Basic ipadm Commands

In How to Configure an IP Interface, the three principal ipadm subcommands were introduced:

• ipadm

• ipadm create-ip

• ipadm create-addr

This section describes other selected uses of the ipadm command on IP interfaces. The list is not exhaustive. For a complete description of the ipadm command and all possible subcommands and options, see the ipadm(1M) man page.

Removing an IP Interface Configuration (ipadm delete-ip)

Use this command to remove a configured IP interface over a datalink. This command is particularly important when you are preforming certain datalink configurations. For example, renaming a datalink fails if IP interfaces are configured over that datalink. You must issue the ipadm delete-ip first before you rename the datalink.

Typically, this command is used together with other ipadm and dladm subcommands, such as changing the system's primary interface. This task would require you to delete the interface, rename the link, and then reconfigure the interface over the renamed datalink. The sequence is as follows:

# ipadm delete-ip interface
# dladm rename-link old-name new-name
# ipadm create-ip interface
# ipadm create-address parameters

See the example for changing the primary interface on Renaming a Datalink (dladm rename-link). To reconfigure an IP interface after the datalink has been renamed, see How to Configure an IP Interface.

Disabling an IP Interface Configuration (ipadm disable-ip)

By default, an IP interface is flagged as UP and becomes part of the active configuration when you create the interface with ipadm create-ip. You can remove the interface from active configuration without destroying its configuration by using the ipadm disable-ip subcommand. This command flags the specific interface as DOWN.

# ipadm disable-ip interface

To make the IP interface operational and its flag to be UP, you would type:

# ipadm enable-ip interface

Removing an Interface's Address (ipadm delete-addr)

This command deletes a specific address configuration of an IP interface. This command is useful when you want to change the IP address of a specific interface. You must remove the original address configuration before assigning a new address configuration. You would perform the following general steps:

# ipadm delete-addr addrobj
# ipadm create-addr parameters

For an example of creating an IP address for an interface, see How to Configure an IP Interface.