About physical network interfaces

Supported interfaces

The appliance supports the following network interfaces:

Physical interfaces
- FDDI
- Ethernet
- Gigabit Ethernet
Virtual
Note
For detailed information on virtual interfaces, see Virtual interfaces.

Naming conventions for network interfaces

The appliance uses the following interface naming conventions to refer to each network interface:

Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet interface names start with the letter e followed by the slot number (for example, e0) and the port number (if the adapter is a quad-port Ethernet card, for example, e1a and e1b) .
Note
Port numbering on quad-port cards starts from the top port.
FDDI interface names start with the letter f followed by the slot number (for example, f1 and f2).

The appliance automatically creates host names for network interfaces by appending the slot number of the interface to the appliance's host name. For example, if the appliance is named toaster, the host name for e0 is toaster-e0, and the host name for e1a is toaster-e1a. If the interface is an FDDI interface, the letter f precedes the slot number. For example, the host name for f1 is toaster-f1.

When to configure a network interface

During the setup program, at least one network interface must be configured. After setup, you can do the following:

As necessary, configure additional network interfaces, for example, if you are bringing up an additional interface on your appliance
Edit the options previously configured for a physical interface
Change the state of a physical interface
Note
You do not need to configure a physical interface that you want to include in a virtual interface. The only requirement is that the state of that physical interface is down. See Virtual interfaces for more information.