Wake-on-LAN (WOL) Configuration & Inventory#

This guide covers how to enable, persist, and verify Wake-on-LAN (WOL) across Linux nodes and Proxmox hosts, followed by a comprehensive MAC address inventory for the local and remote clusters.

1. Verification & Manual Activation#

Check WOL Support#

Use ethtool to check if your network interface supports the “Magic Packet” (designated by the letter g).

# Replace eno5 with your actual interface name
ethtool eno5 | grep Wake-on

Output Interpretation:

• Supports Wake-on: pumbg: The hardware supports WOL (g = Magic Packet).
• Wake-on: g: WOL is currently enabled.
• Wake-on: d: WOL is disabled.

Enable Manually#

sudo ethtool -s eno5 wol g

Note: Ensure WOL is also enabled in the BIOS/UEFI settings of the physical machine.

2. Testing & Verification#

Monitoring for Magic Packets#

To verify that the server is actually receiving the packets, use ngrep to listen for the specific hex pattern of a WOL packet on port 9.

apt update && apt install ngrep -y
sudo ngrep '\xff{6}(.{6})\1{15}' -x port 9

Action: Send a WOL packet from another device. If working, the packet data will appear in the terminal.

Client Tools#

On macOS (Homebrew):

brew install wakeonlan
# Usage: wakeonlan [MAC_ADDRESS]

On Proxmox/Debian:

apt install etherwake -y
# Usage: etherwake [MAC_ADDRESS]

3. Ensuring Persistence#

Method A: Network Interfaces (Debian/Proxmox)#

Edit your network configuration to enable WOL every time the interface comes up.

nano /etc/network/interfaces

Add to the specific interface:

iface eno5 inet static
    ...
    post-up /usr/sbin/ethtool -s eno5 wol g

Method B: Systemd Service#

If the interface method fails to persist after reboot, create a dedicated systemd service.

nano /etc/systemd/system/wol.service

Service Content:

[Unit]
Description=Wake-on-LAN for eno5
Requires=network.target
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/ethtool -s eno5 wol g
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now wol.service

4. Server Inventory (MAC Addresses)#

Main Cluster (Marc)#

Remote Cluster (Christian)#

Not Working / Untested:

• Mac Pro 3.1/5.2: Standard WOL commands are currently unreliable.
• Supermicro 10Gbe (enp1s0f0): WOL is not supported on the 10Gbe interface.