I have recently installed the linux-wlan drivers for a wireless network card (which I know isn't part of RH, but the problems could occur with several other types of card). If I choose to use my ethernet pcmcia card (only) it gets assigned to eth0 and then the relevant eth0 configuration happens .... fine. If I then plug in my WLAN card, it becomes eth1 ... etc, etc... However, if I plug them in the other way around then the interface details are swapped and the configurations are incorrect. I have temporarily (and rather hackily) put a workaround in the pcmcia/network script to work out the DRIVER and copy the correct ifcfg file into place for the relevant card. This works ok but is a bit nasty! (Perhaps a mac address based solution might be better) Also, I notice that there is support for altering DNS entries if you use a PPP link but not for any other kind of interface ... it might be an improvement to support DNS modifications (otionally) with any type of interface. Thanks, Lee.
This is a basic limitation of the Red Hat network configurator; it assumes that the card that is eth0 is always the same card, which makes more sense for a desktop with a static hardware configuration, but doesn't work if you have multiple hot plugged interfaces. The easiest workaround is to use the /etc/pcmcia/network and network.opts scripts from the regular PCMCIA package instead of Red Hat's network script. Then you can specify your settings based on MAC address in the network.opts file. As a long term fix for Red Hat, I suggest that they not replace the PCMCIA network script at all. They can specify that "ifup" and "ifdown" be used by default in the network.opts file instead. Then, people who need the extra capabilities have the tools they need, but people who don't will never know that they are there. - Dave
assigning to kernel-pcmcia-cs
Is this bug still relevant in 8.0 release and newer network configuration tools?
Closing out due to bit-rot.