Some of the Oracle VM Server for SPARC networking features work differently when a domain runs the Oracle Solaris 10 OS as compared to the Oracle Solaris 11 OS. The feature differences for the Oracle VM Server for SPARC virtual network device and virtual switch when the Oracle Solaris 11 OS is run in a domain are as follows:
Configuring the vswn device as the primary network interface to enable a service domain to communicate with guest domains
This configuration is required only for domains that run the Oracle Solaris 10 OS. For Oracle Solaris 11, a virtual switch uses the Oracle Solaris 11 network stack, automatically enabling its virtual network devices to communicate with the network interface that corresponds to its back-end device, such as net0. Configuring the vswn device as a network interface on Oracle Solaris 11 is not supported.
Using an Oracle Solaris 11 etherstub device as a back-end device to create a private virtual switch
If not connected to a back-end device, a virtual switch provides communication only between guest domains and not between guest domains and the service domain. Using an etherstub as a back-end device enables a guest domain to communicate with a zone (including the global zone) that is configured in an Oracle Solaris 11 service domain. This configuration is accomplished by using a VNIC connected to that etherstub.
Using generic names for the virtual switch and virtual network devices
The Oracle Solaris 11 OS assigns generic names for vswn and vnetn devices. Ensure that you do not create a virtual switch with the back-end device that is another vsw or vnet device. Use the dladm show-phys command to see the actual physical devices that are associated with generic network device names.
Using an Oracle Solaris 11 VNIC to create a VLAN on an Ethernet stub
Do not configure VLANs on the virtual switch interface for Oracle Solaris 11 service domains because this configuration is not supported. Instead, create the VLAN on the interface that corresponds to the virtual switch's net-dev property value.
For Oracle Solaris 10, you can set the net-dev property with a null value to create a routed virtual switch. However, this method is not supported for Oracle Solaris 11. Instead, configure the VNIC over the Ethernet stub device to be part of the VLAN.
The following example shows how to create VNICs on an Ethernet stub. The dladm create-etherstub command creates an Ethernet stub, estub100, which is a backing device used by the ldm add-vsw command to create the virtual switch. The ldm add-vsw command creates the virtual switch. The dladm create-vnic command creates a VNIC on top of the etherstub to create the VLAN for that virtual switch.
primary# dladm create-etherstub estub100 primary# ldm add-vsw net-dev=estub100 vid=100 inter-vnet-link=off \ primary-vsw100 primary primary# dladm create-vnic -l estub100 -m auto -v 100 vnic100
The following ldm add-vnet commands create two VNICs that enable communication between the ldg1 and ldg2 domains over VLAN 100.
primary# ldm add-vnet vid=100 ldg1-vnet100 primary-vsw100 ldg1 primary# ldm add-vnet vid=100 ldg2-vnet100 primary-vsw100 ldg2
In the following example, the dladm commands create VLANs on the ldg1 and ldg2 guest domains. The ipadm commands create IP addresses for the VNICs that you created on the ldg1 and ldg2 domains.
ldg1# dladm create-vlan -l net1 -v 100 vlan100 ldg1# ipadm create-ip vlan100 ldg1# ipadm create-ipaddr -T static -a 192.168.100.10/24 vlan100/v4 ldg2# dladm create-vlan -l net1 -v 100 vlan100 ldg2# ipadm create-ip vlan100 ldg2# ipadm create-ipaddr -T static -a 192.168.100.20/24 vlan100/v4
Using generic names for the virtual switch and virtual network devices
The Oracle Solaris 11 OS assigns generic names for vswn and vnetn devices. Ensure that you do not create a virtual switch with the back-end device that is another vsw or vnet device. Use the dladm show-phys command to see the actual physical devices that are associated with generic network device names.
Using VNICs on the virtual switch and virtual network devices
You cannot use VNICs on vswn devices. An attempt to create a VNIC on vswn fails.
Using the network observability commands on Oracle Solaris 11 guest domains
You can use the ldm list-netdev and ldm list-netstat commands to obtain information about Oracle Solaris 11 guest domains.