Still baffled by choice of ethx

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Wed, 2007-09-26 at 12:38 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote:

> Incidentally, does anyone understand why there are 2 further copies
> of ifcfg-<IF> in /etc/sysconfig/networking/[devices,profiles] ?
> Are these actually used?

There is a system of hard links (multiple directory entries pointing to
the same file--not copies) that allows you to have multiple profiles
(e.g., home, work, etc.) where the devices can be configured to have
different characteristics (fixed IP address or DHCP, different WEP keys,
etc.)  When you change profiles, the links are swapped around so the
links in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts point at the right ones for the
current profile.  It sounds better than it works, IMHO.

NetworkManager is a better tool for most wireless connections (modulo
issues with some older cards and some drivers).  It works fine for wired
connections too, as long as they DHCP.

-- 
                Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs