Re: strange network interface problem

On Fri, May 09, 2003 at 10:53:15PM -0500, Glenn Johnson wrote:
> This is a weird one but hopefully someone can help.  I have two software
> programs that I frequently use and they each use licensing software that
> depends on the Ethernet interface.  One uses FlexLM and the other a node
> locked scheme.  They are both Linux programs, which may be important.
> The machine in question is a dual homed machine with one xl interface
> and one fxp interface.  The xl interface is on a 192.168.1.0 network and
> the fxp is on the corporate LAN.  The hostname points to the 192.168.1.1
> address.  The license keys were generated from the MAC address of the xl
> interface.  This worked fine as of a couple of days ago but because of
> the ffs bug I am not about to back my sources back in time.
> 
> After updating to a recent -CURRENT,
> 
> FreeBSD 5.1-BETA #0: Thu May  8 12:42:08 CDT 2003     root_at_node1.cluster.srrc.usda.gov:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/CLUSTER-FW 
> 
> the programs in question are getting the interfaces mixed up.  For the
> program that uses the node locked scheme I was able to get another
> license generated and so am okay for that one.  However, the program
> that uses FlexLM is locked to the 192.168.1.0 network.  The problem is
> the software is seeing the dual homed machine on the wrong interface and
> so thinks it is not on the network.

In what order does ifconfig print the interfaces?  /var/run/dmesg.boot?
It's possible you can control the ifconfig order by putting:
network_interfaces="xl0 fxp0 lo0"
in rc.conf.
If that fails keep both devices out of the kernel & rc.conf & load them in
the desired order either in loader.conf or a script in /usr/local/etc/rc.d.
If all else fails, switch the nics around in their slots.  Hard to do if
either is on the motherboard, I know.  In that case the real fbsd net
internals folks may have an answer.

-- 
Barney Wolff         http://www.databus.com/bwresume.pdf
I'm available by contract or FT, in the NYC metro area or via the 'Net.