I've put together a rc.d script [1] for renaming ethernet devices at boot time, keeping MAC address <-> devname mappings consistent. This isn't typically needed on PCIe systems, but for systems with multiple USB ethernet (ue) devices, which seem to like to come up in non-deterministic order, it is very helpful; doubly so when the system in question is a router / firewall where the network config and security concerns vary wildly from one device to the next. It could also be of use for traditional NICs (PCIe) when adding a new card to a system, for example, and ensuring that the existing, previously configured device sticks to the MAC address, and not having to worry about which ends up /dev/xxxN vs /dev/xxxM. The script inserts itself before netif, waits an adjustable delay for the expected devices to appear, and then renames them as requested by the user. All of the device configuration, pf, etc., can be written with the new names. It does not attempt to automatically handle devices added after boot. Perhaps there is some other (pre-existing) way to handle this, but all of the Google-fu I've thrown at it returns "you could write a script to rename then at boot" ... so I did. If there is a simple knob I've missed, please point me at it close this at. It came up recently [2] in freebsd-stable, and a suggestion was made to file a PR for either base / port inclusion, so here we are. Having never gone through the process here before, please let me know if there are any changes I can make on my end to accommodate this. As the installation is placement of a single rc.d script, I don't have any installation scripts currently in place. [1] https://github.com/eborisch/ethname [2] https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2016-September/085479.html
take
Would you like this as a port or would you prefer this in base?
My initial reaction would be ports. If enough people use it and decide it's the best thing since sliced bread, it can always be moved into base. That said, I'll defer to your judgement.
This tool was mentioned on the BSDNow podcast. Alan mentioned in passing avoiding a config file and doing it all in rc. Seemed like a good idea, so I did it.
See also my PR from 2007, trying to get similar functionality in base: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=118111 There I added to the existing /etc/network.subr ifnet_rename() function, which is called from /etc/rc.d/netif start.
I'll take a look at it. Thanks!
ping!
Hi! Thanks for the ping. This one slipped through the cracks.
If the desire is to move this functionality into base, Thomas's patch in bug #118111 is likely the right way to go -- integrated as part of netif, as opposed to a precursor to netif.
What is the status of this one? I'm in the exact same situation as Thomas Hurst in bug #18111.
I've just updated #118111 with a patch that applies against CURRENT.
I've updated ethname to have a more succinct configuration: ethname_enable="YES" ethname_external_mac="aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:00" Will make sure the ethernet device with the matching MAC will be named 'external'.
If someone can QA this (portlint, poudriere), I can look to commit it to ports. ^Triage: - Can't be in progress without an Assignee, set to Open accordingly
Created attachment 212287 [details] shar-file of potential new port. (v2.0.1) Here is a shar file with a port for this package. There isn't much to it; runs make install, which installs ${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/etc/rc.d/ethname and ${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/share/ethname/README.md.
Portlint passes with: WARN: /usr/ports/sysutils/ethname/pkg-descr: contains less than 3 lines, make it longer if possible.(currently 1 line) 0 fatal errors and 1 warning found. "Building" (trivial since the make only makes directories and copies the script and help files) succeeds with Synth.
Anything I can do to move this forward? I recently migrated a machine where I wasn't using this, and was quickly reminded how nice it is to have; the ethernet device on the new machine is a different vendor; so there are multiple places to go through and fix up the name after update, while on system with this, it's a single place to update the MAC address...
The (much smaller) patch in bug #118111 is still a great option, too, but requires changes in base, while this exists as a stand-alone port. Either way, it would be nice to see something move forward for this. This version also permits renaming interfaces to each other (swap en0 and en1, for example) if you wanted to do that for some reason.
Hi, Just stumbled upon this one via Twitter (like others too) :) Would love to see it in ports so everyone can choose on his/her own how to handle it. Added the port to my build env - portlint -A claims about too few lines which should be easy to fix - poudriere testport runs fine on 12.1 and 11.3 64bit - poudriere bulk builds pkg on 12.1 and 11.3 64bit Best, Michael
A commit references this bug: Author: kevans Date: Sat Nov 7 05:24:07 UTC 2020 New revision: 554342 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/ports/554342 Log: [NEW PORT] sysutils/ethname: boot-time (re)naming of ethernet devices by MAC An rc-script for pinning an ethernet network name to a MAC address. -- This isn't typically needed on PCIe systems, but for systems with multiple USB ethernet (ue) devices, which seem to like to come up in non-deterministic order, it is very helpful; doubly so when the system in question is a router / firewall where the network config and security concerns vary wildly from one device to the next. It could also be of use for traditional NICs (PCIe) when adding a new card to a system, for example, and ensuring that the existing, previously configured device sticks to the MAC address, and not having to worry about which ends up /dev/xxxN vs /dev/xxxM. The script inserts itself before netif, waits an adjustable delay for the expected devices to appear, and then renames them as requested by the user. All of the device configuration, pf, etc., can be written with the new names. It does not attempt to automatically handle devices added after boot. -- Usage is described in the script, but effectively: $ cat /etc/rc.conf ethname_enable="YES" ethname_foo0_mac="aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:00" ethname_bar_mac="aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01" # Optionally, otherwise it'll just enumerate all ethname_*_mac vars: ethname_names="foo0 bar" PR: 212480 Submitted by: eborisch gmail com Changes: head/sysutils/Makefile head/sysutils/ethname/ head/sysutils/ethname/Makefile head/sysutils/ethname/distinfo head/sysutils/ethname/pkg-descr
It's not critical, but I would perhaps encourage you to write a manpage for this when you get a chance. Obviously it will not be a massive one, and it'll probably nearly be verbatim the instructions included in the script, but it would be good for discovery of said instructions. Committed as r554342, though- thanks!
(In reply to Kyle Evans from comment #20) I’ve added a manpage if you want to take a look (up on GitHub). If it looks good to you, I can tag it as a release.