Answers to Common Profile-Based Network Configuration Questions

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Refer to the following troubleshooting information when using the reactive mode for network administration. For information about troubleshooting network administration issues when using the fixed mode, see Answers to Common Network Administration Questions. For further details, see About Network Configuration Modes in Configuring and Administering Network Components in Oracle Solaris 11.2 .

Question:

How do I determine which networking mode my system is using after an installation?

Answer:

The networking mode is determined by the profile that is activated during installation. If the Automatic profile is activated, you are in the reactive mode. If the DefaultFixed profile is activated, you are in the fixed mode. To determine which mode is currently active on your system, use the netadm list command as follows:

# netadm list

Question:

My system defaulted to the fixed mode after an installation and the DefaultFixed profile is currently active. How do I switch to reactive mode?

Answer:

To enable the reactive mode, you need to switch to either the Automatic profile or another reactive profile by using the netadm enable command. For example, you would enable the Automatic profile as follows:

# netadm enable -p ncp Automatic

Question:

What profile must be referenced to not plumb IPv6 and how is this aspect of network configuration managed when using the Automated Installer (AI) or at installation time?

Answer:

You can create any profile that does not have an IPv6 address configured. When the profile is enabled, IPv6 is not plumbed. You cannot create new reactive profiles at installation time from an AI manifest. If you want to create a reactive profile after an installation, use the netcfg command. See Configuring Profiles in Configuring and Administering Network Components in Oracle Solaris 11.2 . Note that an AI manifest does enable you to choose which profile to activate after the installation after the system reboots.

Question:

The naming services settings on my system are not set correctly after installing Oracle Solaris. What should I do?

Answer:

For the reactive mode, naming services information and other system-wide settings are specified in a Location profile, which is another primary profile type. See Profile Type Descriptions in Configuring and Administering Network Components in Oracle Solaris 11.2 for more details. The following example shows how to display all of the profiles that are on a system and their states. Use this command to determine the currently active Location profile. The second part of the example shows how to initiative an interactive netcfg session, then select the currently active Location and list its configuration information:

# netadm list
TYPE        PROFILE        STATE
ncp         DefaultFixed   disabled
ncp         Automatic      online
ncu:phys    net0           offline
ncu:ip      net0           offline
loc         Automatic      online
loc         NoNet          offline
loc         DefaultFixed   offline

# netcfg
netcfg> select loc myloc
netcfg:loc:myloc> list
loc:myloc
      activation-mode                 manual
      enabled                         false
      nameservices                    dns
      nameservices-config-file        "/etc/nsswitch.dns"
      dns-nameservice-configsrc       dhcp
netcfg:loc:myloc>

In the previous example, DNS is used and the /etc/nsswitch.dns file is referenced. The following example shows how you would modify the existing naming services configuration for a Location named myloc:

# netadm list
TYPE        PROFILE        STATE
ncp         DefaultFixed   disabled
ncp         Automatic      online
ncu:phys    net0           offline
ncu:ip      net0           offline
loc         Automatic      offline
loc         NoNet          offline
loc         DefaultFixed   offline
loc         myloc          online

# netcfg
netcfg> select loc myloc
netcfg:loc:myloc> list
loc:myloc
activation-mode                 manual
enabled                         false
nameservices                    nis
nameservices-config-file        "/etc/nsswitch.nis"
dns-nameservice-configsrc       dhcp
nfsv4-domain
netcfg:loc:myloc> set nameservices=dns
netcfg:loc:myloc> set nameservices-config-file="/etc/nsswitch.dns"
netcfg:loc:myloc> list
        activation-mode                 system
        enabled                         false
        nameservices                    dns
        nameservices-config-file        "/etc/nsswitch.dns"
netcfg:loc:myloc> commit
Committed changes
netcfg:loc:myloc> exit

For more information about configuring Locations, see Creating Locations in Configuring and Administering Network Components in Oracle Solaris 11.2 .

Question:

I cannot start the network administration GUI (formerly NWAM) from the desktop. Can I start the GUI from the command line?

Answer:

Use the following command to start the GUI from the command line:

% /usr/lib/nwam-manager

If the GUI still does not start, make sure that the network administration GUI icon is displayed in the GNOME notification area of your desktop panel. If the icon is not displayed, press the right mouse button to select the Add to Panel... option on the desktop panel, then add the Notification Area to the panel.

Question:

I started the network administration GUI from the command line (/usr/lib/nwam-manager) as a regular user and received the message, "Another instance is running. This instance will exit now”. The GUI seemed to start, but the icon is not displayed on the desktop. How can I access the GUI?

Answer:

If the icon is not displayed in the desktop panel, press the right mouse button to select the Add to Panel... option on the desktop panel, then add the Notification Area to the panel.