Comparing Network configuration : Solaris 10 Vs Solaris 11

One of the best things I like about solaris 11 over solaris 10 is the huge change in the network stack in solaris 11. Oracle has added loads of new features to the networking stack of solaris 11. We’ll be discussing the new features in solaris 11 network stack and also compare it with solaris 10 where ever applicable.

Network Configuration Files

The use of below network files has been deprecated starting solaris 11 and it is being managed by SMF to have a Persistent network configuration across reboots.

/etc/defaultdomain
/etc/dhcp.*
/etc/hostname.*
/etc/hostname.ip*.tun*
/etc/nodename
/etc/nsswitch.conf

Network Configuration Profile

Solaris 11 uses profile-based network configuration. It has 2 configuration modes :
1. Automatic – Uses DHCP to obtain network configuration (IP address, router and DNS) from any of the connected ethernet interfaces. Do not support hot swapping of interfaces and IPMP.
2. Manual (DefaultFixed NCP) – interfaces needs to be manually configured using dladm and ipadm commands. Also called as DefaultFixed NCP. Supports hot swapping of interfaces and IPMP.

To check the NCP :

# netadm list
TYPE        PROFILE        STATE
ncp         Automatic      disabled
ncp         DefaultFixed   online
loc         Automatic      offline
loc         NoNet          offline
loc         DefaultFixed   online

As you can see currently the DefaultFixed profile is online and the automatic profile is in disabled state.
To enable the automatic NCP profile :

# netadm enable -p ncp Automatic

To enable the manual NCP profile

# netadm enable -p ncp DefaultFixed

Commands at Data link layer

In solaris 11 the dladm show-dev command doesn’t work and is replaced by the dladm show-phys command as shown below. One major change is now every interface in solaris 11 will be identified as “net#” ( for e.g. net0, net1), it includes the IPMP interface as well (as ipmp0). This helps in hot swapping of interfaces as the OS does not take into consideration the actual physical network device name and uses the concept of “vanity names” like net0, net1 etc..

Solaris 10 :

# dladm show-dev
e1000g0         link: up        speed: 1000  Mbps       duplex: full

Solaris 11 :

# dladm show-phys
LINK              MEDIA                STATE      SPEED  DUPLEX    DEVICE
net0              Ethernet             up         1000   full      e1000g0

Solaris 10 :

# dladm show-link
e1000g0         type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: e1000g0

The OVER column in the below output will show on which physical data links the data link is operating (applicable only in case of aggr, vlan etc..).

Solaris 11 :

# dladm show-link
LINK                CLASS     MTU    STATE    OVER
net0                phys      1500   up       --

Commands at IP layer

The ifconfig command still works in solaris 11, but there are 2 more commands added in solaris 11 for viewing the IP addresses and MAC addresses of the interfaces.

Solaris 10 :

# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849[UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL] mtu 8232 index 1
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
e1000g0: flags=1000843[UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4] mtu 1500 index 2
        inet 192.168.1.10 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        ether 0:c:29:f6:ef:67

Solaris 11:

# ipadm show-if
IFNAME     CLASS    STATE    ACTIVE OVER
lo0        loopback ok       yes    --
net0       ip       ok       yes    --

Above command shows the existing interfaces in the system.

# ipadm show-addr
ADDROBJ           TYPE     STATE        ADDR
lo0/v4            static   ok           127.0.0.1/8
net0/geeklab      static   ok           192.168.1.10/24

Above command shows us the MAC and IP addresses assigned to the interfaces.

Manual network Configuration

Let us now see an example to configure an IP address in both solaris 10 and solaris 11.

Solaris 10 :

# ifconfig e1000g1 plumb
# ifconfig e1000g1 192.168.1.20 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

We have to also edit the /etc/hosts, /etc/netmasks, /etc/hostname.e1000g1 files in order to make the new IP address persist reboot.

Solaris 11 :
Before configuring the IP address make sure you have enabled the manual NCP (DefaultFixed).

# netadm enable –p ncp DefaultFixed
# netadm list

Now we can configure the IP manually. ipadm command creates the new interface to be configured.

# ipadm create-ip net0
# ipadm create-addr –T static –a local=192.168.1.10/24 net0/geeklab

-T specifies either static, dhcp or addrconf (for IPv6) types of addresses.
the string geeklab can be any random string used to identify the interface.

# ipadm
NAME              CLASS/TYPE STATE        UNDER      ADDR
lo0               loopback   ok           --         --
   lo0/v4         static     ok           --         127.0.0.1/8
net0              ip         ok           --         --
   net0/geeklab   static     ok           --         192.168.1.10/24

The un-configuration of IP addresses is as follows in both solaris 10 and solaris 11 :

Solaris 10 :

# ifconfig unplumb e1000g1

Also remove the entries in /etc/hosts, /etc/netmasks and /etc/hostname.e10000g1 (remove the complete file).

Solaris 11 :
In case of solaris 11, even if you need to change the IP address of the interface, you have to delete and create the interface again.

# ipadm delete-ip net2

Sunday, 21 October 2018