Boyd Adamson writes: > James Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Solaris systems don't have such a thing as a "Primary IP address." > > There is such a concept as a "primary interface name," but it's > > meaningful only with respect to the current DHCP client > > implementation: the "primary interface" is the one for which > > /sbin/dhcpinfo will return results if you don't specify a particular > > interface with "-i". > > Out of interest, what about the "primary" keyword in sysidcfg(4)? What > exactly does it do?
There's a staggering amount of logic spread throughout the Install consolidation for that, but it affects only the way installation works. The "primary" interface in sysidcfg is associated with the system name (setting hostname in a networking_interface clause with the primary flag causes the system node name to be set to that string). The Install logic also plumbs up and configures that interface first, so if you're doing something frightening (such as looking up other interface addresses or -- horrors! -- netmasks via name services), your name servers are 'assumed' to be located via that interface. But only during install time. There are other things done during install time here, such as choosing locale, that appear to depend on the sysid "primary" interface, but the usage seems murky to me. The relationship between this use of the word "primary" and DHCP's use seems tenuous at best. My read of the code in sysidnet says that when Install invokes DHCP on an interface, it _always_ marks the interface with the ifconfig "primary" keyword. Thus, if you were to have multiple DHCP interfaces, they'd all be set that way. (DHCP will treat the last one set as the "primary" for purposes of dhcpinfo.) As the sysidtool(1M) pages explain, the sysid logic runs just once -- after a system is first installed or after it's been "unconfigured" and rebooted. Once it's been run, it has nothing to do with ordinary system operation. I think there's an effort in the install community to replace sysid. I hope it reduces some of this obscurity. -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677 _______________________________________________ networking-discuss mailing list [email protected]
