Solaris Networking Management

Solaris Networking involves configuring, managing, monitoring, and troubleshooting network interfaces and services to ensure reliable communication within local networks (LAN) and external networks (WAN/Internet).

Solaris networking is tightly integrated with:

• GLDv3 data-link framework
• IP administration layer
• SMF (Service Management Facility)
• Zones and virtualization features

Solaris 11 introduced a more advanced and persistent network configuration model using dladm and ipadm.

1. Network Architecture in Solaris

Solaris networking is divided into two major layers:

A. Data-Link Layer 

Managed using:

dladm

Handles:

• Physical NICs
• VLANs
• VNICs
• Link aggregation
• IPMP lower links

B. IP Layer

Managed using:

ipadm

Handles:

• IP interfaces
• IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
• DHCP configuration
• Persistent IP configuration

2. Network Interface Types

Solaris supports several interface types:

i. Physical Interfaces

Examples:

• e1000g0
• bge0
• ixgbe0
• net0 (Solaris 11 logical name)

These represent actual hardware NICs.

ii. Loopback Interface

lo0

Used for internal communication.

Always assigned 127.0.0.1 (IPv4) and ::1 (IPv6).

Required for system operation.

3. VNIC (Virtual NIC)

• Virtual network interface created on top of physical NIC.
• Used heavily in Zones and virtualization.
• Each VNIC has its own MAC address.

4. VLAN

• Logical segmentation of networks.
• Uses 802.1Q tagging.
• Allows multiple networks over single physical NIC.

5. IPMP (IP Multipathing)

• Provides redundancy and failover.
• Detects link failure.
• Automatically shifts traffic to working interface.
• Can also provide load distribution.

3. Viewing Network Information

A. View IP Interfaces

# ipadm show-if

Shows:

• Interface name
• State (up/down)
• Active/inactive
• Persistent configuration

B. Show IP Addresses

# ipadm show-addr

Shows:

• Static or DHCP
• IPv4 / IPv6
• Address status

C. Show Physical Links

# dladm show-link

Shows:

• Link state
• MTU
• Class
• Over (aggregation/IPMP)

D. Hardware Details

# dladm show-phys

Displays:

• Speed (1000, 10000 Mbps)
• Duplex (half/full)
• Device driver name

E. Detailed NIC Statistics

# kstat -n e1000g0

Shows:

• Packets transmitted
• Packets received
• Errors
• Collisions
• Drops

4. Configuring Network Interfaces

Solaris 11 – Recommended Method

Step 1: Create IP Interface

# ipadm create-ip net0

Step 2: Assign Static IP

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.10.245/24 net0/v4

Persistent across reboot.

Enable DHCP

# ipadm create-addr -T dhcp net0/v4

Enable/Disable Interface

# ipadm enable-if net0

# ipadm disable-if net0

Solaris 10 (Legacy Method)

# ifconfig e1000g0 plumb

# ifconfig e1000g0 192.168.10.245 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Persistent configuration stored in:

/etc/hostname.e1000g0

5. VLAN Configuration

Create VLAN 100 on net0:

# dladm create-vlan -l net0 -v 100 vlan100

Assign IP:

# ipadm create-ip vlan100

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.50.10/24 vlan100/v4

6. Creating VNIC

# dladm create-vnic -l net0 vnic0

Assign IP:

# ipadm create-ip vnic0

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.20.245/24 vnic0/v4

Used commonly in Zones.

7. IP Multipathing (IPMP)

Purpose:

• NIC redundancy
• Prevent downtime
• Automatic failover

Create IPMP Group

# ipadm create-ipmp ipmp0

Add interfaces:

# ipadm add-ipmp net0 ipmp0

# ipadm add-ipmp net1 ipmp0

Assign IP to IPMP interface:

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.10.100/24 ipmp0/v4

If net0 fails, traffic moves to net1 automatically.

8. Routing Configuration

View Routing Table

# netstat -rn

Shows:

• Destination
• Gateway
• Interface
• Flags

Add Default Gateway

# route add default 192.168.10.1

Solaris 11 persistent method:

# route -p add default 192.168.10.1

Delete Route

# route delete default 192.168.10.1

9. DNS Configuration

File:

/etc/resolv.conf

Example:

search example.com

nameserver 192.168.10.100

nameserver 8.8.8.8

Host Resolution Order

File:

/etc/nsswitch.conf

Example:

hosts: files dns

System checks:

/etc/inet/hosts

DNS server

Testing DNS

# nslookup example.com

# dig example.com

# ping example.com

10. Hostname Configuration

View hostname

# hostname

# uname -n

Temporary change

# hostname newhost

Permanent (Solaris 11)

# svccfg -s network/physical setprop config/hostname=newhost

# svcadm refresh network/physical

# svcadm restart network/physical

11. Network Performance Monitoring

Interface statistics

# netstat -i

Shows:

• Input/output packets
• Errors
• Collisions

Protocol statistics

# netstat -s

Displays:

• TCP retransmissions
• UDP errors
• ICMP messages

Real-time monitoring

# snoop -d net0

# tcpdump -i net0

Packet-level troubleshooting.

Check MTU

# dladm show-link

Default MTU:

1500 (standard Ethernet)

9000 (jumbo frames if configured)

Change MTU:

# dladm set-linkprop -p mtu=9000 net0

12. Network Security Basics

Solaris supports:

• IP Filter (firewall)
• TCP wrappers
• Secure shell (SSH)
• IPsec

Check IP Filter:

# svcs ipfilter

13. Troubleshooting Approach

• Check interface status (dladm show-link)
• Verify IP address (ipadm show-addr)
• Check routing (netstat -rn)
• Test gateway ping
• Test DNS resolution
• Check firewall rules
• Monitor errors (kstat, netstat -i)