setup ee0 (backup NIC) without rebooting system

[Peter Wang_4]

Hi,
my ES45 running 5.1A, has two NICs: alt0 (for system) and ee0(for data backup LAN). Both were working fine before. After reboot for maintenance yesterday, the ee0 lost its setting. ifconfig -a and netstat -nr shows that ee0 was not configured. Firstly, I configured ee0 with "ifconfig" cmd, it works fine, but I know ee0 will loss setting again once reboot, so I used netconfig to deconfigure ee0, then reconfigure it. However, ee0 doesn't work after that, even ifconfig -a shows up. The NIC LED is off.
# ifconfig -a
ee0: flags=c63
inet 10.10.137.31 netmask fffffc00 broadcast 10.10.139.255 ipmtu 1500

Following cmd shows LINK DOWN
# hwmgr get attribute -category network
58:
name = ee0
category = network
sub_category = Ethernet
model = Intel 82559
hardware_rev = 8
firmware_rev =
MAC_address = 00-08-02-CD-49-2A
MTU_size = 1500
media_speed = 100
media_selection = Automatic
media_type = Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
loopback_mode = 0
promiscuous_mode = 0
full_duplex = 1
interface_number = 1
link = Down
registration_time = Wed Jul 21 18:45:53 2004
user_name = (null) (settable)
location = (null) (settable)
software_module = (null)
state = unavailable
state_previous = available

I wonder if anybody can help me setup ee0 without rebooting system.

Thanks,

Peter

[Ralf Puchner]

if link is down there is a cabling or hub/switch problem.

Does a ping to the interface work?
What does the switch/hub and led tell us?

Steps:
1. check led on switch/card
2. # ifconfig ee0 /
3. # ifconfig ee0 up
4. # ping
5. check led, if connection doesn't work use lan_config to setup proper speed.

[Peter Wang_4]

Hi Ralf,
After working with network person, I found its switch port was disabled for some reason (prob. the autosense feature on the switch side). Now, speed 100MB was forced on both NIC and switch sides. ee0 works now.
I have one more question with "netconfig". I don't have testing box and can't find answer from Tru 64 docs. When finished all the network setup steps, I was asked to restart network servcies. Since I have two NICs (for system: alt0 and data backup: ee0), say I am configuring ee0 via netconfig, my question is when I select to restart, will it restart all NICs on the system, or only ee0 will be impacted and alt0 is intact (in other word, my production box's alt0 connectivity is not impacted).

thanks,

P

[Ralf Puchner · Accepted solution]

it will restart all startup scripts which are involved with network, so your alt device will loose all connections...

[rachel_11]

Hello Peter,

The command:
lan_config -i ee0 -a 0 -s 100 -x 1
will set ee0 to 100, full duplex, no autonegotiate.

Add the line to the file /etc/inet.local
and it will reconfigure correctly after reboot.

Regards,
Rachel

[Ralf Puchner]

it is not wise to configure ee0 without autoneg (eg. using lan_config).

The intel chips works best with autoneg enabled (default). so settings both side of the connection to autoneg is required, if it will not sync to the speed you require there is a compatiblity or hardware issue between your components.

[Peter Wang_4]

Thanks all for your kindest help.
The autonegotiate were enabled on both side of connection before I got the problem. One of my another production ES45 box lost LAN ee0 connectivity which led to backup failure yesterday (nothing was changed on sys network). The status on switch was sth like "Errdisable", so autoneg was disabled, and 100MB, full-duplex were set to true on switch . "lan_config -i ee0 -a 0 -s 100 -x 1" were issued on all ES40/45 boxes, but haven't put it into /etc/inet.local file. I will do it later.

thanks,
P

[Ralf Puchner]

if you use lan_config you must also configure the switch properly. A connection must always set identically on both sides!

[Orrin]

Hi Peter,

If you need ee0 to hold it's configuration through reboots, you have to use the rcmgr set command.

Regards,
Orrin.

[Ralf Puchner]

orin,

why so complicated? netsetup/netconfig (supported way) will do the job fine, rcmgr is only for manual intervention.