Re: [gentoo-user] Problems with udev and network cards changing device name

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

On Thursday 22 March 2007, Neil Bothwick <neil@××××××××××.uk> wrote 
about 'Re: [gentoo-user] Problems with udev and network cards changing 
device name':
> Delete /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

It won't come back next time udev is installed?

> This associated network interfaces with MAC addresses, so the cards come
> up the same way each time. your problem is caused by the file on the new
> box containing the MAC addresses of the cards on the original box, so it
> creates two more. A similar thing happens if you replace a network card.
> Delete the file and it starts again at zero.

A little off-topic, but the recent addition of this file, along with the 
matching persistent-net-generator rules caused me some grief.

I know that MAC addresses are supposed to be suitable as a way to identify 
network cards, but everyone also knows that they can be changed easily.  
In fact, I'm lucky enough that both the built-in interfaces on my MB have 
invalid MACs (FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF and FF:FF:FF:FF:00:00) so the kernel 
assigns them random MAC addresses.  I assign them fixed MACs 
(<vendor>:FA:CA:DE) and (<vendor>:EF:FA:CE) using the macchanger features 
of Gentoo's net init script.  This had worked since I got the MB, and 
wasn't something I really wanted to change.

With the new udev scripts in place, the pair of interfaces gradually 
increased their number to eth10 and eth11 (rebooting due to unrelated 
issues), which made my init scripts so longer run and left me manually 
starting the interfaces (not fun).

I didn't want to delete the files, although I didn't need them, under the 
fear that they'd just keep coming back.  The persistent-net rules script 
looked quite editable, so I (finally) learned how to write my own, useful 
udev rules, so force the identification I've always known and loved (ethX 
by PCI device number).

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