Figuring out the MAC of a NIC

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Elledan

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - April 2010
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Which methods are there to find out what the MAC of a NIC is?

More specifically, I'm currently setting up an OpenMosix cluster and for the configuration of the DHCP server, the MAC address of each node's NIC has to be paired with an IP. I've currently 7 nodes (plus one server), and I expect to add more nodes in the future.
 
Well, one important detail I forgot to mention is that the nodes in this cluster are all diskless, so there's no OS on them until they've booted the OS they load from the NFS server, for which they first need to get an IP, which is bound to the MAC of each NIC. Can you say catch-22?

Only thing I can think of is to use something like a single FD Linux rescue disk. Installing each NIC and checking the MAC in a single system appears to be quite a cumbersome operation, but I might use it if there's no easier way.

Thanks for the information, though :)
 
Well, since the nics boot using bootp, you can sniff the wire and look for broadcast requests, and look at the MAC that generated them.

Ethereal works well for this.
 
Originally posted by JTY
The MAC is usually printed on the NIC as well.
Click to expand...
so perhaps find the nic of one card frin within linux/bootdisk then look for that number on the card so you know where to look on the other cards for the mac addy (unless it's obviously stated on the card or the cards aren't identical).
 
Originally posted by JTY
The MAC is usually printed on the NIC as well.
Click to expand...
Well, of the bunch of NICs I've just looked at (ISA and PCI, from various manufacturers), many of them have lots of numbers and stuff printed on them, but whether any of them are actual MAC addresses, I'm not certain.

Originally posted by XOR != OR
Well, since the nics boot using bootp, you can sniff the wire and look for broadcast requests, and look at the MAC that generated them.

Ethereal works well for this.
Click to expand...
Hmm... If I were to hook up one of the nodes at a time to the cluster's server, and then boot the node, it would be fairly painless to determine the MAC of the NIC in that node. Sounds like a great idea, in fact.

Got a link for Ethereal? :)
 
Originally posted by Elledan
Hmm... If I were to hook up one of the nodes at a time to the cluster's server, and then boot the node, it would be fairly painless to determine the MAC of the NIC in that node. Sounds like a great idea, in fact.
Click to expand...
Only kind I have.

Why is everyone looking at me like that? STOP SNICKERING, DAMN IT!
Got a link for Ethereal? :)
Click to expand...
http://www.ethereal.com/

A note for the humor impaired: No, I am not perfect. I make more mistakes before breakfast than most people do all day.
 
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