eth0 interface not auto starting
 

Hello...

I recently installed Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 2.1 WS. This is my first Linux OS install and I'm having a bit of trouble with my ethernet adapter.

When I boot the machine, the loader gives me two options, 2.4.9-e12smp or 2.4.9-e12. It's been defaulting to the smp option, so that's what I've been using.

I also have the machine configured to automatically go to a GUI login screen. So far, I've been using the KDE interface.

When I get logged in to the KDE desktop, at a shell prompt I type "ifconfig" and it will only list the lo interface.

Then, I'll type insmod e1000 (the ethernet adap. is an itegrated Intel) and the module will load. Then when I do an ifconfig, I'll see both the lo and the eth0 interface. Also, once the eth0 interface is active, it keeps all of the settings that I previously gave it such as IP address, default gateway, and DNS servers.

So I guess my question is, is there a way I can get the OS to automatically activate the eth0 interface upon boot? It seems to work just fine if I manually activate via the shell. Is there a file or files that work like a STARTUP.NCF file on a Novell server that tell the machine what to load?

Sorry for the long post...just trying to be thorough. Thanks!

Not sure if it's different for the enterprise edition, but do you have a /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file?

Demonbane,

Yes, that files does exist on my system. There's a line in that file that reads ONBOOT=YES, so I figure
that because of that switch, the system should at least be trying to start the interface
upon boot. Is there a bootlog file that I could look at to see if the system even tried
to start it?

Thanks!

you can take a look at /var/log/messages, try adding

Alias eth0 e1000

to your /etc/modules.conf, if it's not at least trying to bring up the nic.

Demonbane...

Okay, well, I checked the /var/log/messages file and saw some references to e1000 and something about an invalid parameter parm_irq.

Then, when I checked the /etc/modules.conf file, I saw two lines in there:

alias eth0 e1000
alias options irq=10

I got rid of the alias options line, rebooted the system, and all is now good.

Thank you very much for your suggestions!

from linux admin textbook
 

Had replied with info but hadn't read all the other replys. looks like you figured it out.

There is a text that I found helpful:
Linux Administration, A Beginner's Guide, Third Edition
by Steve Graham and Steve Shaw
McGraw Hill