BeagleBone Black MAC address

Andrew_Palmertree · September 7, 2022, 12:39am

Hello,

I am trying to set a MAC address persistent through reboots for my BeagleBone Black rev c board. I edited the /etc/network/interface file with the following contents:

hwaddress ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

After rebooting my board, I still get the default MAC address.

Here are my questions:
Why does the MAC address not change to the one I entered in /etc/network/interfaces?
Is there a way to have a configured MAC address persistent through reboots? If so how?

Any guidance will be much appreciated.

RobertCNelson · September 7, 2022, 12:49am

What version of the BBB do you have? In most cases we pull cpsw_0_mac from the am335x onboard die to configure for Ethernet…

With Bullseye, i’m pretty sure all boards are similar now…

github.com

rcn-ee/repos/blob/master/generic-sys-mods/suite/bullseye/debian/bb-setup-mac-address

#!/bin/sh

if ! id | grep -q root; then
	echo "must be run as root"
	exit
fi

log="bb-setup-mac-address:"

#mac address:
#cpsw_0_mac = eth0 - (from eeprom)
#cpsw_1_mac = usb0 - (BeagleBone Side: usb0_host_addr)
#cpsw_2_mac = usb0 - (USB host, pc side: usb0_dev_addr)
#cpsw_3_mac = usb1 - (BeagleBone Side: usb1_host_addr)
#cpsw_4_mac = usb1 - (USB host, pc side: usb1_dev_addr)

#wl18xx      - (internal wl18xx eeprom)
#wl18xx (AP) - (internal wl18xx eeprom + 1)

is_mac_valid () {

This file has been truncated. show original

The smsc95xx on the green gateway has been the most painful…

github.com

rcn-ee/repos/blob/master/generic-sys-mods/suite/bullseye/debian/bb-smsc95xx-set-mac-address

#!/bin/sh

ifconfig eth0 down
if [ -f /etc/default/bb-mac-addr ] ; then
	. /etc/default/bb-mac-addr
	ifconfig eth0 hw ether ${MAC_ADDR}
else
	ifconfig eth0 hw ether 8e:37:6f:cb:4d:81
fi
ifconfig eth0 up || true

so please let me know which board you have…

Regards,

Andrew_Palmertree · September 7, 2022, 1:25am

I have the BeagleBone Black rev c.
I just got my board a few days ago, and I am still learning all that the BBB can and cannot do.

Here is the link to where I got my board if that helps:

I have the Buster version for my BBB.
This is the image I used:
[AM3358 Debian 10.3 2020-04-06 4GB SD IoT]

RobertCNelson · September 7, 2022, 1:30am

That’s just a classic BeagleBone Black Rev C…

Just grab either of the latest images (Buster or Bullseye)…

https://forum.beagleboard.org/tag/latest-images

and eth0’s mac address should be constant now days…

double check on bootup with:

debian@BeagleBone:~$ journalctl | grep cpsw

Mar 20 19:55:28 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: initialized cpsw ale version 1.4
Mar 20 19:55:28 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: ALE Table size 1024
Mar 20 19:55:28 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: cpts: overflow check period 1250 (jiffies)
Mar 20 19:55:28 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: Detected MACID = 64:33:db:76:d5:7b
Mar 20 19:55:32 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: initializing cpsw version 1.12 (0)
Sep 02 05:20:49 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 100Mbps/Full - flow control off
Sep 02 14:28:36 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: initialized cpsw ale version 1.4
Sep 02 14:28:36 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: ALE Table size 1024
Sep 02 14:28:36 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: cpts: overflow check period 1250 (jiffies)
Sep 02 14:28:36 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: Detected MACID = 64:33:db:76:d5:7b
Sep 02 14:28:40 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: initializing cpsw version 1.12 (0)
Sep 02 14:28:43 BeagleBone kernel: cpsw 4a100000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 100Mbps/Full - flow control off

debian@BeagleBone:~$ journalctl | grep mac

Mar 20 19:55:29 BeagleBone systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Commit a transient machine-id on disk being skipped.
Mar 20 19:55:28 BeagleBone systemd-modules-load[538]: Inserted module 'mac802154'
Sep 02 05:20:49 BeagleBone bb-setup-mac-address[618]: bb-setup-mac-address: slave@200: 64:33:DB:76:D5:7B
Sep 02 05:20:50 BeagleBone bb-setup-mac-address[618]: bb-setup-mac-address: usb0_host_addr: 64:33:DB:76:D5:7D
Sep 02 05:20:50 BeagleBone bb-setup-mac-address[618]: bb-setup-mac-address: usb0_dev_addr: 64:33:DB:76:D5:7E
Sep 02 05:20:51 BeagleBone bb-setup-mac-address[618]: bb-setup-mac-address: usb1_host_addr: 64:33:DB:76:D5:7F
Sep 02 05:20:51 BeagleBone bb-setup-mac-address[618]: bb-setup-mac-address: usb1_dev_addr: 64:33:DB:76:D5:80
Sep 02 14:28:38 BeagleBone systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Commit a transient machine-id on disk being skipped.
Sep 02 14:28:36 BeagleBone systemd-modules-load[538]: Inserted module 'mac802154'

Regards,

Andrew_Palmertree · September 7, 2022, 2:30am

Thank you for your time and help.
It’s much appreciated.