problem install client with multiple interfaces

[Emil Gorter]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:18:48 +0200,
"Jeken Jeken" <jekens at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I having problem install Lenny on a Dell R200.
> I pxe boot using one of the interfaces on the moderboard.
> It works fine but the kernel detects one of the ports on my quadcard as eth0.

I have seen the onboard NICs change order between boots for other PE 
models.  We use CentOS (not with FAI) and detect the MAC address at 
install time and put it in sysconfig.

The udev workaround mentioned in the PDF below could be useful for 
you: http://linux.dell.com/files/whitepapers/nic-enum-whitepaper-v3.pdf

 
> So the installation hangs waiting for dhcp on the "wrong" interface.
> One solution is to use two ethernetcables, but..
> 
> Is it possible to have the "kernel" looking for an interface having
> link and then start the dhcpclient on that interface.

I noticed that the MAC addrs. are enumerated, so you could detect 
which is the 1st interface, at pxe boot time (not yet sure how though).

E.g. on one of our machines with 2 onboard and a quad card (in correct 
order) the quad sticks out quite clearly:

$ ifconfig -a | grep ^eth
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:B9:DF:06:57
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:B9:DF:06:59
eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:17:38:B3:B4
eth3      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:17:38:B3:B5
eth4      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:17:38:B3:B6
eth5      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:17:38:B3:B7

(not sure where 00:19:B9:DF:06:58 might be though!)
 
Hope this helps,

E m i l .