NIC Selection Menu

[Devin Teske]

I just got a call from the field which inspired me with an enhancement
idea for sysinstall...

Problem: Currently as-it-stands, when performing a network-based install
with sysinstall, sysinstall gives you no indication as to which network
interface is "active" (versus "no carrier" for 'status')... often
leading to the scenario where the field engineer has to try one, and
then the other.

Solution: Sysinstall could "bold" the NIC entry in the selection menu if
(and only-if) [a] it is able to properly probe the status of said NIC
and [b] said status indicates that a cable is plugged into the
interface.

The particular problem that this poor field engineer ran into was that
he tried to configure one interface, surreptitiously failed, then tried
to configure the next (without reboot) and then dead-locked himself
because the system was ultimately confused with both NICs using the same
IP address (diagnosed by walking said field engineer through a series of
commands on the emergency Holo shell -- over on Alt+F4).

Currently, I am instructing our field engineers to -- when presented
with the NIC selection menu -- do the following (because our install
disc supports this, as it has been highly customized):

1. Press Alt+F4
2. Type "rescue" and hit enter
NOTE: A special feature of our install disc... the mfsroot has a shell
script named /stand/rescue which bootstraps (using ldconfig, et. al.) a
fully-functional bash shell with 217 ancillary binaries, such as
ifconfig, awk, grep, ls, and many MANY more
3. Type "ifconfig" and hit enter
4. Find which adapter has "status: active" opposed to "status: no
carrier"
5. Press Alt+F1 to go back to the install menu which is prompting for
NIC selection
6. Select the proper NIC to use
7. Continue with the rest of the setup instructions

Now... if the NIC selection menu simply showed the status (if/when
available), then the above would be null-and-void... the field engineer
would know immediately which NIC to select from the menu.

ASIDE:
Maybe making-bold is not the best solution. Perhaps -- if room can be
made -- we should simply add a "status" column. Or... perhaps we do both
(make bold the active interfaces AND add a column with the status). I
like the latter, as it means I should theoretically get less calls from
L-Users (I kid). ^_^
-- 
Cheers,
Devin Teske

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Business Solutions Consultant II
FIS - fisglobal.com
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510-621-2038 Office
510-621-2020 Office Fax
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devin.teske at fisglobal.com

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