Use the following procedure if you need to preserve the IP configuration that is associated with one network device and then move that configuration to another network device. You might perform this procedure prior to removing a network card from the system or when changing a network cable connection.

The procedure uses e1000g0 and nge0 as sample devices.

Before You Begin

Ensure that your role has the appropriate rights profile to perform this procedure. See Using Rights Profiles to Perform Network Configuration.

1. Display the physical link to device mappings on the system.

   The following example shows that the IP configuration for e1000g0 is down and the configuration needs to be moved to nge0:

   $ dladm show-phys
   LINK    MEDIA    STATE    SPEED    DUPLEX    DEVICE
   net0    Ethernet down     0        unknown   e1000g0
   net1    Ethernet down     0        unknown   e1000g1
   net2    Ethernet up       1000     full      nge0
   net3    Ethernet down     0        unknown   nge1
   

2. Disable the IP configuration on the datalink temporarily, leaving its persistent settings intact.

   For example:

   $ ipadm disable-if net0

3. Rename the datalink of the device that is down.

   For example:

   $ dladm rename-link net0 oldnet0

   This step makes oldnet0 as the link name of e1000g0.

4. Assign the primary link name to the datalink that is designated to become the primary device.

   For example, net2 is the link name of the nge0 device. Thus, you would type:

   $ dladm rename-link net2 net0

5. Re-enable the IP configuration on the newly named datalink (net0).

   $ ipadm enable-if -t net0