Re: [Newbie help] Ethernet connection

From: jpd (read_the_sig_at_do.not.spam.it)
Date: 01/18/04 

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:18:48 +0000 (UTC)

In article <DMidnZ5VTNHXdJTd4p2dnA@comcast.com>, Kris M wrote:
> Can anyone point me in the right direction when configuring a network
> connection on an HP x1100 server with an onboard ethernet/lan connection? I
> have no idea what driver to use in freebsd nor do i know if the device is
> already found on boot of the generic kernel.

dmesg(8) will provide you with the messages reporting what the kernel
found at startup. If that buffer has been flushed with more recent
messages (unlikely, right after startup), see /var/run/dmesg.boot. Look
for a line with ``Ethernet'' in it, that'll tell you the device name (at
the start of the line) if any. Around there should be more lines starting
with that device name containing more info.

Another option is to do an ifconfig -a and see if that produces anything
beyond the usual (loopback, faith, ppp, possibly others). Note that
the output will contain hints as to what sort of device each one is.
Ethernet cards[0] have an ether address, the others don't.

Failing that, to find out whether or not there's an actual driver for
your NIC, issue pciconf -l -v and note what the vendor and card IDs are
for the card. Note that the command will list _all_ pci devices in the
system, and it's up to you to see which one is the ethernet adapter. See
man pciconf for details on what it prints (do read that). Then use the
'web[tm] to figure what chipset that card has (several databases
available on the 'net), and then what driver supports that. apropos(1)
can help you with that last bit.

Another is to see if the documentation that came with the hardware lists
the actual chipset used, or to what other chipsets it's compatible.
Or open the case and see if you can find the ethernet chipset.

If you still can't find anything, post the dmesg, ifconfig -a, and maybe
the pciconf -l -v outputs. Note that this is not an invitation to dump
your homework on us, but rather a fall-back-if-all-else-fails offer.

[0] And vlan devices, but those are called `vlanN' and you probably don't
    have them anyway, as they require a kernel rebuild. 

-- 
  j p d (at) d s b (dot) t u d e l f t (dot) n l .

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