newbie issues (basic questions)

matiasquestions · 09-06-2006, 06:34 PM

Hi,

I've several years of experience in BSD and Linux systems, but it's my first time with Solaris, so, I hope somo of you could clarify me some things. I've just installed solaris 10, and I have on my shoulders two days dealing with this.

Localization & Internationalization issues
--------------------------------------------
* Every time I login (throught standart text console) I have to type

Code:

loadkeys spain

so that my keyboard responds accordingly. Which is the "correct" way to automate this? (.bashrc?? or alike?)

* Despite of the loadkeys command, when the output of a program contains accented characters, they are not being displayed correctly.

* same "loadkeys" issue with X, (JDS). Despite I chose the keyboard layout, they still doesn't reflect my keyboard.

Network configuration
----------------------
* In the installation process, I assigned the ip address 192.168.1.10 to the only network card (iprb0) this box has. Now I changed that IP address to another one (in /etc/hosts) but after rebooting, the old IP is still being assigned to the NIC. Where must I change this?

* doing an ifconfig -a, all "seems" to be correct. but I still can't even ping the gateway.

* How can I know if the driver this NIC is using is correct? is there a linux lspci equivalent?.

Thanks for your time.

jlliagre · 09-07-2006, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasquestions

* Every time I login (throught standart text console) I have to type

Code:

loadkeys spain

so that my keyboard responds accordingly. Which is the "correct" way to automate this? (.bashrc?? or alike?)

You forgot to set the proper keyboard layout at installation time.
The simplest way to fix that is to store is in the pseudo eeprom file like this

Code:

eeprom kbd-type=Spanish

Quote:

* Despite of the loadkeys command, when the output of a program contains accented characters, they are not being displayed correctly.

How are these accented characters encoded ?

Quote:

* same "loadkeys" issue with X, (JDS). Despite I chose the keyboard layout, they still doesn't reflect my keyboard.

If the eeprom command doesn't fix that, then you may have a wrong locale.

Quote:

Network configuration
----------------------
* In the installation process, I assigned the ip address 192.168.1.10 to the only network card (iprb0) this box has. Now I changed that IP address to another one (in /etc/hosts) but after rebooting, the old IP is still being assigned to the NIC. Where must I change this?

/etc/hostname.iprb0

Quote:

* doing an ifconfig -a, all "seems" to be correct. but I still can't even ping the gateway.

post the ifconfig -a output.

Quote:

* How can I know if the driver this NIC is using is correct? is there a linux lspci equivalent?.

/usr/X11/bin/scanpci

matiasquestions · 09-07-2006, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

You forgot to set the proper keyboard layout at installation time.
The simplest way to fix that is to store is in the pseudo eeprom file like this

Code:

eeprom kbd-type=Spanish

Thanks, this solved the "loadkeys" problem, now the keyboard input is correct.

Quote:

How are these accented characters encoded ?
If the eeprom command doesn't fix that, then you may have a wrong locale.

On JDS, the problem is solved, but on the console, the problem persists, here is an example:

Code:

$ su root
Contrase~A+-a:

(note: The ~A and +- are a single character that I can't represent here on my laptop

)

Quote:

/etc/hostname.iprb0

Fixed. Now the ip is correct after booting.

Quote:

post the ifconfig -a output.

/usr/X11/bin/scanpci

Still no networking, here is the output:

Code:

lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 1500 index 1
     inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
iprb0: flags=<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2
        inet 192.168.1.11 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        ether 0:2:b3:62:fd:86

Many thanks for your help.

jlliagre · 09-07-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasquestions

Thanks, this solved the "loadkeys" problem, now the keyboard input is correct.

On JDS, the problem is solved, but on the console, the problem persists, here is an example:

Code:

$ su root
Contrase~A+-a:

(note: The ~A and +- are a single character that I can't represent here on my laptop

)

What is you default locale ? (cat /etc/default/init)

Are you talking about the local console (i.e. when X11 is not running) or a remote console ?

Quote:

Still no networking, here is the output:

Code:

lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 1500 index 1
     inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
iprb0: flags=<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2
        inet 192.168.1.11 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        ether 0:2:b3:62:fd:86

The output looks good, can you ping your router or anything on the LAN ?

What is you hardware ?

Quote:

Many thanks for your help.

De nada

matiasquestions · 09-07-2006, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

What is you default locale ? (cat /etc/default/init)

hmmm.. all the LC_* variables are set to es_ES.UTF-8, maybe if I set them to es_ES.ISO8859-1 the problem would be solved, I'm going to try it right now.

Quote:

Are you talking about the local console (i.e. when X11 is not running) or a remote console ?

I'm talking about the local console

Quote:

The output looks good, can you ping your router or anything on the LAN ?

What is you hardware ?

The NIC is a generic-very-cheap-one realtek compatible

, so, I'm going to replace it for a nice 3com I have here... maybe the one I'm using now isn't compatible with solaris.

Quote:

De nada

Next reply from mine will go in spanish

jlliagre · 09-07-2006, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasquestions

The NIC is a generic-very-cheap-one realtek compatible

Ouch, there lies the problem, you picked the wrong driver, iprb if for Intel 82557, 82558, 82559 based NICs.

Quote:

, so, I'm going to replace it for a nice 3com I have here... maybe the one I'm using now isn't compatible with solaris.

Actually the cheap realteks usually work fine, as long as you use the right driver, which is rtls.

Quote:

Next reply from mine will go in spanish

French would be fine too, but creo que se prohibe utilizar otra lengua que el ingles en LQ ...

matiasquestions · 09-07-2006, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

Ouch, there lies the problem, you picked the wrong driver, iprb if for Intel 82557, 82558, 82559 based NICs.

Actually the cheap realteks usually work fine, as long as you use the right driver, which is rtls.

French would be fine too, but creo que se prohibe utilizar otra lengua que el ingles en LQ ...

Hopefully, last question:

How do I change the NIC driver???........

Sorry, But I'm a BSD/Linux guy trying to enter the solaris battlefield......

merci.

jlliagre · 09-07-2006, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasquestions

How do I change the NIC driver???........

You can try:

Code:

ifconfig -a plumb

and see what shows up.
If it's rtls0, then simply run

Code:

mv /etc/hostname.iprb0 /etc/hostname.rtls0

... but actually I'm puzzled.
Your last ifconfig showed a mac address for iprb0 ??? are you sure your NIC is a Realtek one ?

Quote:

Sorry, But I'm a BSD/Linux guy trying to enter the solaris battlefield......

Nobody's perfect

Quote:

merci.

De rien !

matiasquestions · 09-07-2006, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

You can try:

Code:

ifconfig -a plumb

and see what shows up.
If it's rtls0, then simply run

Code:

mv /etc/hostname.iprb0 /etc/hostname.rtls0

... but actually I'm puzzled.
Your last ifconfig showed a mac address for iprb0 ??? are you sure your NIC is a Realtek one ?

Nobody's perfect

De rien !

Ouch... my mistake! it's an Intel pro/100 S.

Now I'm dealing with the 3Com card... same problem... I think I'm missing something trivial and not related to solaris here...

jlliagre · 09-07-2006, 03:00 PM

How do you conclude the cards are non functional ?

matiasquestions · 09-07-2006, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

How do you conclude the cards are non functional ?

The cards work correctly (tested both on Linux).

I'm thinking of some kind of problem with the adsl2 router.... don't know, it's very strange.... when I issue a ping command, the led on the router and the one on the NIC blinks, but there is no connection. Also issuing an arp -an command on solaris, shows the mac address of the router... but same hardware (PC and router) works well with linux.......very strange....

jlliagre · 09-08-2006, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasquestions

when I issue a ping command, the led on the router and the one on the NIC blinks, but there is no connection.

What are you pinging ?

Quote:

Also issuing an arp -an command on solaris, shows the mac address of the router...

That means you card is able to send and receive packets.
You can try snooping the network in one window (snoop -V -d iprb0) and try using the network on the other.

Quote:

but same hardware (PC and router) works well with linux.......very strange....

Are you using DHCP with Linux ? if yes, why aren't you using DHCP with Solaris ?

matiasquestions · 09-08-2006, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

What are you pinging ?

The gateway

Quote:

That means you card is able to send and receive packets.
You can try snooping the network in one window (snoop -V -d iprb0) and try using the network on the other.

While pingign the gateway.........

Code:

 # snoop elxl0
    Using device /dev/elxl0 (promiscuous mode)
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?
    192.168.0.2 -> (broadcast) ARP C Who is 192.168.0.1 ?

...repeating many times more....

Another detail: On the router's configuration interface I can see also the mac address of the solaris box.

Quote:

Are you using DHCP with Linux ? if yes, why aren't you using DHCP with Solaris ?

No dhcp. All ip assignment is static.

jlliagre · 09-08-2006, 04:47 AM

Is your network set with a non default network mask ?
Can you try pinging from another node on the network while snooping and see if packets show up ?

matiasquestions · 09-08-2006, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

Is your network set with a non default network mask ?
Can you try pinging from another node on the network while snooping and see if packets show up ?

nope... The network is a standard class C, I'm using 192.168.1.X ( 2<X<254) for hosts, 192.168.1.1 for the adsl2 router.... same network setup on same box, but with FreeBSD works perfect. The netmask used is 255.255.255.0

I can see my self in the near future, either installing FreeBSD or dealing with network sniffers, debugging drivers,etc,etc... anyway, I think that this looks more like some kind of router's firmware bug..... it's a comtrend 536+ if it does matter.

Thansk a lot for your great help.