Tribblix: 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