Dual NIC cards seen as one.

[RET423]

Yeah I know I don't have to reboot, Even XP updates network setting on the fly. I just wanted to see if my settings would survive a reboot. This machine reboots in 36 seconds anyway, with dual 2.8 mhz cpu's and 2 gigs of RAM its like turning on a light.

I removed every interface including the wireless card from the control panel and I unplugged the usb wireless card from the machine.

I restarted.

I then attempted to configure eth1 first with a static ip (all previous efforts I configured eth0 first), it failed to start through the GUI. I opened a terminal and tried "ifup eth1" and it did start. I restarted the machine and ran ifconfig in a terminal and the settings were still there after the restart. The problem is that neither card can interact with the network. I don't know which card the OS is calling eth1 but with either card connected with a crossover cable to another machine the icon shows connected but the other computer can not be seen or browsed or visa versa.

I then attempted to configure eth0, even with eth1 configured (and the setting surviving a restart) I still see two eth0 entries in the "configure a network" tab along with the eth1 entry. I also still have two eth0 entries in the "network settings" tab but still no eth1 listed there

After entering the configuration data for eth0 the interface failed to start. I opened another terminal and tried ifup eth0 and it succeeded in starting the interface.

I then ran ifconfig and now both cards show up with the proper settings, from this screen all looks normal. But neither card will actually interact with the device they are connected to.

I restarted again and ran ifconfig, now eth0 has maintained the settings I entered but eth1 has returned to a status of unconfigured.

I think whatever is causing the OS to list eth0 twice is the source of this problem. It seems like the OS can't determine where eth0 and eth1 really are so even when the configuration is saved and the cards are up the cards are effecting each others interface.

This setup I use is normally a pretty straightforward configuration but this is the first time I have tried it on a server with two identical NIC cards that appear exactly alike except for one digit in the mac address. I think I will boot it to the PcLinuxOS 2009 live cd and see if it has the same problem identifying the cards correctly.

[muungwana]

two eth0 interfaces also showed up here and that didnt confuse anything here. I dont see why it should on your setup.

Try to do one thing at a time. Connect eth1 to your router/modem. Configure it and make sure you can get internet from that interface and the setting survive reboots. Configure eth1 while eth0 is unplugged.This should not get your system confused and will help you to know what interface is eth1 and is eth0. You should set up eth1 to get the IP from your modem.

Do not connect the other interface and start configuring it until you can go online with the first one.

when you can go online with eth1. Set eth0 to have a static ip address. Where do you plan to connect eth0 to? straight to another computer? It should ideally go to a hub.

Its been my experience the network interface will fail to start in PCC when there is something wrong with the configuration.

what options did you use when setting up static IP in eth0? why did you try to use static IP on eth1 when this interface is meant to connect with your ISP? The interface that connect to your ISP i think should get the IP dynamically unless you contact your ISP and they allowed you to use a static IP and they gave you what address to use.

your problem can be broken down into these chunks

problem1.
set eth1 to face the internet and get a functional interface that allow your computer to access the internet. This interface should have an IP address from your ISP and it is usually assigned dynamically or can be set statically with explicit consent from your ISP.

problem2
set eth0 to face the local network. This interface should be connected to a hub/repeater in a small network. The IP address should be a static one in the 192.168.x.x range. You could use 192.168.100.0 with network mask 255.255.255.0

problem3
set dhcp server to listen to eth0. If other computers on your network want to have a static IP address, they must have one btw 192.168.100.1 and 192.168.100.254 with network mask of 255.255.255.0. DHCP will fail to start if you do not provide an entry in the GUI it expects.

problem4
allow packet forwarding. This will require a manual addition to a system text file somewhere and a few addition to your iptables rules. This will also be a place to set up iptable rules to build a firewall.

try to solve one problem at a time and in the order i mentioned

[RET423]

That was my approach last time.

After removing all interfaces and rebooting I started with eth1 (in previous attempts I had started with eth0).
I set eth1 up the first time with a static IP, no joy.
I removed the interface, restarted and configured eth1 as DHCP, also no joy.

Both times the settings I configured survived a reboot and both times I could start the interface with ifup and verify the correct settings with ifconfig. Both times the interface could not interact (either with the LAN or the DHCP server), eth1 just laid there.

I continued after failing to gain a functioning network interface on eth1 just because I was curious if eth0 would function. It did not function any differently than eth1, settings saved but no function in the interface.

It does not matter which interface I configure first or which interface I choose to commit to the LAN, neither card will succeed in establishing a working connection whether the other interface is configured or not.

Oddly enough, I had been meaning to check out PcLinuxOS Phoenix edition anyway so I burned an iso and booted this server to the live cd.

Both cards are correctly identified in both the "setup a network" section and the "network center", no double listing and I can configure either card (eth0 or eth1) to either configuration successfully. Both connect without issue to either network (my static LAN or my DHCP server) and both will connect simultaneously without issue.

I have no idea what that means or why, I just thought I would toss that little nugget in there in case there is a different network configuration element to the 2010 beta release that might shed some light on this.

[muungwana]

is PcLinuxOS Phoenix edition based on pclinuxos2010? if it is, you can use that one and install kde4 if you prefer kde4 desktop

if not, pclinuxos2010 beta2 iso is already in the public domain and you can try it. Both my network cards worked without any issues both with the old system and with beta1

[RET423]

I don't know which release Phoenix is based on, it was not offered as a beta so I assumed it was 2009.

I will try the 2010 beta 2 though. I can live without kde 4, I actually prefer a lot less eye candy anyway.

[RET423]

Well I tried 2010 beta 2, same problems with seeing 2 eth0 cards and no configuration functioning.

I did some more experimenting and found some things out.

For one, every other machine I try the 2010 beta 1 or beta 2 on with two NIC cards installed works exactly as it should so it is not the presence of two cards that is tripping up the OS. This one Server is the only one that has a problem, it is also the only one with identical onboard cards. The other machines I tested all had one onboard NIC and one addon NIC in a PCI slot. I don't know if that is relevant.

I also found that 2009 and the Phoenix release both function fine on this server and ID both cards correctly so I can use PcLinuxOS on it. That was my main goal so not being able to use the bleeding edge beta is no big deal. With this success I will only have need for one server that needs Windows (Quickbooks Server), that is much better than the 4 I was running before.

I don't know if any of that offers any clues that might be helpful in the development of 2010 but I thought I would post my findings just in case. Thank you for helping me wrestle with this!

[muungwana]

In my system, eth0 is build in and eth1 is a cable modem(usb based). This could explain why it worked for me. So the conclusion that can be made is that 2010 has a problem with dual NIC cards

can you give a model or a make or any information about that card?

[RET423]

I will have two get back to the machine for the exact model of NIC but they are Broadcom Gigabit chips and both onboard in a HP proliant server.

I did not have any problems identifying 2 standard Ethernet cards in one machine on any of the desktops I experimented on. Both the beta 1 & beta 2 identified both cards correctly and configured normally in all those desktops. They range from some old Dell P-4's to some HP/Compaq dual core workstations and a couple Athlon XP cheapo machines as well. It is just this one server that has been an issue.

I will try to get the exact model of the NIC cards posted this evening.

[Was_Just19]

I have twin Nvidia MCP55 Gigabit on board NICs and no problems with 2010.

Just to point out it is not a general problem with twin on board NICs.