xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man5/ifconfig.if.5 (revision 1b9578b8c2c1f848eeb16dabbfd7d1f0d9fdefbd)
1.\"	$NetBSD: ifconfig.if.5,v 1.15 2011/04/07 00:22:59 jym Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1996 Matthew R. Green
4.\" All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8.\" are met:
9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
13.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
14.\"
15.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
16.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
17.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
18.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
19.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
20.\" BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
21.\" LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED
22.\" AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
23.\" OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
24.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
25.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
26.\"
27.Dd April 7, 2011
28.Dt IFCONFIG.IF 5
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm ifconfig.if
32.Nd interface-specific configuration files or variables
33.Sh DESCRIPTION
34The
35.Nm
36files or variables contain information regarding the configuration
37of each network interface.
38.Nm
39is processed by
40.Pa /etc/rc.d/network
41at system boot time.
42.Pp
43For each interface
44.Pq Ar nnX
45that is to be configured, there should be either an
46.Sy ifconfig_nnX
47variable in
48.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
49or an
50.Pa /etc/ifconfig.nnX
51file
52(such as the
53.Sy ifconfig_fxp0
54variable or the
55.Pa /etc/ifconfig.fxp0
56file for the
57.Sy fxp0
58interface).
59Only characters allowed in
60.Xr sh 1
61variables names should be used for
62.Ar nnX
63.Po Xr ascii 7
64uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and underscore
65.Pc .
66.Pp
67The variable or file will get evaluated only if the interface exists on
68the system.
69Multiple lines can be placed in a variable or file, and will be
70evaluated sequentially.
71In the case of a variable, semicolons may be used instead of
72newlines, as described in
73.Xr rc.conf 5 .
74.Ao backslash Ac Ns Ao newline Ac
75sequences in files are ignored, so long logical lines may be
76made up of several shorter physical lines.
77.Pp
78Normally, a line will be evaluated as command line arguments to
79.Xr ifconfig 8 .
80.Dq Li ifconfig Ar nnX
81will be prepended on evaluation.
82Arguments with embedded shell metacharacters should be quoted in
83.Xr sh 1
84style.
85.Pp
86If the line is equal to
87.Dq dhcp ,
88.Xr dhcpcd 8
89will be started for the interface.
90.Pp
91If a line is empty, or starts with
92.Sq # ,
93the line will be ignored as comment.
94.Pp
95If a line starts with
96.Sq \&! ,
97the rest of line will get evaluated as shell script fragment.
98Shell variables declared in
99.Pa /etc/rc.d/network
100are accessible but may not be modified.
101The most useful variable is
102.Li $int ,
103as it will be bound to the interface being configured with the file.
104.Pp
105For example, the following illustrates static interface configuration:
106.Bd -literal -offset indent
107# IPv4, with an alias
108inet 10.0.1.12 netmask 255.255.255.0 media 100baseTX
109inet 10.0.1.13 netmask 255.255.255.255 alias
110# let us have IPv6 address on this interface
111inet6 2001:db8::1 prefixlen 64 alias
112# have subnet router anycast address too
113inet6 2001:db8:: prefixlen 64 alias anycast
114.Ed
115.Pp
116The following illustrates dynamic configuration setup with
117.Xr dhclient 8
118and
119.Xr rtsol 8 :
120.Bd -literal -offset indent
121up
122# autoconfigure IPv4 address
123!dhclient $int
124# autoconfigure IPv6 address.  Be sure to set $ip6mode to autohost.
125!rtsol $int
126.Ed
127.Pp
128The following example sets a network name for a wireless interface
129(using quotes to protect special characters in the name),
130and starts
131.Xr dhcpcd 8 :
132.Bd -literal -offset indent
133ssid 'my network'
134dhcp
135.Ed
136.Pp
137The following example is for dynamically-created pseudo interfaces like
138.Xr gif 4 .
139Earlier versions of
140.Pa /etc/rc.d/network
141required an explicit
142.Sq create
143command for such interfaces,
144but creation is now handled automatically.
145.Bd -literal -offset indent
146up
147# configure IPv6 default route toward the interface
148!route add -inet6 default ::1
149!route change -inet6 default -ifp $int
150.Ed
151.Sh FILES
152.Pa /etc/rc.d/network
153.Sh SEE ALSO
154.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
155.Xr ifconfig 8
156