How to get network in Zone/Brandz?
 

I have tried Zones/Brandz with ZFS and it is veeeeery neat. However I have problems with setting up the network. After messing around in a clone, I got network working sometimes. Other times, not.

For Zones I config network by login with "zlogin -C myzone" and then it starts "sys-unconfig" and asks me questions. Or else I could manually start "sys-unconfig". I can ping and browse the web.

For Brandz, I config network by starting in the Centos clone, the GUI desktop with command:
startx -- /usr/X11R6/bin/Xnest :1
And then the linux desktop starts, and I can configure network via:
start button - system settings - network.
And I can browse the web and ping everything.




But when I reboot Solaris, the network in my zones doesnt work correctly anymore. I can ping each zone on my computer, but I cannot ping an external website.

Why is that? Must I somehow modify the global zone? Must I add all zones in /etc/hosts? Must I enable a service? Is there a list of files to edit, somewhere?

A zone network configuration is normally preserved between reboots. Check the /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/nsswitch.conf files.

Are the brandz and the global zone on the same network ?

It seems that Ive configured my Solaris network errorneously from the first start. I have DHCP and dynamical IP. Instead of messing with /etc/hosts etc files, I just did an "sys-unconfig" and answered YES on the DHCP question. And everything worked (I tried "ifconfig -a dhcp start" or something similar command).

Regarding Zones, it seems that the network is functioning properly now.

Regarding BrandZ,
Ive struggled around a bit more and can get the network to work when I do a new install and config of CentOS. But when I reboot the computer I have problems with the BrandZ network, it doesnt work. If they are on the same network, I dont know. For my Brandz I chose 192.168.0.210 when configuring it with zonecfg command. When booting it and logging in for the first time with "zlogin -C myzone" I answered yes on DNS name service and configured it.

My global zone has no /etc/sysconfig/network file, here is nsswitch.conf:
passwd: files
group: files
#hosts: files # Commented out by DHCP
hosts: files dns # Added by DHCP
#ipnodes: files # Commented out by DHCP
ipnodes: files dns # Added by DHCP
networks: files
protocols: files
rpc: files
ethers: files
netmasks: files
bootparams: files
publickey: files
# At present there isn't a 'files' backend for netgroup; the system will
# figure it out pretty quickly, and won't use netgroups at all.
netgroup: files
automount: files
aliases: files
services: files
printers: user files

auth_attr: files
prof_attr: files
project: files

tnrhtp: files
tnrhdb: files







and my BrandZ:
/etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=myzone


/etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: files nis
shadow: files nis
group: files nis

#hosts: db files nisplus nis dns
hosts: files nis dns

# Example - obey only what nisplus tells us...
#services: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
#networks: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
#protocols: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
#rpc: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
#ethers: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
#netmasks: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files

bootparams: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files

ethers: files
netmasks: files
networks: files
protocols: files nis
rpc: files
services: files nis

netgroup: files nis

publickey: nisplus

automount: files nis
aliases: files nisplus

I dont get it. One minute after I posted, I tried to ping from BrandZ again, and now it worked to ping. The network is functioning in BrandZ. Is there some time limit somewhere in Brandz?

No limitation I'm aware of.

Are the NIS properly configured ?

I am not using NIS? (I am a network noob).

I only configured DHCP in the global zone, and DNS in Zones. All this via sys-unconfig.

Now I added all zones and brandz to global zone, /etc/hosts.

Is there some time limit in /etc/hosts or something like that? It waits 30secs, and then continues?

Your Linux zone is configured to lookup NIS before DNS. This 30s delay may be explained by the lack of properly configured NIS server.

You can simply remove the nis keyword everywhere it appears in the Linux /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

I have removed all "nis" entries. But still it doesnt work upon boot. If I wait 10 minutes or so, the network suddenly works.

The "nisplus" things doesnt interfere? Should I remove them too?




EDIT: I dont get it. The Solaris Zones have the same problem. They dont work upon boot. I must have forgot something?

Can you give details about the how the network doesn't work with your zones ?

On the global zone, run "ifconfig -a" and "netstat -rn" when the problem occur.

Output with no zones running:

bash-3.00# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
vfe0: flags=201004843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,DHCP,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 2
inet 192.168.0.183 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
ether 0:b:6a:b8:e0:d5
lo0: flags=2002000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6,VIRTUAL> mtu 8252 index 1
inet6 ::1/128
bash-3.00# netstat -rn

Routing Table: IPv4
Destination Gateway Flags Ref Use Interface
-------------------- -------------------- ----- ----- ---------- ---------
default 192.168.0.1 UG 1 27 vfe0
192.168.0.0 192.168.0.183 U 1 1 vfe0
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 UH 1 316 lo0

Routing Table: IPv6
Destination/Mask Gateway Flags Ref Use If
--------------------------- --------------------------- ----- --- ------- -----
::1 ::1 UH 1 0 lo0






Output in the global zone after starting the solaris zone:
ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
lo0:1: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
zone solariszone1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
vfe0: flags=201004843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,DHCP,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 2
inet 192.168.0.183 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
ether 0:b:6a:b8:e0:d5
vfe0:1: flags=201000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 2
zone solariszone1
inet 192.168.0.210 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
lo0: flags=2002000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6,VIRTUAL> mtu 8252 index 1
inet6 ::1/128

bash-3.00# netstat -rn

Routing Table: IPv4
Destination Gateway Flags Ref Use Interface
-------------------- -------------------- ----- ----- ---------- ---------
default 192.168.0.1 UG 1 56 vfe0
192.168.0.0 192.168.0.183 U 1 2 vfe0
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 UH 1 316 lo0

Routing Table: IPv6
Destination/Mask Gateway Flags Ref Use If
--------------------------- --------------------------- ----- --- ------- -----
::1 ::1 UH 1 0 lo0

I see nothing wrong in your configuration with zolariszone1 running.

You do not tell what command you use that fails when the network isn't working.

From within the zone I can ping the global zone. But I can not ping any external computer on the internet:

bash-3.00# ping 192.168.0.183
192.168.0.183 is alive
bash-3.00# ping www.google.se
^C


It just sits and waits here until I break.

You just need to configure the DNS on your zone for this to work.
Have a look at the /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/nsswitch.conf files on the global zone and use them as a reference for your non global zones.

It works! I, too, love you! MOAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!