MINI-HOWTO ON USING MULTIPLE ETHERCARDS WITH LINUX

MINI-HOWTO ON USING MULTIPLE ETHERCARDS WITH LINUX

Don Becker, [email protected]

This is an short note on configuring Linux to recognize multiple
ethernet adapters.

For most people running a standard Linux distribution, just add this
line to the top of your /etc/lilo.conf file and re-run `lilo':

append = "ether=0,0,eth1"

That's all there is to it. The next time you boot Linux should
recognize your second ethercard.

What you did, and how you did it.

By default a stock Linux kernel probes for a single ethercard, and
once one is found the probe ceases. There are three defined ways to
cause the kernel to probe for additional cards. In increasing order of
difficulty and permanence they are:
* Passing parameters to your kernel at boot time.
* Configuring your boot loader to always pass those parameters.
* Modifying the kernel netcard probe tables in drivers/net/Space.c.

For most people the second method is most appropriate, and it's the
one that was described above.

Passing parameters using your boot loader

In the following instructions it's assumed that you are using the
standard Linux boot loader, `LILO'.

The Linux kernel recognizes certain parameters passed at boot-time.
Most often these parameters specify aspects of the configuration that
cannot be determined at boot-time. For network adaptors the following
parameter is recognized:

ether=<IRQ>,<IO-ADDR>,<PARAM1>,<PARAM2>,<NAME>

Valid numeric arguments may be in decimal, octal (with a leading '0')
or hexadecimal (preceded by a '0x'). The first non-numeric argument is
taken to be the NAME of the device. Empty arguments are taken to be
zero, and any omitted arguments before the name are left unchanged.

IRQ
This entry specifies the IRQ value to be set (on boards with
software-settable IRQs) or used (on boards with jumpered IRQs).
A value of '0' means to read the IRQ line from the board (if
possible) or use autoIRQ if the board doesn't provide a way to
read the IRQ.

IO-ADDR
This entry specifies a single base I/O address to probe. A
value of zero specifies that all reasonable I/O address are to
be probed.

Normally an I/O region reservation map is used to decide if a
location can be probed. This map is ignored if an I/O address
is specified. This allows the "reserve=," parameter to exclude
other device probes from an IO region.

PARAM1,PARAM2
Originally these entries were for specifying the memory address
of adaptors that use shared memory, like the WD8013. Over time
they have been extended to provide other driver-specific
information.

NAME
The name of a predefined device. The stock kernel defines at
least "eth0", "eth1", "eth2", and "eth3". Other devices names
(e.g. for PPP, SLIP, or a pocket ethernet device) may exist but
will have different semantics.

LILO provides two ways to pass these boot-time parameters to the
kernel. The most common way to do this is to type them immediately
after specifying the name of the boot image. The following example
enables all four of the available probe slots.

linux ether=0,0,eth1 ether=0,0,eth2 ether=0,0,eth3

Of course this is pretty complicated to type in at each boot, and
would preclude unattended reboots. You can make the kernel parameters
permanent by adding an "append" line to your LILO configuration file,
/etc/lilo.conf, and running LILO to install your updated
configuration.

append = "ether=0,0,eth1 ether=0,0,eth2 ether=0,0,eth3"

Modifying your kernel

If it's possible for you to configure your system without modifying
the kernel source, I recommend that you do so. Modifying the source
code isn't self-documenting and results in extra complications at
upgrade time. Still there are a few instances where it is appropriate:
* When you need to enable more than four devices. (The
drivers/net/Space.c only has entries for eth0...eth3.)
* When you must limit the probe types to a subset of possible card
types e.g. when a probe confuses a different type of device.
* When you want a device name other than ethN.

If you've decided to go this route, edit the device list in
drivers/net/Space.c to insert your desired values. If you need to add
a new device take care that you preserve the chaining: use the
existing list entries as a guide.

Special notes on the specific device probes

LANCE/PCNET CARDS

The LANCE driver requires special low-memory DMA buffers, and so the
LANCE probe is differently and earlier than the other network device
probes. The upside of this is that you can ignore this whole section:
multiple LANCE cards are automatically probed for. The downside is
that the LANCE driver doesn't (yet!) use the LILO parameters e.g. IRQ.

THE 3C509 IN ISA MODE

The 3c509 has a unique feature that allows truly safe probing on the
ISA bus. This is great, but unfortunately for us this method doesn't
mix well with the rest of the probes.

The most noticeable aspect is that it's difficult to predict a priori
which card will be accepted "first" -- the order is based on the
hardware ethernet address. That means that the ethercard with the
lowest ethernet address will be assigned to "eth0", and the next to
"eth1", etc. If the "eth0" ethercard is removed, they all shift down
one number.

A related aspect is that it's not possible to leave an "earlier" card
disabled, enable a card at an address or IRQ different than the EEPROM
setting, or enable a card at a specific address.

THE EISA 3C579 AND THE 3C509 IN EISA MODE

Kernels before 1.1.25 will not correctly probe for multiple EISA-mode
cards. If multiple "ethN" entries are specified the *same* 3c5*9 card
will be found multiple times. The work-around is to specify the
slot-based I/O address explicitly. Kernels after 1.1.25 will correctly
find multiple EISA-mode cards, and will continue to find additional
ISA-mode adaptors after all of the potential EISA-mode addresses are
checked.
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Linux at CESDIS
Author: Donald Becker, [email protected]

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