Sun Quad GbE UTP x8 PCIe ExpressModule User’s Guide

This chapter describes how to configure the network host files after you install the ExpressModule on your system. This chapter also describes how to set up a Gigabit Ethernet network on a diskless client and install the Solaris Operating System over a Gigabit Ethernet network.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Configuring the Network Host Files
• Setting Up a Gigabit Ethernet Port on a Diskless Client System
• Installing the Solaris Operating System Over a Gigabit Ethernet Network

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Configuring the Network Host Files

After installing the driver software, you must create a hostname.nxgenumber file for the ExpressModule’s Ethernet interface. You must also create both an IP address and a host name for the ExpressModule’s 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"
"/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0,2" 2 "nxge"
"/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0,3" 3 "nxge"

In this example, the device instance is from a Sun Quad GbE UTP x8 PCIe ExpressModule installed in Slot 1. The instance numbers are shown in bold italics.

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. Set up the ExpressModule’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 ExpressModule’s IP address:

# ifconfig nxge0 plumb ip-address up

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

3. (Optional) 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 ExpressModule’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. The filename would be /etc/hostname.nxge2, for instance 2, and so on.

Do not create an /etc/hostname.nxgenumber file for a Sun Quad GbE UTP x8 PCIe ExpressModule interface you plan to leave unused.

Follow these guidelines for the host name:

• 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 an Sun Quad GbE UTP x8 PCIe ExpressModule. Note the system name changes for each interface.

# cat /etc/hostname.nxge0
zardoz
# cat /etc/hostname.nxge1
zardoz-11
# cat /etc/hostname.nxge2
zardoz-12
# cat /etc/hostname.nxge3
zardoz-13
 

4. 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
129.144.12.92 zardoz-12
129.144.13.45 zardoz-13

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Setting Up a Gigabit Ethernet Port on a Diskless Client System

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

http://www.sun.com/products/networking/ethernet/index.html

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

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

The root directory of the 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 the ExpressModule 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.

ok pkgadd -R

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 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 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 Gigabit Ethernet port.

7. Boot the diskless client from the Gigabit Ethernet port:

ok boot path-to-device:link-param

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Installing the Solaris Operating System Over a Gigabit Ethernet Network

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

Before you can install the Solaris Operating System on a client system with a Gigabit Ethernet ExpressModule, you must first add the Gigabit Ethernet software packages to the install server. See Chapter 2 for the location of these software packages.

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

The Solaris Advanced Installation Guide describes how to create the install server and set up the client systems.

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 Solaris 10 client is /netinstall. In Step 4, you would replace root-directory with /netinstall.

3. Download the nxge 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/products/networking/ethernet/index.html

4. On the install server, install the nxge 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

5. Shut down and halt the client system.

Use the shutdown command to obtain 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 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@9/network@0,3
b) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0,2
c) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0,1
d) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0
e) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@8/network@0,1
f) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@8/network@0
g) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0,1
h) /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0
i) /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
j) /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
m) MORE SELECTIONS
q) NO SELECTION
Enter Selection, q to quit:

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

ok boot /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/network@0

8. Proceed with the Solaris Operating System installation.

Refer to the Solaris Advanced Installation Guide for more information about installing the Solaris Operating System over the network.

9. After installing the Solaris Operating System, install the nxge driver software on the client system.

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

Before installing the nxge driver, ensure that the client system does not already have the driver installed. Use the pkginfo command to see if the nxge 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 Solaris installation.

Although the Solaris software installation creates the client’s network configuration files, you might 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. 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
nxge2           link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full
nxge3           link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full
nxge4           link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full
nxge5           link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full
e1000g2         link: down      speed: 0     Mbps       duplex: half
e1000g3         link: down      speed: 0     Mbps       duplex: half

Sun Quad GbE UTP x8 PCIe ExpressModule User’s Guide

820-1609-12

Copyright © 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.