Re: eth interface enumeration order

[Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@osdl.org>]

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:52:56 -0600
Victor Secarin <vsecarin@paradigmgeo.com> wrote:

> VERSION
> With kernel 2.4.33.1:
> HARDWARE
>  I have a server with two eepro100 and one e1000 interfaces
> BEHAVIOR
> When the kernel boots the drivers report (/var/log/messages) the 
> interfaces they find and what they are named (eth0, eth1, eth2)
> 1. With the drivers configured monolithically in the kernel:
> e1000 reports eth0 and then eepro100 reports eth1 and eth2
> 2. With the drivers configured as modules:
> eepro100 reports eth0 and eth1 and then e1000 reports eth2
> PROBLEM
> 1. On a red  hat distribution, different interfaces may have different 
> configuration scripts, which assign IP addresses and more, and the 
> scripts are identified by the ethx name.
> 2. It is necessary to control which interface becomes eth0 as various 
> programs use the MAC address of eth0 to identify the computer. In my 
> case that is "lmhostid" and all the FLEXlm software,
> as I run a license server on that machine.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this.
> yours truly,
> Victor Secarin

Depending on interface names and ordering is wrong, you will get burned.
Modern distro's with 2.6 use udev and scripts to control naming.

For older systems, see ifrename(8)

-- 
Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@osdl.org>

All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.