Basically I am a Linux person. True, I occasionally use Windows XP for
the Office suit but that's all. Recently I built a new Intel machine
(Asus P2B LS mobo, Pentium II 400 mhz, 512 MB RAM, new LCD screen)
from the scraps lying around with the intention of installing Solaris
10 on it. The installation went just fine and I can now admire the
stark beauty of my java desktop. I even managed to create a few users,
assign new shells, move around, copy, move or delete files,
directories, etc.

For the last two months I've read every FAQ, manual page, guide on
creating an internet connection to no avail. I've tried 3 different
NICS (quite old ones with the hope that Solaris would recognize them),
edited every conceivable networking configuration file but I just
could not manage to bring the interface up. I know, it is my fault, I
should try harder and maybe read a lot more. But connecting to the
internet should not be so difficult.

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:13:20 +0300, Orhan Kurmus wrote:

> For the last two months I've read every FAQ, manual page, guide on
> creating an internet connection to no avail. I've tried 3 different NICS
> (quite old ones with the hope that Solaris would recognize them),

Did you ever check the HCL to see if any of those NICS is supported?

http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data...lts.page1.html

> edited
> every conceivable networking configuration file but I just could not
> manage to bring the interface up.

Install a supported NIC, then boot with the "-r" argument to "b".
Execute, as root, devfsadm then sys-unconfig.

Orhan Kurmus wrote:
> Basically I am a Linux person. True, I occasionally use Windows XP for
> the Office suit but that's all. Recently I built a new Intel machine
> (Asus P2B LS mobo, Pentium II 400 mhz, 512 MB RAM, new LCD screen)
> from the scraps lying around with the intention of installing Solaris
> 10 on it. The installation went just fine and I can now admire the
> stark beauty of my java desktop. I even managed to create a few users,
> assign new shells, move around, copy, move or delete files,
> directories, etc.
>
> For the last two months I've read every FAQ, manual page, guide on
> creating an internet connection to no avail. I've tried 3 different
> NICS (quite old ones with the hope that Solaris would recognize them),
> edited every conceivable networking configuration file but I just
> could not manage to bring the interface up. I know, it is my fault, I
> should try harder and maybe read a lot more. But connecting to the
> internet should not be so difficult.

Connecting to the internet is NOT difficult! I've installed more than a
dozen Solaris systems, both X86 and SPARC and only once had a problem
with the network. That problem was a very new PC with a NIC that
Solaris didn't have a driver for. I posted a question on one of Sun's
bulletin boards and got a new driver for it in a couple of days!

When you install Solaris 8, 9, or 10 you are asked if the system is
networked. If you reply "Yes", you are prompted for the network setup.
It's really that simple. If you somehow missed it, you can run
sys-unconfig (see man page). The system will reboot and you will be
asked for a new root password and all the networking information.

Check the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and see if your hardware is
supported. http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/