Order eth0, eth1, ...

I have a machine with 3 identical PCI NICs.

I've noticed which wil get eth0, eth1, ... is determinded
by the physical order in which they sit in the PCI slots,
that is *provided* they are "active" (connected to the switch
in my case).

Remove a cable and reboot, that NIC won't be assigned an
interface!

Which mechanism controls that?

Can't I force the same eth0, eth1, .. irespective of
wheather they are cabled or not?

Thanks in advance!

Visvanath.



Visvanath Ratnaweera

Visvanath Ratnaweera wrote:
> I have a machine with 3 identical PCI NICs.
>
> I've noticed which wil get eth0, eth1, ... is determinded
> by the physical order in which they sit in the PCI slots,
> that is *provided* they are "active" (connected to the switch
> in my case).
>
> Remove a cable and reboot, that NIC won't be assigned an
> interface!
>
> Which mechanism controls that?

Here's a thread here which I started a few days back, on
just that topic:

http://groups.google.com/groups?thre....supernews.com

If you'll scroll up to threads started 11/4/2003 and look for one
entitled "Assigning eth0 to a particular NIC", you should find
it.

For the moment, I don't have time to investigate further, but
feel free to add to the thread as you pursue the issue. If
you find additional resources on the topic (other than those
I found) please link them into the thread. I did find some info,
but nothing like a comprehensive coverage of the topic.

Ben

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that eth are assigned by MAC address.
I have 2 identical PCI cards (same manufacturer) in my box. The lowest MAC
address is assigned eth0 no matter what slot it's in. Both cards were in the
box when I installed RedHat. I haven't set up any boxes that had only 1 card
then added a new card later so I don't know what would happen in that case.
Bill in Sacramento, California....

Hi

Ben wrote:
> Here's a thread here which I started a few days back, on
> just that topic:
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?thre....supernews.com
>
> If you'll scroll up to threads started 11/4/2003 and look for one
> entitled "Assigning eth0 to a particular NIC", you should find
> it.

Shifted to that thread already. See my posting.

Visvanath.

Bill wrote:
> I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that eth are assigned by MAC address.
> I have 2 identical PCI cards (same manufacturer) in my box. The lowest MAC
> address is assigned eth0 no matter what slot it's in. Both cards were in the
> box when I installed RedHat. I haven't set up any boxes that had only 1 card
> then added a new card later so I don't know what would happen in that case.
> Bill in Sacramento, California....

. . . already covered in thread above.

Ben