Network Administration by Functional Area

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Oracle Solaris network administration features are designed to meet specific networking needs by providing support in the following functional areas: high availability, network virtualization, performance, resource management, security, and storage. Knowing which functional area a particular feature supports is helpful for evaluating which networking strategy or strategies to implement at your site.

The following table describes the various network administration features that are supported in Oracle Solaris according to functional area. Information about the administrative interface that is used to administer the feature and at which layer of the network protocol stack the feature is administered, is also provided.

Table 1-2 Networking Features by Functional Area

Feature	Functional Area	Administrative Interface	Network Protocol Stack Layer
Aggregations (DLMP and trunking)	High availability	`dladm` (`create-aggr`, `delete-aggr`, `modify-aggr`, `add-aggr`, `remove-aggr`)	L2
Bridging protocols: STP TRILL	High availability, network virtualization	`dladm` (`create-bridge`, `delete-bridge`, `modify-bridge`, `add-bridge`, `remove-bridge`, `show-bridge`)	L2
DCB	Network storage, performance	`lldpadm`, `dladm`	L2
Etherstubs	Network virtualization	`dladm` (`create-etherstub`, `delete-etherstub`, `show-etherstub`)	L2
EVB	Network virtualization	`dladm`	L2
EVS	Network virtualization	`evsadm`, `evsstat`, `dladm`	L2, L3
Firewalls	Security	Packet filtering with `ipf` and `ipnat`	L3, L4
Flows	Observability, resource management, security	`flowadm`, `flowstat`	L2, L3, L4
ILB	Performance	`ilbadm` (`create-servergroup`, `add-server`, `delete-servergroup`, `enable-server`, `disable-server`, `show-server`, `show-servergroup`, `remove-server`)	L3
IPMP	High availability	`ipadm` (`create-ipmp` `interface`, `delete-ipmp` `interface`, `add-ipmp` `interface`, `remove-ipmp` `interface`	L3
IP tunnels	IP connectivity	`dladm` (`create-iptun`, `modify-iptun`, `delete-iptun`, `show-iptun`); `ipadm` (to create the IP address over the tunnel)	L2, L3
LLDP	Observability, network storage, network virtualization	`lldpadm`	L2
Pluggable congestion control	Performance	`ipadm` `set-prop` `property`	L4
Routing	IP connectivity	`route` (`route -p display`; `netstat`); `routeadm`	L3
Socket filtering	Security	`soconfig` (`–F`)	L4
VLANs	Network virtualization	`dladm` (`create-vlan`, `modify-vlan`, `delete-vlan`, `show-vlan`)	L2
VNIs	IP connectivity	`ipadm` (`create-vni`, `delete-vni`)	L3
VNICs	Network virtualization	`dladm` (`create-vnic`, `modify-vnic` `delete-vnic`, `show-vnic`)	L2
VRRP	High availability	`dladm`, `vrrpadm`	L3
VXLANs	Network virtualization	`dladm` (`create-vxlan`, `show-vxlan`, `delete-vxlan`)	L2, L3

In many cases, you can obtain optimal results by using a combination of networking features. For example, the following figure shows how you might combine multiple networking features for high availability.

Figure 1-2 Combining the Use of Aggregations With VNICs

image:Figure that shows how an aggregation is combined with VNICs and configured within the Oracle Solaris network protocol stack.

In the figure, multiple physical datalinks (net0, net2, and net3) are combined into a single link aggregation (aggr0). The aggregation datalink is then directly configured from IP in the global zone through the aggr0 and aggr0 IP interface and IP address, respectively. For another example, see Combining Aggregations With VNICs for High Availability.

You can also virtualize the aggregation datalink by using it as the underlying link for the VNICs. In this figure, two VNICs are configured and then assigned to two non-global zones. This particular configuration makes the VNICs highly available because any failures of the underlying physical NICs that occur are automatically handled by the link aggregation layer and are transparent to the zones.