An entity configured over a NIC is called a client. Clients enable communication between a system and other network nodes. From the perspective of ring allocation, a client can be one of two types:
Hardware-based clients have exclusive use of one or more NIC rings. Assigning rings for exclusive use depends on the ring allocation supported by the NICs.
Software-based clients do not have exclusive use of NIC rings. Rings are shared with other existing software-based clients or with the primary client. The rings that these clients use depend on the number of hardware-based clients that have priority in ring allocation.
Ring allocation to VLAN clients differs based on the command you use to create the VLAN.
$ dladm create-vlan -l link -v vid VLAN
This command creates a VLAN that shares the same MAC address and consequently, Rx and Tx rings, as the underlying datalink.
$ dladm create-vnic -l link -v vid VNIC
This command creates a VLAN-VNIC with a unique MAC address. Therefore, assuming that the NIC supports hardware-based clients, the VNIC can be assigned its own dedicated rings.
Before You Begin
Ensure that your role has the appropriate rights profile to perform this procedure. See Using Rights Profiles to Perform Network Configuration.
$ dladm show-linkprop -p rx-rings-available,tx-rings-available link
Determine the following information from the output of the command:
Whether the NIC supports hardware-based clients
The availability of rings to allocate to hardware-based clients
The availability of hardware-based clients that you can configure on the link
$ dladm create-vnic -p rx-rings=value[,tx-rings=value] -l link VNIC
where value can be one of the following:
hw - Indicates that you are configuring a hardware-based client.
number - Indicates that you are configuring a hardware-based client only. The number refers to the quantity of rings that you can allocate to the client for its exclusive use.
$ dladm create-vnic -p rx-rings=sw[,tx-rings=sw] -l link VNIC
Alternatively, if the client was previously created, you can use the dladm set-linkprop command to set the ring properties.
$ dladm show-linkprop -p rx-rings,tx-rings VNIC
$ dladm show-phys -H link