes in their strategic direction.