Network Configuration

C H A P T E R 4

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

Configuring the Network Host Files for a Solaris System

Configuring the Network Host Files for Booting Over the Gigabit Ethernet Network for Linux Systems

Note - To do a PXE boot (or netboot) on a dual-port card, you must use the topmost port. That port is the logical Port 0, and it has the lowest MAC address.

Configuring the Network Host Files for a Solaris System

After installing the driver software, you must plumb up the card by using either of the following methods:

For each card (using instance number), create a file named /etc/hostname.ixgbe#. When the Solaris OS is booted up, each of these ixgbe cards is plumbed up automatically. (See To Configure the Network Host Files by Creating /etc/hostname.ixgbe# Files.)

Use the ifconfig command to plumb up the ixgbe card. (See To Configure the Network Host Files Using the ifconfig Command.)

To Configure the Network Host Files by Creating `/etc/hostname.ixgbe`# Files

Note - Use this procedure to configure the network host files permanently. The new settings will be restored at each reboot.

1. Create a file named /etc/hostname.ixgbe# for each ixgbe interface.

Where # is the interface’s instance number.

2. Edit the /etc/hosts file to include an IP address and host name for each ixgbe interface.

3. Boot the Solaris OS.

The ixgbe interfaces will be plumbed up automatically when you boot.

To Configure the Network Host Files Using the `ifconfig` Command

Note - Use this procedure to configure the network host files dynamically on the command line. At reboot, the settings will revert.

1. Create a file named /etc/hostname.ixgbe# for each ixgbe interface, where # is the ixgbe interface instance number you plan to use.

For example, to bring up ixgbe0 at boot, create a file called /etc/hostname.ixgbe0, where 0 is the number of the ixgbe interface. If the instance number were 1, the filename would be /etc/hostname.ixgbe1. The /etc/hostname.ixgbe# file must contain the host name for the appropriate ixgbe interface.

2. At the command line, use the dladm command to get the ixgbe instances:

# dladm show-dev

The output might include lines similar to the following:

ixgbe0 link: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
nge0 link: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full
nge1 link: down speed: 0 Mbps duplex: unknown
ixgbe1 link: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
ixgbe2 link: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full

3. Use the ifconfig command to set up the adapter’s ixgbe interfaces.

Your ifconfig command might look similar to the following:

# ifconfig ixgbe0 plumb ip_address netmask [255.255.255.0] broadcast + up

For more information, see ifconfig(1M).

To Boot Over the Network using PXE

See “x86: Overview of Booting and Installing Over the Network With PXE” in the Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations:

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5504

Configuring the Network Host Files for Booting Over the Gigabit Ethernet Network for Linux Systems

To Boot Over the Network on Linux Systems

1. Obtain the MAC address of the first Sun 10GbE XFP SR PCI Express Card port by checking the label of the card.

For the dual-port card, the MAC address on the label is for the first port. The second port’s MAC address is the MAC address from the label, plus 1.

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

3. Plug the Ethernet cable into the card port.

4. Power on the system.

5. Press the F2 key or the Control-E keys to go to the BIOS.

6. Check and ensure that the boot order of the network devices is higher than the hard drive.

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

The system should reboot after saving the boot configuration.

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

If the cable is connected to the correct 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

9. Install the ixgbe driver and configure the Ethernet adapter.

10. After the Linux OS install completes, use the BIOS to change the boot device priority to Boot from Hard Disk in order to boot up the newly installed OS.

Unless the boot device priority is changed, the OS installation process will repeat.