Modern server platforms support an increasing number of network interface ports on the motherboard (Lan-on-Motherboard or LOM) in addition to numerous add-in (single and multiport) adapters. Traditionally, network interfaces are enumerated as eth0, eth1, eth2, etc., but these names do not necessarily correspond to the actual labels as seen on the chassis. This new naming convention assigns names to network interfaces based on their physical location, whether embedded or in PCI slots. By converting to this naming convention, system administrators will no longer have to guess at the physical location of a network port or modify each system to rename them into some consistent order.
- Stable network interface names across reboots
- Stable network interface names when you add or remove hardware
- Stable network interface names when you update/change the kernel or device drivers
- Stable network interface names when you replace a broken/defective ethernet card for example, with a new one
- Network interface names that automatically get determined without user configuration and just work
- The network interface names are predictable
During SAP workload provisioning operations, like cloning a VM, it is essential to keep the same network interface names on the target clone system as is available on the source system. In order to do this, you need to enable Consistent Network Device Naming in the source operating system. The next 3 sub-sections describe the specific steps to enable Consistent Network Device Naming on SLES, RHEL and Windows operating systems respectively.