Devices                                                   vni(7d)



NAME
     vni - STREAMS virtual network interface driver

DESCRIPTION
     The vni pseudo device is a multi-threaded,  loadable,  clon-
     able,  STREAMS  pseudo-device  supporting the connectionless
     Data Link Provider Interface dlpi(7P)  Style  2.  Note  that
     DLPI  is  intended  to  interact  with IP, meaning that DLPI
     access to applications is not supported. (For example, snoop
     fails on the vni interface.)


     The vni device is a software-only  interface  and  does  not
     send  or  receive  data.  The  device  provides a DLPI upper
     interface that identifies itself to IP with a private  media
     type.  It can be configured via ifconfig(1M) and can have IP
     addresses assigned to it, making aliases possible.


     The vni pseudo device is particularly useful in  hosting  an
     IP address when used in conjunction with the 'usesrc' ifcon-
     fig option (see ifconfig(1M)  for  examples).   The  logical
     instances  of  the device can also be used to host addresses
     as an alternative to hosting them over the  loopback  inter-
     face.


     Multicast is not supported on  this  device.  More  specifi-
     cally,  the following options return an error when used with
     an    address    specified    on    vni:    IPMULTICASTIF,
     IPADMEMBERSHIP,   IPDROPMEMBERSHIP,  IPV6MULTICASTIF,
     IPV6JOINGROUP, IPV6LEAVEGROUP. In addition, broadcast is
     not supported.


     Because there is no physical hardware configured  below  it,
     no traffic can be received through nor transmitted on a vir-
     tual interface. All packet  transmission  and  reception  is
     accomplished  with existing physical interfaces and tunnels.
     Because applications that deal with packet transmission  and
     reception  (such as packet filters) cannot filter traffic on
     virtual interfaces, you cannot set up a packet filter  on  a
     virtual  interface. Instead, you should configure the policy
     rules to apply to the physical interfaces and  tunnels,  and
     if  necessary,  use  the  virtual IP addresses themselves as
     part of the rule configuration. Also, note that the  virtual
     interface cannot be part of an IP multipathing (IPMP) group.

FILES
     /dev/vni    64-bit ELF kernel driver





SunOS 5.11          Last change: 18 July 2004                   1






Devices                                                   vni(7d)



SEE ALSO
     ifconfig(1M), in.mpathd(1M), ip(7P), ip6(7P)





















































SunOS 5.11          Last change: 18 July 2004                   2