strange - not started network is working - bug or feature ?

[dracula007]

Hello everybody,

trying to solve some network problems I've noticed a strange behavior concerning the process of booting and starting network interface. I've removed the net.eth0 script from my gentoo machine, expecting the eth0 interface will be disabled next time the system boots.

But after logging in I've found I'm able to connect to other machines, and running "ifconfig eth0" gives me full info about perfectly configured interface, which is strange, because:

1) there are no startup scripts that require "net"
2) there's no message "bringing up eth0", so the eth0 script really isn't executed
3) the command "/etc/init.d/net.eth0 status" gives me "stopped" answer

I don't understand this situation, I'm not sure what is cause. I've suspected the "modprobe" command (I autoload the network driver at startup) and hotplug, but none of my tests indicated the cause.

[texas1emt]

Hmm, you might want copy that back. Try copying net.eth0 back into your /etc/ directory from the Gentoo LiveCD. If you'd like to disable your networking at bootup, you can see what its boot up status is by running:

[dracula007]

Of course - I'm using rc-update script to start/stop/add/remove services in the /etc/runlevels directory. In fact "removed from the machine" means "removed from all the runlevels using rc-update", so I still have net.eth0 script in the /etc/init.d directory. Sorry for this imprecision.

The point is:

1) the net.eth0 itself isn't started - it's not in any runlevel and the "/etc/init.d/net.eth0 status" gives me "stopped", but
2) the route tables are set and interface is up and I can use the network

This seems strange to me - i suppose I shouldn't be able to use a network until I start the net.eth0 service. I believe this is caused by the hotplug system, especially the /etc/hotplug/net.agent script - renaming/removing the script solves the 2. The confusing part is hotplug is not started either (is not listed in /etc/runlevels/ and no other service depends on it), and removing the net.agent script is not a solution I'd like.

What I want - the route table and interface should be set (modified) automatically but not before the net.eth0 script is run.

PS: I don't exactly know what the network problem I've tried to solve is - it simply dies without an apparent reason randomly, so I can't access drives mounted through samba etc. I'm not sure what causes that, so I have to do some more investigation.

[texas1emt]

I couldn't reproduce the same thing here. My network was dead after rebooting without net.eth0 in the default runlevel (as I expected).

However, with my Cisco Aironet 350 PCMCIA wireless card in my laptop, I was able to get a similar thing to what you talked about. Upon bootup, no net.eth1 or net.wifi0 script exists, but ifconfig showed the interface as up and I could use the network.
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M. Hayden - San Antonio, TX

[toralf]

hotplug resp coldplug is starting net.eth0