Re: adding eth1

[Nathan E Norman <nnorman@incanus.net>]

On Fri, Feb 28, 2003 at 09:06:03PM +0100, Ina&Frank wrote:
> Debian Folks
> 
> I have a next question.
> 
> I wandered through the manpages and internet for a few hours but can't 
> seem to find a satisfactory answer for this one.
> 
> I have an up and running IBM PC with Debian kernel 2.2.19 at the moment. 
> It has one NIC (rtl8139) which works fine.
> I want to add a second identical card (eth1) but I am a bit confused how 
> to configure it.
> Is modifying /etc/interfaces and /etc/ifstate sufficient? Where do I 
> tell the system what IRQ to use. And does that have to be another IRQ as 
> eth0? Or can they share it?
> Or do I have to compile a new kernel? Or is there a config tool for it, 
> like gpmconfig for the mouse?

First, I have to mention that I hate rtl8139 cards :-)  However, if it
works for you ...

Anyway, I'm guessing these are PCI cards, yes?  If so, you don't need
to worry about IRQs.  As someone pointed out recently[1], PCI NICs are
detected in PCI order (the order listed by lspci; the physical order
in the machine generally).  This means that your present eth0 could
become eth1; write down the MAC of your existing interface before you
insert the new one.

You don't need a new driver or kernel since you've already got the
rtl8139 driver.

Once you start your computer, run

  dmesg | grep '^eth'

You'll see something like this (I have Netgear FA-311s in this box):

  eth0: NatSemi DP8381[56] at 0xc4825000, 00:02:e3:02:c7:45, IRQ 11.
  eth1: NatSemi DP8381[56] at 0xc4827000, 00:02:e3:02:dc:be, IRQ 10.
  eth2: NatSemi DP8381[56] at 0xc4829000, 00:02:e3:02:dc:ca, IRQ 9.

Look for the MAC address of your old eth0 to see which interface that
card is now assigned.

To assign an IP address to the card, edit /etc/networking/interfaces
and add a stanza for eth1.  Further details available in interfaces(5)
(or on this list of course).  Then just run

  ifup eth1

I have no idea what /etc/ifstate is, but I'm pretty sure you don't
need to edit it.

-- 
Nathan Norman - Incanus Networking mailto:nnorman@incanus.net
  A young man wrote to Mozart and said:
  
  Q: "Herr Mozart, I am thinking of writing symphonies. Can you give me any
     suggestions as to how to get started?"
  A: "A symphony is a very complex musical form, perhaps you should begin with
     some simple lieder and work your way up to a symphony."
  Q: "But Herr Mozart, you were writing symphonies when you were 8 years old."
  A: "But I never asked anybody how."