Get router MAC address with BusyBox v1.16.1

Neville Hillyer · 07-29-2015, 06:03 AM

I have a Netgear router with BusyBox v1.16.1.

This version of BusyBox appears not to have a hostid command.

Is there a way to get the router MAC address within the BusyBox environment?

wildwizard · 07-29-2015, 06:25 AM

Not sure if the busybox versions give the exact same output but ip and ifconfig both give the MAC address of any interfaces.

Neville Hillyer · 07-29-2015, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildwizard

Not sure if the busybox versions give the exact same output but ip and ifconfig both give the MAC address of any interfaces.

Thanks for the prompt reply. It appears that both ifconfig and ip are available on my BusyBox.

I normally use OS X and can easily test ifconfig but not ip. As far as I can tell neither have specific read only options so getting either IP or MAC addresses would require more filtering than I expected.

Is there an easier way to do this?

Neville Hillyer · 07-29-2015, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neville Hillyer

Is there an easier way to do this?

This is the easiest way I can find to do it in OS X:

while read x y; do [ $x = ether ] && echo $y; done < <(ifconfig)

Is there a better way to do it with my BusyBox?

HMW · 07-29-2015, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neville Hillyer

This is the easiest way I can find to do it in OS X:

while read x y; do [ $x = ether ] && echo $y; done < <(ifconfig)

That was... unexpected!!!

I have never seen a while loop being used for that purpose. An easier (in my humble opinion) way to get all the MAC addresses is:

Code:

ifconfig | grep ether | awk '{ print $2 }'
3c:08:14:6e:fc:00
4c:c2:a9:1d:12:dd
0e:c2:a9:4d:52:dd

Or, if you only want the MAC address for a specific device, try:

Code:

ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk '{ print $2 }'
1c:17:04:3f:ac:00

The above commands have been executed under OS X 10.7.

I know nothing about BusyBox though.

Best regards,
HMW

PS. Since I am paranoid, I have spoofed the addresses. DS

Neville Hillyer · 07-29-2015, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HMW

That was... unexpected!!!

I often use a 'while' 'read' combination, frequently with 'case' on OS X.

I was trying to do it in shell as much as possible because of BusyBox limitations but I see that my BusyBox does have both awk and grep.

Unless somebody finds a better way I may use:

x=$(ifconfig | grep ether); echo ${x#*ether}

HMW · 07-29-2015, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neville Hillyer

I often use a 'while' 'read' combination, frequently with 'case' on OS X.

Hey, whatever suits you best. I wasn't trying to put your approach down or anything, I was just genuinely surprised.

There are, as they keep saying, more than one way to skin a cat.

Best regards,
HMW