Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 22 Feb 2000 20:44:16 -0700
From:      Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>
To:        Lloyd Rennie <lloyd@vbc.net>
Cc:        Wim Livens <livensw@rc.bel.alcatel.be>, Yusuf Goolamabbas <yusufg@outblaze.com>, freebsd-net@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Understanding ifconfig output
Message-ID:  <38B35790.EA9CADF@softweyr.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.05.10002211533070.63343-100000@brunel.uk1.vbc.net>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Lloyd Rennie wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 21 Feb 2000, Wim Livens wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Feb 21, 2000 at 11:35:04AM -0000, Yusuf Goolamabbas wrote:
> > > Here's some sample output from one of my machines (3.4-stable) which
> > > has an Intel EEPro 100 attached to a Bay 350 switch
> > >
> > > fxp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
> > > <ip address deleted>
> > > ether 00:90:27:8d:49:7b
> > > media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>) status: active
> >                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > This is the info you want---^
> >
> > I don't know what SIMPLEX means, I use the same card in 100Mb
> > full-duplex and get similar output.
> 
> Same here.  The media autoselects FD, but still the simplex flag is set.
> *shrug*

They have completely different meanings.  A quick look at the ifconfig
source would tell you that.  The 'flags=8843<...>' part of the output
is the network interface options; IFF_SIMPLEX and friends are defined in
/usr/include/net/if.h:

...
#define IFF_ALLMULTI    0x200           /* receive all multicast packets */  
#define IFF_OACTIVE     0x400           /* transmission in progress */
#define IFF_SIMPLEX     0x800           /* can't hear own transmissions */
#define IFF_LINK0       0x1000          /* per link layer defined bit */  
...

As you can see, the IFF_SIMPLEX flags means this interface cannot hear it's
own transmissions.

Later, the media options are printed, showing you that your network interface
card is configured for 100Base-TX full-duplex.

> > What is the recommended way to determine link speed from a machine to
> > a hub/switch. (e.g A colo provider claims that there is 100 Mbit card
> > in the box and one would want to verify that)
> 
> A fairly foolproof method is to make sure there's a fair amount of traffic
> running in both directions, then do a 'netstat -I fxp0 -w1'.  Watch the
> collisions - if you see any then it's not FD.

For the link speed, just look at the ifconfig output.  If the interface is
set to 100Base-TX and is working, it's in 100 Mbps mode.  The only other 
option is 10Base-T.  100Base-TX full duplex is actually 200 Mbps - 100 each
way.

-- 
            "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"

Wes Peters                                                         Softweyr LLC
wes@softweyr.com                                           http://softweyr.com/


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-net" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?38B35790.EA9CADF>