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Multiple Ethernet ports on the raspberry pi

Former Member

Hi all,

i'm interested in getting an additional Ethernet port hooked up to the raspberry pi.

the project is to create a home server (nas) and router from a raspberry pi, and I don't want wifi.

 

the final box should have both USB ports free for attaching multiple drives, or a drive and a printer(these are externally powered, not to be taken into account powerwise, the Ethernet port is the main issue).

the pi should be powered by an external power supply (although managing to power it from a pc's USB port will be awesome (using the console cable)

 

future upgrades might include replacing the second Ethernet port with an adsl modem or with a 3G modem.

 

i'm have experience with Linux. the electronics is the part I don't remember much.

 

I've searched and can't find an Ethernet add on board. I can't even find a USB Ethernet adapter.

I reckon it's because lack of interest though, and not cause it's not possible.

 

to make a long story short, is it at all possible?

 

thanks

Parents

  • Sorry to say but the performance is going to suck a bit either via  SPI or  USB, either way  you are going to end up sharing buses.

    Most SPI Ethernet chips already have drivers but you may have to compile them for the RPI  ( Probably still too much hassle!!!)

     

    A novel approach is to maybe use VLANs and a couple of virtual network interfaces on the PI but this requires an infrastructure that supports VLAN tagging etc.

     

    Probably the most obvious is something like the picture below where you get a cheap EBAY USB hub that's powered and bung some cheap USB-Ethernet adapters on it. This one has a DM9601 chipset and I'm sure I've had it on the PI and should work OK  if not a quick driver download will sort you out  ...Take the easy way out ....Good luck!

    image

  • in reply to Problemchild

    I have a question on this setup - does it work?

     

    Essentially I'm trying to connect two pi's to one pi. So I put a couple of USB-Ethernet adapters on a USB 3.0 hub and connected the hub to the master pi. I always see that only one of the child pi's can ping the master pi. The master pi shows IP addresses for both the Ethernets. And funnily, only the one that is able to ping the master pi can see both interfaces on the master pi i.e. able to ping interfaces - even though only one interface is directly connected to each child pi. . the other child pi seems to have an IP address but is completely blocked off. From running netstat on the master pi, I see an even more funny thing - when the pi that cannot ping the master pi is trying the ping to the master pi - the master PI seems to receive the packets on the right interface - but seems to be responding on the the other Ethernet interface! And so the ping fails!

     

    I tried with a USB host tethering cable and see the same issue - when one more than 1 cable is connected. Has anyone seen this? Some issue with the pi? Some configuration?

     

    Of course, I can use an external switch and connect them up. But thats too bulky/heavy/ugly for my application and ideally I would like to connect them up "internally" like this. Ideally IF I can have a USB-USB network connection.

  • in reply to Former Member
    Shreesh  The good thing about Linux is that it allows you to debug these problems and work to a solution. You're almost there. What you have determined is that everything works, but that the routing to the "not working pi" is not correct.

     

    If you type:

    sudo route add -host <ip-of-not-working-pi> eth<number of the correct interface>

    you'll have it working in less than a second. :-)

  • in reply to rew

    Roger,

    That was amazing! It just works now:)

    It took me two seconds to type it in though...! But great tip. Now I can return these USB-Ethernet and do it with the host transfer cables directly. Sweet!

    Thanks again,

    Shreesh

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