[U-Boot-Users] U-boot automatic selection of redundant ethern et interfaces?

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Mark,

in message <9901EE1E8F8BD3119109009027A1B5F596AEBC at DIGINET2> you wrote:
> 
> Here is a quick snippet of the config file :-
...
> To be honest this is all I had to change, the addition of the ethprime env
> variable certainly helps as well, I'm not sure that I understand the

Fine.

> intention of the code though. I was expecting the interfaces to be available
> similtaneously such that I could switch between them, perhaps this is not
> the case. I'll illustrate by using an example :-

The intention is to provide redundand ethernet  interfaces,  so  that
U-Boot  will  start  using the "primary" interface (as defined by the
"ethprime" environment variable), but will  automagically  switch  to
the alternative interface(s) if a transfer fails.

> BEDBUG:ready
> Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
> /******Ping using FCC2*******/
> => ping 192.168.0.121
> host 192.168.0.121 is alive
> 
> /******Now disconnect FCC2*******/
> /******Ping using FCC1*******/
> => ping 192.168.0.121
> ping failed; host 192.168.0.121 is not alive
> =>
> 
> If I switch the ethprime variable to FCC1 then reboot FCC1 works but FCC2
> doesn't. Like I mentioned perhaps the problem is my understanding of the
> intention of the code rather than any misconfiguration on my part.

I don't know if the "ping" code takes redundand  ethernet  interfaces
into  account,  i. e. if it will toggle interfaces. I don't even know
if this makes sense - "ping" is  intended  to  test  if  somebody  is
responding,  and  it  makes  probably  no  sense  here to distinguish
between the remote ost being down or cable disconnected or  interface
broken.

It's a differetn issue with a  network  boot  (dhcp,  bootp  or  tftp
command)  - you expect these to work, and if they are failingit seems
a good idea to try an alternative inteface if there is one.

> And I'm eternally grateful! :) It makes life a lot more bearable knowing
> that someone out there knows the solution to every problem!

Every problem? You must be joking!

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
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