Multiple Network Interfaces

Some systems have more than one network interface, because they are either routers or multihomed hosts. Each network interface that is attached to the system requires its own IP address and associated name. During installation, you must configure the primary network interface. If a particular system has multiple interfaces at installation time, the Oracle Solaris installation program also prompts you about these additional interfaces. You can optionally configure one or more additional interfaces at this time, or manually, at a later date.

After the Oracle Solaris installation, you can configure additional interfaces for a router or multihomed host by adding interface information to the systems' /etc/inet/hosts file. For more information on configuring routers and multihomed hosts refer to Configuring an IPv4 Router and Configuring Multihomed Hosts.

Example 10–2 shows the /etc/inet/hosts file for system timbuktu that is shown in Figure 5–1.

Example 10–2 /etc/inet/hosts File for System timbuktu

127.0.0.1        localhost     loghost
192.168.200.70   timbuktu      #This is the local host name
192.168.201.10   timbuktu-201  #Interface to network 192.9.201

With these two interfaces, timbuktu connects networks 192.168.200 and 192.168.201 as a router.