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-
- Bridging mini-HOWTO, v1.03 by Chris Cole Aug. 23, 1996
- Any suggestions/corrections welcome at: chris@polymer.uakron.edu
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- 1) Get 'Bridge Config':
-
- shadow.cabi.net/pub/Linux/BRCFG.tgz
-
- 2) Obtain and read the 'Multiple ethernet' HOWTO:
-
- sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Multiple-Ethernet
-
- 3) Enable multiple ethernet devices on your box by adding this to your
- /etc/lilo.conf, and re-run lilo:
-
- append = "ether=0,0,eth1"
-
- If you have three interfaces on your bridge, use this line instead:
-
- append = "ether=0,0,eth1 ether=0,0,eth2"
-
- More interfaces can be found by adding more ether statements. By
- default a stock Linux kernel probes for a single ethercard, and once
- one is found the probe ceases. This tells the kernel to keep probing
- for more ethernet devices after the first one is found.
-
- Alternatively, the boot parameter can be used instead:
-
- linux ether=0,0,eth1
-
- Or, with 3 interfaces, use:
-
- linux ether=0,0,eth1 ether=0,0,eth2
-
- 4) Recompile the kernel with BRIDGING enabled.
-
- 5) A bridge should not have an IP address. It CAN, but a plain bridge
- doesn't need one. To remove the IP address from your bridge, go to
- /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ (for a RedHat system) and copy
- ifcfg-lo0 to ifcfg-eth0 & ifcfg-eth1. In these 2 eth files, change
- the line containing 'DEVICE=lo' to 'DEVICE=eth0' and 'DEVICE=eth1'.
- Other distributions may deviate from this, do what you need to do!
- If there are more than 2 interfaces to this bridge, be sure to make
- the corresponding configurations to those, as well.
-
- 6) Reboot, so you are running the new kernel with bridging in it, and
- also so the network interfaces are not bound to an IP.
-
- 7) Once the system is back up, put the ethernet cards into promiscuous
- mode, so they will look at every packet that passes by the interface:
-
- ifconfig promisc eth0 ; ifconfig promisc eth1
-
- All interfaces which are connected to network segments to be bridged
- are to be put into promiscuous mode.
-
- 8) Turn bridging ON using the brcfg program:
-
- brcfg -ena
-
- 9) Verify that there is different traffic on each interface:
-
- tcpdump -i eth0 (in one window)
- tcpdump -i eth1 (in another window)
-
- 10) Run a sniffer or tcpdump on another machine to verify the bridge is
- separating the segment correctly.
-
-
- Common problems:
-
- Q1) I get the message "ioctl(SIOCGIFBR) failed: Package not installed".
- What does this mean?
-
- A1) You don't have bridging capability in your kernel. Get a 2.0 or
- greater kernel, and recompile with the BRIDGING option enabled.
-
- Q2) Machines on one side cannot ping the other side!
-
- A2) - Did you enable bridging using 'brcfg -ena'?
- (brcfg should say 'bridging is ENABLED')
- - Did you put the interfaces into promiscuous mode?
- (issue the 'ifconfig' command. The 'PROMISC' flag should be on
- for both interfaces.)
- - If using multiple-media interface adapters, make sure that the
- correct one is enabled. You may need to use the config/setup
- program that came with the network interface card.
-
- Q3) I cannot telnet/ftp from the bridge! Why?
-
- A3) This is because there is no IP address bound to any of bridge
- interfaces. A bridge is to be a transparent part of a network.
-
- Q4) What do I need to set up in the way of routing?
-
- A4) Nothing! All routing intelligence is handled by the bridging code
- in the kernel. To see the ethernet addresses as they are found out
- by the bridge, use the brcfg program in debug mode:
-
- brcfg -deb
-
- Q5) The bridge appears to work, but why doesn't 'traceroute' show the
- bridge as a part of the path?
-
- A5) Due to the nature of a bridge, a traceroute should NOT show the
- bridge as a part of the path. A bridge is to be a transparent
- component of the network.
-
- Q6) Is it necessary to compile IP_FORWARD into the kernel?
-
- A6) No. The bridging code in the kernel takes care of the packet
- transport. IP_FORWARD is for a gateway which has IP addresses bound
- to its interfaces.
-
- Q7) Why are the physical ethernet addresses for port 1 and port 2 the
- same according to the 'brcfg' program? Shouldn't they be different?
-
- A7) No. Every port on a bridge intentionally is assigned the same
- physical ethernet address by the bridging code.
-
-