Connecting Solaris 8 (Intel) to Network

Question

I just received Solaris 8 for the Intel platform and was able to successfully install it on a Intel pc but I'm not able to connect the pc to my home network. The pc has a Linksys Etherfast 10/100 lan card and I really don't know where to start. Could anyone please explain in general terms what I must do to connect a Solaris 8 pc to a network?

Answer 1

DOCUMENT ID: 1105-02
SYNOPSIS: Adding Network Support to Solaris
OS: Solaris/SunOS
PLATFORM: Intel
OS VERSION: 2.x
TECH AREA: Network
PRODUCT: Config
KEYWORDS: add network card adapter install file directory adding host nic
driver
DESCRIPTION:
When a workstation is placed in service without a network card, or none
is recognized during initial software installation, several files and
directories will not be available to the operating system if future
networking support is desired.
SOLUTION:
Solaris will not presume upon any particular network configuration if it
is unable to identify supported network hardware at the factory default
addresses. Hence, the installation scripts will not prompt the user for
network-specific configuration items like ip address, netmasks, hardware
settings, subnets, etc.
All of these can be added by hand after the machine has had Solaris
installed on it.
Workaround - Adding support for a network card to an existing system
To add network support to a Solaris workstation previously installed
without a supported network card driver requires adding/changing certain
files in the OS according to which network card is to be added. A
network card that is listed in the Hardware Compatibility List for that
platform (x86, Sparc, or PowerPC) must also be present on the system bus
and identified by the operating system to reside at supported addresses.
The following instructions for identifying a card will apply to x86 and
PowerPC platforms, for the most part. For the Sparc platforms the Open
Boot Prom is able to identify any SBUS card and, in future versions, any
PCI or PCMCIA (PC Card) device that is installed. Note also, that for
PCI devices, some ISA, MCA and EISA devices, as well as some PCMCIA
devices - the addresses, IRQs, memory, and DMA resources will be
assigned by the BIOS or a configuration utility and the driver will be
able to read the info for the device when it is loaded. Check the
Driver Configuration Guide for how to configure your particular device.
First, identify the make and model of your network card and write down
which addresses it occupies in terms of interrupt vector (IRQ), port
address range, DMA channel (if any), and shared memory address range.
Then find the driver configuration file in the /kernel/drv sub-directory
and examine this file to make sure that the addresses on the card will
be seen. For example, on Solaris 2.4 and earlier, the SMC (WD) Model
8003 or 8013 configuration file is /kernel/drv/smc.conf. It should look
similar to the following:
#ident "@(#)smc.conf 1.8 93/04/02 SMI"
# Factory default setting.
name="smc" class="sysbus" intr=5,3 ioaddr=0x280
reg=0x280,0xD0000,0x2000;
This means that the factory default for this card is at interrupt 3,
priority 5 and port address 280 hex, at memory address D0000 hex with an
8k memory range.
If you are instead using a supported 3COM or token-ring adapter, the
driver names for these are "el.conf" & "elx.conf" for 3COM,
or "tr" for
token- ring. Note that as of Solaris 2.5 some drivers that are unique
to a platform (i.e. - not common to all the Solaris platforms, like
ISA), will be found in /platform/{PLATFORM_NAME}/kernel/drv instead of
/kernel/drv. For the x86 you use i86pc in place of {PLATFORM_NAME}.
Secondly, when logged in as root, bring the driver into service. Do
this by typing drvconfig, devlinks, and touch /reconfigure at successive
"#" prompts. Type "prtconf" to test for the existence of the
0th
instance of the driver.
Workaround - Configuring the system to use the network card
You are now ready to modify the filesystem as required. Ensure that the
following directories, files, named-pipes, and symbolic links are
present and have the designated permissions, owner, and group. Those
with a file size of zero can sim