Identify Logical and Physical Network Interface Names (SLES)

During installation and configuration of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS, you reach a point where you must enter the logical and physical names (MAC addresses) of the network interfaces.

This section explains how to launch a user shell during the SUSE Linux OS configuration to obtain the logical and physical network interface names that you need to continue with the configuration.

Before You Begin

Find and record the MAC addresses of all the physical ports from their labels.

1. If you have not already done so, select Rescue System and press Enter.

   The message Loading Linux Kernel appears followed by the SUSE splash screen, and then the Choose a Keyboard Map screen appears.

2. In the Choose a Keyboard Map screen, select the appropriate keyboard configuration, and click OK.

   The user shell launches, and the Rescue Login prompt appears.

3. At the Rescue Login prompt, type root to log in, and then press Enter.

   The Rescue prompt appears.

4. At the Rescue prompt (#), type the following command, and then press Enter to display all network interfaces (active and inactive).

   # ifconfig -a

   The output of the Linux SUSE named and physical named network interfaces appear. Each interface found will list output similar to the following example:

   eth0  Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:4F:8D:52:BE
             inet addr:10.182.92.196  Bcast:10.182.93.255  Mask:255.255.254.0
             inet6 addr: fe80::214:4fff:fe8d:52be/64 Scope:Link
             UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
             RX packets:14463420 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:1061441 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
             RX bytes:1282809896 (1.1 GiB)  TX bytes:118848836 (113.3 MiB)
             Interrupt:54 Base address:0xc000
   
   eth1   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:4F:8D:52:BF
             BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
             RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
             RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
             Interrupt:21 Base address:0x2000
   
   eth2   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:4F:8D:52:C0
             BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
             RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
             RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
             Interrupt:44 Base address:0x6000
   
   eth3   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:4F:8D:52:C1
             BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
             RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
             RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
             Interrupt:47 Base address:0xa000
   
   lo      Link encap:Local Loopback
             inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
             inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
             UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
             RX packets:44421 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:44421 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
             RX bytes:4976408 (4.7 MiB)  TX bytes:4976408 (4.7 MiB) 

   • The eth0 entry in the first column is the logical name of the Ethernet interface assigned by the operating system. The lo entry in the first column is the loopback interface.

   • The HWaddr 00:14:4F:8D:52:BE entry in second column (first row) is the physical MAC address of the network port.

   If you have multiple network interfaces and the output of interfaces scrolls off the top of the screen, you can display the output per interface.

   # ifconfig eth#

   where eth# is the interface number.

5. Record the SUSE logical network interface name with the physical port MAC address for future reference.

   You will need to refer to this record when configuring the network interfaces during the Linux SUSE OS installation.

6. To exit the Rescue shell, do one of the following:
   • From the Oracle ILOM web interface, select Remote Control > Remote Power Control > Reset.
   • From other consoles, at the Rescue prompt (#), type reboot, and then press Enter.
7. Restart the SLES installation program.

Next Steps

• Install a Linux OS (Oracle System Assistant)

• Installing a Linux OS Manually