Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The /etc/hostname.
interface
File
One
/etc/hostname.
interface
file exists for each network interface installed
on the system. The
interface
portion of the filename reflects the manufac-
turer and type of network interface. For example, if an Intel x86-based sys-
tem has a single 3COM Etherlink III network interface card installed, the
filename would be
/etc/hostname.elx0
. For a SPARC 5 platform with two
network interfaces, the filenames would be
/etc/hostname.le0
and
/etc/hostname.le1
.
The
/etc/hostname.
interface
file(s) should contain only one entry: the
hostname or the IP address that is assigned to that interface.
If a hostname is used, that hostname must also be listed in the
/etc/inet/hosts
file.
Also note that if more than one network interface is installed on the system, the
/etc/hostname.
interface
files will contain different hostnames. Only the hostname
(or IP address) that matches the hostname defined in the
/etc/node-name
file is con-
sidered the default hostname for the system.
Checking Network Connectivity
Solaris 9 provides two commands for checking network connectivity
between systems and the proper operation of the network interfaces on both
systems:
The
ping(1M)
command
➤
The
spray(1M)
command
➤
The ping Command
The
/usr/sbin/ping
command uses the Internet Control Message Protocol
(ICMP) to send
ECHO_REQUEST
datagrams to another host. When a host
receives an
ECHO_REQUEST
datagram, it responds with an
ECHO_REPLY
data-
gram. This basic echo mechanism is used to verify both the connectivity
between two hosts and the proper operation of the network interfaces and
protocol stacks (of both hosts) up to the Internet layer where the Internet
Protocol (IP) resides. The following listing shows the
ping
command send-
ing one
ICMP ECHO_REQUEST
datagram:
$ /usr/sbin/ping solaris9
solaris9 is alive
$
Table 10.3 lists some of the more frequently used command-line arguments
supported by the
ping
command.