1netconfig(4) File Formats netconfig(4)
2
6 netconfig - network configuration database
7
9 /etc/netconfig
10
13 The network configuration database, /etc/netconfig, is a system file
14 used to store information about networks that are connected to the sys‐
15 tem. The netconfig database and the routines that access it (see get‐
16 netconfig(3NSL)) are part of the Network Selection component. The Net‐
17 work Selection component also includes getnetpath(3NSL) routines to
18 provide application-specific network search paths. These routines
19 access the netconfig database based on the environment variable NET‐
20 PATH. See environ(5).
21 netconfig contains an entry for each network available on the system.
24 Entries are separated by newlines. Fields are separated by whitespace
25 and occur in the order in which they are described below. Whitespace
26 can be embedded as ``\blank'' or ``\tab''. Backslashes may be embedded
27 as ``\\''. Lines in /etc/netconfig that begin with a # (hash) in column
28 1 are treated as comments.
29 Each of the valid lines in the netconfig database correspond to an
32 available transport. Each entry is of the form:
33 network ID semantics flag protocol-family \
35 protocol-name network-device translation-libraries
36 network ID A string used to uniquely identify a network.
39 network ID consists of non-null characters,
40 and has a length of at least 1. No maximum
41 length is specified. This namespace is locally
42 significant and the local system administrator
43 is the naming authority. All network IDs on a
44 system must be unique.
45 semantics The semantics field is a string identifying
48 the ``semantics'' of the network, that is, the
49 set of services it supports, by identifying
50 the service interface it provides. The seman‐
51 tics field is mandatory. The following seman‐
52 tics are recognized.
53 tpi_clts Transport Provider Interface,
55 connectionless
56 tpi_cots Transport Provider Interface,
59 connection oriented
60 tpi_cots_ord Transport Provider Interface,
63 connection oriented, supports
64 orderly release.
65 flag The flag field records certain two-valued
69 (``true'' and ``false'') attributes of net‐
70 works. flag is a string composed of a combina‐
71 tion of characters, each of which indicates
72 the value of the corresponding attribute. If
73 the character is present, the attribute is
74 ``true.'' If the character is absent, the
75 attribute is ``false.'' ``-'' indicates that
76 none of the attributes are present. Only one
77 character is currently recognized:
78 v Visible (``default'') network. Used when
80 the environment variable NETPATH is
81 unset.
82 protocol family The protocol family and protocol name fields
86 are provided for protocol-specific applica‐
87 tions. The protocol family field contains a
88 string that identifies a protocol family. The
89 protocol family identifier follows the same
90 rules as those for network IDs; the string
91 consists of non-null characters, it has a
92 length of at least 1, and there is no maximum
93 length specified. A ``−'' in the protocol fam‐
94 ily field indicates that no protocol family
95 identifier applies (the network is experimen‐
96 tal). The following are examples:
97 loopback Loopback (local to host).
99 inet Internetwork: UDP, TCP, and the
102 like.
103 inet6 Internetwork over IPv6: UDP, TCP,
106 and the like.
107 implink ARPANET imp addresses
110 pup PUP protocols: for example, BSP
113 chaos MIT CHAOS protocols
116 ns XEROX NS protocols
119 nbs NBS protocols
122 ecma European Computer Manufacturers
125 Association
126 datakit DATAKIT protocols
129 ccitt CCITT protocols, X.25, and the
132 like.
133 sna IBM SNA
136 decnet DECNET
139 dli Direct data link interface
142 lat LAT
145 hylink NSC Hyperchannel
148 appletalk Apple Talk
151 nit Network Interface Tap
154 ieee802 IEEE 802.2; also ISO 8802
157 osi Umbrella for all families used by
160 OSI (for example, protosw lookup)
161 x25 CCITT X.25 in particular
164 osinet AFI = 47, IDI = 4
167 gosip U.S. Government OSI
170 protocol name The protocol name field contains a string that
174 identifies a protocol. The protocol name iden‐
175 tifier follows the same rules as those for
176 network IDs; that is, the string consists of
177 non-NULL characters, it has a length of at
178 least 1, and there is no maximum length speci‐
179 fied. A ``−'' indicates that none of the names
180 listed apply. The following protocol names are
181 recognized.
182 tcp Transmission Control Protocol
184 udp User Datagram Protocol
187 icmp Internet Control Message Protocol
190 network device The network device is the full pathname of the
194 device used to connect to the transport
195 provider. Typically, this device will be in
196 the /dev directory. The network device must be
197 specified.
198 translation libraries The name-to-address translation libraries sup‐
201 port a ``directory service'' (a name-to-
202 address mapping service) for the network. A
203 ``−'' in this field indicates the absence of
204 any translation libraries. This has a special
205 meaning for networks of the protocol family
206 inet : its name-to-address mapping is provided
207 by the name service switch based on the
208 entries for hosts and services in nss‐
209 witch.conf(4). For networks of other families,
210 a ``−'' indicates non-functional name-to-
211 address mapping. Otherwise, this field con‐
212 sists of a comma-separated list of pathnames
213 to dynamically linked libraries. The pathname
214 of the library can be either absolute or rela‐
215 tive. See dlopen(3C).
216 Each field corresponds to an element in the struct netconfig structure.
220 struct netconfig and the identifiers described on this manual page are
221 defined in <netconfig.h>. This structure includes the following mem‐
222 bers:
223 char *nc_netid Network ID, including NULL terminator.
225 unsigned long nc_semantics Semantics.
228 unsigned long nc_flag Flags.
231 char *nc_protofmly Protocol family.
234 char *nc_proto Protocol name.
237 char *nc_device Full pathname of the network device.
240 unsigned long nc_nlookups Number of directory lookup libraries.
243 char **nc_lookups Names of the name-to-address translation
246 libraries.
247 unsigned long nc_unused[9] Reserved for future expansion.
250 The nc_semantics field takes the following values, corresponding to the
254 semantics identified above:
255 NC_TPI_CLTS
256 NC_TPI_COTS
257 NC_TPI_COTS_ORD
258 The nc_flag field is a bitfield. The following bit, corresponding to
261 the attribute identified above, is currently recognized. NC_NOFLAG
262 indicates the absence of any attributes.
263 NC_VISIBLE
265
268 Example 1 A Sample netconfig File
269 Below is a sample netconfig file:
272 #
275 # The "Network Configuration" File.
276 #
277 # Each entry is of the form:
278 #
279 # <networkid> <semantics> <flags> <protofamily> <protoname> <device>
280 # <nametoaddrlibs>
281 #
282 # The "-" in <nametoaddrlibs> for inet family transports indicates
283 # redirection to the name service switch policies for "hosts" and
284 # "services". The "-" may be replaced by nametoaddr libraries that
285 # comply with the SVr4 specs, in which case the name service switch
286 # will not be used for netdir_getbyname, netdir_getbyaddr,
287 # gethostbyname, gethostbyaddr, getservbyname, and getservbyport.
288 # There are no nametoaddr_libs for the inet family in Solaris anymore.
289 #
290 udp6 tpi_clts v inet6 udp /dev/udp6 -
291 tcp6 tpi_cots_ord v inet6 tcp /dev/tcp6 -
292 udp tpi_clts v inet udp /dev/udp -
293 tcp tpi_cots_ord v inet tcp /dev/tcp -
294 rawip tpi_raw - inet - /dev/rawip -
295 ticlts tpi_clts v loopback - /dev/ticlts straddr.so
296 ticotsord tpi_cots_ord v loopback - /dev/ticotsord straddr.so
297 ticots tpi_cots v loopback - /dev/ticots straddr.so
298
301 <netconfig.h>
302
305 dlopen(3C), getnetconfig(3NSL), getnetpath(3NSL), nsswitch.conf(4)
306 System Administration Guide: IP Services
309SunOS 5.11 18 Nov 2003 netconfig(4)