Networking information in Solaris is stored in text files.
Configuration is done by filling in the appriopriate data to these files
and invoking specific commands in a terminal window.
- Pop up the menu above the "Text Note" icon and click on Text
Editor. Use the editor to open the file:
/boot/solaris/devicedb/master
and use the Find feature (under Edit on the menu bar) to locate
the model number of your NIC - example: 3C905 (3Com) or 9432 (SMC). Note
that the Find feature is case sensitive in the CDE text editor.
- If your NIC is in the HCL it will be in the master file.
The line for the SMC 9432 I'm using in my system looks like this:
pci10b8,a011 pci10b8,a011 net pci spwr.bef
I have the "spwr.bef" bolded because this is the driver name and
you'll need to know the driver name for other files. Remember it.
I'll save you some work if you have a 3Com 3C905 NIC. The line will
be:
pci10b7,9200 pci10b7,9200 net pci elxl.bef
- Use the editor to open the file:
/etc/driver_aliases
(Opening this file will automatically close the master
file.) If your NIC is supported it will be listed here also. The line
for my SMC NIC was:
spwr "pci10b8,a011"
which you can see is the same information found in the
master file just rearranged a bit.
- If you know what is the actual device driver name for your NIC you
can verify if the device was properly detected and the driver loaded by
looking in /dev directory and searching for files which names
begin with the driver name, eg. /dev/spwr0 or
/dev/elxl0 for devices used in our example. The number after
the driver name in the file name is the consecutive number of the NIC in
your system (numbered 0, 1, 2, etc.) using the same driver.
- Use the editor to open the file:
/etc/hosts
and enter a new line in it with the IP address you want to give the
system on your network and its' hostname. I called my machine "solarisi"
so I entered:
192.168.10.20 gokmen gokmen.selcuk.edu.tr loghost
Make sure you press Enter after typing this in to create a new
(blank) line beneath it!
With your changes, the resulting the file should look like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.10.20 gokmen gokmen.selcuk.edu.tr loghost
Note that the gokmen.selcuk.edu.tr is a registered domain.
Don't forget to save the file. Click on File on menu and select Save.
|
A note about Sendmail and the hosts
file.
Sendmail is a mail server, or more professionally, a Mail
Transport Agent, MTA in short. It is installed by deafult and
started
automatically when you boot your system. Sendmail is picky
when it comes to FQDNs (Full Qualified Domain Names).
When you
booted your system you may have seen the infamous Sendmail error:
sendmail[nnn]: My unqualified host name (solarisi) unknown; sleeping for retry
If you are not going to run a mail server, simply turn Sendmail
off by renaming its startup file:
mv /etc/rc2.d/S88sendmail /etc/rc2.d/noS88sendmail
Otherwise, you need to specify FQDN of your host in
/etc/hosts file. |
- Check if the file
/etc/hostname.driver_nameNIC_number
exists. Use the ACTUAL WORD "hostname" in the name of the file, NOT
the hostname you gave your system. The driver_name is the name I said you should remember
above, and the NIC_number is the number of the
NIC in your system. Since I only have one NIC in my system, my file was
named:
/etc/hostname.spwr0
The file should contain your host name, the same as in
/etc/hosts file. If there is no such file, or it contains
improper value you need to correct it.
You could also enter the IP address instead of the host name
which is needed if you want to assign multiple IP addresses to a single
interface, such as with hosting multiple Web sites on a single server
(Apache's virtual hosting), create multiple files using the above naming
convention but append a :1 and :2 etc. to the file
name for each additional file. Each file should have a single, different
IP address. For example:
| /etc/hostname.spwr0 |
|
contains 192.168.10.20 |
| /etc/hostname.spwr0:1 |
contains 192.168.10.21 |
| /etc/hostname.spwr0:2 |
contains 192.168.10.22 |
- Now you set up an appropriate subnet mask. Open the file
/etc/netmasks
and the top of the file has comments that explain the contents. You
basically just enter your "network number" (NOT your system's IP
address) followed by the subnet mask for your network. Given that the
address I gave my system above (192.168.10.20) is a Class C IP address,
my netmasks file looked like this:
192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0
The following table may help you determine what your network number
and subnet mask should be based on the first number of your system's IP
address:
| IP Number Class |
Network Address Range |
Subnet Mask |
Private Address Range |
| A |
1.0.0.0 to 126.0.0.0 |
255.0.0.0 |
10.x.x.x |
| B |
128.0.0.0 to 191.255.0.0 |
255.255.0.0 |
172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x |
| C |
192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.0 |
255.255.255.0 |
192.168.0.x to 192.168.255.x |
If you're setting up a small network in your home or office and
you're not sure what IP address to use, use any address given in the
"Private Address Range" above for a Class C network. This will allow you
to have up to 254 nodes (aka "hosts" in TCP/IP lingo) on your network.
Once you've got the appropriate network and mask addresses entered,
save the file.
- The /etc/hosts file mentioned above is used to resolve
machine names to IP addresses on your local network. If you are
connecting your system to a network that is connected to the Internet
and you plan to use it to surf the Web, or have another need to resolve
Internet domain names, you'll need to specify your ISP's DNS servers.
This is done using another file called
/etc/resolv.conf
Note: When you save the following newly created files
the /etc directory should already be selected as the target
for the saved file. That's why no path is specified for file saves.
However, verify that //etc/ is in the "path or folder name"
field when saving these files.
Create the new file using the text editor by clicking on File and
then on New and enter the following lines:
domain enter-your-ISP's-domain
nameserver enter-IP-address-of-primary-DNS-server
nameserver enter-IP-address-of-secondary-DNS-server
Be sure to hit Enter at the end of the last line and then save the
file with the name resolv.conf
The above file is used if your system is not part of a domain. If it
is, ex: you are going to use your system as an Internet server,
you have to list your domain name on the domain line
and list your ISP's domain (for DNS) using the search
keyword. For example:
domain your-domain.com
nameserver 172.31.214.78
nameserver 10.138.14.2
search your-ISPs-domain.com
- If your system is on a network that has a default gateway, you'll
need to create
/etc/defaultrouter
file for tha. If your system is going to be an Internet server the
default gateway is likely the address of the router interface that
connects you to your ISP.
Create a new file using the text editor (click on File and then on
New) and simply enter one IP address. This IP address however will be
for your default gateway. Be sure to hit Enter at the end of the address
and then save the file as /etc/defaultrouter
- Unfortunately, simply creating the resolv.conf file
earlier doesn't mean your system will automatically start to use it.
Again, this file is only necessary if you will use your system to access
the Internet or other large network where DNS servers are used to
resolve system names. This includes simply using your system as a
workstation to surf the Web. It doesn't have to be a server.
Yet another file called nsswitch.conf is used to "tell"
your system which name resolution methods to use (host files, DNS, etc)
and in which order to use them. Fortunately, the Solaris installation
includes several different pre-written versions of the
nsswitch file. The default file only uses the host file to
resolve machine names.
In order for your system to use DNS servers, you'll have to issue the
following command at the # prompt in a "This Host" window:
cp /etc/nsswitch.dns /etc/nsswitch.conf
Note: At this stage all files related to network
configuration are filled in, but the notworking on your system is not
yet working properly. You can either reboot your system by typing in
init 6 to make Solaris to reread configuration files and
setup networking accordingly, or alternatively perform the following
steps.
- Plumb the network interface with the following command
ifconfig spwr0 plumb
- Make the interafce up by typing in
ifconfig spwr0 192.168.10.20
netmask 255.255.255.0 up
The IP part 192.168.10.20 of the above
command is the IP assigned to the interface, in other words the IP of
your host, and the netmask part 255.255.255.0 is
the netmask specified in /etc/netmasks file.
You should now be able to communicate with systems on your local
network. You can verify this with ping command.
- Add the default route to routing table as follows
route add default 192.168.10.1
where 192.168.10.1 is the IP of the gateway
on your network. This should be the IP specified in
/etc/defaultrouter file discussed above.
You should now be able to communicate with all systems on the Internet.
Verify this with ping command, or simply fire up a web browser.
