eth0 Problems; RHEL 6

[ProfTheory]

ifcfg-lo

Indicated it is the only active interface.

ifconfig -a shows both eth0 and lo. Here's the thing, though: In my "Network Connections" GUI, eth0 doesn't appear (it should, right?).

Is there an ifcfg-eth script and if yes what does it say?

[bronzed_bison]

@ProfTheory:
There's no ifcfg-eth script. Only ifcfg-lo. (in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts)
The only files with eth in them are ifdown-eth and ifup-eth
The full contents of the folder are in one of my previous posts on this thread.

@Rubberman:
ifconfig just outputs details about the local loopback. ifconfig -a outputs details about eth0 and lo, both. Here's the output for ifconfig -a:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:2B:2B:99:06:CB  
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:18 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:720 (720.0 b)  TX bytes:720 (720.0 b)

[Rubberman]

Well, the ethernet port is seen and is active, but not bound to an IP address. What command are you running for the network manager? Or are you running the desktop gui?

[bronzed_bison]

Well, the ethernet port is seen and is active, but not bound to an IP address. What command are you running for the network manager? Or are you running the desktop gui?

I use the GUI ... I'm not familiar with too many network commands. If you have any that can do the job, I'd love to hear them.

I go to System > Preferences > Network Connections. That started out as blank, so I added a new Wired network, typed out my MAC address in there, set my IPv4 settings to DHCP (which is what it should be) and clicked Apply.

That doesn't work (I also tried rebooting after that, and then network service restart, but still nothing).

Just FYI, this all works in Ubuntu, so if you need anything from there I could fetch that.

Thanks

[bronzed_bison]

UPDATE: The network works even on Fedora 15 (USB boot). Since Fedora and Red Hat have the same framework, and since this doesn't seem to be a driver issue, I'm going to compare the sysconfig folders on either flavour and try to patch it up ... any ideas?

@ProfTheory: You mentioned earlier that eth0 was inactive. Any idea about what might activate it?

[bronzed_bison]

There was another recent post here: forum/arch-linux/180905-broadcom-ethernet-controller-not-listing-eth0-interface.html
The solution (wiki) was to add a line about the driver in modprobe.conf or rc.conf, since the Broadcom driver is not activated by default.
That was Arch-Linux, though. I'm pretty sure there must be some similar config file that I could check? Could anyone please refer me to that equivalent config file (I could cross-check with my Fedora too)? Thanks.

[dgarri]

Are you possibly running RHEL 6.1 (2.6.32-131)? If so maybe biosdevname is enabled. Try using 'ethtool em1' to see if you find the device.

[bronzed_bison]

Are you possibly running RHEL 6.1 (2.6.32-131)? If so maybe biosdevname is enabled. Try using 'ethtool em1' to see if you find the device.

Thanks for replying, dgarri.
I'm on RHEL 6.0 (2.6.32-71). Also, the em1 command returns "No such device".

[Lazydog]

No ifcfg-eth#? Might try to add this file with the following information:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
HWADDR=<Your HW Address>
IPADDR=<Your IP Address>
NETMASK=<Your Netmask>
NETWORK=<Your Network (I believe this can be removed)>
ONBOOT=yes

I hope you aren't using the Network Manager. Only seen bad things form this POS.

And a little background

ifconfig - Shows Active interfaces
ifconfig -a - Shows all interfaces on the system both Active and Inactive.

[bronzed_bison]

No ifcfg-eth#? Might try to add this file with the following information:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
HWADDR=<Your HW Address>
IPADDR=<Your IP Address>
NETMASK=<Your Netmask>
NETWORK=<Your Network (I believe this can be removed)>
ONBOOT=yes

I hope you aren't using the Network Manager. Only seen bad things form this POS.

And a little background

ifconfig - Shows Active interfaces
ifconfig -a - Shows all interfaces on the system both Active and Inactive.

@Lazydog: Thanks for replying. My network's DHCP configured, so I created the same file but with some modifications:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

It's still too stubborn to listen ... damn.

By the way, if by Network Manager, you mean the the graphics interface under System > Preferences > Network Connections, then yes, I did use it before creating this thread. But I deleted whatever configurations I set up back then itself, so I'm guessing no worries, right?

I wonder what exactly is the problem here. I'm guessing it's not driver compatibility, since eth0 shows up (as inactive, though). The problem appears to be either driver activation (like in the Arch-linux thread) or network setup (scripts/config and such). Anyone know how I could narrow it down?