Network Configuration

C H A P T E R Au 4

This chapter describes how to edit the network host files after the adapter has been installed on your system. This chapter contains the following sections:

Configuring the Network Host Files

Setting Up a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network on a Diskless Client System

Installing the Oracle Solaris Operating System Over a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network

Booting Over the 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network for Oracle Solaris x86 and Linux Systems

Configuring the Network Host Files

After installing the driver software, you must create a hostname.nxgenumber file for the adapter’s Ethernet interface. You must also create both an IP address and a host name for its Ethernet interface in the /etc/hosts file.

1. At the command line, use the grep command to search the /etc/path_to_inst file for nxge interfaces.

# grep nxge /etc/path_to_inst
# "/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0" 0 "nxge"
# "/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0,1" 1 "nxge"#

In this example, the device instance is from a Sun Dual 10 GbE XFP PCI Express Card installed in slot 1.

Be sure to write down your device path and instance, which in the example is
"/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0" 0. Your device path and instance will be similar. You need this information to make changes to the nxge.conf file. See Setting Parameters Using the nxge.conf File.

2. Use the ifconfig command to set up the adapter’s nxge interface.

Use the ifconfig command to assign an IP address to the network interface. Type the following at the command line, replacing ip-address with the adapter’s IP address:

# ifconfig nxge0 plumb ip-address up

Refer to the ifconfig(1M) man page and the Oracle Solaris documentation for more information.

If you want a setup that remains the same after you reboot, create an
/etc/hostname.nxgenumber file, where number is the instance number of the nxge interface you plan to use.

To use the adapter’s nxge interface in the Step 1 example, create an
/etc/hostname.nxge0 file, where 0 is the number of the nxge interface. If the instance number were 1, the filename would be
/etc/hostname.nxge1.

Do not create an /etc/hostname.nxgenumber file for a Sun Dual 10 GbE XFP PCI Express Card interface you plan to leave unused.

The /etc/hostname.nxgenumber file must contain the host name for the appropriate nxge interface.

The host name must have an IP address listed in the /etc/hosts file.

The host name must be different from any other host name of any other interface, for example: /etc/hostname.nxge0 and /etc/hostname.nxge1 cannot share the same host name.

The following example shows the /etc/hostname.nxgenumber file required for a system called zardoz that has a Sun Dual 10GbE XFP PCI Express Card (zardoz-11).

# cat /etc/hostname.nxge0
zardoz
# cat /etc/hostname.nxge1
zardoz-11

3. Create an appropriate entry in the /etc/hosts file for each active nxge interface.

For example:

# cat /etc/hosts
#
# Internet host table
#
127.0.0.1     localhost
129.144.10.57 zardoz    loghost
129.144.11.83 zardoz-11

Setting Up a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network on a Diskless Client System

Before you can boot and operate a diskless client system across a 10-Gigabit Ethernet network, you must first install the 10-Gigabit Ethernet software packages into the root directory of the diskless client. You can find the 10-Gigabit Ethernet software packages at the following web site:

http://www.sun.com/products/networking/downloads.html

Refer to the Solaris Advanced Installation Guide and the System Administration Guide for more information about installing and administering diskless client systems.

Note - The Oracle Solaris x86 version of the operating system does not support diskless clients.

To Set Up a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Port on a Diskless Client

1. Locate the root directory of the diskless client on the host server.

The root directory of diskless client system is commonly installed in the host server’s /export/root/client-name directory, where client_name is the diskless client’s host name. In this procedure, the root directory is:

 /export/root/client-name

2. Download the software for Sun Dual 10 GbE XFP PCI Express Card onto the server’s drive.

3. Use the pkgadd -R command to install the software packages to the diskless client’s root directory on the server.

Install the software packages to the client’s root directory.

4. Create a hostname.nxgenumber file in the diskless client’s root directory.

Create an /export/root/client-name/etc/hostname.nxgenumber file for the 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface. See “Invalid Cross-Reference Format” for instructions.

5. Edit the hosts file in the diskless client’s root directory.

Edit the /export/root/client-name/etc/hosts file to include the IP address of the 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface. See Configuring the Network Host Files for instructions.

6. Set the MAC address on the server side and rebuild the device tree if you want to boot from the 10-Gigabit Ethernet port.

7. To boot the diskless client from the 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, type the following boot command:

ok boot path-to-device:link-param

Installing the Oracle Solaris Operating System Over a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network

The Oracle Solaris installation documentation describes the full procedure for installing the Oracle Solaris Operating System over the network. The following procedure assumes that you have created an install server, which contains the image of the Oracle Solaris CD, and that you have set up the client system to be installed over the network.

Before you can install the Oracle Solaris Operating System on a client system with a 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapter, you must first add the 10-Gigabit Ethernet software packages to the install server. These software packages are on Sun 10-Gigabit Ethernet Driver CD.

Note - Refer to the Oracle Solaris installation documentation for more information about installing the Solaris Operating System over the network.

To Install the Oracle Solaris Operating System Over a 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network

1. Prepare the install server and client system to install the Oracle Solaris Operating System over the network.

The Oracle Solaris installation documentation describes how to create the install server and set up the client systems.

Note - If you want to install the client system over a network that is not part of the same subnet, you must also create a boot server. The Oracle Solaris installation documentation describes how to create a boot server.

2. Find the root directory of the client system.

The client system’s root directory can be found in the install server’s
/etc/bootparams file. Use the grep command to search this file for the root directory.

# grep client-name /etc/bootparams
client_name root=server-name:/netinstall/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot     install=server-name:/netinstall boottype=:in rootopts=:rsize=32768

In this example, the root directory for the Oracle Solaris 10 client is /netinstall. In Step 4, you would replace root-directory with /netinstall.

Note - If the root directory is not found in the /etc/bootparams file, refer to the Oracle Solaris installation documentation for configuration instructions.

3. Download the Sun x8 Express Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet driver onto the install server’s hard drive.

The package is a folder SUNWnxge.v or SUNWnxge.u, which you can download from the following web site:

http://www.sun.com/download/products.xml?id=44eb1efd

4. On the install server, install the Sun x8 Express Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet software to the client’s root directory, as determined in Step 2.

Replace root-directory with the location of the client’s root directory.

# cd location where you downloaded the packages
# ls SUNWnxge*
# pkgadd -R root-directory/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot -d . SUNWnxge.v

Note - If the commands above do not work correctly, refer to the documentation for your version of the Oracle Solaris Operating System.

Note - Perform the following steps on the client system.

5. Shut down and halt the client system.

Use the shutdown command to go to the OpenBoot (ok) prompt.

# shutdown -i0 -g0 -y
. . .
(shutdown command messages omitted)
. . .
ok

6. At the ok prompt, use the show-nets command to find the device path of the 10-Gigabit Ethernet device.

The show-nets command lists the system devices. You should see the full paths and names of the network devices, similar to the example below.

ok show-nets
a) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@8/network@0,1
b) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@8/network@0
c) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0,1
d) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0
e) /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
f) /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
q) NO SELECTION from the above list

7. At the ok prompt, boot the client system using the full device path of the 10-Gigabit Ethernet device, for example:

ok boot /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@8/network@0

8. Proceed with the Oracle Solaris Operating System installation.

Refer to the Oracle Solaris installation documentation for more information about installing the Oracle Solaris Operating System over the network.

9. After installing the Oracle Solaris Operating System, install the Sun x8 Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet software on the client system.

The software installed in Step 4 is required to boot the client system over the 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface. You now need to install the software in order for the operating system to use the client’s 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces in normal operation.

Before installing the Sun 10-Gigabit Ethernet driver, ensure that the client system does not already have the driver installed. Use the pkginfo command to see if the Sun 10-Gigabit Ethernet software packages are installed on the client system.

# pkginfo | grep SUNWnxge

If the software is installed, the previous command will return the package name you typed in. In that case, skip to Step 10.

If the software is not installed, install the software from the download center.

See Chapter 2 for instructions on installing the required software packages.

10. Confirm that the network host files have been configured correctly during the Oracle Solaris installation.

Although the Oracle Solaris software installation creates the client’s network configuration files, you may need to edit these files to match your specific networking environment. See Configuring the Network Host Files for more information about editing these files.

11. Use the dladm show-dev command to show configuration information for all data-links or the specified data-link. By default, the system is configured to have one data-link for each known network device.

# dladm show-dev
e1000g0         link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full
e1000g1         link: down      speed: 0     Mbps       duplex: half
e1000g2         link: down      speed: 0     Mbps       duplex: half
e1000g3         link: down      speed: 0     Mbps       duplex: half
nxge0           link: up        speed: 10000 Mbps       duplex: full
nxge1           link: up        speed: 10000 Mbps       duplex: full

Booting Over the 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network for Oracle Solaris x86 and Linux Systems

To Boot Over the Network on Oracle Solaris x86 and Linux Systems

1. Obtain the MAC address from the target Sun Dual 10 GbE XFP PCI Express Card.

2. Set up the PXE boot server with the MAC addresses .

3. Choose one of the adapter ports as the boot interface.

4. Plug the Ethernet cable to the adapter port.

5. Power on the system.

6. Press the F2 key or the Control/E keys to go to the BIOS.

7. Check and make sure that the boot order of Hard Drive is higher than network devices.

8. Refer the boot-device-order image.

The reconfiguration boot attaches the driver to the adapter. You can now configure the driver parameters for your Sun Dual 10 GbE XFP PCI Express Card.

9. Press the F10 key to save the boot configuration changes and exit.

System should reboot after saving the boot configuration.

10. Press the F12 key to install the OS from the network.

If the cable is connected to the right port, you should see the MAC address that you assigned to your PXE server displayed by BIOS.

image : pxe-mac-addr
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
 
NVIDIA Boot Agent 217.0513
Copyright (C) 2001-2005) NVIDIA Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000) NVIDIA Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
 
NVIDIA Boot Agent 217.0513
Copyright (C) 2001-2005) NVIDIA Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000) NVIDIA Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
 
Intel (R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.43 Beta-1
Copyright (C) 1997-2006) Intel Corporation
 
CLIENT MAC ADDR; 00 15 17 13 90 00 GUID: 00000000 0000 0000 0000 00144F26E0B7

11. You can now install the nxge driver and configure the adapter.