On Tue, Dec 04, 2001 at 03:46:30AM -0600, Richard Rauch wrote:
> As I said before, I was looking for a nice automated solution.  (I would
> like to be able to just turn the laptop on and be able to ignore it until
> I get to the login prompt, at which time it should be fully configured and
> ready to go.)
> 
> I might as well, post-boot, reconfigure the network from a default as
> root, if the alternative is to have to babysit the boot process.
> 
> 
> I believe that the ideal would be to query the LAN to see which (if any)
> machines are talking to it---and from that list, look for familiar IP
> numbers as a ``signature'' for the desired config.  I guess that, from the
> silence on the issue, there's no way to do that unless the network is
> running something like DHCP.  A second place finisher is to try different

I guess one could write a tool that put the interface in promiscious mode
and lisen for arp packets, and deduce the IP network number from that.
But I don't think such a tool already exists.
And if there isn't much traffic on the network there could be long periods
without arp packets.


> configs with some of the more obscure ping options to poll for known
> network hosts.

Yes, such as ping for the default gateway. This seems the best option.

--
Manuel Bouyer, LIP6, Universite Paris VI.           Manuel.Bouyer@lip6.fr
     {Net,Free}BSD: 23 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--