Network resource management in Oracle Solaris consists of setting datalink properties that pertain specifically to how network resources are allocated. By setting these properties, you can determine how much of a given resource can be used for networking processes. For example, a link can be associated with a specific number of CPUs that are reserved exclusively for networking processes. Or, a link can be allotted a given bandwidth to process a specific type of network traffic.
Procedures for allocating resources apply to both virtual networks and traditional (physical) networks. For example, you can use the dladm set-linkprop command to set properties that are related to network resources. This same syntax is used for both physical and virtual datalinks.
Network resource management is comparable to creating dedicated lanes for traffic. When you combine different resources to cater to specific types of network packets, those resources form a network lane specifically for those network packets.
Use network resource management features to accomplish the following:
Provision a network
Establish service level agreements
Bill clients
Diagnose security problems
You can also use flows to manage network resources. A flow is a customized way of categorizing packets to further control how resources are used to process those packets. Network packets can be categorized according to an attribute. Packets that share an attribute constitute a flow and are labeled with a specific flow name. You can then assign specific resources to the flow.
The commands that you use to allocate network resources depend on whether you are working with datalinks or flows.
For datalinks, use the dladm command with the appropriate subcommand, depending on whether you are setting the property during link creation or afterwards.
For flows, use the flowadm command with the appropriate subcommand. Managing resources on flows parallels the methods for managing resources on datalinks.
You can use the flowadm add-flow command to configure flows on a datalink based on a single attribute or a combination of attributes. Configuring flows based on a combination of attributes enables you to selectively organize network packets that are received from different ports, transport protocols, and IP addresses.
The set of defined attributes that characterizes the flows constitutes the system's flow control policy.
For complete instructions, see Chapter 7, Managing Network Resources, in Managing Network Virtualization and Network Resources in Oracle Solaris 11.2 and the dladm (1M) and flowadm (1M) man pages.