Installed new NIC, old interface got renamed

charfix

Member
Dec 2, 2022
15
1
8
I added a PCI NIC and couldn't SSH in after reboot.
I turned out that the integrated NIC go renamed from enp7s0 to enp10s0. The old one stopped showing up when ip a.
After I manually updated its name in /etc/network/interfaces I was able to connect to the node.

This behavior is surprising, and seems to fall outside the logic of "Predictable Network Interface Names".
Anyone know why this might have happened? Is this likely to interfere with the custom interface naming described elsewhere on the forum.
 
It appears that the installation of a PCI network interface card led to the renaming of the other network interfaces on your system. This may occur when the new NIC uses the same driver as one of the pre-existing interfaces, causing the kernel to change the name of the existing interface to match the new one. While this is a possibility, it is not a frequently observed behavior as PCI NICs typically have their own drivers and are not connected to the previous NICs.
 
I had a look at my integrated NIC and turns out you guess is correct. The new one and the integrated one are all Realtek.
This plausible understanding provides some measure of comfort. Thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Moayad
Is it possible to set the interface only by using the mac adress of it ? Or a setting can be put into the interface file to take the mac adress and not taking care of the name ?

i also play with the naming fix as setting in in a .link file into systemd/network. While it do change name, the mtu always stay at 1500 instead of 9000 set into the interface. An extra line needed in .link file..
To force using mac can be a way to not loose access when card get disconnect or addition put in..
 
  • Like
Reactions: majorgear
Is it possible to set the interface only by using the mac adress of it ? Or a setting can be put into the interface file to take the mac adress and not taking care of the name ?

i also play with the naming fix as setting in in a .link file into systemd/network. While it do change name, the mtu always stay at 1500 instead of 9000 set into the interface. An extra line needed in .link file..
To force using mac can be a way to not loose access when card get disconnect or addition put in..
That would be a great feature. I have to be careful when adding/removing PCI cards as I won't be able to communicate with my headless servers any longer. Add in that I pass the igpu to a VM for transcoding, and a NIC rename puts me in quite a predicament.