linux/Documentation/networking/alias.rst
Tobin C. Harding 735dadf894 docs: networking: Convert alias.txt to rst
The kernel documentation is now restructured text. Convert the IP
aliasing documentation and include it in the toplevel kernel
documentation.

 - Fix heading adornments.
 - Correctly indent code snippets.
 - Limit line length to 72 characters inline with kernel documentation
   standards.
 - Add license identifier.

Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
2018-07-18 15:28:27 -07:00

50 lines
1.2 KiB
ReStructuredText

.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
===========
IP-Aliasing
===========
IP-aliases are an obsolete way to manage multiple IP-addresses/masks
per interface. Newer tools such as iproute2 support multiple
address/prefixes per interface, but aliases are still supported
for backwards compatibility.
An alias is formed by adding a colon and a string when running ifconfig.
This string is usually numeric, but this is not a must.
Alias creation
==============
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
The corresponding route is also set up by this command. Please note:
The route always points to the base interface.
Alias deletion
==============
The alias is removed by shutting the alias down::
# ifconfig eth0:0 down
~~~~~~~~~~ -> will delete alias
Alias (re-)configuring
======================
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
=============================
If the base device is shut down the added aliases will be deleted too.