About This Manual

This manual describes how to configure and manage the network interfaces and network services, and solve problems that might arise on systems running the Tru64TM UNIX® (formerly DIGITAL UNIX) operating system software.

This manual assumes that the operating system software and the appropriate networking subsets are installed.

Audience

This manual is intended for system and network adminstrators responsible for configuring and managing network services. Administrators should have knowledge of operating system concepts, commands, and configuration. They should also have knowledge of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking concepts and network configuration; this manual is not a TCP/IP networking tutorial.

New and Changed Features

This manual has been revised to include the following:

Organization

This manual is divided into 17 chapters, 8 appendixes, and an index. The following list describes the contents in more detail:

Chapter 1 Describes the meaning of network administration and the components covered in this manual
Chapter 2 Describes the tasks to administer the basic network connections
Chapter 3 Describes the tasks to administer an Asychronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network adapter
Chapter 4 Describes the tasks to administer the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Chapter 5 Describes the tasks to administer point-to-point connections
Chapter 6 Describes the tasks to administer Local Area Transport (LAT)
Chapter 7 Describes the tasks to administer the Domain Name Service (DNS)
Chapter 8 Describes the tasks to administer the Network Information Service (NIS)
Chapter 9 Describes the tasks to administer the Network File System (NFS)
Chapter 10 Describes the tasks to administer the UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Program (UUCP)
Chapter 11 Describes the tasks to administer the Network Time Protocol (NTP)
Chapter 12 Describes the tasks to administer the mail environment
Chapter 13 Describes the Simple Network Management (SNMP) environment
Chapter 14 Describes how to solve network and network service problems
Chapter 15 Describes the various diagnostic tests available to help solve problems
Chapter 16 Describes how to test DNS servers and resolve DNS server problems
Chapter 17 Describes how to report your problem to Compaq and the information you should provide
Appendix A Describes how to monitor the Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), and token ring network interfaces by using the netstat command
Appendix B Describes how to write automount maps
Appendix C Contains two scripts you can copy for adding NIS slave servers to and removing NIS slave servers from an NIS domain
Appendix D Contains NFS client error messages and describes possible solutions
Appendix E Contains uucp error messages and describes possible solutions
Appendix F Contains sendmail error messages and describes possible solutions
Appendix G Describes the Tru64 UNIX host MIB implementation, including sample data
Appendix H Describes the format of DNS file entries

Related Documents

For more information about Tru64 UNIX networking and communications, see the following books:

Icons on Tru64 UNIX Printed Books

The printed version of the Tru64 UNIX documentation uses letter icons on the spines of the books to help specific audiences quickly find the books that meet their needs. (You can order the printed documentation from Compaq.) The following list describes this convention:

  G Books for general users
  S Books for system and network administrators
  P Books for programmers
  D Books for device driver writers
  R Books for reference page users

Some books in the documentation help meet the needs of several audiences. For example, the information in some system books is also used by programmers. Keep this in mind when searching for information on specific topics.

The Documentation Overview provides information on all of the books in the Tru64 UNIX documentation set.

Reader's Comments

Compaq welcomes any comments and suggestions you have on this and other Tru64 UNIX manuals.

You can send your comments in the following ways:

Please include the following information along with your comments:

The Tru64 UNIX Publications group cannot respond to system problems or technical support inquiries. Please address technical questions to your local system vendor or to the appropriate Compaq technical support office. Information provided with the software media explains how to send problem reports to Compaq.

Conventions

This document uses the following typographic conventions:

%
$

A percent sign represents the C shell system prompt. A dollar sign represents the system prompt for the Bourne, Korn, and POSIX shells.

#

A number sign represents the superuser prompt.

% cat

Boldface type in interactive examples indicates typed user input.

file

Italic (slanted) type indicates variable values, placeholders, and function argument names.

[ | ]
{ | }

In syntax definitions, brackets indicate items that are optional and braces indicate items that are required. Vertical bars separating items inside brackets or braces indicate that you choose one item from among those listed. 


colored text

In syntax definitions, literal elements are colored green. Variable values, placeholders, and function argument names are colored red. No special colored text is used outside of syntax descriptions.

. . .

In syntax definitions, a horizontal ellipsis indicates that the preceding item can be repeated one or more times.

cat(1)

A cross-reference to a reference page includes the appropriate section number in parentheses. For example, cat(1) indicates that you can find information on the cat command in Section 1 of the reference pages.

[Return]

In an example, a key name enclosed in a box indicates that you press that key.

[Ctrl/x]

This symbol indicates that you hold down the first named key while pressing the key or mouse button that follows the slash. In examples, this key combination is enclosed in a box (for example, [Ctrl/C] ).