[comp.sys.sun] Software Ethernet Address?

beau@uunet.uu.net (Beau James) (06/27/90)

In <9267@brazos.Rice.edu> frank@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Frank G. Fiamingo) writes:

>To accomplish this we intend to set up a smaller machine, probably a Sun
>3/60 on the same subnet.  This machine will continuously probe Nisca to
>insure that its up.  Should it decide that Nisca is down it will reboot,
>coming back up with Nisca's IP address.  ...
>...
>In short then, we would prefer to make a change that is transparent to the
>users.  To accomplish this it appears that we need to be able to have the
>software of false Nisca report the hardware ethernet address of real
>Nisca.  How can this be done?  Are there other ways to accomplish our
>objectives?

The software can reset the Ethernet address of an interface with the
ifconfig(8) command, as in:

	# ifconfig ie0 ether 8:0:20:xx:yy:zz

Occasionally necessary when upgrading a CPU underneath an application
package that ties its licenses to Ethernet address, since Sun's ID PROM
contains both the CPU type and the Ethernet address.

Beau James				beau@Ultra.COM
Ultra Network Technologies		{sun,ames}!ultra.com!beau