Re: What is the best way for multiple net_devices

[sl@whiskey.fireplug.net (Stuart Lynne)]

In article <993679536.14418@whiskey.enposte.net>,
Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@mandrakesoft.com> wrote:
>andrew may wrote:
>> 
>> Is there a standard way to make multiple copies of a network device?
>> 
>> For things like the bonding/ipip/ip_gre and others they seem to expect
>> insmod -o copy1 module.o
>> insmod -o copy2 module.o
>
>The network driver should provide the capability to add new devices.
>
>Most drivers currently have the capability to do N devices, where N is
>some constant set at compile time.  Typically you use ifconfig, a
>special-purpose userland program, or sometimes even sysctls to configure
>additional net devices.

Ioctls require modifications to other parts of the kernel and a supporting
user land program.

Passing the number to create via insmod seems to be a reasonable compromise.

>It's certainly possible to modify the driver to create additional
>network interfaces on the fly, but a lot of drivers are not coded to do
>that at present.

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