# ifconfig -a

ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
vsw0: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2
inet 172.168.2.71 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 172.168.2.255
ether 0:14:4f:fa:95:15

And you’d get the output as shown above. So this is reflecting on localhost and one virtual switch vsw0. But what about other NIC cards? You can list all of the network cards at once using the following command:

ifconfig -a plumb

ifconfig -a

This will list all the network devices available on the Solaris Box. So even if you have a freshly installed Solaris machine with no interface configured, you can use the above command to list the network cards and then proceed with configuring them.

First find the cdrom, i.e. we need to know the x in cxtxdx.

Fire the following command to find the actual path of cdrom:

ls -al /dev/sr*

This would look like something as follows:

bash-3.00# ls -al /dev/sr*
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root          12 Mar  8 14:14 /dev/sr0 -> dsk/c1t0d0s2

So here my cdrom is /dev/dsk/c1t0d0sx

We’re not yet sure about the slice no. so I’ve mentioned sx in above line.

Now we’ll ltry to mount the above slice manually:

mount -F hsfs /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s2 /mnt/cdrom

hsfs mount: /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1 is not an hsfs file system.

If this fails then we can try for another slice:

mount -F hsfs /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 /mnt/cdrom

And it works this time, meaning our cdrom was at s0 slice.

pkgadd

Adds software packages to the system

pkgrm

Removes software packages from the system

pkginfo

Displays software package information

pkgchk

Checks the accuracy of a software package installation

So, we’ll take an example to use above commands. I’ve a package called SUNWant.Z, which I want to install.

So I use the following syntax to add a package.

pkgadd -d SUNWant.Z

To check whether your package has been installed, you can use pkginfo and grep the output to find a specific package.

pkginfo | grep SUNWant

To check the accuracy of the package, you can use pkgchk command as:

pkgchk SUNWant

To remove above package, we have the pkgrm command to use:

pkgrm SUNWant

Refer the Sun documentation for further details.

There are total 8 run levels in Solaris. Default run level is 3. At a given point of time, a system can be in only one run level.

0    Power Down State
To shut down the operating system so that it is safe to turn off power to the system. This will bring the machine to Open Boot Prompt (OK)

s or S    Single User State
To run as a single user with some file systems mounted and accessible.

1     Administrative State
To access all available file systems. User logins are disabled.

2    Multiuser State
For normal operations. Multiple users can access the system and all file system. All daemons are running except for the NFS server daemons.

3    Multiuser level with NFS resources shared
For normal operations with NFS resources shared. This is the default run level for the Solaris environment.

4    Alternative multiuser state
Currently unavailable.

5    Power-down state
To shut down the operating system so that it is safe to turn off power to the system. If possible, automatically turns off power on systems that support this feature.

6    Reboot state
To shut down the system to run level 0, and then reboot to multiuser level with NFS resources shared (or whatever level is the default in the inittab file).

The format of the command is as follows:

# flarcreate -n name options path/filename

This can be done by commenting the following line in the file /etc/default/login:

# CONSOLE=/dev/console

But please understand the security threat behind this, first telnet is insecure and hence is not suggested method of remote access, instead use SSH. Besides allowing remote login for root via telnet is a big NO NO.

You’ve been warned!

But what about the rest?
Given below is a simple table mentioning the release date and its corresponding update no:

1. Creating a loopdevice using lofiadm

# lofiadm -a /export/home/cdimage.iso /dev/lofi/1

If this file already exists then simply go for /dev/lofi/2 and so on.

2. Mounting the block device to a mount point

# mount -F hsfs -o ro /dev/lofi/1 /mnt/cdrom

Here hsfs is the filesystem type for CD-ROM/DVD on Solaris platform.

Fortunately there is a quicker alternative to firing both the commands. The output of these can be achieved in a single command

# mount -F hsfs -o ro `lofiadm -a /export/home/cdimage.iso` /mnt/cdrom

Ans so now you can access the iso like a mount cdrom at the mount point.

To unmont use ‘umount’ command and the mount point.

# umount /mnt/cdrom

And so you’re done.

Solaris 9 and below change the IP in following file

/etc/hosts

Solaris 10 till update 3

/etc/hosts

/etc/inet/ipnodes

Solaris 10 update 4 and later

/etc/hosts

In case you also want to change your gateway, change the router address in…

/etc/defaultrouter

Also ensure that you have the correct netmask mentioned in the file…

/etc/netmasks

Create the netmasks file if it does not exist.

There are two parts to it:

- Who is currently logged in

- Who has previously accessed this machine

To the details of users who are currently logged in to the system, fire the following command:

# who

This gives the limited details of the user logged in. If you also want to know who is running what program, there is another command:

# w

But this is only about the users who currently logged in to the system. What about if they logged out some time back. Or if they used your system when you were not monitoring? No worry …

# last

This command records all login and logouts. So you may have to use more or less to control the output.

There is one more log that keeps record of user switching. So if anybody has used su command to swith to some other user it will keep a log of it under /var/adm/sulog. You can cat this file to see the output.

# cat /var/adm/sulog

SU 06/26 16:25 + syscon root-root

SU 06/26 17:39 + syscon root-root

SU 07/02 11:11 + console root-sysadmin

SU 07/02 11:19 + console root-mgreen

SU 07/07 09:11 + pts/1 sysadmin-root

SU 07/08 10:45 + pts/4 testuser-root

So if somebody logged in as root directly then it would come under last command and if someone is logging in as normal user but later switching to root with ‘su’ command you can check that in the sulog.

Now you have complete information of users logging in to your system.