The SM_IP_VERSIONS environment variable enables you to control the Internet Protocol (IP) version used for name resolution.

This affects VMware Smart Assurance utilities that use a command line (for example, dmctl), some ASL scripts, the Perl API, and DNS lookup of undiscovered hostnames.

The variable can be set depending on the order in which you want to do name resolution. If the variable is not set, and the IP protocol is not explicitly provided (for example, frame.someDomain.vmware.com:v4), the default behavior is to resolve the hostname as an IPv6 address, or, if that fails, to an IPv4 address. The variable should be set to the Internet Protocol version that is predominate for the network.

To set this variable, add it to the runcmd_env.sh file, which is located in the BASEDIR/smarts/local/conf directory of the product suite.

The syntax of the environment variable is: 

SM_IP_VERSIONS="ip_value"

Acceptable values for the SM_IP_VERSIONS environment variable lists acceptable values for the SM_IP_VERSIONS environment variable.

Table 1. Acceptable values for the SM_IP_VERSIONS environment variable

ip_value

Description

"V4"

Hostname is resolved to an IPv4 address.

"V6"

Hostname is resolved to an IPv6 address.

"V4V6"

Hostname is resolved to an IPv4 address. If that fails, the Do­main Name System server tries to resolve the hostname to an IPv6 address.

"V6V4"

Hostname is resolved to an IPv6 address. If that fails, the Do­main Name System server tries to resolve the hostname to an IPv4 address (default).

Note: The acceptable value can also be lowercase ("v4", "v6", "v4v6" or "v6v4").

Detailed instructions about setting environment variables and information about the runcmd_env.sh file is provided in the VMware Smart Assurance System Administration Guide.