illumos: manual page: netconfig.5

NETCONFIG(5) File Formats and Configurations NETCONFIG(5)

NAME

netconfig - network configuration database

SYNOPSIS

/etc/netconfig

DESCRIPTION

The network configuration database, /etc/netconfig, is a system file used
to store information about networks that are connected to the system. The
netconfig database and the routines that access it (see
getnetconfig(3NSL)) are part of the Network Selection component. The
Network Selection component also includes getnetpath(3NSL) routines to
provide application-specific network search paths. These routines access
the netconfig database based on the environment variable NETPATH. See
environ(7).

netconfig contains an entry for each network available on the system.
Entries are separated by newlines. Fields are separated by whitespace and
occur in the order in which they are described below. Whitespace can be
embedded as ``\blank'' or ``\tab''. Backslashes may be embedded as
``\\''. Lines in /etc/netconfig that begin with a # (hash) in column 1
are treated as comments.

Each of the valid lines in the netconfig database correspond to an
available transport. Each entry is of the form:

network ID semantics flag protocol-family \
protocol-name network-device translation-libraries

network ID
A string used to uniquely identify a network.
network ID consists of non-null characters, and
has a length of at least 1. No maximum length is
specified. This namespace is locally significant
and the local system administrator is the naming
authority. All network IDs on a system must be
unique.

semantics
The semantics field is a string identifying the
``semantics'' of the network, that is, the set
of services it supports, by identifying the
service interface it provides. The semantics
field is mandatory. The following semantics are
recognized.

tpi_clts
Transport Provider Interface,
connectionless

tpi_cots
Transport Provider Interface,
connection oriented

tpi_cots_ord
Transport Provider Interface,
connection oriented, supports
orderly release.

flag
The flag field records certain two-valued
(``true'' and ``false'') attributes of networks.
flag is a string composed of a combination of
characters, each of which indicates the value of
the corresponding attribute. If the character
is present, the attribute is ``true.'' If the
character is absent, the attribute is ``false.''
``-'' indicates that none of the attributes are
present. Only one character is currently
recognized:

v
Visible (``default'') network. Used when
the environment variable NETPATH is unset.

protocol family
The protocol family and protocol name fields are
provided for protocol-specific applications. The
protocol family field contains a string that
identifies a protocol family. The protocol
family identifier follows the same rules as
those for network IDs; the string consists of
non-null characters, it has a length of at least
1, and there is no maximum length specified. A
``-'' in the protocol family field indicates
that no protocol family identifier applies (the
network is experimental). The following are
examples:

loopback
Loopback (local to host).

inet
Internetwork: UDP, TCP, and the
like.

inet6
Internetwork over IPv6: UDP, TCP,
and the like.

implink
ARPANET imp addresses

pup
PUP protocols: for example, BSP

chaos
MIT CHAOS protocols

ns
XEROX NS protocols

nbs
NBS protocols

ecma
European Computer Manufacturers
Association

datakit
DATAKIT protocols

ccitt
CCITT protocols, X.25, and the
like.

sna
IBM SNA

decnet
DECNET

dli
Direct data link interface

lat
LAT

hylink
NSC Hyperchannel

appletalk
Apple Talk

nit
Network Interface Tap

ieee802
IEEE 802.2; also ISO 8802

osi
Umbrella for all families used by
OSI (for example, protosw lookup)

x25
CCITT X.25 in particular

osinet
AFI = 47, IDI = 4

gosip
U.S. Government OSI

protocol name
The protocol name field contains a string that
identifies a protocol. The protocol name
identifier follows the same rules as those for
network IDs; that is, the string consists of
non-NULL characters, it has a length of at least
1, and there is no maximum length specified. A
``-'' indicates that none of the names listed
apply. The following protocol names are
recognized.

tcp
Transmission Control Protocol

udp
User Datagram Protocol

icmp
Internet Control Message Protocol

network device
The network device is the full pathname of the
device used to connect to the transport
provider. Typically, this device will be in the
/dev directory. The network device must be
specified.

translation libraries
The name-to-address translation libraries
support a ``directory service'' (a name-to-
address mapping service) for the network. A
``-'' in this field indicates the absence of any
translation libraries. This has a special
meaning for networks of the protocol family inet
: its name-to-address mapping is provided by the
name service switch based on the entries for
hosts and services in nsswitch.conf(5). For
networks of other families, a ``-'' indicates
non-functional name-to-address mapping.
Otherwise, this field consists of a comma-
separated list of pathnames to dynamically
linked libraries. The pathname of the library
can be either absolute or relative. See
dlopen(3C).

Each field corresponds to an element in the struct netconfig structure.
struct netconfig and the identifiers described on this manual page are
defined in <netconfig.h>. This structure includes the following members:

char *nc_netid
Network ID, including NULL terminator.

unsigned long nc_semantics
Semantics.

unsigned long nc_flag
Flags.

char *nc_protofmly
Protocol family.

char *nc_proto
Protocol name.

char *nc_device
Full pathname of the network device.

unsigned long nc_nlookups
Number of directory lookup libraries.

char **nc_lookups
Names of the name-to-address translation
libraries.

unsigned long nc_unused[9]
Reserved for future expansion.

The nc_semantics field takes the following values, corresponding to the
semantics identified above:
NC_TPI_CLTS
NC_TPI_COTS
NC_TPI_COTS_ORD

The nc_flag field is a bitfield. The following bit, corresponding to the
attribute identified above, is currently recognized. NC_NOFLAG indicates
the absence of any attributes.

NC_VISIBLE

EXAMPLES

Example 1: A Sample netconfig File

Below is a sample netconfig file:

#
# The "Network Configuration" File.
#
# Each entry is of the form:
#
# <networkid> <semantics> <flags> <protofamily> <protoname> <device>
# <nametoaddrlibs>
#
# The "-" in <nametoaddrlibs> for inet family transports indicates
# redirection to the name service switch policies for "hosts" and
# "services". The "-" may be replaced by nametoaddr libraries that
# comply with the SVr4 specs, in which case the name service switch
# will not be used for netdir_getbyname, netdir_getbyaddr,
# gethostbyname, gethostbyaddr, getservbyname, and getservbyport.
# There are no nametoaddr_libs for the inet family in Solaris anymore.
#
udp6 tpi_clts v inet6 udp /dev/udp6 -
tcp6 tpi_cots_ord v inet6 tcp /dev/tcp6 -
udp tpi_clts v inet udp /dev/udp -
tcp tpi_cots_ord v inet tcp /dev/tcp -
rawip tpi_raw - inet - /dev/rawip -
ticlts tpi_clts v loopback - /dev/ticlts straddr.so
ticotsord tpi_cots_ord v loopback - /dev/ticotsord straddr.so
ticots tpi_cots v loopback - /dev/ticots straddr.so

FILES