Configuring network connections

Determining parameters in use

To determine many of the settings already in use by drivers installed on your machine, consult your machine's logbook or use the hwconfig(C) command:

hwconfig -h

Sample output from hwconfig

   device          address    vec  dma  comment
   ======          =======    ===  ===  =======
   serial        0x3f8-0x3ff    4   -   unit=0 type=Standard nports=1
   floppy        0x3f2-0x3f7    6   2   unit=0 type=96ds15
   console            -         -   -   unit=vga type=0 12 screens=68k
   e3B           0x300-0x30f    3   -   type=3c503 addr=02:60:8c:9f:ed:44
   disk          0x1f0-0x1f7   14   -   type=W0 unit=0 cyls=967 hds=9 secs=34

The fields in the hwconfig output shown above are:

device: the name of the device driver
address: the starting and finishing memory address of the driver's working space in hexadecimal; the starting address is often referred to as the ``I/O base address''
vector: interrupt vector
dma: DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel
comment: other information relevant to that device using the format parameter=value. This example gives the adapter type and MAC (Media Access Control) address.

NOTE: If you are configuring an ISA adapter, we recommend that you note all network configuration parameters in your machine's logbook.