SUSE Pro 9.3 and 3 NICs

I'm running SUSE Pro 9.3 on an Intel server board with two NICs built in (a
GigE and a 10/100). I've since added a Netgear GigE as a 3d NIC. I'm
trying to set this box up as a Samba server for a 2-subnet LAN that will
have a mix of XP and SUSE machines. eth0 is supposed to face the Net (on
....1.2); the other two NICs are supposed to connect only to eth0 for access
to the Net and to each other.

The problem I'm having (or maybe not; I'm an extreme newbie with
networking) is that every time I boot up the SUSE server, the NICs come out
assigned differently:
1 boot: eth0 on 192.168.3.1 Intel GigE NIC
eth1 on ...2.2 Intel 10/100
eth2 on ...3.1 Netgear

2 boot: eth0 on ...3.1 Intel 10/100
eth1 on ...1.2 Netgear
eth2 on ...2.2 Intel GigE

3 boot: eth0 on ...1.2 Netgear
eth1 on ...3.1 Intel GigE
eth2 on ...2.2 Intel 10/100

and so on. Both IP address assignments to the NICs and which NIC is on a
given ethx change, apparently at random.

It would seem that cabling my subnets cannot be done if the NIC assignments
keep changing on every boot up.

How can I force the system to keep the NICs on a stable assignment--and one
of my choosing? The above changes come whether I change the NIC
assignments via YaST or do nothing at all before a reboot.

Thanks for your help.

Eric Hines

eehines@comcast.net adjusted his/her tinfoil beanie to post:


> How can I force the system to keep the NICs on a stable
> assignment--and one
> of my choosing? The above changes come whether I change the NIC
> assignments via YaST or do nothing at all before a reboot.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Eric Hines

Hi Eric,

have a look at these pages:

http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/05/91_sysconfig.html
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/0...ldhotplug.html

They explain why this happens and suggest a couple of workrounds luike
allocating persistent names to the interfaces to stop the problem.

HTH

--
Mark
Twixt hill and high water
N. Wales, UK
Novell Support Forums SysOp