Oracle Solaris 11 Hands On Lab

Network Configuration
1 Introduction
Participants will gain example-led awareness and understanding of how network
configuration is accomplished in Oracle Solaris 11.
With a few basic exercises we will introduce the learner to some new ways to
administer network properties in Oracle Solaris 11. Upon completion of this lab,
participants will have learned how to do some basic configuration and setup and be
prepared to explore more detailed and expand their knowledge into the powerful
Solaris network abilities.

2 Overview
In this lab well be practicing with some of the new Oracle Solaris 11 network
commands. Well briefly review basic network planning and then execute setup of
our network links and ip addressing. Well also review the updated method for
configuring name service mapping in the Solaris 11 operating system.
Some of the commands and concepts well review are listed below.

NCPs, Automatic and FixedDefault networking modes

Manual networking configuration
SMF services configuration
netadm
dladm
ipadm
svccfg

This practice can be accomplished with a single VirtualBox Oracle Solaris 11

instance with some added virtual network interfaces.

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3 Pre-requisites
This lab requires the use of the following elements:

A current laptop with at least 3GB memory and 100GB free disk space
Oracle VirtualBox Software (4.0.16 with Extension Pack installed)
Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 VirtualBox prebuilt image.
o Provided by instructor or downloaded on your own
o Oracle Solaris VM for Oracle VM VirtualBox

The following assumptions have been made regarding the environment where this
lab is being performed:
1. Network connectivity to the Internet is not necessary
2. 4 virtual network interfaces are setup in the VirtualBox environment
(instructions below)
3. Your Oracle Solaris 11 VirtualBox instance has been installed and youve
assigned a normal user/password and a root password.
a. The recommended user name is labuser
b. The recommended password is solaris11
c. The recommended root password is solaris11

4 VirtualBox lab setup and pre-network configuration

In prior labs we have imported the Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 pre-built VirtualBox
image. Skip to the step on Network Settings below if youve already imported your
Solaris 11 image. Your Oracle Solaris 11 image must be off in order to configure
the network interfaces in VirtualBox.
In the VirtualBox
main window choose
File > Import
Appliance

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From the Appliance
Import Wizard click
the Choose button
and navigate to the
OracleSolaris11_11
-11.ovf file which is
the pre-built Oracle
Solaris VM image
you downloaded or
obtained from the
instructor

Confirm the default

settings and choose
Import to begin
importing the virtual
image.

Be patient while
your image imports
into the application.
The process
shouldnt take more
than 5-10 minutes
depending on the
speed of your
system.

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After your image has
finished importing
select it in the VB
application and
choose Settings
and navigate to
Network settings.
You should see tabs
for up to 4 virtual
network adapters
and the first one
should be configured
for you already.

Select Adapter 2,
click on the check
box to Enable
Network Adapter
and make sure the
drop down is
selected as NAT
Network Address
Translation
Do the same thing
for Adapter 3 and
Adapter 4 so all 4
virtual network
adapters are
enabled.

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If you scroll down in
the Details section of
the VB interface,
your Network
properties should
show all 4 adapters
enabled.

Click on the Start

button to start your
new VB Oracle
Solaris 11 instance.

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The System
Configuration Tool
should start.
Configure your
system according to
the below
instructions. If you
need further
assistance please see
lab # 2 Advanced
Installation for help
with the system
configuration utility
Recommended
settings for lab use
are listed below:
System Name:
bootcamp1
Username: Lab User
User password:
solaris11
Root password:
solaris11
Local Time: Your
choice
Network
Configuration:
Automatic
Once your virtual
image has booted,
open a Terminal
and type in the
command dladm
show-phys to
verify that the
network interfaces
are operational and
being seen by Solaris
11.

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5 Lab Exercises
5.1 Planning the network deployment
This section is a very brief review of what you may encounter when configuring a
system for a customers network. Review the checklist and proceed on to the
exercises, keep in mind that were working with a very simple network model in our
lab exercise but that in a customer environment things could get more complicated.
Task

Description

Plan hardware requirements and

network topology

Determine the equipment youll be using

and the layout of the equipment at your
site.

Obtain registered IP address(s) for your

network if this is a new network

If communicating over the internet you

must have a unique assigned IP address

Obtain or devise an IP addressing

scheme based on IPv4 or IPv6

Determine how addresses are deployed

at the customer site.

Obtain or create a list of IP addresses

and host names that will be used on the
network. Alternatively decide if
customer will use DHCP for addressing.

Use the list to build network databases.

Determine the name service in use at the

customer site.

DNS, NIS, LDAP, etc.

Establish administrative subdivisions if

necessary.

Consult the site network admins or

obtain this information from the
customer.

Determine whether routers are in use or

necessary within the configuration,
routing protocols, etc.

If the network is large enough, routing

will be a consideration.

If required, design a strategy for

subnetting.

Subnets allow network control and help

administration as well as allow more IP
addresses to be made available to end
users.

For more information on network planning see the Oracle Solaris 11 System
Administration Guide: IP Services

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5.2 Network command basics

Your system should already have Oracle VirtualBox hypervisor software installed
and ready to use with the Oracle Solaris 11 instance configured and up and running
with 4 virtual network adapters added. We will be using a terminal application
within the GUI for the following lab exercises.

5.3 Network Configuration Profiles (NCP)

Oracle Solaris 11 uses profile-based network configuration, which is comprised of
two network configuration modes: manual and automatic.
The Automatic NCP uses DHCP to obtain basic network configuration (IP address,
router, and DNS server) from any of the connected Ethernet interfaces. The
DefaultFixed NCP disables automatic network configuration and requires the
network interfaces to be manually configured using the dladm and ipadm
commands. The name-services can be configured using SMF, the Oracle Solaris
Service Management Facility.

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You can create your own NCPs and this makes Oracle Solaris 11 network
management easier than always using the DefaultFixed NCP and manually
configuring the network. The DefaultFixed NCP should be used on systems that
will be reconfigured using Oracle Solaris Dynamic Reconfiguration or where hotswappable interfaces are used. It must be used for IP multipathing, which is not
supported when using the Automatic NCP.
You can use netadm to find out what network profiles are active on a system:
# netadm list

As you can see from the output the Automatic NCP is enabled and active. We will
need to switch to the DefaultFixed NCP in order to complete the rest of the lab.
Lets familiarize ourselves with the new network commands and see what our
network looks like. Type to following commands to investigate your network based
on its automatically obtained information.
#dladm show-phys (shows us the physical interfaces)
#dladm show-link (shows us the link state for the physical addresses)

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Now lets look at the ip layer and see whats going on.
# ipadm show-if (this will show us the existing interfaces on the system)
# ipadm show-addr (this will show us the mac addresses and IP addresses)

Now lets switch to manual mode in order to see whats involved in manual network
configuration.
# netadm enable p ncp DefaultFixed
# netadm list

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We can easily switch back to the Automatic NCP using the following command:
# netadm enable -p ncp Automatic
# netadm list
It might take a few minutes for your instance to regain its network information but
soon you will be back to your original state.

Return to the DefaultFixed ncp by typing in the following command:

# netadm enable p ncp DefaultFixed

Now that weve gone back to the manual network profile, lets look at our interfaces
again and see whats happened.

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# dladm show-phys
# dladm show-link

# ipadm show-if
# ipadm show-addr

None of the interfaces should be configured. Now we have some work to do.

5.4 Manual network configuration

In the last lab we switched the NCP into DefaultFixed. Now we can start doing
some manual network configuration.
On a machine with multiple physical networks, you can use dladm to determine
how network interface names are mapped to physical interfaces. Oracle Solaris uses
the concept of vanity names to apply to the underlying links to avoid random
changes resulting from interface additions and subtractions.
# dladm show-phys

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The ipadm command is used to manually configure IP interfaces and addresses.

For example, a static IPv4 interface is configured as follows. Then use the ipadm
show-if command to verify the interface.
# ipadm create-ip net0
# ipadm show-if

Now lets assign an IP address to our interface with the following command:
# ipadm create-addr T static a local=10.9.8.7/24 \
net0/v4static
# ipadm show-addr

The -T option can be used to specify three address types: static, dhcp, and
addrconf (for auto-configured IPv6 addresses). In this example, the system is
configured with a static IPv4 address. Use the same syntax to specify a static IPv6
address with our second virtual interface.
#
#
#
#

ipadm
ipadm
ipadm
ipadm

create-ip net1
create-addr T addrconf net1/v6auto
show-if
show-addr
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Now lets create a dhcp interface using the same commands and our 3rd interface.
#
#
#
#

ipadm
ipadm
ipadm
ipadm

create-ip net2
create-addr T dhcp net2/v4auto
show-if
show-addr

If an interface has already been configured and you want to change the address or
type, you will need to remove it and then re-add it. Execute the following
commands to change the address on net0 from 10.8.7.6 to 10.8.7.4. Then type the
ipadm show-addr command to verify your changes.
# ipadm delete-ip net0
# ipadm create-ip net0
# ipadm create-addr T static a local=10.9.8.4/24 \
net0/v4static
# ipadm show-addr

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5.5 Displaying and configuring link interfaces when in manual mode

When you perform a fresh installation, all datalinks are automatically assigned
generic names by using a net0, net1, and netNnaming convention, depending on the
total number of network devices on a system. After installing, you can use different
datalink names.
Display information about the datalinks on a system as follows:
# dladm show-phys

Display a datalink name, its device name, and its location in this manner:
# dladm show-phys L net0

To rename a datalink type the following commands. If an IP interface is configured

over the datalink, first remove the interface.
# ipadm show-if

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Oracle Solaris 11 Hands On Lab

Since we dont have net3 configured at this time lets rename the link using the
following commands:
# dladm rename-link net3 onboard3
# dladm show-phys

Youve just renamed your datalink.

5.6 Name Services in Oracle Solaris 11

The SMF repository has replaced manually edited files as the primary method for
configuring network naming services. Changes to network services information can
now be made by interacting directly with the SMF services. And the services, for
example, svc:/system/name-service/switch, svc:/network/dns/client,
and svc:/system/name-service/cache must be enabled or refreshed for any changes
to take effect.
The following table describes the naming service configuration information that has
migrated to SMF.

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SMF Service

Files

Description

svc:/system/name-service/switch:default

/etc/nsswitch.conf

Naming service switch

configuration (Used by
thenscd command)

svc:/system/nameservice/cache:default

/etc/nscd.conf

Naming service cache (nscd)

svc:/network/dns/client:default /etc/resolv.conf

DNS naming service

svc:/network/nis/domain:default /etc/defaultdomain
/var/yp/binding/$DOMAIN/*

Shared NIS domain configuration

(Used by all NIS services). Also
historical shared use by LDAP
naming services

svc:/network/nis/client:default N/A

NIS client naming service

(ypbind and related files)

svc:/network/ldap/client:default /var/ldap/*

LDAP client naming service

(ldap_cachemgr and related
files)

svc:/network/nis/server:default N/A

NIS server naming service

(ypserv)

svc:/network/nis/passwd:default N/A

NIS server passwd service

(rpc.yppasswd)

N/A

svc:/network/nis/xfr:default

NIS server xfr naming service

(ypxfrd)
NIS server update naming
service (rpc.ypupdated)

svc:/network/nis/update:default N/A

Naming legacy file to SMF

upgrade service

N/A

svc:/system/nameservice/upgrade:default

5.7 Name Services configuration using SMF

In this short lab we will use the svccfg command to set our DNS search string to
company.com, adding a us, eu, companya, and company sub string. Well add two
name server IP addresses (138.2.202.15 and 138.2.202.25) and set our database
search files to look in files, and then DNS for its host information. Hopefully this
information looks familiar if youve ever had to manually edit these files. When
using services in this fashion if you do attempt to edit the files manually, they will be
overwritten. All name services configuration should be done using SMF in Oracle
Solaris 11.
Execute the following command sequence to configure the name services on our lab
instance.
# svccfg
svc:> select dns/client
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svc:/network/dns/client> setprop config/search = astring: \
("us.company.com" "eu.company.com" "companya.com"
"companyb.com" "company.com" )
svc:/network/dns/client> setprop config/nameserver =
net_address: \
( 138.2.202.15 138.2.202.25 )
svc:/network/dns/client> select dns/client:default
svc:/network/dns/client:default> refresh
svc:/network/dns/client:default> validate
svc:/network/dns/client:default> select name-service/switch
svc:/system/name-service/switch> setprop config/host =
astring: "files dns"
svc:/system/name-service/switch> select system/nameservice/switch:default
svc:/system/name-service/switch:default> refresh
svc:/system/name-service/switch:default> validate
svc:/system/name-service/switch:default> end

Now well need to enable the service, refresh the database and then well confirm
our work and make sure the files have been changed for us.
#
#
#
#

svcadm enable dns/client

svcadm refresh name-service/switch
grep host /etc/nsswitch.conf
cat /etc/resolv.conf

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Oracle Solaris 11 Hands On Lab

6 Lab Summary
In this lab you learned about the new networking commands, dladm and ipadm.
You practiced using network configuration profiles and we created ip interfaces and
assigned them to different IP protocols. We renamed links and took our first look at
configuring name services through the SMF facility. Theres a ton more to
networking in Oracle Solaris 11. Its a very powerful feature that allows complete
networks to be set up in the box including switches, routers, and bridges. See the
references section below on how to go deeper in your knowledge and discover all
the powerful network features of Oracle Solaris 11.

7 References
For more information and next steps, please consult additional resources: Click the
hyperlinks to access the resource.
Oracle Solaris 11 General Cheatsheet (includes networking commands)
Networking Command Quick Reference
Documentation: Configuring an IP Interface
Documentation: How to rename a Datalink
Oracle Solaris 11 Technology Spotlights
Oracle Solaris 11 Information Library
Oracle Solaris 11 Product Documentation

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