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# 12.8 Setting Up Network Interface Cards

Contributed by Marc Fonvieille.

Adding and configuring a network card is a common task for any FreeBSD administrator.

## 12.8.1 Locating the Correct Driver

First, determine the model of the network interface card and the chip it uses. FreeBSD supports a wide variety of network interface cards. Check the Hardware Compatibility List for the FreeBSD release to see if the card is supported.

If the card is supported, determine the name of the FreeBSD driver for the card. Refer to `/usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES` and `/usr/src/sys/`arch`/conf/NOTES` for the list of network interface drivers with some information about the supported chipsets. When in doubt, read the manual page of the driver as it will provide more information about the supported hardware and any known limitations of the driver.

The drivers for common network cards are already present in the `GENERIC` kernel, meaning the card should show up during boot, as in this example:

    dc0: <82c169 PNIC 10/100BaseTX> port 0xa000-0xa0ff mem 0xd3800000-0xd38
    000ff irq 15 at device 11.0 on pci0
    miibus0: <MII bus> on dc0
    bmtphy0: <BCM5201 10/100baseTX PHY> PHY 1 on miibus0
    bmtphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
    dc0: Ethernet address: 00:a0:cc:da:da:da
    dc0: [ITHREAD]
    dc1: <82c169 PNIC 10/100BaseTX> port 0x9800-0x98ff mem 0xd3000000-0xd30
    000ff irq 11 at device 12.0 on pci0
    miibus1: <MII bus> on dc1
    bmtphy1: <BCM5201 10/100baseTX PHY> PHY 1 on miibus1
    bmtphy1:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
    dc1: Ethernet address: 00:a0:cc:da:da:db
    dc1: [ITHREAD]

In this example, two cards using the dc(4) driver are present on the system.

If the driver for the interface is not present in `GENERIC`, but a driver is available, the driver will need to be loaded before the interface can be configured and used. This may be accomplished in one of two ways:

- The easiest way is to load a kernel module for the network card with kldload(8). To also automatically load the driver at boot time, add the appropriate line to `/boot/loader.conf`. Not all NIC drivers are available as modules; notable examples of devices for which modules do not exist are ISA cards.

- Alternatively, statically compile support for the card into a custom kernel. Refer to `/usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES`, `/usr/src/sys/`arch`/conf/NOTES` and the manual page of the driver to determine which line to add to the custom kernel configuration file. For more information about recompiling the kernel, refer to Chapter 9. If the card was detected at boot, the kernel does not need to be recompiled.

### 12.8.1.1 Using Windows® NDIS Drivers

Unfortunately, there are still many vendors that do not provide schematics for their drivers to the open source community because they regard such information as trade secrets. Consequently, the developers of FreeBSD and other operating systems are left two choices: develop the drivers by a long and pain-staking process of reverse engineering or using the existing driver binaries available for the Microsoft® Windows platforms. Most developers, including those involved with FreeBSD, have taken the latter approach.

Thanks to the contributions of Bill Paul (wpaul) there is “native” support for the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS). The FreeBSD NDISulator (otherwise known as Project Evil) takes a Windows driver binary and basically tricks it into thinking it is running on Windows. Because the ndis(4) driver is using a Windows binary, it only runs on i386™ and amd64 systems. PCI, CardBus, PCMCIA (PC-Card), and USB devices are supported.

To use the NDISulator, three things are needed:

1. Kernel sources

2. Windows XP driver binary (`.SYS` extension)

3. Windows XP driver configuration file (`.INF` extension)

Locate the files for the specific card. Generally, they can be found on the included CDs or at the vendor's website. The following examples use `W32DRIVER.SYS` and `W32DRIVER.INF`.

The driver bit width must match the version of FreeBSD. For FreeBSD/i386, use a Windows 32-bit driver. For FreeBSD/amd64, a Windows 64-bit driver is needed.

The next step is to compile the driver binary into a loadable kernel module. As `root`, use ndisgen(8):

    # ndisgen /path/to/W32DRIVER.INF /path/to/W32DRIVER.SYS

ndisgen(8) is interactive and prompts for any extra information it requires. A new kernel module is written in the current directory. Use kldload(8) to load the new module:

    # kldload ./W32DRIVER_SYS.ko

In addition to the generated kernel module, the `ndis.ko` and `if_ndis.ko` modules must be loaded. This should happen automatically when any module that depends on ndis(4) is loaded. If not, load them manually, using the following commands:

    # kldload ndis
    # kldload if_ndis

The first command loads the NDIS miniport driver wrapper, the second loads the actual network interface.

Now, check dmesg(8) to see if there were any errors loading. If all went well, the output should be similar to the following:

    ndis0: <Wireless-G PCI Adapter> mem 0xf4100000-0xf4101fff irq 3 at device 8.0 on pci1
    ndis0: NDIS API version: 5.0
    ndis0: Ethernet address: 0a:b1:2c:d3:4e:f5
    ndis0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
    ndis0: 11g rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps

From here you can treat the `ndis0` device like any other network interface (e.g., `dc0`).

To configure the system to load the NDIS modules at boot time, copy the generated module, `W32DRIVER_SYS.ko`, to the `/boot/modules` directory. Then, add the following line to `/boot/loader.conf`:

    W32DRIVER_SYS_load="YES"

## 12.8.2 Configuring the Network Card

Once the right driver is loaded for the network card, the card needs to be configured. As with many other things, the network card may have been configured at installation time by sysinstall.

To display the configuration for the network interfaces, enter the following command:

    % ifconfig
    dc0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
            options=80008<VLAN_MTU,LINKSTATE>
            ether 00:a0:cc:da:da:da
            inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
            media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
            status: active
    dc1: flags=8802<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
            options=80008<VLAN_MTU,LINKSTATE>
            ether 00:a0:cc:da:da:db
            inet 10.0.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.0.255
            media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP
            status: no carrier
    lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
            options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
            inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
            inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
            inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
            nd6 options=3<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV>

In this example, the following devices were displayed:

- `dc0`: The first Ethernet interface

- `dc1`: The second Ethernet interface

- `lo0`: The loopback device

FreeBSD uses the driver name followed by the order in which one the card is detected at the kernel boot to name the network card. For example `sis2` would be the third network card on the system using the sis(4) driver.

In this example, the `dc0` device is up and running. The key indicators are:

1. `UP` means that the card is configured and ready.

2. The card has an Internet (`inet`) address (in this case `192.168.1.3`).

3. It has a valid subnet mask (`netmask`; `0xffffff00` is the same as `255.255.255.0`).

4. It has a valid broadcast address (in this case, `192.168.1.255`).

5. The MAC address of the card (`ether`) is `00:a0:cc:da:da:da`

6. The physical media selection is on autoselection mode (`media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)`). In this example, `dc1` was configured to run with `10baseT/UTP` media. For more information on available media types for a driver, refer to its manual page.

7. The status of the link (`status`) is `active`, indicating that the carrier signal is detected. For `dc1`, the `status: no carrier` status is normal when an Ethernet cable is not plugged into the card.

If the ifconfig(8) output had shown something similar to:

    dc0: flags=8843<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
            options=80008<VLAN_MTU,LINKSTATE>
            ether 00:a0:cc:da:da:da
            media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
            status: active

it would indicate the card has not been configured.

To configure the card, you will need `root` privileges. The network card configuration can be performed from the command line with ifconfig(8) but will not persist after a reboot unless the network card's configuration is also added to `/etc/rc.conf` using an editor. Add a line for each network card present on the system, as seen in this example:

    ifconfig_dc0="inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0"
    ifconfig_dc1="inet 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 media 10baseT/UTP"

Replace `dc0` and `dc1` and the IP address information with the correct values for the system. Refer to the man page for the driver, ifconfig(8) and rc.conf(5) for more details about the allowed options and the syntax of `/etc/rc.conf`.

If the network was configured during installation, some lines about the network card(s) may be already present. Double check `/etc/rc.conf` before adding any lines.

If the network is not using DNS, edit `/etc/hosts` to add the names and the IP addresses of various machines of the LAN, if they are not already there. For more information, refer to hosts(5) and to `/usr/share/examples/etc/hosts`.

> Note: If there is no DHCP server and access to the Internet is needed, manually configure the default gateway and the nameserver:

>     # echo 'defaultrouter="your_default_router"' >> /etc/rc.conf
>     # echo 'nameserver your_DNS_server' >> /etc/resolv.conf

## 12.8.3 Testing and Troubleshooting

Once the necessary changes in `/etc/rc.conf` are saved, a reboot can be used to test the network configuration and to verify that the system restarts without any configuration errors. Alternatively, apply the settings to the networking system with this command:

    # service netif restart

> Note: If a default gateway has been set in `/etc/rc.conf`, use also this command:

>     # service routing restart

Once the networking system has been relaunched, test the network interfaces.

### 12.8.3.1 Testing the Ethernet Card

To verify that an Ethernet card is configured correctly, ping the interface itself, and then ping another machine on the LAN:

    % ping -c5 192.168.1.3
    PING 192.168.1.3 (192.168.1.3): 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.082 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.074 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.076 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.108 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.076 ms

    --- 192.168.1.3 ping statistics ---
    5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
    round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.074/0.083/0.108/0.013 ms

    % ping -c5 192.168.1.2
    PING 192.168.1.2 (192.168.1.2): 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.726 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.766 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.700 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.747 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.704 ms

    --- 192.168.1.2 ping statistics ---
    5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
    round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.700/0.729/0.766/0.025 ms

To test network resolution, use the machine name instead of `192.168.1.2`. If there is no DNS server on the network, `/etc/hosts` must first be configured.

### 12.8.3.2 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting hardware and software configurations is always a pain, and a pain which can be alleviated by checking the simple things first. Is the network cable plugged in? Are the network services properly configured? Is the firewall configured correctly? Is the network card supported by FreeBSD? Always before sending a bug report, check the hardware notes, update the version of FreeBSD to the latest STABLE version, check the mailing list archives, and search the Internet.

If the card works, yet performance is poor, it would be worthwhile to read over the tuning(7) manual page. Also, check the network configuration as incorrect network settings can cause slow connections.

Some users experience one or two “`device timeout`” messages, which is normal for some cards. If they continue, or are bothersome, determine if the device is conflicting with another device. Double check the cable connections. Consider trying another card.

At times, users see a few “`watchdog timeout`” errors. The first thing to do is to check the network cable. Many cards require a PCI slot which supports Bus Mastering. On some old motherboards, only one PCI slot allows it (usually slot 0). Check the network card and the motherboard documentation to determine if that may be the problem.

“`No route to host`” messages occur if the system is unable to route a packet to the destination host. This can happen if no default route is specified, or if a cable is unplugged. Check the output of `netstat -rn` and make sure there is a valid route to the host. If there is not, read on to Chapter 32.

“`ping: sendto: Permission denied`” error messages are often caused by a misconfigured firewall. If `ipfw` is enabled in the kernel but no rules have been defined, then the default policy is to deny all traffic, even ping requests! Read on to Chapter 31 for more information.

Sometimes performance of the card is poor, or below average. In these cases it is best to set the media selection mode from `autoselect` to the correct media selection. While this usually works for most hardware, it may not resolve this issue for everyone. Again, check all the network settings, and read over the tuning(7) manual page.

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