The best way to rename Ethernet devices is through udev. It is the device manager for the Linux kernel. Primarily, it manages device nodes in /dev. It is the successor of devfs and hotplug, which means that it handles /dev directory and all user space actions when adding/removing devices, including firmware load.
| Tutorial details | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty level | Intermediate |
| Root privileges | Yes |
| Requirements | Linux + udev Reboot required |
| Est. reading time | N/A |
Step #1: Find out the MAC address of the Ethernet device
Type the following command:
# ifconfig -a | grep -i --color hwaddr
Sample outputs:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5 pan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4a:71:40:ed:5d:99 vmnet1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:01 vmnet8 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:08 wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10
Note down the MAC address.
Step #2: Rename eth0 as wan0
To rename eth0 as wan0, edit a file called 70-persistent-net.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ directory, enter:
# vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
The names of the Ethernet devices are listed in this file as follows:
# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1680 (tg3) SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"
Locate and identify the line with the NIC from step 1 (look for the MAC address). It may look like above. In this example, the interface eth0 will be renamed to wan0 (change NAME="eth0" to NAME="wan0"):
# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1680 (tg3) SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="wan0"
Save and close the file. Reboot the system to test changes:
# reboot
Verify new settings:
# ifconfig -a
# ifconfig wan0
# ifconfig -a | less
# ip addr show
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Can i change the MAC address of a using udev rule. Actually i am getting random MAC for a Ethernet interface on my device. So i can’t rename that interface as in this rule MAC address is comparing.
Try using “macchanger”
Hi Rahul,
Probably you are looking for this. On my ubuntu (10.04-LTS) system. Its like.
root@ubuntu:/etc/udev/rules.d#cat 70-persistent-net.rules
# This file was automatically generated by the /lib/udev/write_net_rules
# program, run by the persistent-net-generator.rules rules file.
#
# You can modify it, as long as you keep each rule on a single
# line, and change only the value of the NAME= key.
# PCI device 0x10ec:0x8139 (8139cp)
SUBSYSTEM==”net”, ACTION==”add”, DRIVERS==”?*”, ATTR{address}==”64:63:62:61:10:02″, ATTR{dev_id}==”0x0″, ATTR{type}==”1″, KERNEL==”eth*”, NAME=”eth0″
Change here what you want.
Thanks for your reply. :-)
In my case ATTR{address}==”xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx″ is random, it changed on every reboot, so i can’t compare this.
I need to make it static first, is there any way to do this?
looks like you’re using some virtualization software, In that case, its the Virtualization software whether its Xen, KVM, Hyper-V, VMWare or any other, has the option to put the static MAC address. You’ll have to look out for the options..
Thanks Balvinder,
I am working on a embedded self designed card and i have only one option to put the static MAC by using kernel. But i don’t want to change the kernel again. So looking for udev alternate, if it is possible. Like i can change the device name, can i change the MAC as well?
Add this entry into your rc.local file
ifconfig eth0 down hw ether 00:C1:26:10:30:C5 up
udev rule initiate before rc.local execution, so i don’t think that will work.
Hi,
Thanks a lot
thank you man !!!!!
Helpful explanations, thanks !
This helped me a great deal after I seen that my network card started showing up with a p33p1 name instead of the eth0. Thank you.
Hi everyone,
Once I made the changes to 70-persistent-net.rules file (change eth2 to eth0 in my case) and reboot, the main adapter name have not changed (still eth0). Am I missing something? Should I check somewhere else?
thanks!
Fred
p.s. I am using CrunchBang
Thanks problem was solved
Very Helpful explanation… Thanks for sharing…
excellent. really helped me.
thanks
Excellent !!! When I search I used to add cyberciti… bcos I am confident that I would get answer :)
Thank you all…
same with me.. :)
excellent reall helped me.thanks
Nice