Library /sys$common/syshlp/tcpip$ucp_help.hlb ifconfig, DESCRIPTION  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    You use the ifconfig command at boot time to define the network
    address of each interface. You can also use the ifconfig command
    at other times to display all interfaces that are configured on a
    system, to redefine the address of an interface, or to set other
    operating parameters.

                                   NOTE

       If you want to redefine the interface address or the
       netmask, you should stop TCP/IP Services. Otherwise, any
       TCP/IP processes currently running will continue to use the
       old adddress and netmask and fail.

    Any user can query the status of a network interface; only a
    privileged user can modify the configuration network interfaces.

    You specify an interface with the ifconfig interface_id syntax.
    (See your hardware documentation for information on obtaining an
    interface ID.)

    If you specify only an interface_id, the ifconfig program
    displays the current configuration for the specified network
    interface only.

    If a protocol family is specified by the address_family
    parameter, ifconfig reports only the configuration details
    specific to that protocol family.

    When changing an interface configuration, if the address family
    cannot be inferred from the address parameter, an address family,
    which may alter the interpretation of succeeding parameters, must
    be specified. This family is required because an interface can
    receive transmissions in different protocols, each of which may
    require a separate naming scheme.

    The address argument is the network address of the interface
    being configured. For the inet address family, the address
    argument is either a hostname or an Internet address in the
    standard dotted-decimal notation with or without the optional
    Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) bitmask (/bitmask). If
    using the bitmask argument, do not use the netmask parameter.

    The destination address (dest_address) argument specifies the
    address of the correspondent on the remote end of a point-to-
    point link.