ifconfig -a
The interface parameter is the name of the network interface. The name is of the form en for Ethernet interfaces, possibly followed by a letter; where n is 0 for on-board network interfaces and the expansion slot number for network interfaces plugged into expansion slots. If a card in an expansion slot has more than one network interface, the network interface name will be followed by a letter, indicating which of the network interfaces on that card it is. ifconfig-a is special and it does not take any optional parameters. It displays the current configuration for all the network interfaces present.
The address is either a host name present in the host name data base /etc/hosts including names of the form `hostname`-<interface name>, or an Internet address expressed in the Internet standard dot notation for IPv4 addresses and Standard/Compressed/Mixed notation for IPv6 addresses.
broadcast address
Specifies the address to use to represent
broadcasts to the network. The default
broadcast address is the address with a
host part of all 1's.
May not be applied to a network interface which is part of an interface group.
mediatype type Specifies the Ethernet media type used.
10/100 and 10/100/1000 Mbps Copper Interfaces: Depending on the physical specifications of the Ethernet controller, the acceptable types are "tp" (Half-duplex 10Base-T RJ-45 twisted-pair), "tp-fd" (Full duplex 10Base-T RJ-45 twisted-pair), "100tx" (Half-duplex 100Base-T RJ-45 twisted-pair), "100tx-fd" (Full duplex 100Base-T RJ-45 twisted-pair), and "auto" (Auto RJ-45 twisted-pair).
The default media type is set to "tp" or to "auto" where applicable.
On an auto-negotiable interface, the system will auto-negotiate the speed and duplex of the link and set the network interface accordingly when it is configured up. If the other end does not support auto-negotiation and full duplex operation is desired, it must be explicitly set using the mediatype command.
All 1000Base-T devices support autonegotiation and the speed cannot be explicitly set to 1000 Mbps. At 1000 Mbps, the interface only operates in full duplex mode.
1000 Mbps Fiber Interfaces: These Gigabit Ethernet Controllers only support the mediatype "auto". If the interface detects that the link partner autonegotiates, then the operational flow control setting is negotiated. If the interface detects that the link partner does not auto-negotiate, then it uses the flow control setting configured through the flowcontrol option or the default value for the interface. The Gigabit Ethernet Controllers only support full duplex.
10 Gbps Fiber and Twinax Copper Interfaces: These 10G Ethernet Controllers support the mediatype "10g-sr" and "auto". The interface does not do auto-negotiation; it has fixed capabilities and only supports 10Gb speed, full duplex. Flowcontrol by default is set to full, but it can be set to none or send or receive.
1/10 Gbps Twisted-Pair Copper Interfaces: The 10GBase-T Ethernet Controllers support the mediatype "auto". The interface autonegotiates speed and flow control. The speed cannot be explicitly set. The interface only operates in full duplex mode.
On 100/1000 and 10/100/1000 Mbps interfaces operating at 10 or 100 Mbps, the system may override the configured setting with "receive" or "none" because most 10 and 100 Mbps devices don't support flow control. In half-duplex mode, the system always disables flow control. Use the ifstat command to see the operational setting.
Not supported on interface groups (ifgrp). However the underlying interfaces can be modified with this option. See the NMG for details and examples.
dad_attempts count
(Inet6 only)Specifices the dadattempts(Duplicate
Address Detectionattempts)
to use for the multicast
interface. It is used to specify number of
consecutive Neighbor Solicitation messages
sent while performing Duplicate Address
Detection on a tentative address per
multicast interface.
The default value of dad_attempts is 2 and maximum is 15.
It takes longer for a ifgrp/vlan link to come up because any underlying physical links and the logical interface have to both come up.Hence actual NS DAD retransmits for ifgrp/vlan interfaces will be increased by factor of 2 than what was given in input.
May not be applied to a network interface which is part of an interface group.
If IPv6 is enabled, an interface that is brought up will automatically configure a link local address and RA prefix IPv6 addresses in response to router advertisements.
up is ignored if the interface has no addresses configured, and IPv6 is not enabled.
partner address Applies only to nodes in an HA pair. It maps a network interface to address, which is an IPv4 address on the partner and is referred to as the partner IP address. If the network interface being configured is a virtual interface then the partner interface must be denoted by an interface name and not an IP address. In takeover mode, this network interface assumes the identity of the network interface on the partner, whose IP address is address. For example, toaster1 and toaster2 are nodes in an HA pair. If the IP address of e8 on toaster2 is 198.9.200.38, use the following command on toaster1 if you want e1 of toaster1 to assume the identity of e8 of toaster2 for the duration of a takeover:
ifconfig e1 partner 198.9.200.38
Be sure that both the local network interface and the partner's network interface are attached to the same network segment or network switch. Otherwise, after takeover, clients of the failed node might need to wait an indeterminate amount of time for routing tables to flush before being able to access the data on the failed node.
May not be applied to a network interface which is part of an interface group.
Address to address mapping is not supported for IPv6 addresses. If IPv6 addresses are to be taken over, partner interface must be denoted by an interface name and not an IP address.
partner interface
Applies only to nodes in an HA pair. It
maps a network interface to interface,
which is an interface on the partner. If
IPv6 addresses configured on the partner
interface also needs to be taken care,
interface to interface mapping needs to be
employed. If the network interface being
configured is a virtual interface then
interface must refer to a virtual
interface on the partner node.
May not be applied to a network interface which is part of an interface group.
A shared network interface for both the local node and the partner. That is, if the partner fails, the network interface assumes the identity of a network interface on the partner but works on behalf of both the live node and the partner. A network interface performs this role if it has a local IP address and a partner IP address, which you assign by the partner option of the ifconfig command.
A standby network interface for the partner. That is, if the partner fails, the network interface works on behalf of the partner. When the node is not in takeover mode, the network interface is idle. A network interface performs this role if it does not have a local IP address but a partner IP address, which you assign by the partner option of the ifconfig command.
The node maps a partner IP address to a shared or standby interface when the node initiates a takeover operation. In takeover mode, all requests destined for the partner IP address are serviced by the shared or standby interface. Also, in partner mode, if a command takes a network interface name as an argument, enter the network interface name of the failed node. The command is executed on the shared or standby interface on the live node. Similarly, in partner mode, a command for displaying network interface information displays the network interface name of the failed node, even though the command is serviced by the shared or standby interface on the live node.
To facilitate seamless transition, the partner interfaces broadcast gratuitous ARPS so that all clients may update their arp caches.
In takeover mode, attempting to "ifconfig down" an interface that has taken over an interface of the failed node only marks the interface down for the live node. To take the interface down completely, the "ifconfig down" command must also be executed in partner mode. These state distinctions are indicated by the UP and PARTNER_UP flags (shown by ifconfig) associated with each interface.
These ifconfig options are not available in partner mode: partner, -partner, and mtusize.
The autoconf keyword indicates that an IPv6 address is obtained via stateless auto-configuration.
The /etc/rc file on toaster1 is as follows:
ifconfig e0 192.9.200.37 ifconfig e1 192.9.200.38 partner 192.9.200.41 ifconfig e2 partner 192.9.200.42
ifconfig e7 192.9.200.42 ifconfig e8 192.9.200.41 partner 192.9.200.38 ifconfig e9 partner 192.9.200.37
The e1 interface on toaster1 is a shared interface. It services requests for address 192.9.200.38 when toaster1 is not in takeover mode. When toaster1 is in takeover mode, the network interface services requests for both addresses, 192.9.200.38 and 192.9.200.41. When toaster1 is in partner mode, this network interface shows up as the e8 interface in commands that involve network interface names.
The e2 interface on toaster1 is a standby interface. It does not service any request when toaster1 is not in takeover mode. However, after toaster1 takes over toaster2, this network interface services requests for address 192.9.200.42. When toaster1 is in partner mode, this network interface shows up as the e7 interface in commands that involve network interface names.