Making Results of Netconfig Permanent

[Martin109]

I am running VL 5.8 Standard and am setting up my Toshiba laptop to access the internet via a wired broadband connection via a 3Com card and adapter.  So far this has gone surprisingly well; I just used VASM's networking setup section to run Netconfig (suggested basic options) and the internet connection is working well - faster than my other (Windoze) machine with a wireless adapter!

The problem is, when I switch off the computer and switch it on again later, I have lost the connectivity I had established in the previous session.  How can I make this a permanent feature and not have to set it up afresh each session?

[nightflier]

Do a few tests. When the computer first boots up, open a terminal and become root.

Run command: ifconfig
If you see eth0, run command: dhcpcd eth0
If you do not see eth0, run command: ifconfig eth0 up
then run: dhcpcd eth0

When you figure out what it takes to activate the network card, you can add those commands to the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.local

[Martin109]

Thanks, nightflier!

Running ifconfig after Linux has booted, but before running Netconfig gives:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:08:DE:AC:B5 
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:1180 (1.1 KiB)
          Interrupt:5 Base address:0x300

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)


Running it again after running Netconfig gives:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:08:DE:AC:B5 
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:2360 (2.3 KiB)
          Interrupt:3 Base address:0x300

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)


When I run dhcpcd eth0, nothing appears to happen.  The cursor hangs for about 3 minutes, then return to the command prompt.  No output is given on screen.

[nightflier]

That's weird, no IP address after netconfig, but you can now connect to the Internet?

Normally, when dhcpcd hangs that long, it means it's not getting a reply from the dhcp server.

[Martin109]

Right, I think those were spurious results, as I ran Netconfig without making sure the little green light on my 3Com net card adapter was on!

Running 'ifconfig' again, I get the results:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:08:DE:AC:B5 
          inet addr:192.168.0.3  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1592 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1390 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1905460 (1.8 MiB)  TX bytes:173421 (169.3 KiB)
          Interrupt:3 Base address:0x300

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1500 (1.4 KiB)  TX bytes:1500 (1.4 KiB)

and typing 'dhcpcd eth0' I get:

           dhcpcd: already running
           dhcpcd: if not then delete

           /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-eth0.pid file

I'm afraid I'm still none the wiser about what to add to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

 

[Martin109]

I've found this thread, which I hope will solve the problem once I've understood it!