Configuring network interfaces

What network interface configuration includes

When you configure network interfaces, you can do any or all of the following:

Assign an address to a network interface
Set parameters such as network mask and broadcast address
Set hardware-dependent values such as media type, MTU size, and flow control
Specify whether the interface is attached to a network with firewall security protection
Specify whether the network interface is to be registered with Windows Internet Name Services (when CIFS is running and at least one WINS server has been configured)
Specify the IP address of an interface on a cluster partner for takeover mode
View the current configuration of a specific interface or all interfaces that exist on a filer

Additional network interface configuration tasks include:

About configuration tools

The following tools are available for filer network configuration and management:

command-line interface	graphical interface
`ifconfig` command For more information, see the ifconfig(1) manual page.	FilerView Network windows For more information, see FilerView help.

command-line interface

graphical interface

ifconfig command

For more information, see the ifconfig(1) manual page.

FilerView Network windows

For more information, see FilerView help.

How interface configuration works

You assign initial network interface configuration values when new interfaces are created. The setup command is the preferred method of creating new interfaces, but you can also use the ifconfig command. You can modify these values at any time with the ifconfig command or by making changes in FilerView.

An ifconfig command is included in the /etc/rc file of the root volume for each filer interface that you specify an IP address for during the filer setup. After the filer has been set up, the ifconfig commands in the /etc/rc file are used to configure the interfaces on subsequent filer reboots.

Note
You can use the ifconfig command to change values of parameters for an interface when the filer is operating. However, such changes are not automatically included in the /etc/rc file. If you want your configuration modifications to be persistent after a reboot, you must include the ifconfig command values in the /etc/rc file.

When you use FilerView to make changes, the changes are automatically written to the /etc/rc file.

Viewing and modifying interface settings at the command line

To view or modify interfaces with the ifconfig command, complete the following step.

Step	Action
1	At the filer command line, enter ifconfig interface_name parameters For more information on `ifconfig` parameters, see Command syntax for viewing interface settings Command syntax for modifying interface settings

Viewing and modifying interface settings with FilerView

To view or modify interfaces with FilerView, complete the following step.

Step	Action
1	In FilerView, click Network in the list on the left.
2	In the list under Network, click Manage Interfaces.
3	If you want to....	Then...
	View interface configuration details	Click Show All Interface Details.
	Modify an interface configuration	Click Modify for the interface you want. Examples of configuration values are listed in Command syntax for modifying interface settings

Command syntax for viewing interface settings

The following table describes the command syntax for viewing network interface configuration settings.

To view ...	Use this command syntax ...
A single interface	ifconfig interface_name
All interfaces	ifconfig -a

Command syntax for modifying interface settings

The following table shows how to set a given network interface parameter using the ifconfig command. For more information about each task, see the ifconfig(1) manual page.

To modify this parameter ...	Use this command syntax ...
IP address	ifconfig interface_name IP_address Example: To configure a quad-port Ethernet interface e3a with an IP address 192.168.25.10, enter ifconfig e3a 192.168.25.10
Network mask	ifconfig interface_name netmask mask Example: To configure a 24-bit mask for the interface e3a configured in the previous example, enter ifconfig e3a netmask 255.255.255.0 Note By default, the filer creates a network mask based on the class of the address (Class A, B, C, or D). However, if you have created subnets that do not match the class boundary of the IP address, you must specify a network mask.
Broadcast address	ifconfig interface_name broadcast address Example: To set a broadcast address of 192.168.25.250 for the network 192.168.25.10 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0, enter ifconfig e3a broadcast 192.168.25.250
Media type	ifconfig interface_name mediatype value Example: To configure the interface e2 as a 100Base-T full-duplex interface, enter `ifconfig e2 mediatype 100tx-fd`
MTU	ifconfig interface_name mtusize size Example: To specify an MTU size of 9000 for a Gigabit Ethernet interface e8, enter ifconfig e8 mtusize 9000
Flow control	ifconfig interface_name flowcontrol value Example: To turn off flow control on interface e8, enter ifconfig e8 flowcontrol none
Trusted	ifconfig interface_name trusted \| untrusted Example: To specify that the network attached to interface e8 is not trusted for firewall security, enter ifconfig e8 untrusted
WINS	ifconfig interface_name wins \|-wins Example: By default, network interfaces are registered with a WINS server when CIFS is running. To disable interface e8 from registering with WINS servers, enter ifconfig e8 -wins
Partner IP address	ifconfig interface_name partner address Example: To specify the IP address of a cluster partner that will take over for interface e8 if it fails, enter ifconfig e8 partner 192.168.25.10