Phase 1 Early Access

NWAM Phase 1.0 - Information and Instructions for Users

This page provides guidelines and special instructions for early adopters of NWAM, Phase 1.0

This feature was integrated into build snv_135.  It consists of two components, which integrated into two different consolidations: The ON component, comprising SMF service additions and updates, a private library, and CLI utilities; and the Desktop component, consisting of the GNOME panel applet and GUI configuration utility.

If you perform a complete image-update to build 135, you will get both of these components.  However, if you only update your ON bits to build 135, and have older Desktop bits, the nwam service and CLI will be fully functional, but will not interact properly with the old nwam GUI from the older Desktop bits.

Links to download the updated GUI bits are provided below, in the "GUI Installation Instructions" section.

NWAM Phase 1.0 Enhancements

NWAM 1.0 provides the following enhancements:

• Improved graphical user interface (GUI) that enables you to create and manage network profiles, as well as improved interaction with the NWAM processes and desktop notifications for network events. Note that this version of NWAM GUI also includes detailed online help documentation.
• Command-line utilities that can be used to create and manage network profiles.
• Flexible network interface configuration, including the ability to connect to more than one network interface at a time.
• Improved functionality of the network profiles mechanism that was introduced in the Opensolaris 2008.05 release.
• Auto-detection of hot-plug events.

More detailed information about NWAM 1.0 can be found on this project page.

See the NWAM draft man pages for information about the NWAM CLI man pages: nwamcfg(1M), nwamadm(1M), nwamd(1M), and netcfgd(1M). The draft man pages for the NWAM GUI, nwam-manager(1M), and nwam-manager-properties(1M), are also described here.

See the NWAM-CLI-Documentation (pgs 23-109).

The NWAM-GUI-Documentation can be found on pages 23-47. For more detailed instructions, see the GUI online help.

GUI Installation Instructions

Installation of the GUI bits for all Users

To install the GUI bits after booting into the updated BE, download the appropriate zip file: 

nwamui133-sparc.tar.bz2
nwamui133-x86.tar.bz2

Then extract the files and install:

$ bzip2 -cd nwamui133-sparc.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -
$ cd 2010-02-11
$ pfexec sh ./update_nwam_manager.sh

For x86, simply replace "sparc" with "x86" in the first command.

After installing the GUI bits, log out and back in to the Gnome Desktop.  This step is very important, as you will get unexpected, confusing GUI behavior if the updated bits aren't properly restarted.

Differences Between the NWAM CLI and the NWAM GUI

Take note of the following minor differences when using the NWAM CLI and GUI progamming interfaces:

• How you obtain information regarding the status of your network varies slightly between the CLI and the GUI . If you are using the GUI, you can check your network connections by looking at the Network Status notification icon that is displayed in the panel notification area of the desktop at all times, or by clicking it. As changes in your network occur, notifications are displayed on the desktop. If you are working from the command line, use the nwamadm show-events command to monitor NWAM activity and the nwamadm list command to display the status of network connections and profiles.
• You can only export a profile configuration by using the NWAM CLI. To export a profile configuration, use the nwamcfg command with the export subcommand.

NWAM 1.0 Documentation

The final DRAFT of the NWAM  CLI-Documentation and the NWAM-GUI-Documentation is available for review.

Where to Send Feedback and Comments

Send feedback, questions, and comments on NWAM phase 1.0 to the NWAM discuss alias

How to File a Bug

Bugs should be filed at OpenSolaris Defect Tracking

Use the Development classification, Product nwam.

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