ifconfig - the ubiquitous command bundled with any Unix/Linux OS is used to setup any/all the

network interfaces such as ethernet, wireless, modem and so on that are connected to your computer. ifconfig command provides a wealth of knowledge to any person who takes the time to look at its output. Commonly, the ifconfig command is used for the following tasks: 1) Configuring an interface - be it ethernet card, wireless card, loop back interface or any other. For example, in its simplest form, to set up the IP address of your ethernet card, you pass the necessary options to the ifconfig command as follows: # ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 up Where the 192.168.0.1 number pertains to the IP address of your machine. I have used a private IP address. 255.255.255.0 denotes the network mask which decides the potential size of your network and the number 192.168.0.255 denotes the broadcast address and lastly, the 'up' keyword is the flag which loads the module related to this particular ethernet card and makes it ready to receive and send data. 2) Gathering data related to the network off which our computer is a part. When used without any parameters, the command ifconfig shows details of the network interfaces that are up and running in your computer. In my machine which has a single ethernet card and a loop back interface, I get the following output. eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:70:40:42:8A:60 inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:160889 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:22345 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:33172704 (31.6 MiB) TX bytes:2709641 (2.5 MiB) Interrupt:9 Base address:0xfc00 Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:3176 (3.1 KiB) TX bytes:3176 (3.1 KiB)

lo

As you can see, it throws up a lot of data, most of it providing one detail or another. Lets look at the data spewed out by the ifconfig command one by one for the ethernet device. Link encap:Ethernet - This denotes that the interface is an ethernet related device. HWaddr 00:70:40:42:8A:60 - This is the hardware address or MAC address which is unique to each ethernet card which is manufactured. Usually, the first half part of this address will contain the manufacturer code which is common for all the ethernet cards manufactured by the same manufacturer and the rest will denote the device Id which should not be the same for any two devices manufactured at the same place. inet addr - indicates the machine IP address Bcast - denotes the broadcast address Mask - is the network mask which we passed using the netmask option (see above).

UP - This flag indicates that the kernel modules related to the ethernet interface has been loaded. BROADCAST - Denotes that the ethernet device supports broadcasting - a necessary characteristic to obtain IP address via DHCP. NOTRAILERS - indicate that trailer encapsulation is disabled. Linux usually ignore trailer encapsulation so this value has no effect at all. RUNNING - The interface is ready to accept data. MULTICAST - This indicates that the ethernet interface supports multicasting. Multicasting can be best understood by relating to a radio station. Multiple devices can capture the same signal from the radio station but if and only if they tune to a particular frequency. Multicast allows a source to send a packet(s) to multiple machines as long as the machines are watching out for that packet. MTU - short form for Maximum Transmission Unit is the size of each packet received by the ethernet card. The value of MTU for all ethernet devices by default is set to 1500. Though you can change the value by passing the necessary option to the ifconfig command. Setting this to a higher value could hazard packet fragmentation or buffer overflows. Do compare the MTU value of your ethernet device and the loopback device and see if they are same or different. Usually, the loopback device will have a larger packet length. Metric - This option can take a value of 0,1,2,3... with the lower the value the more leverage it has. The value of this property decides the priority of the device. This parameter has significance only while routing packets. For example, if you have two ethernet cards and you want to forcibly make your machine use one card over the other in sending the data. Then you can set the Metric value of the ethernet card which you favor lower than that of the other ethernet card. I am told that in Linux, setting this value using ifconfig has no effect on the priority of the card being chosen as Linux uses the Metric value in its routing table to decide the priority. RX Packets, TX Packets - The next two lines show the total number of packets received and transmitted respectively. As you can see in the output, the total errors are 0, no packets are dropped and there are no overruns. If you find the errors or dropped value greater than zero, then it could mean that the ethernet device is failing or there is some congestion in your network. collisions - The value of this field should ideally be 0. If it has a value greater than 0, it could mean that the packets are colliding while traversing your network - a sure sign of network congestion. txqueuelen - This denotes the length of the transmit queue of the device. You usually set it to smaller values for slower devices with a high latency such as modem links and ISDN. RX Bytes, TX Bytes - These indicate the total amount of data that has passed through the ethernet interface either way. Taking the above example, I can fairly assume that I have used up 31.6 MB in downloading and 2.5 MB uploading which is a total of 37.1 MB of bandwidth. As long as there is some network traffic being generated via the ethernet device, both the RX and TX bytes will go on increasing. Interrupt - From the data, I come to know that my network interface card is using the interrupt number 9. This is usually set by the system.

The values of almost all the options listed above can be modified using the requisite ifconfig options. For example, you can pass the option 'trailers' to the ifconfig command to enable trailer encapsulation. Or you can change the packet size by using the 'mtu' option along with the new value and so on. But in majority of the cases, you always accept the default values. Learning to use the right command is only a minuscule part of the job of a network administrator. The major part of the job is in analyzing the data returned by the command and arriving at the right conclusions.

Setup Linux VLAN - vconfig

Ubuntu 9.04 additional packages
sudo apt-get install vlan

Using Config Files

Asuming the VLAN ID is 5. You need to copy file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.5
cp /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /etc/sysconfig/networkscripts/ifcfg-eth0.5

Now, We have network card (eth0) and it needs to use tagged network traffic for VLAN ID 5.
eth0 - Your regular network interface eth0.5 - Your virtual interface that use untagged frames

Do NOT modify /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file. Now open file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.5 using vi text editor:
vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.5

Find DEVICE=ifcfg-eth0line and replace with:

DEVICE=ifcfg-eth0.5

Append line:
VLAN=yes

Also make sure you assign correct IP address using DHCP or static IP. Save the file. Remove gateway entry from all other network config files. Only add gateway to /etc/sysconfig/network file. Save and close the file. Restart network:
/etc/init.d/network restart

Please note that if you need to configure for VLAN ID 2 then copy the copy file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.2 and do the above procedure again.

Using vconfig command

Above method is perfect and works with Red hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS / Fedora Linux without any problem. However, you will notice that there is a command called vconfig. The

vconfig program allows you to create and remove vlan-devices on a vlan enabled kernel. Vlan-devices are virtual ethernet devices which represents the virtual lans on the physical lan. Please note that this is yet another method of configuring VLAN. If you are happy with above method no need to read below.

Add VLAN
Add VLAN ID 5 with follwing command for eth0:
vconfig add eth0 5

The vconfig add command creates a vlan-device on eth0 which result into eth0.5 interface. You can use normal ifconfig command to see device information:
ifconfig eth0.5

Use ifconfig to assign IP address to vlan interfere :

ifconfig eth0.5 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 up

Get detailed information about VLAN interface:

cat /proc/net/vlan/eth0.5

Delete VLAN
If you wish to delete VLAN interface delete command:
ifconfig eth0.5 down vconfig rem eth0.5

Linux VLAN Configuration Issue

Not all network drivers support VLAN. You may need to patch your driver. MTU may be another problem. It works by tagging each frame i.e. an Ethernet header extension that enlarges the header from 14 to 18 bytes. The VLAN tag contains the VLAN ID and priority. See Linux VLAN site for patches and other information. Do not use VLAN ID 1 as it may be used for admin purpose.

Errors
sudo vconfig add eth0 15 WARNING: Could not open /proc/net/vlan/config. Maybe you need to load the 8021q module, or maybe you are not using PROCFS?? Added VLAN with VID == 15 to IF -:eth0:-

Solution
modprobe 8021q

Linux / Unix Command: dhclient

Command Library NAME dhclient - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Client SYNOPSIS dhclient [ -p port ] [ -d ] [ -q ] [ -1 ] [ -r ] [ -lf lease-file ] [ -pf pid-file ] [ -cf configfile ] [ -sf script-file ] [ -s server ] [ -g relay ] [ -n ] [ -nw ] [ -w ] [ if0 [ ...ifN ] ] DESCRIPTION The Internet Software Consortium DHCP Client, dhclient, provides a means for configuring one or more network interfaces using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, BOOTP protocol, or if these protocols fail, by statically assigning an address. OPERATION The DHCP protocol allows a host to contact a central server which maintains a list of IP addresses which may be assigned on one or more subnets. A DHCP client may request an address from this pool, and then use it on a temporary basis for communication on network. The DHCP protocol also provides a mechanism whereby a client can learn important details about the network to which it is attached, such as the location of a default router, the location of a name server, and so on. On startup, dhclient reads the dhclient.conf for configuration instructions. It then gets a list of all the network interfaces that are configured in the current system. For each interface, it attempts to configure the interface using the DHCP protocol. In order to keep track of leases across system reboots and server restarts, dhclient keeps a list of leases it has been assigned in the dhclient.leases(5) file. On startup, after reading the dhclient.conf file, dhclient reads the dhclient.leases file to refresh its memory about what leases it has been assigned. When a new lease is acquired, it is appended to the end of the dhclient.leases file. In order to prevent the file from becoming arbitrarily large, from time to time dhclient creates a new dhclient.leases file from its in-core lease database. The old version of the dhclient.leases file is retained under the name dhclient.leases~ until the next time dhclient rewrites the database. Old leases are kept around in case the DHCP server is unavailable when dhclient is first invoked (generally during the initial system boot process). In that event, old leases from the dhclient.leases file which have not yet expired are tested, and if they are determined to be valid, they are used until either they expire or the DHCP server becomes available. A mobile host which may sometimes need to access a network on which no DHCP server exists may be preloaded with a lease for a fixed address on that network. When all

attempts to contact a DHCP server have failed, dhclient will try to validate the static lease, and if it succeeds, will use that lease until it is restarted. A mobile host may also travel to some networks on which DHCP is not available but BOOTP is. In that case, it may be advantageous to arrange with the network administrator for an entry on the BOOTP database, so that the host can boot quickly on that network rather than cycling through the list of old leases. COMMAND LINE The names of the network interfaces that dhclient should attempt to configure may be specified on the command line. If no interface names are specified on the command line dhclient will normally identify all network interfaces, elimininating non-broadcast interfaces if possible, and attempt to configure each interface. It is also possible to specify interfaces by name in the dhclient.conf(5) file. If interfaces are specified in this way, then the client will only configure interfaces that are either specified in the configuration file or on the command line, and will ignore all other interfaces. If the DHCP client should listen and transmit on a port other than the standard (port 68), the -p flag may used. It should be followed by the udp port number that dhclient should use. This is mostly useful for debugging purposes. If a different port is specified for the client to listen on and transmit on, the client will also use a different destination port one greater than the specified destination port. The DHCP client normally transmits any protocol messages it sends before acquiring an IP address to, 255.255.255.255, the IP limited broadcast address. For debugging purposes, it may be useful to have the server transmit these messages to some other address. This can be specified with the -s flag, followed by the IP address or domain name of the destination. For testing purposes, the giaddr field of all packets that the client sends can be set using the -g flag, followed by the IP address to send. This is only useful for testing, and should not be expected to work in any consistent or useful way. The DHCP client will normally run in the foreground until it has configured an interface, and then will revert to running in the background. To run force dhclient to always run as a foreground process, the -d flag should be specified. This is useful when running the client under a debugger, or when running it out of inittab on System V systems. The client normally prints a startup message and displays the protocol sequence to the standard error descriptor until it has acquired an address, and then only logs messages using the syslog (3) facility. The -q flag prevents any messages other than errors from being printed to the standard error descriptor. The client normally doesn't release the current lease as it is not required by the DHCP protocol. Some cable ISPs require their clients to notify the server if they wish to release an assigned IP address. The -r flag explicitly releases the current lease, and once the lease has been released, the client exits.

The -1 flag cause dhclient to try once to get a lease. If it fails, dhclient exits with exit code two. The DHCP client normally gets its configuration information from /etc/dhclient.conf, its lease database from /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient.leases, stores its process ID in a file called /var/run/dhclient.pid, and configures the network interface using /sbin/dhclient-script To specify different names and/or locations for these files, use the -cf, -lf, -pf and -sf flags, respectively, followed by the name of the file. This can be particularly useful if, for example, /var/lib/dhcp or /var/run has not yet been mounted when the DHCP client is started. The DHCP client normally exits if it isn't able to identify any network interfaces to configure. On laptop computers and other computers with hot-swappable I/O buses, it is possible that a broadcast interface may be added after system startup. The -w flag can be used to cause the client not to exit when it doesn't find any such interfaces. The omshell (8) program can then be used to notify the client when a network interface has been added or removed, so that the client can attempt to configure an IP address on that interface. The DHCP client can be directed not to attempt to configure any interfaces using the -n flag. This is most likely to be useful in combination with the -w flag. The client can also be instructed to become a daemon immediately, rather than waiting until it has acquired an IP address. This can be done by supplying the -nw flag. CONFIGURATION The syntax of the dhclient.conf(8) file is discussed seperately. OMAPI The DHCP client provides some ability to control it while it is running, without stopping it. This capability is provided using OMAPI, an API for manipulating remote objects. OMAPI clients connect to the client using TCP/IP, authenticate, and can then examine the client's current status and make changes to it. Rather than implementing the underlying OMAPI protocol directly, user programs should use the dhcpctl API or OMAPI itself. Dhcpctl is a wrapper that handles some of the housekeeping chores that OMAPI does not do automatically. Dhcpctl and OMAPI are documented in dhcpctl(3) and omapi(3). Most things you'd want to do with the client can be done directly using the omshell(1) command, rather than having to write a special program. THE CONTROL OBJECT The control object allows you to shut the client down, releasing all leases that it holds and deleting any DNS records it may have added. It also allows you to pause the client this unconfigures any interfaces the client is using. You can then restart it, which causes it to reconfigure those interfaces. You would normally pause the client prior to going into hibernation or sleep on a laptop computer. You would then resume it after the power comes back. This allows PC cards to be shut down while the computer is hibernating or

sleeping, and then reinitialized to their previous state once the computer comes out of hibernation or sleep. The control object has one attribute - the state attribute. To shut the client down, set its state attribute to 2. It will automatically do a DHCPRELEASE. To pause it, set its state attribute to 3. To resume it, set its state attribute to 4.