Free ethernet software for linux

NetPacket::Ethernet is a Perl module to assemble and disassemble ethernet packets.

SYNOPSIS

use NetPacket::Ethernet;

$eth_obj = NetPacket::Ethernet->decode($raw_pkt);
$eth_pkt = NetPacket::Ethernet->encode(params...); # Not implemented
$eth_data = NetPacket::Ethernet::strip($raw_pkt);

NetPacket::Ethernet provides a set of routines for assembling and disassembling packets using the Ethernet protocol.

ATA over Ethernet Tools are intended for use in conjunction with an ATA over Ethernet (AoE) driver for a Linux 2.6 kernel.

They perform simple tasks like listing available devices, triggering device discovery, and restricting the network interfaces on which AoE is performed.

Whats New in This Release:

This release includes a workaround for a bug in the dash shell where dash does not support POSIX math expressions like ...

n=1
echo $((n+1))

The ORTE is an implementation of the RTPS communication protocol defined by Real Time Innovations.

RTPS is an application layer protocol targeted to the real-time communication area. It is built on top of a standard UDP stack.

This protocol is being submitted to the IETF as an informational RFC and has been adopted by the IDA group.

CIP/Ethernet Library for Linux is the worlds premiere Linux-based software library for communicating with Allen Bradley ControlLogix Programmable Logic Controllers.

I have successfully completed negotiations with LSN of Birmingham Alabama to transfer the complete ownership of all things CELL related to them.

My motivations here are quite simple. I havent worked directly with a ControlLogix in the past 3 years as I am no longer in the Machine Tool industry at all. In fact, I seriously doubt that I will ever return to the machine tool industry - an industry not exactly known for its stability here in Michigan of late.

Anyhow, about LSN: they make cost-effective data logging / data historian products for a variety of platforms including Linux and Windows. They also use the CELL platform for their Allen Bradley based products. They have retained my services for continued support of the CELL library for the time being so there will be some continuity.

What I cant tell you is if any newer versions of the CELL library will remain under the GNU LGPL license. Obviously, any previously released version of CELL that was under the LGPL will remain under the LGPL - nothing can or will change that.

Versions going forward will be licensed at the sole discretion of LNS - not me.

I will shortly post a link to LNSs website page for CELL. They are the SOLE contact for ANY/ALL support needs for CELL.

Etherboot project is a software package for creating ROM images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be executed on an x86 computer.
Many network adapters have a socket where a ROM chip can be installed. Etherboot is code that can be put in such a ROM. Etherboot is normally used for for booting PCs diskless. This is useful in various situations, for example:
- An X-terminal.
- Clusters of compute servers.
- Routers.
- Various kinds of remote servers, e.g. a tape drive server that can be accessed with the RMT protocol.
- Machines doing tasks in environments unfriendly to disks.
- A user platform where remote partitions are mounted over the network and you are willing to accept the lower speed compared to disk.
- Maintaining software for a cluster of equally configured workstations centrally.
Etherboot can boot computers faster than from a disk because there are no delays in spinning up disks, etc. A moments calculation will show that even with a 10Mbit Ethernet, sending a 500kB kernel will take only a couple of seconds typically. With 100Mbit Ethernet it gets even better.
Compared to booting from solid-state devices, e.g. Flash disks, Etherboot has the advantage of centralising software adminstration, the tradeoff being the dependence on a server. This can be partly alleviated by providing redundant servers.
Etherboot can work with RAM disks, NFS filesystems, or even local disks, if desired. Its a component technology and can be combined with other technologies to do things the way you want.
Etherboot is usually used to load Linux, FreeBSD or DOS. However the protocol and boot file formats are general, so there is no reason why it could not be used to load arbitrary images to a PC, including other OSes.
Etherboot is Open Source under the GNU General Public License Version 2 (GPL2).
The components needed by Etherboot are:
- A bootstrap loader, usually in an EPROM on a network card, or installed in the flash BIOS, but could be put anywhere in the address space the BIOS probes in. For testing this could be put on a floppy disk or a hard disk partition. Some configurations may even be always run from a floppy disk (e.g. temporary testing setups or pedagogic uses).
- A DHCP or bootp server, for returning an IP address and other information when sent a MAC (Ethernet card) address.
- A tftp server, for sending the kernel images and other files required in the boot process. Alternatively, Etherboot can boot from an NFS mount.
- A Linux or FreeBSD kernel.
- Optionally, a NFS server, for providing the disk partitions that will be mounted if Linux or FreeBSD is being booted.
- Optionally, a RAM disk contained in the loaded image. This can be the initial RAM disk if desired.
- Software tools for building the download image, and tools for debugging.
Enhancements:
- This production release should now compile with gcc 4.x.
- In addition, a number of drivers have been updated, including e1000, MCP51 and MCP55 (nvidia), pcnet32, natsemi, sis900, and tg3.
- NetXtreme II cards are now supported.

/etc/net represents a new approach to Linux network configuration tasks. Inspired by the limitations of traditional configuration subsystems, /etc/net provides builtin support for:
- configuration profiles
- interface name management
- removable devices
- full iproute2 command set
- interface dependencies resolution
- QoS configuration framework
- firewall support (NEW)
/etc/net provides support for the following interface types:
- Ethernet
- WiFi (WEP)
- IPv4/IPv6 tunnels
- PSK IPSec tunnels
- VLAN
- PLIP
- Ethernet bonding and bridging
- traffic equalizer
- usbnet
- PPP (PPtP, PPPoE)
Due to its modular design, support for new interface types can be added without overall design changes. /etc/net consists of core scripts (stable) and GUI configurator (development). Both parts are licensed under GPL.

RTnet is an Open Soure hard real-time network protocol stack for Xenomai and RTAI (real-time Linux extensions). RTnet project makes use of standard Ethernet hardware and supports several popular NIC chip sets, like Gigabit Ethernet. Moreover, Ethernet-over-1394 support is available based on the RT-FireWire protocol stack.
RTnet implements UDP/IP, ICMP and ARP in a deterministic way. It provides a POSIX socket API to real-time user space processes and kernel modules.
To avoid unpredictable collisions and congestions on Ethernet, an additional protocol layer called RTmac controls the media access. A dedicated Ethernet segment is required to guarantee bounded transmission delays, but RTnet also includes a mechanism to tunnel non real-time traffic like TCP/IP over RTmac, thus allowing a "single-cable" solution for connecting control systems.
Some possible application domains are fieldbus replacements, distributed real-time computing, or video/audio streaming.
RTnet was originally developed by Ulrich Marx for his diploma thesis at the Institute for Systems Engineering, Real-Time Systems Group, University of Hannover (Germany). Now it is being maintained and improved by this institute and by several other contributors all over the world.
Enhancements:
- enabled IRQ sharing for rt_8139too and rt_e1000
- added x86_64 support (via Xenomai)
- enabled 2.6.20 build
- added loopback testing mode to rtnet script
- fixed cleanup bug in tdma
- fixed cleanup race in rt_8139too

VETH is a daemon that creates a virtual ethernet card in Linux. This is done via the Universal TUN/ TAP Driver. It is useful to request more than one IP address via DHCP with a virtual ethernet card attached to an existing NIC.

Linux has an implementation that does the work, but partially. Sometimes, this emulation doesnt work as expected. Because of this, I wrote VETH, to be helpful in this situations.

For example, if you want to have more than one IP address obtained via DHCP probably you know thats impossible. With VETH you can attach a virtual ethernet into an existent NIC card, and the run dhclient in it to obtain a new IP.

Perhaps you are saying "hey, man, dont mess with me, I can do that with aliasing. With an ifconfig eth0:1 I have a new ethernet". OK, perhaps, perhaps...

It isnt 100% true. Look at this scenario:

You have a DSL modem working as a bridge. You have a firewall with exactly 2 NICs, no more. One of these NICs is crossover-connected to your modem, and another is in your internal subnet.