udev won't rename eth1 in fc6

[sean]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> sean wrote:
>> Tried:
>> KERNEL=="eth*", SYSFS{address}=="00:a0:24:54:28:cb", NAME="lan",
>> OPTIONS="last_rule"
>>
>> udevmonitor after modprobe 3c59x gave:
>>
>> UEVENT[1179076823.191741] add@/module/3c59x
>> UEVENT[1179076823.199782] add@/bus/pci/drivers/3c59x
>> UEVENT[1179076823.236176] add@/class/net/eth1
>>
>> Note that w/out last_rule udev thinks it's creating /class/net lan.  So
>> this looks bad, but it actually does create /class/net/lan!!
>>
>> ls
>> eth0  lan  lo  ppp0  sit0
>>
>>
>> which worked! That is setting up ifcfg-lan caused ifup lan to work and
>> show up in ifconfig as "lan" interface.
>>
>> udevmonitor showed on rmmod:
>>
>> UEVENT[1179077431.405204] remove@/class/net/lan
>> UEVENT[1179077431.413955] remove@/bus/pci/drivers/3c59x
>> UEVENT[1179077431.421534] remove@/module/3c59x
>> UDEV  [1179077431.442336] remove@/class/net/lan
>>
>> But what I really wanted to do was create a symlink, so I tried:
>>
>> KERNEL=="eth*", SYSFS{address}=="00:a0:24:54:28:cb", SYMLINK+="lan",
>> OPTIONS="last_rule"
>>
>> This failed. Only eth1 was created.
>>
>> Also tried
>> KERNEL=="eth*", SYSFS{address}=="00:a0:24:54:28:cb", NAME=eth1,
>> SYMLINK+="lan", OPTIONS="last_rule"
>>
>> which didn't help.
>>
>> So progress. Any further suggestions?
>>
>> sean
>>
> If you want to create a symlink, instead of a name, then you need to
> change the name of your rule file so it is processed after
> 60-net.rules, instead of before. I am not sure that it will work, as
> I have not used udev to create symlinks to network devices, but your
> rules will have to be processed after the rules that create the
> network device in order to have a chance at working.
> 
> It might be better to tell us why you want to create a symlink to a
> network device, as there may be a better way to do what you want,
> and reasons why udev will not do what you are after.
> 
> Mikkel

I've got a remote machine that I'm upgrading from fc5 to 
fc6. I've done the upgrade, but 2.6.20 switches the order of 
the network cards. This is a real problem because the 
machine a long way away, and I administer it by ssh over the 
net.

I was able to talk one of the admins how to make grub boot 
2.6.17, so I'm able to connect.

I've been playing with the internal interface to figure out 
how to create persistent names for the network cards. I 
wanted to create a symlink for the internet ( external ) 
interface so that if all goes wrong, I can again talk an 
admin into getting me back on.

In any event, I did put my rule as 99. Same result. It seems 
that you can't create a symlink for an interface. I guess 
it's not part of the file metaphor, since it's a socket.

So lets hope it works, or I'll be talking with an admin for 
hours tomorrow.

sean