Network Issues - Solaris 8

[loadedmind]

Hey all. To make a long story short, I successfully installed a NetGear FA311 NIC in my Intel Solaris 8 box using the sfe drivers from the Japanese fellow. I know I successfully installed it because "ifconfig -a" shows the lo0 loopback correctly as well as the sfe0 device showing the IP address and broadcast address information correctly. I have it working successfully at the school I'm going to, so I'm pretty confident my files in the /etc directory are accurate:
/etc/defaultrouter
/etc/defaultdomain
/etc/nodename
/etc/netmasks*
/etc/hosts
/etc/hostname.
/etc/hostname.sfe0
/etc/nsswitch.conf
/etc/resolv.conf

The only one I'm unsure of is the /etc/netmasks file since my configuration at the house is obviously different than school, which has DHCP'ed private IP's using the 192.168.0.0 addresses. Since I don't believe in providing static IP addresses publicly, I'll modify my own IP's enough, but not too far off their original numbers. I have 4 usable static IP's with one as the default gateway for my DSL router provided by my ISP (Linkmax Broadmax router set as routed LLC PPPoA).
We'll say my default gateway IP is 214.150.42.68. The usables are 214.150.42.63 - 214.150.42.66. The IP I've given my Solaris box is 214.150.42.64. My /etc/netmasks looks like this, after the commented section, of course:

214.150.42.255 255.255.255.0

I have a sneaking suspicion this is incorrect, but can't be sure. I've also tried commenting this line out, as well as using 214.150.42.0 and 214.150.0.0. Each time I modify anything, I do a "touch /reconfigure", then "reboot". Something I find that's unusual is that each time, I get a blue screen from Solaris requesting that something be modified as a result of something changing. The only things it found that I can actually change, however, are the monitor type, video card and keyboard. I get the "Is this Display Correct?" afterwards and it then allows me to login to my Solaris 8 environment. I was very cautious in modifying each /etc file, ensuring that there was no unnecessary space below each line of each file as this has thrown off the config here at school. I've also tried installing the 3Com XL 3C905C-TX card which is supposedly supported as per the Solaris HCL. I get the same situation with the ifconfig -a command, which states that the card has the right IP and should work, but doesn't ping out. I can ping my own IP's obviously (214.150.42.64 & 127.0.0.1 is alive), but can't ping my default gateway or any other computer on my LAN or google.com, obviously. The computer I'm using is an HP Pavilion 700c. I had no problems during install. If anyone can help, I'd sure be grateful!

 

[jad]

umm ... what is at: 214.150.42.67 ?

at our site we have 6 usables (including routers and others already taken from us) plus 2 for network and broadcast.

a.b.c.192 -> a.b.c.199 = 8 ip's

192 is our network, 199 is our broadcast. our router is 193.

our netmask is 255.255.255.248

hope it helps.

Jon

 

[Annihilannic]

The left hand column should contain a network, not a broadcast IP, e.g.:

[tt]214.150.42.0 255.255.255.0[/tt]

You can obtain the network "address" by doing a logical OR with the netmask.

Annihilannic.

 

[loadedmind]

I suppose if I tried the netmasks config you've suggested already, I'm looking at perhaps something being wrong with my router?

 

[loadedmind]

Ok, I've tried 3 different NIC's. All seem to have been successfully installed, but no ping action goin on. The three NIC's I've tried are:

NetGear FA311
3COM 3C905C XL Etherlink
Realtek 8139TX

Any takers? Do I have a bad port on my motherboard or something?

 

[Annihilannic]

Have you tried plugging anything different on to the other end of the network cable perhaps? Maybe just another PC and use a crossover cable?

Annihilannic.

 

[bhurji]

As it seems to be looking some compatibility issue because as you all know sun is hardware dependent but perhaps i am wrong, it would be good if we can check the physical connectivity also.

 

[jad]

NetGear FA311
3COM 3C905C XL Etherlink
Realtek 8139TX

all should work, so it's not a hardware issue ... unless your motherboard doesn't like them

easiest way is to check that the cards can talk to _anything_ else, not just the router hub thingamy.

if you can get a cross-over cable you could test by plugging your machine directly into the back of another machine and pinging.

you could also look at getting a network monitor and plugging that in at the other end instead/as well.

 

[unixrocks]

This may sound dumb put have you tried to run a traceroute to some IP so you can see where in the chain it is failing.

What error does ping say when you try to ping another host?

You could also try running


/etc/init.d/nscd start

this will start the network services on the machine.

 

[jad]

actually that starts the 'name service cache daemon'. which is usually a waste of space

/etc.init.d/network start

is probably what you wanted, but that won't help really.

do you have a DHCP server on your network anywhere?

 

[unixrocks]

/etc/netmasks file should look like this.

214.150.42.0 255.255.255.0

You have

214.150.42.255 255.255.255.0

The 255 at the end of the network adress is the broadcast address.

Are you sure about this netmask though? You have a valid range of 214.150.42.255 up to 214.150.42.254 is this what you want?

 

[loadedmind]

Thanks for the tips. With school and work, haven't had time to implement the crossover cable to troubleshoot further. For the traceroute, I get nothing. Can't ping anything. I have a static block of usable's given by my provider so there's no DHCP'ing going on whatsoever. I've corrected the /etc/netmasks file as was previously mentioned, but still a no-go. I really appreciate all of your sound advice you guys. Is it possible that I might have a bad port from motherboard to NIC that's preventing connectivity? Would it help if I posted the ifconfig -a information here? Thanks again...

 

[Annihilannic]

If you had a bad PCI slot it's unlikely that it would even recognise the device sfe0. Post the ifconfig -a output anyway, it may help.

Annihilannic.