How to identify a NIC
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Is there a way in pfSense (GUI and/or command line) to blink the lights on a specific NIC so that it can be easily identified? I'm setting up a new configuration and the trial-and-error process is cumbersome. (And I haven't guessed correctly yet.)
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I generally plug a cable in and check which interface now has link. Multi-port cards should progress in a logical direction.
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I think Intel NICs can do that via /dev/led.
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=em&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+10.1-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html#FILESSteve
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That's awesome. Works great.
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That worked for 2 of my 6 NICs.
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Necropost here, but I found another option that worked well for me. I thought it might be helpful for others arriving by web search. Similar to the above solution by dotdash, but it works in a shell and is not limited to Intel nics.
Physically connect or disconnect the port in question, then at a shell prompt:
dmesg
or
dmesg | tail
At the end of the output, you should see something like:
emn: link state changed to UP
or
emn: link state changed to DOWN
Depending on whether you connected or disconnected the port.
For what it's worth...