Do you refer to settrans command?
I don't use It, because I need to configure static IP automatically when I boot the system.
Because in my SMP machine the login screen don't reply to keyboard inputs, and DHCP locks the boot, the only way to login is boot the machine with a static IP address, and try to login using ssh.
So, the only way to fix the configuration is to add this in /etc/network/interfaces
I execute this command to find an error:
# settrans -fga /dev/netdde /hurd/netdde
I attach the image with the output. Feels that, during the boot, if the system don't get set connection, unload the driver.