In this chapter, you will

• Describe the OSI networking model

• Describe the TCP/IP protocol suite

• List the properties of Ethernet

• Describe the mapping between hardware and software interface addresses

• State the properties of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Internet Protocol (IP)

Sun’s view is that “The Network Is The Computer.” However, while users often consider the “network” to be a single heterogeneous medium, the process of transferring a packet of data from one host to another is not a trivial task. This is where conceptual protocol stacks like the general Open System Interconnect (OSI) networking model are useful in encapsulating and dividing the labor associated with physical network transmission and its management by software. Solaris uses the four-layer TCP/IP suite of network protocols to carry out network operations, including the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Internet Protocol (IP). These protocols and the layer in which they reside will be covered in depth in the following chapters. In this chapter, we’ll examine how TCP/IP is implemented on Solaris, including the configuration of network interfaces, daemons, addresses, ports, and sockets. Finally, we’ll examine how to configure the Internet daemon (inetd) to support a number of separate network services that are centrally managed.