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Installing and Administering LAN/9000 Software > Chapter 3 Manually Installing and Configuring LAN/9000

Editing the LAN Configuration Files

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To configure and initialize LAN manually, you must edit the /etc/rc.config.d/netconf file and execute the LAN/9000 initialization script. To do so, you must be logged on as super-user. The script reads the information in the edited netconf file when the system reboots and performs the following:

  • Configures the network interface with an IP address and optional subnet mask.

  • Configures the network routing table if your node is a gateway or on a LAN with a gateway.

NOTE: You must initialize LAN/9000 (reboot with netconf installed) to use NFS/9000 or Internet Services/9000.

You may also want to modify the default station address. To modify the station address, you must edit the Configuration File in the directory /etc/rc.config.d. Refer to Table 3-3 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” or Table 3-4 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” for correct configuration file.

Modifying the Hewlett-Packard Station Address (optional)

This step is optional and most customers do not need to modify the station address of their Hewlett-Packard LAN cards.

Modifying the station address of an active card will probably destroy existing connections and traffic resulting in data loss. Modifying the station address can also cause temporary confusion in the network because all nodes that were communicating with the local node will detect an error when using the existing station address. The confusion is temporary and all nodes may eventually recover from the situation. Problems caused by modifying a station address during a communication session are difficult to troubleshoot.

Editing the Configuration File in /etc/rc.config.d/

Editing the configuration file (Refer to Table 3-3 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” or Table 3-4 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” for correct configuration file) will modify the station address each time the system reboots. The modified station address is not permanent. Each system reboot causes the preset station address to be overwritten when a value is supplied to the configuration parameters.

CAUTION: Each HP LAN card has a preset station address, for example 080009xxxxxx. Modifying this address should be approached with caution. Modifying the station address of an active card will probably destroy existing connections and traffic resulting in data loss.

The station address configuration parameters have an index value, [x], that groups the station address parameters together. The index value must be different for each additional interface.

Following is a sample hpbtlanconf entry:

HP_BTLAN_INTERFACE_NAME[0]="lan1"
HP_BTLAN_STATION_ADDRESS[0]="0x022345678901"

Editing /etc/rc.config.d/netconf

Editing the netconf file allows you to identify the network interface name, IP address, and subnet mask of your LAN card, and add entries to the network routing table. As the netconf file has read-only permission, you must have super-user capability to make modifications to this file.

The steps to add this information to the netconf file are listed below.

NOTE: The netconf file and the script that is executed are shell programs; therefore, shell programming rules apply.
  1. Verify that the hostname and loopback address are set. Upper layer software often requires loopback. Be sure that loopback is also enabled in the netconf file.

    HOSTNAME="nameofyoursystem"
    LOOPBACK_ADDRESS="127.0.0.1"
  2. Add internet configuration information.

    In this step you will assign an IP address and subnet mask, and configure network interface parameters. The internet configuration parameters have an index value, [x], that groups the configuration parameters together. Following is a sample netconf file entry:

    INTERFACE_NAME[0]="lan0"
    IP_ADDRESS[0]="192.6.1.1"
    SUBNET_MASK[0]="255.255.224.0"
    BROADCAST_ADDRESS[0]=""
    INTERFACE_STATE[0]=""
    DHCP_ENABLE[0]="0"

    If you have more than one interface to configure, you must have a complete set of internet configuration parameters for each interface. The index value must be different for each additional interface. The network interface name in lanscan corresponds to the INTERFACE_NAME[x] in the internet configuration parameters.

    You can configure multiple logical interfaces for a physical interface. You must configure the initial interface for a card/encapsulation type before you can configure other logical instances of the same card/encapsulation type. For example, you must configure lan0:0 (or lan0) before you configure lan0:1 and lan0:2. In the netconf entry shown previously, lan0 is equivalent to lan0:0, the initial interface for lan0. The following is a sample netconf entry for a second logical interface on lan0:

    INTERFACE_NAME[1]="lan0:1"
    IP_ADDRESS[1]="192.6.3.3"
    SUBNET_MASK[1]="255.255.224.0"
    BROADCAST_ADDRESS[1]=""
    INTERFACE_STATE[1]=""
    DHCP_ENABLE[1]="0"

    For more information about specifying interface names for multiple logical interfaces, see chapter 6, "Network Addressing."

  3. Add routing configuration information.

    If you intend to use your system as a gateway or to communicate with gateways, add the route destination, gateway address, and hop count parameter information. The routing configuration parameters have an index value, [x], that groups the routing parameters together. Following is a sample netconf entry:

    ROUTE_DESTINATION[0]="default"
    ROUTE_GATEWAY[0]="192.6.1.2"
    ROUTE_COUNT[0]="1"
    ROUTE_MASK[0]=""
    ROUTE_ARGS[0]=""

    The index value must be different for each additional route.

    If you want to modify the preset station address of any HP interface card, proceed to the section, "Modifying the Hewlett-Packard Station Address"; otherwise go to the section, "Executing the Network Configuration Script."

Executing the Network Configuration Script

Once you have edited the netconf file, you need to make your configuration active. After adding the LAN and routing configuration information into the netconf file, you can either reboot your system, execute the ifconfig, and route commands manually, or re-execute the /sbin/init.d/net.init and /sbin/init.d/net scripts. This section discusses each of these options.

Option 1: Reboot your system. HP recommends that you reboot your system to activate any changes you made in your netconf file. A reboot is the cleanest method for executing the network script because the reboot handles any other network initialization dependencies.

Option 2: Execute the ifconfig and route commands at the HP-UX prompt. HP recognizes that system reboots are disruptive to end users. To delay or schedule the reboot, but still make your configuration changes active, you may execute the ifconfig and route commands with the appropriate values for your network. When you do reboot, the values in your netconf file will be used. Refer to the lanscan(1M), ifconfig(1M), and route(1M) man pages for information on command usage.

Option 3:

If you made changes to the station address, execute the Init Script in the directory /sbin/init.d/. Refer to Table 3-3 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” or Table 3-4 “Matrix of HP-UX 11i Driver names, Configuration Files and Init Scripts” for correct Init Script. For a 100BT PCI card on a SuperDome system, here's an example:

/sbin/init.d/btlan start

After executing the above command, execute the command:

/sbin/init.d/net start

These commands will source the contents of the netconf and hpbtlanconf files. Executing these scripts will not necessarily properly re-initialize any other networking subsystems. For example, if you are running an Internet Service over the link you have just configured manually, the service may not work with your new configuration. The system boot sequence initializes networking subsystems and products in the correct order. Initializing a specific subsystem alone may cause network problems.

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