xref: /openbmc/linux/Documentation/networking/alias.rst (revision 3eb66e91a25497065c5322b1268cbc3953642227)
1*735dadf8STobin C. Harding.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
3*735dadf8STobin C. Harding===========
4*735dadf8STobin C. HardingIP-Aliasing
5*735dadf8STobin C. Harding===========
6*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
7*735dadf8STobin C. HardingIP-aliases are an obsolete way to manage multiple IP-addresses/masks
8*735dadf8STobin C. Hardingper interface. Newer tools such as iproute2 support multiple
9*735dadf8STobin C. Hardingaddress/prefixes per interface, but aliases are still supported
10*735dadf8STobin C. Hardingfor backwards compatibility.
11*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
12*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAn alias is formed by adding a colon and a string when running ifconfig.
13*735dadf8STobin C. HardingThis string is usually numeric, but this is not a must.
14*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
15*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
16*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAlias creation
17*735dadf8STobin C. Harding==============
18*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
19*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAlias creation is done by 'magic' interface naming: eg. to create a
20*735dadf8STobin C. Harding200.1.1.1 alias for eth0 ...
21*735dadf8STobin C. Harding::
22*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
23*735dadf8STobin C. Harding  # ifconfig eth0:0 200.1.1.1  etc,etc....
24*735dadf8STobin C. Harding	~~ -> request alias #0 creation (if not yet exists) for eth0
25*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
26*735dadf8STobin C. HardingThe corresponding route is also set up by this command.  Please note:
27*735dadf8STobin C. HardingThe route always points to the base interface.
28*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
29*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
30*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAlias deletion
31*735dadf8STobin C. Harding==============
32*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
33*735dadf8STobin C. HardingThe alias is removed by shutting the alias down::
34*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
35*735dadf8STobin C. Harding  # ifconfig eth0:0 down
36*735dadf8STobin C. Harding	~~~~~~~~~~ -> will delete alias
37*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
38*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
39*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAlias (re-)configuring
40*735dadf8STobin C. Harding======================
41*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
42*735dadf8STobin C. HardingAliases are not real devices, but programs should be able to configure
43*735dadf8STobin C. Hardingand refer to them as usual (ifconfig, route, etc).
44*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
45*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
46*735dadf8STobin C. HardingRelationship with main device
47*735dadf8STobin C. Harding=============================
48*735dadf8STobin C. Harding
49*735dadf8STobin C. HardingIf the base device is shut down the added aliases will be deleted too.
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