ifdown. is it really down?

[John Cornelius]

Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 22:47:54 +0000,
>   g <geleem at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>   
>> Bruno Wolff III wrote:
>>     
>>> I don't believe that it is normal to power down the device when ifdown is
>>> run. So the device will still flash is traffic is sent to it.
>>>       
>> i do not 'power down'. i just use 'ifdown eth0' in a script.
>>     
>
> I think you misunderstood. I was suggesting that normally ifdown won't turn
> a device off, so it will still see ethernet traffic sent to it.
>   
Even if it is powered down it is likely that one of the LEDs will flash 
when traffic appears on the line. If both LEDs flash then it hasn't come 
down and you can be concerned but many NICs' LEDs will flash even if the 
computer is powered off if it is attached to an active Ethernet.

You are correct, however, that 'ifdown' does not power the device off, 
it only takes the interface down.

John Cornelius