[SOLVED] dreaded ethernet device renaming

[Stephen Powell <zlinuxman@wowway.com>]

On Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:34:32 -0400 (EDT), briand@aracnet.com wrote:
> 
> Thanks to everyone who responded !
> 
> That explains everything.  I changed motherboards out from under the
> system.  So it appended the new eth to the old ones.
> 
> It seems to me that this is a really ugly user trap, even if it's a
> trap you get into replacing the old motherboard.

Yes, if the motherboard contains a built-in network interface, as
many of them do, then replacing the motherboard has the same effect
on network interface name assignments as if you had replaced a NIC card.
The built-in network interface has a different MAC address than the old
one, and that's how udev assigns interface names: by MAC address.  You
can get rid of your home-made udev rule.  This can also occur if you
(1) move the hard drive from one machine to another, (2) backup from
one computer and restore to another, etc.  It seems that everyone
gets burned by this at least once.  But once you find the solution,
you never forget it.

-- 
  .''`.     Stephen Powell    
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