Activating/deactivating Ethernet card

[rex]

Guys is there a way of activating and deactivating Ethernet card on freebsd from command prompt. Actually I need to test something for which I need to activate and deactivate Ethernet link again and again. So I'll be writing a script for that but first I need to know how to do this from command prompt.

[BSDfan666]

Yes, most definately.

Bring the interface down:
% ifconfig xx0 down

Bring it up:
% ifconfig xx0 up

Pretty basic stuff, could have learnt this by reading the man page..

Originally Posted by ifconfig(8)

down - Mark an interface ``down''. When an interface is marked ``down'', the system will not attempt to transmit messages through that interface. If possible, the interface will be reset to disable reception as well. This action does not automatically disable routes using the interface.
...
up - Mark an interface ``up''. This may be used to enable an interface after an ``ifconfig down''. It happens automatically when setting the first address on an interface. If the interface was reset when previously marked down, the hardware will be re-initialized.

Have fun.

[18Googol2]

ifconfig is standard ultility, you may also wanna check out netif script. The equivalent commands are:

/etc/rc.d/netif network_card stop

/etc/rc.d/netif network_card start

ifconfig xx0 down

He may have more than 1 identical physical network card, multiple loopback devices, multiple tunnel...

[jleal]

you may also want to restart your entire network config

try typing :

/etc/netstart

[rex]

Pretty basic stuff, could have learnt this by reading the man page

I did, but didn't scroll down that far... my bad.
Thanks to all for the tips. I'll note it down for future refrence.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by jleal

you may also want to restart your entire network config

try typing :

/etc/netstart

If you're on FreeBSD 6+, you should stop using netstart. Use /etc/rc.d/netif instead.

Originally Posted by 18Googol2

ifconfig is standard ultility, you may also wanna check out netif script. The equivalent commands are:

/etc/rc.d/netif network_card stop
/etc/rc.d/netif network_card start

The syntax is actually /etc/rc.d/netif <action> <interface>, where <interface> is optional (omit it to perform <action> on all network interfaces).

[tuck]

If you have a problem with the routing tables after shutting down the nic with e.g. ifconfig *nic* down
try ifconfig *nic* -alias (or delete)
The manpage describes the deletion of the aliases but that's not only for aliases.
Just in case you have a problem after shutting down one nic and activating another nic.

[anomie]

Originally Posted by rex

Actually I need to test something for which I need to activate and deactivate Ethernet link again and again.

Just curious - why?

[Carpetsmoker]

Originally Posted by rex

I did, but didn't scroll down that far... my bad.
Thanks to all for the tips. I'll note it down for future refrence.

Using the / key to search is usually much faster and quite efficient, for example, try searching ifconfig(8) for disable and see how many seconds it takes to find the answer to the question

[rex]

Originally Posted by anomie

Just curious - why?

Something related to my work. Needed to test how efficient the algorithm is in determining the length of the Ethernet cable for one of our products.