managing 2 eth-interfaces with /etc/conf.d/net

[Radiator]

Hi,

I'm trying to manage 2 eth-interfaces with /etc/conf.d/net
There is eth0 (wired) and eth1 (wireless) and both get their settings via DHCP (works).

1)
If i start both via /etc/init.d/net.eth[01] start, they get both dhcp, but network is unavailable in case both eth-interfaces have success.
I think this is due to double default route entries, but where can i fix this and set the primary/fallback interface. (ie I'd prefer a wired connection if available and have wireless as a fallback).
I know i can fix that manually with the route del default command, but i think there must be an automatic way. (in /etc/conf.d/net ? )

2)

dhcpd eth0 (on a wired connection) takes quite long if there is no cable plugged - even with -t 10, it still takes 10 seconds.

mii-tool eth0 is excellent at determining the cable link state (plugged or unplugged).
I think it'd be useful to only try to get dhcp on wired connection if there's a positive link state (plugged cable). I've tried to modify the /etc/init.d/net.lo (eth0 / eth1 symlink to it), but it seems to be ugly since it does then also for lo and eth1, but it's only needed for "wired" connections. wasn't reliable.

3)

Is there anything that can handle networking better during runtime? init-scripts are automatically executed only at boottime.

It'd be nice if something can detect when i plug a cable and tries then automatically to get dhcp.
Same with wlan - if i get in range of a configured wlan during runtime -> connect to it automatically and get dhcp.
(may also be nice to connect then automatically to unencrypted wlan, if there's one)


Any suggestions how2do ?

[kenthepostman]

A program in portage called quickswitch might solve some of the problems. I would check it out. It allows you to switch between different network profiles easily. Maybe it can be used with some additional script

[Radiator]

thx,

but i think this script is not really compatible with /etc/conf.d/net , it also does not support wireless as i can see.

Please .......

I can't imagine that all people with a laptop manage profiles manually by typing the appropriate command (/etc/init.d/net.eth0 stop;/etc/init.d/net.eth1 start) just to disable wired lan and enable wireless lan.

Otherwise i'd have to admit that Microsoft Windows is much better here - it supports "out of the box" automatic profile switching with wireless and wired lan. it also starts automatically dhcp-requests if a new network-connection is detected. There are also several network-profile management tools by wireless card manufacturers.

I cannot imagine, that there are no tools in the outside world that make network configuration a little bit more automatic. It would be especially useful on Laptops.