Mobile IP Files and Commands (Reference)

This chapter describes the components that are provided with the Solaris implementation of Mobile IP. To use Mobile IP, you must first configure the Mobile IP configuration file by using the parameters and commands that are described in this chapter.

This chapter contains the following information:

• Overview of the Solaris Mobile IP Implementation

• Mobile IP Configuration File

• Configuring the Mobility IP Agent

• Mobile IP Mobility Agent Status

• Mobile IP State Information

• netstat Extensions for Mobile IP

• snoop Extensions for Mobile IP

Overview of the Solaris Mobile IP Implementation

The mobility agent software incorporates home agent and foreign agent functionality. The Solaris Mobile IP software does not provide a client mobile node. Only the agent functionality is provided. Each network with mobility support should have at least one static (non-mobile) host running this software.

The following RFC functions are supported in the Solaris implementation of Mobile IP:

• RFC 1918, "Address Allocation for Private Internets"

• RFC 2002, "IP Mobility Support" (Agent only)

• RFC 2003, "IP Encapsulation Within IP"

• RFC 2794, "Mobile IP Network Access Identifier Extension for IPv4"

• RFC 3012, "Mobile IPv4 Challenge/Response Extensions"

• RFC 3024, "Reverse Tunneling for Mobile IP"

The base Mobile IP protocol (RFC 2002) does not address the problem of scalable key distribution and treats key distribution as an orthogonal issue. The Solaris Mobile IP software utilizes only manually configured keys, specified in a configuration file.

The following RFC functions are not supported in the Solaris implementation of Mobile IP:

• RFC 1701, "General Routing Encapsulation"

• RFC 2004, "Minimal Encapsulation Within IP"

The following functions are not supported in the Solaris implementation of Mobile IP:

• The forwarding of multicast traffic or broadcast traffic by the home agent to the foreign agent for a mobile node that is visiting a foreign network

• The routing of broadcast and multicast datagrams through reverse tunnels

• Private care-of addresses or private home agent addresses

See the mipagent(1M) man page for additional information.

Mobile IP Configuration File

The mipagent command reads configuration information from the /etc/inet/mipagent.conf configuration file at startup. Mobile IP uses the /etc/inet/mipagent.conf configuration file to initialize the Mobile IP mobility agent. When configured and deployed, the mobility agent issues periodic router advertisements and responds to router discovery solicitation messages as well as Mobile IP registration messages.

See the mipagent.conf(4) man page for a description of file attributes. See the mipagent(1M) man page for a description of this file's usage.

Configuration File Format

The Mobile IP configuration file consists of sections. Each section has a unique name and is enclosed in square brackets. Each section contains one or more labels. You assign values to the labels by using the following format:

[Section_name]
     Label-name = value-assigned

Configuration File Sections and Labels describes the section names, labels, and possible values.

Sample Configuration Files

The default Solaris installation provides the following sample configuration files in the /etc/inet directory:

• mipagent.conf-sample - Contains a sample configuration for a Mobile IP agent that provides both foreign agent and home agent functionality

• mipagent.conf.fa-sample - Contains a sample configuration for a Mobile IP agent that provides only foreign agent functionality

• mipagent.conf.ha-sample - Contains a sample configuration for a Mobile IP agent that provides only home agent functionality

These sample configuration files contain mobile node address and security settings. Before you can implement Mobile IP, you must create a configuration file with the name mipagent.conf and place it in the /etc/inet directory. This file contains the configuration settings that satisfy your Mobile IP implementation requirements. You can also choose one of the sample configuration files, modify it with your addresses and security settings, and copy it to /etc/inet/mipagent.conf.

For more information, see How to Create the Mobile IP Configuration File.