Custom network interface names: Difference between revisions

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This article shows how to rename/change name of a network interface.
#REDIRECT [[Mdev#Custom_network_interface_name]]
 
Alpine Linux uses ''busybox'' ''mdev'' to manage devices in ''/dev''. ''mdev'' reads ''/etc/mdev.conf'' and according to [https://git.busybox.net/busybox/plain/docs/mdev.txt mdev documentation] one can define a command to be executed per device definition. The command which is going to be used to change network interface name is ''nameif''.
 
== ''/etc/mdev.conf'' configuration ==
<pre>
-SUBSYSTEM=net;DEVPATH=.*/net/.*;.*    root:root 600 @/sbin/nameif -s
</pre>
 
Here we tell ''mdev'' to call ''nameif'' for devices found in ''/sys/class/net/''.
 
<pre>
# ls -d -C -1 /sys/class/net/eth*
/sys/class/net/eth1
/sys/class/net/eth2
/sys/class/net/eth3
/sys/class/net/eth4
/sys/class/net/eth5
</pre>
 
== ''nameif'' configuration ==
 
''nameif'' itself reads ''/etc/mactab'' by default. Example line for a network interface with following hwaddr
 
<pre>
# cat /sys/class/net/eth0/address
90:e2:ba:04:28:c0
</pre>
 
would be
 
<pre>
# grep 90:e2:ba:04:28:c0 /etc/mactab
dmz0 90:e2:ba:04:28:c0
</pre>
 
== ramdisk rebuild ==
 
''/etc/mdev.conf'' is part of ramdisk
 
<pre>
# grep /etc/mdev.conf /etc/mkinitfs/features.d/*.files
/etc/mkinitfs/features.d/base.files:/etc/mdev.conf
</pre>
 
thus we need to rebuild ramdisk
 
<pre>
# mkinitfs $(ls /lib/modules/)
==> initramfs: creating /boot/initramfs-lts
</pre>
 
== finalization ==
 
To use renamed network interface without reboot, just call ''nameif'' while the network interface is down.
 
<pre>
# nameif -s
</pre>
 
And finally reboot...
 
[[Category:Networking]]

Latest revision as of 08:21, 16 September 2025