Bug 552953

Summary: "forcedeth" driver issue: eth0 fails to get ip address on boot with RHEL4 kernel
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Reporter: PaulB <pbunyan>
Component: kernelAssignee: Ivan Vecera <ivecera>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: Network QE <network-qe>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 4.8CC: dhoward, dtian, jburke, jks, lwang, vgoyal
Target Milestone: rc   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-02-16 15:58:50 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Attachments:
Description Flags
Retest_forcedeth_2.6.9-89.45.EL.vgoyal.test2
none
Test_2.6.9-89.45.EL.vgoyal.test2_netdump-netconsole_enabled none

Description PaulB 2010-01-06 16:18:49 UTC 
Description of problem:

"forcedeth" driver issue with RHEL4 kernel

While reviewing the RHEL4 Kernel Tier 1 Testing for 2.6.9-89.18.EL,
an hp-xw9400 system failed to get an ip address during testing. 
Troubleshooting the issue, the hp-xw9400 was reserved with the base released kernel 2.6.9-89.EL, and the system successfully got an ip address on boot. Kernel 2.6.9-89.18.EL was then installed and the system again failed to get an ip address on boot. 
I then began install RHEL4 kernel releases between 2.6.9-89.EL and 2.6.9-89.18.EL in search of where the issue began. After having installed several different kernels, its clear the issue is intermittent.
 
Though intermittent, the issue is reproducible:
The system fails to start network, but after login ethtool shows that link is detected on eth0 and the command 'ifup eth0' successfully brings the interface up. Reboot system again the same kernel... no problem - network is initialized and system gets an IP.

I have spoken with IvanV, the owner of the "forcedeth" driver, and he was able to reproduce this issue on same system.

I will provide host FQDN in following comment.

-PaulB
Comment 4 Joseph Shraibman 2010-03-09 07:07:20 UTC 
I'm also having an issue with the forcedeth driver on Fedora 11 and I'm wondering if it is the same issue.  My issue is that /dev/eth0 was not created, which lead to the network failing to come up.  Removing a udev rule file seemed to have sort of fixed the problem for now. I still don't have /dev/eth0 but somehow running /etc/rc.d/init.d/network start brings up the network.
Comment 12 RHEL Program Management 2010-10-07 16:19:45 UTC 
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release.  Product Management has requested
further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential
inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed
products.  This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update
release.
Comment 18 Vivek Goyal 2010-10-22 14:40:00 UTC 
Committed in 90.EL . RPMS are available at http://people.redhat.com/vgoyal/rhel4/
Comment 27 errata-xmlrpc 2011-02-16 15:58:50 UTC 
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem
described in this bug report. This report is therefore being
closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information
on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files,
please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report
if the solution does not work for you.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2011-0263.html