What is the difference between mii-tool and ifconfig ?
mii-tool => only gives information whether the link is up or not, thus
used to see whether our drivers are properly installed and is our network
card detected properly.
ifconfig -> gives information about the ip set to the system, mak address,
gateway etc. also it can used to set the ip address temporarily to the
system like, *ifconfig eth0 *
Regards
Alex P
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mii-tool only works for eth? type devices: 1000baseTx-HD, 1000baseTx-FD, 100baseT4, 100baseTx-FD, 100baseTx-HD, 10baseT-FD, 10baseT-HD.
ifconfig works for any network interface
ifconfig is included with OSX but I can not find mii-tool. Perhaps you were talking about Linux distros?
Under Linux distros the mii-tool or ethtool package are used to modify/change and view the negotiated speed of network interface card (NIC) i.e. it is useful for forcing specific Ethernet speed and duplex settings.On Apple – Mac OS X OS you will have to install Apple Ethernet speed & duplex tool to manage it.
Regards
Alex P
The mii-tool is used to view, manipulate media-independent interface (MII) unit status,Most of fast ethernet adapters are use an MII to autonegotiate link speed and duplex setting.
While ifconfig (short for interface configurator) is used to configure and control TCP/IP network interfaces from a command line interface (CLI). The “ifconfig” command allow the user to view information about the configured network interfaces and allows the operating system to setup network interfaces.
Regards
AlexP
mii-tool is old and obsolete. ethtool is the modern and far more capable replacement.
From an OSI point of view, ethtool (and previously mii-tool) are layer two tools. ifconfig is an layer three tool (IP, IPX, AppleTalk, etc…). However both tools exceed their focus as ifconfig, in Linux at least, can manipulate some layer two settings and ethtool can report driver/module information and hardware specific capabilities such as Wake on LAN (WoL) and some layer one controls such as which physical interface to use on multi physical interface network controllers.
@Gatewood Green
Thanks for sharing knowledge.
Regards
Alex P
What Gatewood Green: is right, as a Linux Admin you will use ifconfig when you are setting up your machine define ip address, subnet masks and gatweways. You will end up using ethtool as a Linux Admin when you are trying to resolve issues like why is the interface working half duplex or is there is a mismatch in speed rates between the host and the switch or Network Device you are attached to.
This is a very interesting post. Where did you get your information from ? great