A P P E N D I X  D

Managing Network Interfaces

This appendix describes how to manage network interfaces. This appendix contains the following sections:


Network Interfaces

The Netra 440 server provides two on-board Sun Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, which reside on the system motherboard and conform to the IEEE 802.3z Ethernet standard. The Ethernet interfaces operate at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1000 Mbps.

Two back panel ports with RJ-45 connectors provide access to the on-board Ethernet interfaces. Each interface is configured with a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address. Each connector features two LEDs, as described in the Netra 440 Server Product Overview (817-3881-xx). Additional Ethernet interfaces or connections to other network types are available by installing the appropriate PCI interface cards.

The system's onboard interfaces can be configured for redundancy, or an additional network interface card can serve as a redundant network interface for one of the system's on-board interfaces. If the active network interface becomes unavailable, the system can automatically switch to the redundant interface to maintain availability. This capability is known as automatic failover and must be configured at the Solaris OS level. In addition, this configuration provides outbound data load balancing for increased performance. For additional details, see Redundant Network Interfaces.

The Ethernet driver is installed automatically during the Solaris OS installation procedure.

For instructions on configuring the system network interfaces, see:


Redundant Network Interfaces

You can configure your system with redundant network interfaces to provide a highly available network connection. Such a configuration relies on special Solaris OS features to detect a failed or failing network interface and automatically switch all network traffic over to the redundant interface. This capability is known as automatic failover.

To set up redundant network interfaces, you can enable automatic failover between the two similar interfaces using the IP Network Multipathing feature of the Solaris OS. For additional details, refer to the Netra 440 Server System Administration Manual (817-3884-xx). You can also install a pair of identical PCI network interface cards, or add a single card that provides an interface identical to one of the two on-board Ethernet interfaces.

To ensure maximum redundancy, each onboard Ethernet interface resides on a different PCI bus. To help further maximize system availability, ensure that any additional network interfaces added for redundancy also reside on separate PCI buses, which are supported by separate PCI bridges. For additional details, refer to the Netra 440 Server Product Overview (817-3881-xx).


Attaching a Twisted-Pair Ethernet Cable

1. Locate the RJ-45 twisted-pair Ethernet (TPE) connector for the appropriate Ethernet interface--the left connector (net0) or the right connector (net1).

For a PCI Ethernet adapter card, see the documentation supplied with the card.

2. Connect a Category-5 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable to the appropriate RJ-45 connector on the system back panel.

You should hear the connector tab click into place. The UTP cable length must not exceed 100 meters (328 feet).

3. Connect the other end of the cable to the RJ-45 outlet of the appropriate network device.

You should hear the connector tab click into place.

Consult your network documentation if you need more information about how to connect to your network.

If you are adding an additional network interface to the system, you need to configure that interface. See Configuring Additional Network Interfaces.


Configuring the Primary Network Interface

For background information, see Network Interfaces.

If you are using a PCI network interface card, see the documentation supplied with the card.

1. Choose a network port, using the following table as a guide.


Ethernet Port

PCI Bus/Clock Rate

OpenBoot PROM devalias

Device Path

1

PCI 2B/66 MHz

net1

/pci@1f,700000/network@1

0

PCI 1A/66 MHz

net0

/pci@1c,600000/network@2


2. Attach an Ethernet cable to the port you chose.

See Attaching a Twisted-Pair Ethernet Cable.

3. Choose a network host name for the system and make a note of it.

You need to furnish the name in a later step.

The host name must be unique within the network. It can consist only of alphanumeric characters and the dash (-). Do not use a dot in the host name. Do not begin the name with a number or a special character. The name must not be longer than 30 characters.

4. Determine the unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the network interface and make a note of it.

You need to furnish the address in a later step.

An IP address must be assigned by the network administrator. Each network device or interface must have a unique IP address.

During installation of the Solaris OS, the software automatically detects the system's on-board network interfaces and any installed PCI network interface cards for which native Solaris device drivers exist. The operating environment then asks you to select one of the interfaces as the primary network interface and prompts you for its host name and IP address. You can configure only one network interface during installation of the operating system. You must configure any additional interfaces separately, after the operating system is installed. For more information, see Configuring Additional Network Interfaces.

For Additional Information

After completing this procedure, the primary network interface is ready for operation. However, in order for other network devices to communicate with the system, you must enter the system's IP address and host name into the namespace on the network name server. For information about setting up a network name service, see the Solaris Naming Configuration Guide for your specific Solaris OS release.

The device driver for the system's on-board Sun Gigabit Ethernet interfaces is automatically installed with the Solaris OS release. For information about operating characteristics and configuration parameters for this driver, refer to the Platform Notes: The Sun GigaSwift Ethernet Device Driver.

This document is available on the Solaris on Sun Hardware AnswerBook, which is provided on the Solaris Supplement CD for your specific Solaris OS release.

If you want to set up an additional network interface, you must configure it separately, after installing the operating environment. See Configuring Additional Network Interfaces.



Note - The Netra 440 server conforms to the Ethernet 10/100BASE-T standard, which states that the Ethernet 10BASE-T link integrity test function should always be enabled on both the host system and the Ethernet hub. If you have problems establishing a connection between this system and your hub, verify that the Ethernet hub also has the link test function enabled. Consult the manual provided with your hub for more information about the link integrity test function.




Configuring Additional Network Interfaces

Perform the following tasks to prepare an additional network interface:



Note - All internal devices, except hard drives, must be installed by qualified service personnel only. Installation procedures for these components are covered in the Netra 440 Server Service Manual (817-3883-xx).



1. Choose a network host name for each new interface.

You need to furnish the name in a later step.

The host name must be unique within the network. It can consist only of alphanumeric characters and the dash (-). Do not use a dot in the host name. Do not begin the name with a number or a special character. The name must not be longer than 30 characters.

Usually an interface host name is based on the system host name. For example, if the system is assigned the host name sunrise, the added network interface could be named sunrise-1. For more information, see the installation instructions accompanying the Solaris OS.

2. Determine the Internet Protocol (IP) address for each new interface.

You need to furnish the IP address in a later step.

An IP address must be assigned by your network administrator. Each interface on a network must have a unique IP address.

3. Boot the operating system, if it is not already running.

Be sure to perform a reconfiguration boot if you just added a new PCI network interface card. See Initiating a Reconfiguration Boot.

4. Log in to the system as superuser.

5. Create an appropriate /etc/hostname file for each new network interface.

The name of the file you create should be of the form /etc/hostname.typenum, where type is the network interface type identifier (some common types are ce, le, hme, eri, and ge) and num is the device instance number of the interface according to the order in which it was installed in the system.

For example, the file names for the system's Gigabit Ethernet interfaces are /etc/hostname.ce0 and /etc/hostname.ce1 If you add a PCI Fast Ethernet adapter card as a third interface, its file name should be /etc/hostname.eri0. At least one of these files--the primary network interface--should exist already, having been created automatically during the Solaris OS installation process.



Note - The documentation accompanying the network interface card should identify its type. Alternatively, you can enter the show-devs command from the ok prompt to obtain a list of all installed devices.



6. Edit the /etc/hostname file(s) created in Step 5 to add the host name(s) determined in Step 1.

Following is an example of the /etc/hostname files required for a system called sunrise, which has two on-board Sun Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (ce0 and ce1) and a PCI Fast Ethernet adapter card (eri2). A network connected to the on-board ce0 and ce1 interfaces would recognize the system as sunrise and sunrise-1, while networks connected to the PCI-based eri0 interface would recognize the system as sunrise-2.


sunrise #  cat /etc/hostname.ce0
sunrise
sunrise #  cat /etc/hostname.ce1
sunrise-1
sunrise #  cat /etc/hostname.eri0
sunrise-2

7. Create an entry in the /etc/hosts file for each active network interface.

An entry consists of the IP address and the host name for each interface.

The following example shows an /etc/hosts file with entries for the three network interfaces used as examples in this procedure.


sunrise #  cat /etc/hosts
#
# Internet host table
#
127.0.0.1     localhost
129.144.10.57 sunrise loghost
129.144.14.26 sunrise-1
129.144.11.83 sunrise-2

8. Manually configure and enable each new interface using the ifconfig command.

For example, for the interface eri0, type:


# ifconfig eri0 inet ip-address netmask ip-netmask broadcast + 

For more information, see the ifconfig(1M) man page.

After completing this procedure, any new network interfaces are ready for operation. However, in order for other network devices to communicate with the system through the new interface, the IP address and host name for each new interface must be entered into the namespace on the network name server. For information about setting up a network name service, consult the Solaris Naming Configuration Guide for your specific Solaris release.

The ce device driver for each of the system's on-board Sun Gigabit Ethernet interfaces is automatically configured during Solaris installation. For information about operating characteristics and configuration parameters for these drivers, refer to the Platform Notes: The Sun GigaSwift Ethernet Device Driver.

This document is available on the Solaris on Sun Hardware AnswerBook, which is provided on the Solaris Supplement CD for your specific Solaris release.



Note - The Netra 440 server conforms to the Ethernet 10/100BASE-T standard, which states that the Ethernet 10BASE-T link integrity test function should always be enabled on both the host system and the Ethernet hub. If you have problems establishing a connection between this system and your Ethernet hub, verify that the hub also has the link test function enabled. Consult the manual provided with your hub for more information about the link integrity test function.




Initiating a Reconfiguration Boot

After installing any new internal option or external storage device, you must perform a reconfiguration boot so that the operating system is able to recognize the newly installed device(s). In addition, if you remove any device and do not install a replacement device prior to rebooting the system, you must perform a reconfiguration boot in order for the operating system to recognize the configuration change. This requirement also applies to any component that is connected to the system I2C bus to ensure proper environmental monitoring.

This requirement does not apply to any component that is:

To issue software commands, you need to set up an alphanumeric terminal connection, a local graphics monitor connection, ALOM connection, or a TIP connection to the Netra 440 server. See Chapter 5 for more information about connecting the Netra 440 server to a terminal or similar device.



caution icon

Caution - Before you power on the system, ensure that the system doors and all panels are properly installed.



This procedure assumes that you are accessing the system console using the serial management or network management port.

1. Turn on power to any external peripherals and storage devices.

Read the documentation supplied with the device for specific instructions.

2. Turn on power to the alphanumeric terminal or local graphics monitor, or log in to the ALOM.

3. Turn the rotary switch to the Diagnostics position.

Use the Diagnostics position to run power-on self-test (POST) and OpenBoot Diagnostics tests to verify that the system functions correctly with the new part(s) you just installed. See Setting the Rotary Switch for information about rotary switch settings.

4. Press the On/Standby button to power on the system.

5. If you are logged in to the sc> prompt, switch to the ok prompt. Type:


sc> console

6. When the system banner is displayed on the system console, immediately abort the boot process to access the system ok prompt.

The system banner contains the Ethernet address and host ID. To abort the boot process, use one of the following methods:

7. At the ok prompt, type the following commands:


ok setenv auto-boot? false
ok reset-all

You must set the auto-boot? variable to false and issue the reset-all command to ensure that the system correctly initiates upon reboot. If you do not issue these commands, the system may fail to initialize, because the boot process was aborted in Step 6.

8. At the ok prompt, type the following command:


ok setenv auto-boot? true

You must set the auto-boot? variable back to true so that the system boots automatically after a system reset.

9. At the ok prompt, type the following command:


ok boot -r

The boot -r command rebuilds the device tree for the system, incorporating any newly installed options so that the operating system recognizes them.



Note - The system can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 20 minutes before the system banner appears. This time depends on the system configuration (number of CPUs, memory modules, PCI cards) and the level of POST and OpenBoot Diagnostics tests being performed. For more information about OpenBoot configuration variables, refer to the Netra 440 Server System Administration Guide (817-3884-xx).



10. Turn the rotary switch to the Locked position.

This prevents anyone from accidentally powering off the system. See Setting the Rotary Switch for information about rotary switch settings.

11. Close the system door.

The system front panel LED indicators provide power-on status information. For information about the system LEDs, refer to Enclosure Status LEDs.

If the system encounters a problem during startup, and the rotary switch is in the Normal position, try restarting the system in diagnostics mode to determine the source of the problem. Turn the rotary switch to the Diagnostics position and power cycle the system. See Powering On the Server for more information.

For information about system diagnostics and troubleshooting, see the Netra 440 Server Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide (817-3886-xx).