On Mon, 2007-10-08 at 08:54 -0700, John Danielson wrote:
> The original PSARC states that a 'subnet-mask' property is required to be
> present before boot properties are using to configure a network
> interface (in both diskless and non-diskless cases). David Comay
> pointed out that Solaris has traditionally not required a netmask to
> be specified - the stack guesses one based on the class of the
> interface.
With all due respect to Mr. Comay, just because something is traditional
doesn't make it right.
It was an error to separate configuration of ip address from
configuration of netmask. That error leads to operational disruption.
(most recently when installzone.sfbay was given the wrong netmask and
was unreachable from large parts of the swan).
All other devices I'm aware of require that netmask be supplied at the
same time as the ip address. Anyone in a position to correctly assign
an ip address to a network node will know the netmask and should be able
to supply it.
If I were not taking a sabbatical, i'd derail this case.
- Bill
