Strange network issue bewteen vi netconf and set_parms

[Norman Dignard]

We've come across a strage netwrok config issue that has me perplexed, this occurs on both 11i and 11v1 (Dec 2004).

We moved hosts from one subnet to another, editing their hosts file and the netconf specifing the IP, gateway and broadcast address. With gateway ports wide open we could not ping, telnet or rlogin to the box even after a reboot.
Neither did net stop/start or touching the nic setting via sam.
In all instances ipconfig reported the proper ip, subnet and broadcast address. Only after doing a set_parms addl and accepting the values presented (which were correct) did we get it to respond properly.

What would be causing this problem? We're in the process of deploying hosts to the field and are doing basically the same. That is modifying the hosts and netconf via some setup scripts. I have an feeling we'll see the same problem there.

Regards
NormD

[Steven E. Protter]

As far as I know set_parms is very good at making this change.

In my experience problems have been caused by typos in the editing process to make the vi /etc/rc.config.d/netconf file not work.

Also, people like to back up the netconf file in /etc/rc.config.d

In that case both files are read and networking does not work. set_parms is smart enough to fix that I think.

If none of this applies, I'm perplexed.

SEP

[Stephen Keane]

You could diff the file you created manually with the file that set_parms created; might give you a clue?

[Norman Dignard]

There were no typo's in the file and set_parms did not change anything in the netconf either.

Still stumped.

[Todd Whitcher]

You can use set_parms or edit the /etc/rc.config.d/netconf(run /sbin/init.d/net stop;/sbin/init.d/net start after) file directly or use SAM to change the network parameters. Each method will(should) work.

W/ out additional data I'm not sure what was causing your issues.

Some things I'd verify in this situation.

The subnet mask was correct?
Could you ping the broadcast address when you brought up the interface?

If you can recreate this I would do the following.

1. Ifconfig lanX <-- PPA=X
Verify the parameters are what you expect
2. On the HPUX ping the IP address locally, does it respond ? ping the loopback address, Does it respond?
3. Ping the broadcast address of the interface, you should see every other device on the broadcast domain respond to you, if you only see yourself this is typically a subnet addr issue.
4. Try resetting the lan interface w/ lanadmin.
5. Check the output of arp -an

Review your /var/adm/nettl.LOGXXX file.

To do this:
netfmt -Nnlf /var/adm/nettl.LOGXXX > net.out and view the net.out file.

Hope this is helpful, typically any of the methods mentioned will allow you to update the IP information.

Todd

[Naveej.K.A]

Hi,

Was the network cable connected when you brought the server up??

Any errors in /etc/rc.log???

Regards,
Naveej

[Norman Dignard]

The cables where connected and no error's in the bootup files. I spoke with HP on this and one thing they mentioned is not to have any backup copies of files in /etc/rc.config.d as all files in this dir get executed on bootup. Well on some boxes we did have .old files there and some hosts didn't. I could see the potential of some problems on a reboot but nto from doing a net stop/start.

I looked over the set_parms scripts but from what I can tell all it's doing (as far as networking goes) is to call ifconfig.

It's as if some variables - (eg. network, hostname) are stored in some other shadow or data file that set_parms and other processes read. I've seen a similar problem when changing the hostname by only editing the host and netconf file. Something still has reference to the old hostname even after a reboot. Typical probs here is that cde won't start. It not until you run set_parms that it regonizes its new hostname.