mii-tool and ethtool

[cciesec2006]

Avoid mii-tool at all cost. It is not reliable. See below:

[Expert@gw1]# mii-tool eth13
eth13: negotiated 100baseTx-FD flow-control, link ok
[Expert@gw1]#
[Expert@gw1]#
[Expert@gw1]#
[Expert@gw1]# ethtool eth13
Settings for eth13:
Supported ports: [ TP ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: Twisted Pair
PHYAD: 1
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: g
Wake-on: d
Link detected: yes
[Expert@gw1]#

[melipla]

Aye mii-tool doesn't appear to report >100mbps links properly. Its handy for getting a quick report of all the interfaces link state.

[cciesec2006]

Originally Posted by melipla

Aye mii-tool doesn't appear to report >100mbps links properly. Its handy for getting a quick report of all the interfaces link state.

That's not true. See below:

[Expert@gw2]# ifconfig -a | grep eth
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:76:18:C6
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:76:18:C7
eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:76:D4:FC
eth3 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:76:D4:FD
eth4 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7C:F1:F1
eth5 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7C:F1:F0
eth6 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7C:F1:F3
eth7 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7C:F1:F2
eth8 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7E:0A:B5
eth9 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7E:0A:B4
eth10 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7E:0A:B7
eth11 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:17:7E:0A:B6
eth12 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:64:C3:6F:9A
eth13 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:64:C3:6F:9C
[Expert@gw2]# mii-tool
eth0: negotiated 100baseTx-FD, link ok
eth1: no link
eth2: no link
eth3: no link
eth4: no link
eth5: no link
eth6: no link
eth7: no link
[Expert@gw2]#

As you can see, mii-tool does not report all interfaces.

[melipla]

You've just ruined my day. ;)

As a side note, what kind of nics are you using?

[cciesec2006]

Originally Posted by melipla

You've just ruined my day. ;)

As a side note, what kind of nics are you using?

I use Intel PRO/1000 quad-NIC and dual-NIC:

Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - version 7.3.15-NAPI
Copyright (c) 1999-2006 Intel Corporation.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 1c:00.0 to 64
e1000: 1c:00.0: e1000_probe: (PCI Express:2.5Gb/s:Width x4) 00:15:17:76:18:c6
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth0
e1000: eth0: e1000_probe: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 1c:00.1 to 64
e1000: 1c:00.1: e1000_probe: (PCI Express:2.5Gb/s:Width x4) 00:15:17:76:18:c7
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth1
e1000: eth1: e1000_probe: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 24:00.0 to 64
e1000: 24:00.0: e1000_probe: (PCI Express:2.5Gb/s:Width x4) 00:15:17:76:d4:fc
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth2
e1000: eth2: e1000_probe: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 24:00.1 to 64

[rubber_chicken]

On a more fundamental level I always understood that mii-tool was only there for legacy stuff and that it was on its way out slowly. Ethtool is the new replacement and this should only be used. At least thats been my understanding so thats driven my sole use of ethtool.

[Izzio]

don't ask me why but mii-tool without arguments shows just only the first 8 nics.

On systems with >8 nics I usually create a "emii-tool" script containing following line (i.e. 12nics):

mii-tool eth0 eth1 eth2 eth3 eth4 eth5 eth6 eth7 eth8 eth9 eth10 eth11

and it is fine to find out the link state of the nics

Ciao
Maurizio