How to install NIC driver

Question

I'm very new to Solaris and I need to install RealTek 8169 driver. How do I unzip and install? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Where did you get the driver? This page perhaps?
http://homepage2.nifty.com/mrym3/taiyodo/eng/
If so, here are the instructions for compiling and installing it:
1. Introduction
This is the Realtek RTL8169/8110 giga bit ethernt NIC driver for Solaris.
It is distributed under the BSD license.
2. Specification of the driver
File name of the driver: /kernel/drv/gani
Special file name: /dev/ganiN (Where N is a unit number, typcally 0 for first
card)
For example
% ifconfig gani0
RTL8169/8110 chipset dosn't support 1Gbpis half duplex mode.
Currently gani driver isn't stable on sparc platforms.
Tested OS version
Solaris10 x86 3/05 (Athlon 2800+ w/ VIA K8T800 chipset)
Solaris10 x86 3/05 (Athlon 3000+ w/ nVIDIA nForce4 CH8-04 Ultra chipset)
Tested cards
RTL8169s -- Planex Communications GN-1200TC
RTL8169s -- Corega CG-LAPCIGT
3. Preparing for installation
(1) Install your PCI card and boot Solaris.
(2) Copy source and binary files.
# gunzip -cd gani-x.x.x.tar.gz | tar xf -
(3) Add hostname for the NIC card into /etc/hosts file
(4) Make links to correct binary directory and Makefile according to your
configuration. i386 and gcc are default.
% cd /.../gani-x.x.x
% rm obj Makefile
% ln -s Makefile.${KARCH}_${COMPILER} Makefile
% ln -s ${KARCH} obj
where ${KARCH} is the result of `isainfo -n`, and ${COMPILER} is
"gcc" or "suncc" which you want to use to make the driver.
(5) Making binaries (only for sparc platform)
Gani driver is ready for 64bit and 32bit solaris8 10/00 sparc or
later. (But currently it is unstable on sparc platforms.)
This distribution does not include sparc binaries. To make the binaries,
you need Sun C compiler or gcc version 3, and do the following operations.
% /usr/ccs/bin/make
4. Testing
Testing before installation is strongly recommended.
# cd /.../gani-x.x.x
# /usr/ccs/bin/make install
# ./adddrv.sh
# /usr/ccs/bin/make uninstall (for solaris7, don't remove the file )
# modload obj/gani
# devfsadm -i gani (for solaris7, use drvconfig and reboot with -r )
# ifconfig ganiN plumb ( where N is an instance number, typcally 0 for first card)
# ifconfig -a ( you will see an entry for ganiN)
# ifconfig ganiN YOUR-HOST-NAME
# ifconfig ganiN ( ensure IP address is correct)
# ifconfig ganiN up ( and then you can test with ping, telnet, ftp ...)
5. Installation
After you ensure that the gani driver is fully functional, install it.
(1) install the gani driver into the kernel directory
# cd /.../gani-x.x.x
# /usr/ccs/bin/make install
If you do not test the gani driver yet, execute the following commands:
# ./adddrv.sh
# devfsadm -i gani (for solaris7, use drvconfig and reboot with -r)
(2) Configure the network interface. Create and/or modify the following file:
/etc/hostname.ganiN
(3) Reboot the system.
# init 6