Appendix: nwamd(1M) Man Page - Getting Started With OpenSolaris

Appendix: `nwamd(1M)` Man Page

NAME: nwamd - network auto-magic daemon

SYNOPSIS: /lib/inet/nwamd

DESCRIPTION: nwamd is a system daemon to manage network interfaces. This daemon is started automatically and should not be invoked directly. It does not constitute a programming interface.

OPERATION: Whether this daemon is enabled or not depends on your installation medium. To check, enter the following at the command line:

% svcs svc:/network/physical

The two instances will be listed: one as disabled, the other as online. If the nwam instance is online then this daemon will be running. The two instances correspond to the two modes of network configuration: the default instance is for manual mode, while the nwam instance is for the automatic mode.

To go from manual mode to automatic mode:

% svcadm disable svc:/network/physical:default
% svcadm enable svc:/network/physical:nwam

To go from automatic mode to manual mode:

% svcadm disable svc:/network/physical:nwam
% svcadm enable svc:/network/physical:default

CAUTION: When switching modes like this, all network interfaces will be brought down then back up, thus if a different IP address is configured in this process, existing applications and sessions may be disrupted.

Note - In automatic mode, there is a limitation that only one link is active at a time. This mode is thus not recommended for machines which use more than one link at once. For machines with wired and wireless links, wired is preferred by default, although this can be adjusted by altering the order of the lines in the plain text file /etc/nwam/llp. Note, however, that this interface is Volatile and may change in a future release.

PROFILES: Note that all interfaces listed in this section are Volatile and may change in a future release. They are documented here so that those wishing to experiment with this may do so. Profiles are a mechanism for making multiple related changes to the system configuration after IP service is available.

There is not direct support for them yet, but a “roll your own” mechanism is provided for now. Once an interface is brought up and an IP address is configured for it, the daemon looks for /etc/nwam/ulp/check-conditions; if it exists and is executable, it is run. This is expected to print a single line of output, which is the name of the profile which the user wishes to be activated based on the current conditions. If such a line is read successfully (foo in this example), then /etc/nwam/ulp/foo/bringup is executed. Likewise, when the interface gets torn down for whatever reason, /etc/nwam/ulp/foo/teardown is executed. The bringup and teardown scripts are invoked via pfexec(1) with default basic privileges. Samples for each of these scripts can be found at:

WIRELESS: When no wired link is available, a scan for wireless LANs will be done, and the resulting list offered via a GUI pop-up to prompt the console user to select his/her preference. If a successful connection is made, the WLAN in question will be stored in the plain text file /etc/nwam/known_wifi_nets and subsequently the daemon may connect to any WLAN in that list without prompting again. Should a user wish to revoke his/her preference for a WLAN in that list, editing the file and deleting the line with the entry should suffice. Note, however, that this interface is Volatile and may change in a future release.

ATTRIBUTE: See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Availability	SUNWcsr
Interface Stability	Volatile

SEE ALSO: svcs(1), svcadm(1M), attributes(5), smf(5)

NOTES: The networking service is managed by the service management facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:

  svc:/network/physical

Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(1M). The service's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.