Test Day:2011-01-27 Network Device Naming With Biosdevname

What to test?
Today's installment of Fedora Test Day will focus on Network Interface Naming.

Traditionally network interfaces in Linux are named ethN. With multiple network adapters, both onboard and add-in, single and multiport, in modern server platforms, the naming of these interfaces is non-deterministic. Specifically, eth0 does not always map to Gb1 or Embedded NIC 1 as named on the server chassis. This makes the existing naming not very user friendly for administration.

This issue is addressed by assigning names to network interfaces based on their physical location on the system board. Biosdevname, which is a Dell developed utility, can suggest names to network interfaces, which are physical location based.

The naming convention followed is:
 * Embedded devices:    Image
 * Add-in PCI cards:  Image

Please find an example output from this naming convention here

Please refer to the following link for more details on the issue itself and various solutions we proposed upstream to address this issue which were unsuccessful.


 * Unsuccessful Attempts to Address This Issue
 * Linux Plumbers Conf 2010 presentation by Matt Domsch

Hardware Requirements
A script is available to determine whether your system will be impacted by the change. The following example shows how to run the script to determine whether your hardware can be used during the Test Day.(Ensure that you have dmidecode package installed before running the script)

$ su -c 'curl -s https://fedoraproject.org/w/uploads/3/38/Biosdevname-support-check.sh | bash' Password: Checking hardware requirements                            [  OK  ] Checking for SMBIOS type 41 support                       [  OK  ] Checking for SMBIOS type 9 support                        [  OK  ] Checking for PCI Interrupt Routing support                [  OK  ]

If the output of the script is  and any of the following checks is , your hardware is supported by biosdevname and you can take part in the Test Day.

For reference, the hardware requirements are:


 * 1) A system (servers, laptop, or desktop) with one or more onboard network adapter(s) and/or one or more add-in network adapter(s)
 * 2) System firmware/BIOS should implement an SMBIOS type 41 or type 9 record, or PCI Interrupt Routing
 * 3) Requirements for Testing a SR-IOV capable network adapter
 * 4) SR-IOV support (enabled in BIOS if BIOS provides the option)
 * 5) Single and multiport add-in network adapters with SRIOV capability

For more information on SR-IOV Please see here

It is strongly advised that you upload your hardware profile uploaded to Smolt according to these instructions

Software Requirements

 * 1) Fedora Rawhide
 * 2) Optional - the SMBIOS type 41 device type instance and string should be available in sysfs.  This will be available in sysfs only when BIOS implements type 41. If type 41 is not implemented, then   will be the fallback and this attribute will not be available in sysfs. This attribute is available on kernels with version >= 2.6.36 (includes Rawhide)

How to test?
At a high level, the testing will focus on
 * 1) Network interface names during install time
 * 2) Network interface names after installation is completed (after you login for first time)
 * 3) Required changes available in  config files
 * 4) Upgrading from a previous release (Fedora 14) to Fedora Rawhide does not affect the naming scheme that existed in the previous release

Install or upgrade to Rawhide
There are several ways to set up your test system.

Upgrading From Fedora 14 to Rawhide

 * You can upgrade an already installed Fedora 14 system using - for guidance, see yum update from previous release

Install Rawhide

 * You can install Rawhide with Fedora 14 ISO media - for guidance, see Install Rawhide using Fedora 14 ISO
 * Or you can use a special Rawhide install image provided for this test day - i386 or x86_64 . For guidance, see the installation guide
 * NOTE: if you use the rawhide install image, be aware that the 01-27 rawhide repo may be broken, try pointing to the previous day's rawhide repo instead: x86_64 01-26 rawhide repo or i386 01-26 rawhide repo

Boot into a Rawhide live image

 * You can download and boot a Fedora Rawhide live image - for guidance, see How_to_create_and_use_Live_USB

Complete the Test Cases
Upgrade Testing - These test cases should be executed when upgrading a Fedora 14 system to Rawhide. Please refer to the section Upgrading From Fedora 14 to Rawhide above.   QA:Testcase biosdevname NIC rules persist after upgrade - Verify upgrade from Fedora 14 to Rawhide  To have your system make use of the "new" names after upgrade, you need to change the device name rules in and any references to the old devices in. A script is available to convert device names. $ su -c 'curl -s https://fedoraproject.org/w/uploads/d/da/Biosdevname-upgrade-iface-names.sh | bash' The script renames the existing ifcfg-ethN files to match the new names, i.e ifcfg-emN and ifcfg-pciM#N names and changes the relevant fields in the ifcfg-emN file such as DEVICE to match the new name. The Script also makes changes to the matching rules in so that devices for which biosdevname cannot suggest a name are retained as they are. After reboot, your system should now be using the new names. 

Install Time Testing - The test cases in this category should be executed when performing a new Rawhide installation. Please refer to the section Install Rawhide above.


 * 1) QA:Testcase biosdevname NIC naming after install - Verify that onboard and add-in interfaces are named as expected during install time
 * 2) QA:Testcase biosdevname Automated Kickstart Installation - Unattended/automated kickstart installation using ksdevice=emN option

Run Time Testing - The test cases in this category should be executed when running a fresh Rawhide - either from the live image, or after performing a new Rawhide installation.


 * 1) QA:Testcase biosdevname on-board network interface names - Verify that onboard interfaces are named as
 * 2) QA:Testcase biosdevname add-in network interface names - Verify that PCI add-in interfaces are named as
 * 3) QA:Testcase biosdevname SRIOV virtual function interface names - Verify that Virtual Function interfaces are named as
 * 4) QA:Testcase biosdevname interface configuration - Verify that onboard, add-in, and add-in Virtual Function interfaces can be configured

Report your results
If you have problems with any of the tests, report a bug to Bugzilla usually for the component biosdevname. If you are unsure about exactly how to file the report or what other information to include, just ask on IRC and we will help you. Once you have completed the tests, add your results to the Results table below, following the example results from the first line as a template. The first column should be your name with a link to your User page in the Wiki if you have one, and the second should be a link to the Smolt profile of the system you tested. For each test case, use the result template to enter your result, as shown in the example result line.

Useful information to include in your bugzilla report include output from: sudo /sbin/biosdevname -d sudo /usr/sbin/dmidecode sudo /usr/sbin/biosdecode lspci -tv