Re: IP_ALIAS in 2.4.x gone?

[Erik Schoenfelder]

Hi,

>>>>> "Alan Olsen" == Alan Olsen <[e-mail]> writes:

Alan Olsen> I found the problem...
Alan Olsen> IP_ALIAS is no longer needed in the config.  [...]
Alan Olsen> The documentation does not reflect that the alias
Alan Olsen> behaviour is on by default.

yes and sorry, you are absolutely right.  

Alan Olsen> I will submit a patch for the docs that reflects this so
Alan Olsen> others will not get confused by that.

great, this will surely help.  i've appended a first try how the
changes could be clarified.  please take this as a hopefully helpful
proposal (HHP for short ;-).

							Erik

--- linux-2.4.5/Documentation/networking/alias.txt-245	Tue Apr 28 23:22:04 1998
+++ linux-2.4.5/Documentation/networking/alias.txt	Thu Jun 21 01:41:45 2001
@@ -2,40 +2,43 @@
 IP-Aliasing:
 ============
 
+IP-aliases are additional IP-adresses/masks hooked up to a base 
+interface by adding a colon and a string when running ifconfig. 
+This string is usually numeric, but this is not a must.
+
+IP-Aliases are avail if CONFIG_INET (`standard' IPv4 networking) 
+is configured in the kernel.
 
-o For IP aliasing you must have IP_ALIAS support included by static
-  linking.
 
 o Alias creation.
-  Alias creation is done by 'magic' iface naming: eg. to create a
+  Alias creation is done by 'magic' interface naming: eg. to create a
   200.1.1.1 alias for eth0 ...
   
     # ifconfig eth0:0 200.1.1.1  etc,etc....
                    ~~ -> request alias #0 creation (if not yet exists) for eth0
-    and routing stuff also ...
-    # route add -host 200.1.1.1 dev eth0:0  (if same IP network as
-					    main device)
-   
-    # route add -net 200.1.1.0 dev eth0:0   (if completely new network wanted
-					    for eth0:0)
+
+    The corresponding route is also set up by this command. 
+    Please note: The route always points to the base interface.
+	
 
 o Alias deletion.
-  Also done by shutting the interface down:
+  The alias is removed by shutting the alias down:
 
     # ifconfig eth0:0 down
                  ~~~~~~~~~~ -> will delete alias
 
   		   		   
-Alias (re-)configuring
+o Alias (re-)configuring
 
-  Aliases are not real devices, but programs` should be able to configure and
+  Aliases are not real devices, but programs should be able to configure and
   refer to them as usual (ifconfig, route, etc).
 
-Relationship with main device
------------------------------
 
-  - the main device is an alias itself like additional aliases and can
-    be shut down without deleting other aliases.
+o Relationship with main device
+
+  If the base device is shut down the added aliases will be deleted 
+  too.
+
 
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