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

Fedora Test Days
Network Device Naming With Biosdevname
Date	Thursday, January 27, 2011
Time	all day
Website	QA/Fedora_15_test_days
IRC	#fedora-test-day (webirc)
Mailing list	test

Can't make the date?
If you come to this page before or after the test day is completed, your testing is still valuable, and you can use the information on this page to test, file any bugs you find at Bugzilla, and add your results to the results section. If this page is more than a month old when you arrive here, please check the current schedule and see if a similar but more recent Test Day is planned or has already happened.

What to test?

Today's installment of Fedora Test Day will focus on Network Interface Naming in Fedora Rawhide

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.

Naming convention followed is:

• Embedded devices: em<port>
• Add-in PCI cards: pci<slot>#<port>_<virtual function instance>

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 by Matt Domsch

Who's available

• Narendra K (irc_nick1) will be your host for the day.

The following cast of characters will be available testing, workarounds, bug fixes, and general discussion ...

• Quality Assurance - Tester1 (irc_nick3), Tester2 (irc_nick4), Tester3 (irc_nick5)

Prerequisite for Test Day

Hardware Requirements

1. Computer system (Servers/Laptops/Desktops) with onboard(Lan-On-Motherboard) network adapters and/or add-in network adapters.
2. Single and multiport add-in network adapters with SRIOV capability
3. It is strongly advised that your hardware profile uploaded to Smolt according to these instructions

Firmware/BIOS requirements

1. System firmware/BIOS should implement SMBIOS version 2.6.
2. System firmware/BIOS should implement SMBIOS type 41 record which defines a device type instance and string for onboard devices (network adapters included)
3. System firmware/BIOS should implement SMBIOS type 9 record or implement $PIR Table(PCI Irq Routing Table).

Software Requirements

1. The system should be updated to Fedora Rawhide
2. The SMBIOS type 41 device type instance and string should be available in sysfs. Other OEMs might export this information in a different SMBIOS type. If it is exported to sysfs, look for the following sysfs links.

   # lspci | grep -i ether
   01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20)
   01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20)
   02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20)
   02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20)
   
   # find /sys/ -name index
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0/index
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/index
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:02:00.0/index
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:02:00.1/index
   
   # find /sys/ -name label
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0/label
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/label
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:02:00.0/label
   /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:02:00.1/label
   

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 ifcfg-ethN config files
4. Upgrading from a previous update (Say Fedora 14) to Fedora Rawhide does not affect the naming scheme that existed in the previous update (Say Fedora 14).

Update your machine / Available Rawhide Installation Methods

There are several ways to upgrade your test system.

Upgrading From Fedora 14 to Today's Rawhide

Upgrade from Fedora 14 to Fedora Rawhide using yum -- for guidance, see yum update from previous release

Install Today's Rawhide

Install Fedora Rawhide using Fedora 14 ISO media -- for guidance, see Install rawhide using Fedora 14 ISO

Boot into a Rawhide Live Image

Download and boot a Fedora Rawhide live image -- for guidance, see How_to_create_and_use_Live_USB

Test Cases

Upgrade Testing

Test cases in this category need to executed when a Fedora 14 system is to be upgraded to Today's Rawhide. Please refer to the section Upgrading From Fedora 14 to Today's Rawhide above.

• Verify upgrade from Fedora 14 to Rawhide

Install Time Testing

The test cases in this category need to be executed when installation of Rawhide is in progress. Please refer to the section Install Today's Rawhide above.

• Verify that Onboard and Add-in Interfaces are named as expected during Install Time

Run Time Testing

The test cases in this category need to be executed when you are booted into Fedora Live Image. Please refer to the section Boot into a Rawhide Live Image above to download a Fedora Rawhide Live Image.

• Verify that onboard interfaces are named as emN
• Verify that PCI add-in interfaces are named as pci<slot>#<port>
• Verify that Virtual Function Interfaces are named as pci<slot>#<port>_<virtual function instance>
• Verify that onboard, Add-in, Add-in Virtual Function interfaces can be configured

Test Results

Construct a table or list to allow testers to post results. Each column should be a test case or configuration, and each row should consist of test results. Include some instructions on how to report bugs, and any special instructions. Here's an example, from a Palimpsest test day:

If you have problems with any of the tests, report a bug to Bugzilla usually for the component udisks, or gnome-disk-utility for bugs in the Palimpsest graphical front end itself. 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, if your system worked correctly, simply enter the word PASS. If you had trouble, enter the word FAIL, with a footnote indicator, and put a link to the bug report in the References column (as in the example line). For tests you could not perform, enter a dash.

User	Smolt Profile	names after install	names after upgrade	on-board ifaces	add-in ifaces	SRIOV ifaces	interface configuration	References
Sample User	HW	pass	none	inprogress	pass	warn	fail