Networking question

[Sam Clippinger]

When last we left our heroes, Randy Rathbun had just said:
> Where the heck do I need to be looking to get the modules to load on bootup?
> Also, shouldn't the machine be doing this anyway? The module is referenced in
> conf.modules, and when I go into linuxconf and look it has all the proper
> settings, but the card is not starting. I have been finding that I have to go
> into control-panel and start the card that way as it shows it as being
> inactive. 

I apologize if this has already been answered in private email -- I didn't see
an answer go by on the list.  I also apologize if I'm incorrectly interpreting
your question to be "How to I make my ethernet card work at all?" instead of
"How do I make my ethernet card's drivers load?"

Question: During bootup, is the card's _driver_ not loading, or is the card not
being setup?  If the module is not loaded, I suspect that you're probably running
something that will load it for you as soon as it is needed (kmod or kerneld or
whatever).

So try this: Jump to a command line as login as root.  Type the following:
        /sbin/ifconfig eth0 10.0.0.1 up
If you get a message that says:
        SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
        eth0: unknown interface: No such device
The module isn't loaded.  (Let me know and I can help you resolve that.)  If
you don't see anything printed out, the command worked.  Your ethernet card is
now initialized with the IP address 10.0.0.1, which is obviously incorrect.
Type:
        /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down
Your ethernet card will then be un-initialized.

To make it initialize during bootup, you need to edit a file and create another
one.  The first file is /etc/sysconfig/network.  If you open it in a text
editor, you should see a line that says:
        NETWORKING=no
That's the biggie.  Change it to read:
        NETWORKING=yes

This is where my advice becomes hazy at best.  I suspect that your DSL provider
will tell you to use DHCP to get your IP addresses, nameservers, gateways and
so forth.  I don't use DHCP on any of my boxes and I've only set it up a couple
of times elsewhere.  So the remainder of what follows details how to setup for
a static IP address.  You will need to install the dhcpcd package if you haven't
already.  Hopefully your favorite configuration tools will interface with it.
If not, let me know and I'll investigate.

While you're editing /etc/sysconfig/network, if you don't see the following
lines, add them:
        GATEWAY=w.x.y.z
        GATEWAYDEV=eth0
You should replace w.x.y.z with the IP address of your gateway.

Next, you need to create a file named /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.
That file should contain the following:
        DEVICE=eth0
        IPADDR=w.x.y.z
        NETMASK=a.b.c.d
        NETWORK=e.f.g.h
        BROADCAST=i.j.k.l
        ONBOOT=yes
You'll need to replace w.x.y.z with your IP address, a.b.c.d with your netmask,
e.f.g.h with your network address and i.j.k.l with your broadcast address.  Your
DSL provider should give you those numbers.

That should be it!  Save those two files and reboot.  Your card should
initialize.

Like I said, the two possible hangups here are your module not loading
automatically and your DSL provider wanting you to use DHCP.  If either of those
are the case and you can't see how to make them work, please email me and I'll
send (even more) details.

I hope this helps!

                                -sam

 Sam Clippinger               For PGP public key (KEY ID: 431C5529), see
samc at silence.org          http://www.micro.com/~samc or http://pgp.ai.mit.edu