How to Replace a Network Interface Card With Dynamic Reconfiguration

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The following procedure applies only to systems that support dynamic reconfiguration (DR). It specifically refers to configuration steps after DR is completed. You no longer need to reconfigure network links after you complete the DR process. Instead, you just transfer the link configurations of the removed NIC to the replacement NIC.

The procedure does not describe the steps to perform DR itself. Consult your system documentation for that information.

For an introduction to DR, see Chapter 2, Dynamically Configuring Devices, in Managing Devices in Oracle Solaris 11.2 .

Before You Begin

Make sure that you complete the following steps first:

Ensure that your system supports DR.
Consult the appropriate manual that describes DR on your system.

To locate current documentation about DR on Sun servers from Oracle, search for "dynamic reconfiguration" on http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/documentation/index.html.

For information about performing DR in the Oracle Solaris Cluster environment, see Oracle Solaris Cluster System Administration Guide .

Become an administrator.
(Optional) Display information about the physical attributes of datalinks and their respective locations on the system.
```
# dladm show-phys -L
```
For more information about the type of information that is displayed by the dladm show-phys -L command, refer to the dladm (1M) man page.
Perform the DR process, as described in your system's documentation.
After you have installed the replacement NIC, proceed as follows, depending on the circumstance that applies:
- If you inserted the replacement NIC into the same slot as the old NIC, proceed to Step 5.
  With the new NIC using the location that was previously occupied by the old NIC, the new NIC inherits the link name and the configuration of the old NIC.
- If you inserted the replacement NIC into a different slot, and the new NIC needs to inherit the datalink configuration of the removed NIC, rename the link as follows:
```
# dladm rename-link new-datalink old-datalink
```
  new-datalink
  
  Refers to the datalink of the replacement NIC that is in a different slot from the location from which the old NIC was removed.
  
  old-datalink
  
  Refers to the datalink name that is associated with the old NIC that was removed.
  
  Note - In this scenario, the slot from which the old NIC was removed must remain empty.
  
  For example, the NIC in slot 1 is removed, and then the new NIC is inserted in slot 2. No NIC is inserted in slot 1. Assume that the datalink on slot 1 is net0, and the datalink on slot 2 is net1. You would specify that the datalink of the new NIC inherit the datalink configuration of the old NIC as follows:
```
# dladm rename-link net1 net0
```
Complete the DR process by enabling the new NIC's resources so that they are available for use.
For example, you can use the cfgadm command to configure the NIC. For more information see the cfgadm (1M) man page.
(Optional) Display link information.
You can use either the dladm show-phys command or the dladm show-link command to display information about the datalinks.

Example 2-2 Performing Dynamic Reconfiguration by Installing a New Network Card

The following example shows how a bge card with link name net0 is replaced by an e1000g card. The link configurations of net0 are transferred from bge to e1000g after e1000g is connected to the system.

# dladm show-phys -L
LINK     DEVICE     LOCATION
net0     bge0       MB
net1     ibp0       MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT1
net2     ibp1       MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT2
net3     eoib2      MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT1/cloud-nm2gw-2/1A-ETH-2

You would perform the DR-specific steps such as using the cfgadm command to remove the bge card and then install the e1000g card in its place. After the card is installed, the datalink of e1000g0 automatically assumes the name net0 and inherits the link's configuration.

# dladm show-phys -L
LINK     DEVICE     LOCATION
net0     e1000g0    MB
net1     ibp0       MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT1
net2     ibp1       MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT2
net3     eoib2      MB/RISER0/PCIE0/PORT1/cloud-nm2gw-2/1A-ETH-2

# dladm show-link
LINK     CLASS     MTU    STATE    OVER
net0     phys      9600   up       ---
net1     phys      1500   down     ---
net2     phys      1500   down     --
net3     phys      1500   down     ---