B2000 Ignite Clone and MAC addresses

[Heindrick Yu_1]

Hello!

I have 2 identical B2000 workstations (hardware-wise) running HP-UX 10.20. I used IGNITE to make_tape_recovery on workstation A and then applied that tape to workstation B (essentially cloning the systems).

I noticed that the MAC address of workstation B is the same as workstation A. Since workstation A will be "junked" and not in my network, is it safe to proceed or should I change the MAC address in the rc.config.d/hp*conf files?

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

The reason they are the same is most likely because the MAC address was set in the rc.config.d/hp*conf files to begin with. I would suggest not setting the MAC address and just using whatever unique address the NIC has set in it.


Pete

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi,

Don't change the MAC address. Just take the entry out and reboot. It should get the default MAC address.

If you used SAM to configure the speeds, it would set the MAC addresses too. Ignite will simply restore these files and hence the cloned systems will start assuming the same MAC addresses.

Followign two entries are enough per interface.

HP__INTERFACE_NAME
HP__SPEED[0]

-Sri

[Steven E. Protter]

Two machines with the same mac address can not co-exist on the same network.

I know of nobody that does that. The MAC address being unique is quite useful in finding a machine on a complex network.

SEP

[rick jones]

As already pointed-out, likely as not someone hardcoded a MAC address in the config files on workstation A - perhaps overriding the MAC address of the interface on workstation A to begin with (license restrictions come to mind...).

Indeed, it is best to _NOT_ to hardcode MAC addresses - for the reasons already stated - having two systems (aka stations) in the same broadcast domain (set of switches, hubs, or repeaters) is bad news.

However, since you claim that workstation A is being "junked" and will not be on your network, it would be "safe" but not "desireable" to proceed.

[Heindrick Yu_1]

Thank you very much to all who took the time out and cleared any issues in my mind and for pointing out the details with the configuration.

Warm regards,

Heindrick