Consistent Network Device Naming
Consistent Network Device Naming is a convention for naming Ethernet adapters in Linux.
It was created around 2009 to replace the old standard ethX which caused problems on multihomed machines because the network interface controllers (NICs) would get named based on the order in which they were found by the kernel as it booted. Adding new interfaces could cause the previously added ones to change names.[1]
Scheme
The new naming scheme is:[2]
- em[1-N] for on-board (embedded) NICs (# matches chassis labels)
- p<slot_number>p<port_number> for cards in PCI slots, ports starting at 1 (not zero)
- NPAR and SR-IOV devices add a suffix of _<vf>, from 0..N depending on the number of Partitions or Virtual Functions exposed on each port
- Other Linux conventions, such as .<vlan> and :<alias> suffixes remain unchanged and are still applicable[3]
Adoption
The convention was implemented for Dell in a module called biosdevname.[2]
Among the first major Linux distributions to adopt the module were Fedora 15 in May 2011[4][5] and Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.1.[6][3] It was also released in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 2 in February 2012.[6] The newer Dell PowerEdge and Dell Precision models support the new names.[6]
An open source implementation is available, based on the udev mechanism now present in systemd.[7][8]
References
- ↑ Matt Domsch (October 9, 2009). "Network Device Naming mechanism and policy". LWN. Eklektix, Inc. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Fedora 15 Changing The Network Device Naming Scheme". Digitizer Linux News. January 25, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Appendix A. Consistent Network Device Naming". Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 documentation. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Sean Michael Kerner (May 20, 2011). "Fedora 15 boosts Linux security". eSecurity Planet. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Joe Brockmeier (January 24, 2011). "Breaking a few eggs: Fedora 15 changes network device naming. Fedora 15 pioneering consistent network device naming". Network World.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Narendra K (July 2012). "Consistent Network Device Naming in Linux". Dell Linux Engineering division. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ "Biosdevname - Consistent Network Device Naming". Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Matt Domsch and Jordan Hargrave. "Consistent Network Device Naming". Project web site. Fedora. Retrieved May 27, 2013.