Re: Specifying names for tap interfaces

[Darren Reed <darrenr%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On 23/06/2012 7:04 PM, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 10:43:20AM +0200, Gert Doering wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 05:42:36PM +0200, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
>>> a way to associate an interface name with its driver name is a must have. 
>>
>> I'm not sure I fully understand this argument.  Why does the driver name
>> have to be visible in the name of the interface?  I know that "all BSDs
> 
> I didn't say it has to be encoded in the name. I said there has to
> be an easy way to associate an interface name with its driver.
> This could be in ifconfig output, for example.
> 
>> have ever done it that way" - but then, you have it in the kernel boot
>> messages, for those who really need to know "ah, eth3 is wm, eth4 is em"...
>>
>> As a sysadmin, I find it actually somewhat annoying that my interface
>> name changes if I happen to swap a broken network card vs. another one
> 
> This is where label would help :)

Not really.

If the type of network interface card changes then the
configuration that specifies the label needs to be updated.

The goal here is to have the system probe cards and assign
them a name that is independent of the card/driver. This
then allows the card to be changed with no action required
by the owner of the system to update the configuration.

Linux's method associates names by driver type (eth0, eth1, etc).
HP-UX uses a similar approach with "lan0", etc.
Solaris (from 11 onwards) uses a more neutral name with "net0"
being the first interface, "net1", etc.

None of the above use labels or create extra complications
in order to deliver user-friendly names,

Darren