A 5: Standard UNIX utility programs
The following standard UNIX tools can help you when configuring EtherShare and diagnosing network problems. Other UNIX tools, such as "swho", "poll", "netstat", "zones", "vpoll", and "machid", are described elsewhere.
Your UNIX host name must never include a slash ("/") character (for example "my_rs/6000"). It is best to use lower case characters only, no spaces, no underlines and no punctuation marks except hyphen.
A slash causes problems with EtherShare, PCShare and other UNIX programs. This is because "/" is also the directory path separator. AIX does not return an error message if you use the "/" character in your host name.
The procedure to follow to determine the host's name and internet address depends on the UNIX operating system type, and sometimes on its version, too. The following programs are often available:
The "hostname" command (BSD systems) or the "uname" command (System V systems) can be used to determine a UNIX computer's host name. Call "uname" with the "-n" switch (
uname -n). Use the "-a" switch instead to see your operating system version, too.
"arp" is used to display and edit the UNIX host's "internet address/computer name" conversion table. If the "arp" command includes a computer name as a command line argument, it tries to get more information on the specified computer, including its internet address. Although the conversion table does normally not contain information on your own host, it is still often possible to determine its internet address in this way, for example:
0021-237 arp: The entry ibm (192.9.200.11) is not
present in the local arp table.
This tool ("$ESDIR/etc/ifstat") is used to determine, for each built-in network interface, the AppleTalk and TCP/IP configurations.
lo0: flags 134744075<UP,BROADCAST,LOOPBACK
SIMPLEX,NOECHO> mtu 16896
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0 broadcast
127.255.255.255
en3: flags 134744163<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS
RUNNING,SIMPLEX,NOECHO> mtu 1500
inet 172.16.0.1 netmask 255.255.252.0
broadcast 172.16.3.255
atalk locable 20 hicable 30 net 20 node 143
en0: flags 134744163<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS
RUNNING,SIMPLEX,NOECHO> mtu 1492
atalk locable 31 hicable 40 net 31 node 142
The parameters
locable 31 hicable 40 replace the formerly used
range 31-40.
