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On | On Dell and HP servers with multiple network ports on the motherboard, name them lomX rather than ethX. | ||
== Owner == | == Owner == | ||
Revision as of 04:28, 14 November 2010
Consistent Network Device Naming
Summary
On Dell and HP servers with multiple network ports on the motherboard, name them lomX rather than ethX.
Owner
- Name: Matt Domsch
- Email: Matt_Domsch@dell.com
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 15
- Last updated: 2010-11-13
- Percentage of completion: 75%
Detailed Description
Systems, particularly servers, with multiple network ports, name the ports ethX in a non-deterministic order, and are therefore not useful for system administrators.
The proposal is as follows:
- update biosdevname to upstream release 0.3.0 (Done)
- ensure postinstall udev uses biosdevname in udev rules to name LAN-on-Motherboard network ports from ethX to lom[1234] (Done)
- have kickstart / anaconda use the biosdevname-provided name lom[1234] (TBD)
Benefit to Fedora
System Administrators can then use BIOS-provided names, which are consistent and not arbitrarily named, for their network ports. This eliminates the confusion that non-deterministic naming brings, and eliminates the use of hard-coded MAC address based port renaming which a) is racy and error-prone, and b) introduces state into an otherwise stateless system.
This is only known to affect Dell PowerEdge 10G and newer servers, and HP 5G and newer servers, that expose network port labels in SMBIOS.
Scope
see above
How To Test
- System-Under-Test must be a Dell PowerEdge 10g or newer server (PE 1950 III class, or R610 class), or HP ProLiant 380 (5G or 6G).
- biosdevname must be installed on the target system.
- erase /lib/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules file. This is where naming is persisted across reboots.
- reboot the system
- Following reboot:
- /sbin/ifconfig -a must show LAN-on-Motherboard ports named lom[1234]
- lom[1234] must correspond to the chassis labels. Verify using ethtool -p lom[1234] and watch the lights blink.
- /lib/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules should now have rules for lom[1234] and should correspond to chassis labels.
- Testing within anaconda TBD
User Experience
LAN-on-Motherboard ports will be named lom[1234] rather than ethX
Dependencies
None
Contingency Plan
None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour.
Documentation
Release Notes
- LAN-on-Motherboard ports on Dell PowerEdge 10G and newer servers, and HP ProLiant 5G and newer servers, will be named lomX rather than ethX, corresponding to the chassis labels. Add-in network cards are unaffected and remain named ethX. Existing installations upgraded to Fedora 15 will not see a change in names unless /lib/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is deleted.