Ubuntu
linux-source-2.6.17 package

Network interfaces keeps changing around...

Bug #73460 reported by Mikkel Høgh
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-source-2.6.17 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Brian Murray

Bug Description

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.17-10-server

I have a gateway server running 6.10 server, where I have three NICs, two of them are identical. These are how they're shown by lspci:

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
01:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82562EZ 10/100 Ethernet Controller (rev 02)

The thing is that whenever the box is rebooted, there's a random chance that the kernel will mix up the NICs, so that eth1 becomes eth2 instead, completely ruining my network setup.

I don't know whether this is in fact Ubuntu specific, but I didn't have this problem when I used Gentoo...

Revision history for this message
Sideris Michael (msid) wrote :

This is a udev "problem". You need to create udev rules, 3 in your case, matching the MAC address of each interface with the desired name of the interface. The reason you did not experience the same thing on Gentoo is because it does not use udev by default. Search on the web, you will find plenty information on how to write udev rules in order to prevent your network interfaces from changing on every boot.

Revision history for this message
Mikkel Høgh (mikl) wrote :

Ah, thank you for the tip.

I do think, however, that this behaviour should be standard, but that's probably a job for the udev people.

Revision history for this message
Mikkel Høgh (mikl) wrote :

Just a late note. You do not have to use udev for this. Instead, use /etc/iftab - as the file says "This file assigns persistent names to network interfaces."

This bug should be closed...

Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

This bug is being closed based on your last comment regarding it being fixed with a configuration change in '/etc/iftab'. Thanks for taking the time to submit this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.17:
assignee: nobody → brian-murray
status: New → Invalid
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.
Subscribing...

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.