Virtual Network Devices Are Not Created Properly on the Control Domain

Bug ID 6836587: Sometimes ifconfig indicates that the device does not exist after you add a virtual network or virtual disk device to a domain. This situation might occur as the result of the /devices entry not being created.

Although this should not occur during normal operation, the error was seen when the instance number of a virtual network device did not match the instance number listed in /etc/path_to_inst file.

For example:

# ifconfig vnet0 plumb
ifconfig: plumb: vnet0: no such interface

The instance number of a virtual device is shown under the DEVICE column in the ldm list output:

# ldm list -o network primary
NAME             
primary          

MAC
    00:14:4f:86:6a:64

VSW
    NAME         MAC               NET-DEV DEVICE   DEFAULT-VLAN-ID PVID VID MTU  MODE  
    primary-vsw0 00:14:4f:f9:86:f3 nxge0   switch@0 1               1        1500        

NETWORK
    NAME   SERVICE              DEVICE    MAC               MODE PVID VID MTU  
    vnet1  primary-vsw0@primary network@0 00:14:4f:f8:76:6d      1        1500

The instance number (0 for both the vnet and vsw shown previously) can be compared with the instance number in the path_to_inst file to ensure that they match.

# egrep '(vnet|vsw)' /etc/path_to_inst
"/virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/virtual-network-switch@0" 0 "vsw"
"/virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/network@0" 0 "vnet"

Workaround: In the case of mismatching instance numbers, remove the virtual network or virtual switch device. Then, add them again by explicitly specifying the instance number required by setting the id property.

You can also manually edit the /etc/path_to_inst file. See the path_to_inst(4) man page.

Be aware of the warning contained in the man page that states “changes should not be made to /etc/path_to_inst without careful consideration.”