2005-10-19 10:47:31

by Karel Kulhavy

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Subject: Sequence of network cards

Hello

I have a PCI machine with 2.4.25 kernel with 4 network cards:
eth0, IRQ 11, 3Com Corporation 3c900 Combo [Boomerang] (rev 0)
eth1, IRQ 5, 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 116).
eth2, IRQ 10, nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev 161)
eth3, IRQ 3, Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 16)

Will the sequence of network cards change when I upgrade to 2.6.13.4?
All the drivers are compiled directly into kernel, not as modules.

Is the algorithm for assignment of eth? numbers by Linux kernel
documented anywhere?

CL<


2005-10-19 11:16:07

by Arjan van de Ven

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Subject: Re: Sequence of network cards


> Is the algorithm for assignment of eth? numbers by Linux kernel
> documented anywhere?

it's generally on a pci bus order. However... if you switch to acpi by
going from 2.4 to 2.6, the pci bus order might change.

The good news is that you can do a few things to mitigate this:
1) Several distros (including Fedora Core) allow you to bind ethX
numbers to mac addresses, eg effectively persistent binding of ethX
numbers to specific cards
2) you can rename ethX to ethY yourself with nameif and similar tools.


2005-10-19 21:37:08

by Bill Davidsen

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Subject: Re: Sequence of network cards

Arjan van de Ven wrote:
>>Is the algorithm for assignment of eth? numbers by Linux kernel
>>documented anywhere?
>
>
> it's generally on a pci bus order. However... if you switch to acpi by
> going from 2.4 to 2.6, the pci bus order might change.
>
> The good news is that you can do a few things to mitigate this:
> 1) Several distros (including Fedora Core) allow you to bind ethX
> numbers to mac addresses, eg effectively persistent binding of ethX
> numbers to specific cards
> 2) you can rename ethX to ethY yourself with nameif and similar tools.

I knew about nameif, I was unaware of the bind to MAC solution, and
thank you much for it. As the number of cards goes up it scales easily.

--
-bill davidsen ([email protected])
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
last possible moment - but no longer" -me