Re: eth interface enumeration order

[Auke Kok <auke-jan.h.kok@intel.com>]

Victor Secarin wrote:
> VERSION
> With kernel 2.4.33.1:
> HARDWARE
> I have a server with two eepro100 and one e1000 interfaces
> BEHAVIOR
> When the kernel boots the drivers report (/var/log/messages) the 
> interfaces they find and what they are named (eth0, eth1, eth2)
> 1. With the drivers configured monolithically in the kernel:
> e1000 reports eth0 and then eepro100 reports eth1 and eth2
> 2. With the drivers configured as modules:
> eepro100 reports eth0 and eth1 and then e1000 reports eth2
> PROBLEM
> 1. On a red  hat distribution, different interfaces may have different 
> configuration scripts, which assign IP addresses and more, and the 
> scripts are identified by the ethx name.
> 2. It is necessary to control which interface becomes eth0 as various 
> programs use the MAC address of eth0 to identify the computer. In my 
> case that is "lmhostid" and all the FLEXlm software,
> as I run a license server on that machine.

[ Please don't mail tree maintainers with this sort of question. ]

[ Try using the e100 driver instead of eepro100 ;) ]

there are several answers to this solution. First of all, you can build the 
e100 driver into the kernel and use e1000 as a module, at which point the 
in-kernel driver will always load first.

second of all, you can set `alias eth0 e100` in your /etc/modules.conf and 
force that nic to be bound to the first interface.

other handwork includes manually installing the modules in the right order at 
boot time.

Cheers,

Auke