M5000 server : sppp0 interface in ifconfig -a

Some of us might have wondered while seeing an output of ifconfig -a showing sppp0 as one interface .
Here goes the definition and procedures to check.

DSCP: Domain to Service Processor Communication Protocol

This protocol is used for IP communication between the service processor (SP) and the domain without any new hardware; it uses a single mailbox in the shared RAM, and using a pseudo serial driver on top of that mailbox.

On the SP, showdscp will display the IP addresses assigned to each domain and the SP, for example:

    XSCF> showdscp

   And from the domain itself:

#/usr/platform/SUNW,SPARC-Enterprise/sbin/prtdscp
Domain Address: 10.1.1.12
SP Address: 10.1.1.11

    #  ifconfig sppp0

The advantage of plumbing the IP between the domain and the SP is that management can occur over shared infrastructure network services, such as NTP and DNS. One can even access the SP from a domain via SSH.The Domain to Service Processor Communication Protocol enables IP-based communication between the Solaris domain and the SP, in a secure fashion, which enables standards-compliant applications such as ssh and ntp to "just work" between the SP and Solaris domains.