Messages in this thread | | | Subject | RE: [PATCH] pch_gbe: Use a randomly generated MAC instead of failing probe | Date | Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:20:45 -0000 | From | "David Laight" <> |
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> the tricky thing with embedded hw like this is that all devices might > end up with the same, read-only filesystem, so storing the > mac on the FS > and then loading it from there into the HW is... suboptimal. > > Would be very nice if busybox had a command that would check the mac > from each IF, and created the random mac from userspace > automatically...
Since multiple interfaces on a single system are unlikely to be connected to the same LAN segment, it doesn't really matter if they use same MAC address.
For a long time sun solaris systems used the same MAC address (based on the system id) on all their ethernet interfaces.
But yes, you don't want a 'random' number generator that might give the same value for cloned systems. You also really want a 'manufacturer id' for 'random address' so that they can't collide with anuything using real addresses.
David
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