Network Administration Features

Network administration includes the following key features:

• Bridging technologies – Bridges are used to connect separate network segments that are paths between two nodes. When connected by a bridge, the attached network segments communicate as if they were a single network segment. Bridging is implemented at the datalink layer (L2) of the networking stack. Bridges use a packet-forwarding mechanism to connect subnetworks.

  Data center bridging (DCB) enables the same network fabric to be used for both Ethernet and storage traffic. For information about additional changes to bridging technologies in the current release, see Network Configuration Feature Changes.

• Datalink and IP configuration migration to one SMF network configuration repository – One SMF network configuration repository for both datalink and IP configuration is now used. Also, The svc:/network/physical:default SMF service now manages network configuration for both fixed and reactive network configuration.

• Generic datalink name assignment – Generic names are automatically assigned to datalinks using the net0, net1, netN naming convention, depending on the total number of network devices that are on the system. See Displaying and Configuring Datalinks in Fixed Mode.

• Integrated Load Balancer (ILB) – The ILB feature of Oracle Solaris provides Layer 3 and Layer 4 load-balancing capabilities for both SPARC and x86 based systems. ILB intercepts incoming requests from clients, decides which back-end server should handle the request based on load-balancing rules, and then forwards the request to the selected server. You can optionally configure an Oracle Solaris system as a load balancer. ILB performs optional health checks and provides the data for the load-balancing algorithms, then verifies whether the selected server can handle the incoming request. See ilbadm(1M).

• IP network multipathing (IPMP) configuration changes – Starting with Oracle Solaris 11, IPMP has a new conceptual model and different commands for managing IPMP configuration. See Configuring IPMP in Oracle Solaris 11.

• Network observability – In Oracle Solaris 10, the ifconfig and netstat commands are used to manage network observability. In Oracle Solaris 11, the dlstat and flowstat commands are used. For zones, you can use the zonestat command. See the dlstat(1M), flowstat(1M), and zonestat(1) man pages.

• Profile-based network configuration – Starting with Oracle Solaris 11, network configuration is profile-based. Two network configuration modes are used: fixed and reactive. The switch between network configuration modes no longer takes place at the service level, but at the profile level. The system defaults to fixed network configuration mode after a text installation or an installation with AI. See How the Network Is Configured During an Installation.

• Virtual network interface cards (VNICs) – VNICs are pseudo interfaces that you create on top of datalinks. Along with virtual switches, VNICs are the building blocks of a virtual network. You can create and modify VNICs in a system or in a zones environment. Starting with Oracle Solaris 11.1, the migration of VNICs is also possible. See Building Virtual Networks in Using Virtual Networks in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

See Chapter 7, Managing Network Configuration.