Bill Sommerfeld writes: > 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.
I agree with that, particularly for boot properties. It makes no sense there. You should have either a complete interface configuration, or a deferral to DHCP/BOOTP to do the right thing. (There's some existing head injury related to looking up netmasks for some interfaces via NIS -- of all things! -- using another interface previously configured, and thus omitting explicit netmasks there. This is just daft, and certainly does not work well, but we need to rope the area off more effectively [i.e., deliberately remove support from the system] before forcing more people down that road.) -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <james.d.carlson at sun.com> Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677
