Network settings in DataONTAP

Data ONTAP can resolve host information on a storage appliance using:

1. the /etc/hosts file on the root volume
2. NIS server
3. DNS server

By default the storage first tries resolve hostname locally by searching the /etc/host and /etc/nsswitch file then NIS,then DNS if needed.The /etc/hosts entries: IP address hostname alias(es).

The NIS client service provide information on security related such as hosts,user passwords,user groups and netgroups on a network.

Domain name Service matches domain names to ip addresses and maintain host information ,so we don't need to update the /etc/hosts file.DNS configured using host command.
The /etc/nsswitch.conf file lists the order in which a storage appliance searches for resolution.Also we can set the order using FilerView network->Manage DNS and NIS server.

Routing

Even though Netapp has multiple network interfaces it doesn't act as a router for other hosts.But we can see the currunt routing table using the command netstat -r command.We can add or delete a specific route for a host or a network in the routing table,using the route command.
Default route is defined in the /etc/rc file.We can use rdfile /etc/rc to view content of the file, wrfile /etc/rc to edit the content of the file.
Routed is daemon invoked at the boot time to manage the networking routing tables.

Configuring Network interfaces

Storage appliances support 4 network types of NAS:

• Ethernet 10/100 Base T
• Gigabit ethernet
• FDDI
• ATM

There are 7 network parameters that can be configured for an intreface:

• IP address
• Netmask address
• Media type and speed
• Maximum transmission unit(MTU)
• Flow control
• Up or Down state

On the command line the ifconfig command assigns and address to a network interface and assign these parameters.We can also use filerView Network-->Manage interfaces.