No ethernet icon in Lion? I remember having an ethernet icon in Tiger and Leopard in the menu bar. This was very convenient since it gave quick access to the settings just like you need it for airport:



In Lion I do not see this icon anymore. Also, I cannot find any way to activate it?!
If you are missing the Airport/Wi-Fi icon you can enable this in System Preferences -> Network:



For PPPoE services the same option is available once you added the service to the list of networks.