From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 9 05:50:27 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: hackers@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E20FC16A407 for ; Sun, 9 Apr 2006 05:50:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from darren.pilgrim@bitfreak.org) Received: from mail.bitfreak.org (mail.bitfreak.org [65.75.198.146]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3AE8643D53 for ; Sun, 9 Apr 2006 05:50:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from darren.pilgrim@bitfreak.org) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (mail.bitfreak.org [65.75.198.146]) by mail.bitfreak.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BB1119F2C; Sat, 8 Apr 2006 22:50:26 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4438A0A3.3050600@bitfreak.org> Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 22:50:27 -0700 From: Darren Pilgrim User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (Windows/20051201) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mike Meyer References: <20060407225742.GA21619@odin.ac.hmc.edu> <20060407230247.GH16344@submonkey.net> <4437C9F6.5000008@samsco.org> <17463.65076.117616.563302@bhuda.mired.org> <20060408224140.GA15366@outcold.yadt.co.uk> <17464.17494.251794.271711@bhuda.mired.org> <44385525.8000203@bitfreak.org> <17464.31976.938131.944829@bhuda.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <17464.31976.938131.944829@bhuda.mired.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Using any network interface whatsoever (solution?) X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 05:50:28 -0000 Mike Meyer wrote: > In <44385525.8000203@bitfreak.org>, Darren Pilgrim typed: >> >> If you add something to /etc/rc.d so that a sh-ified version of this script >> runs after all interfaces have attached but before any numbering or cloning >> takes place you can have lines like this in /etc/rc.conf: >> >> ifconfig_PublicLAN="inet a.b.c.d/24" >> >> That's far better than trying to remember what's on em0. > > That's certainly true. But is there an advantage to tieing the > PublicLAN name to a MAC address as opposed to em0? The network interface name the user sees becomes tied directly to the physical device by way of a unique, configuration-independent identifier. The probe order and driver name become transparent to the network configuration. You could test two different drivers on the same hardware and you wouldn't have to duplicate or modify your ifconfig lines in /etc/rc.conf, just run: /etc/rc.d/netif stop PublicLAN kldunload olddriver kldload newdriver /etc/rc.d/netif start PublicLAN Within the currently available capabilities, we get the network interface equivalent of disk volume labels. [ Proposed use of PCI addresses instead of MAC addresses. ] > The real problem with what I proposed is that you have to arrange to > search config information for things that may not be tied to a pci > bus. That could get real messy. Right, it doesn't scale to ISA or USB devices. The prior probably isn't a big deal these days, but I imagine compatibility with USB devices is fairly important.