How to disable at-boot configuration of a network interface but permit manual use of rc.d?

[Seán C. Farley]

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005, Darren Pilgrim wrote:

> From: Niki Denev [mailto:nike_d at cytexbg.com]
>> Darren Pilgrim wrote:
>>> There are some conditions to the task given by the subject:
>>>
>>> 1: The interface must be present at boot.
>>> 2: Use of /etc/rc.d scripts to start and stop the interface is
>>> desirable.
>>>
>>> The first condition poses no problem, just don't include the
>>> relevant ifconfig_ifn line in /etc/rc.conf and the interface won't
>>> be configured. But rc.d/dhclient and rc.d/netif won't work without
>>> an ifconfig line for the interface.
>>>
>>> Adding the ifconfig line and then listing every interface but the
>>> one I want configured in network_interfaces does prevent it from
>>> being configured at boot while having an ifconfig line in rc.conf,
>>> but if I try to use rc.d/netif to start the interface, rc.d/netif
>>> does nothing because it tests the interface against the contents of
>>> network_interfaces and cloned_interfaces, so the interface I left
>>> out will be excluded.
>>>
>>> Have I overlooked an option somewhere?
>>
>> What happens if you configure the interface in 'down' state, like :
>>
>> ifconfig_fxp0="inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 down"
>
> Then rc.d/dhclient won't work.  The "DHCP" keyword must be present in
> the ifconfig line in order for dhcpif to test true.  A similar logic
> is in place for wpaif based on the "WPA" keyword.

I am not sure it will help, but have you tried playing with
/etc/start_if.DEVICE scripts?  I do not know where they are documented,
but you can configure a network device this way.  I used it in the past
to change the MAC address on a NIC at boot before the card was
configured in rc.conf.

Seán
-- 
sean-freebsd at farley.org