Chapter 1 Configuring the Driver Software for SunFDDI Adapters

This chapter includes information and instructions for configuring the driver software used by the SunFDDI adapter. Unless otherwise noted, all instructions apply to both the SunFDDI PCI adapter (pf) and the SunFDDI SBus adapter (nf).

Installing the Driver Software

The Solaris CD-ROM contains the software that must be installed in order to use the SunFDDI adapter.

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Note -

Do not use the installation CD-ROM that shipped with your SunFDDI adapter. The software on the Solaris CD-ROM is more current and replaces previous versions of the driver.

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Before using the SunFDDI adapter, you will need to create and edit system host files, as described in the next section

Configuring the Host File

After installing the SunFDDI driver software, you must create a hostname file for the adapter's interface. You must also create both an IP address and a host name for the interface in the /etc/hosts file.

To Configure the Host File

1. At the command line, use the grep command to search the /etc/path_to_inst file for pf or nf devices.

   For a SunFDDI PCI adapter:

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   # grep pf /etc/path_to_inst
   "/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/pf@0" 0 "pf"

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   In the example above, the pf@0 instance shows a SunFDDI PCI adapter installed in slot 1.

For a SunFDDI SBus adapter:

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# grep nf /etc/path_to_inst
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,nf@1,7880" 1 "nf"

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In the example above, the nf@1 instance shows a SunFDDI SBus adapter installed in slot 2.

1. Create an /etc/hostname.pfnum or hostname.nfnum file, where num is the instance number of the interface you plan to use.

   • Do not create /etc/hostname.nfnum or hostname.pfnum files for SunFDDI adapter network interfaces you plan to leave unused.

   • The /etc/hostname.nfnum or hostname.pfnum file must contain the host name for the appropriate network interface.

   • The host name should have an IP address that will need to be entered in the /etc/hosts file.

   • The host name should be different from any other host name of any other interface, for example: /etc/hostname.hme0 and /etc/hostname.nf1 cannot share the same host name.

Using the instance example in SBus Step 1, the following example shows the /etc/hostname.nfnum files required for a system called zardoz that has a SunFDDI adapter (zardoz-11).

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# cat /etc/hostname.hme0
zardoz
# cat /etc/hostname.nf0
zardoz-11

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1. Create an appropriate entry in the /etc/hosts file for each active nf or pf network interface.

   Using the previous example, you will have:

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   # cat /etc/hosts
   #
   # Internet host table
   #
   127.0.0.1     localhost
   129.144.10.57 zardoz    loghost
   129.144.11.83 zardoz-11

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2. Reboot your system.

Booting From the Network

To use a SunFDDI adapter interface as the boot device, perform the following tasks:

To Boot From the Network

1. At the ok prompt type:

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   ok show-devs

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   The show-devs command lists the system devices. You should see the full path name of the pf or nf devices, similar to the following examples:

For SunFDDI PCI adapter:

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/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/pf@0,1

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For SunFDDI SBus adapter:

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/sbus@1f,0/nf@1,7880

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Note -

You need to select only one of these FDDI devices for booting.

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1. At the ok prompt type:

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   ok boot full_path_name_of_the_fddi_device
   

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local-mac-address Property

Each of the network interfaces of the SunFDDI adapter has been assigned a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address, which represents the 48-bit Ethernet address for that network interface. The OpenBoot firmware reports this MAC address via the local-mac-address property in the device nodes corresponding to the network interfaces.

A system is not obligated to use this assigned MAC address if it has a systemwide MAC address. In such cases, the systemwide MAC address applies to all network interfaces on the system.

The device driver, or any other adapter utility, can use the network device's MAC address (local-mac-address) while configuring it. A network interface's MAC address can be used when booting over the network.

The mac-address property of the network device specifies the network address (systemwide or local-mac-address) used for booting the system. To start using the MAC addresses assigned to the network interfaces of the SunFDDI adapter, set the NVRAM configuration variable local-mac-address? to true

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ok setenv local-mac-address? true

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