RHBA-2013:0434 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated biosdevname packages that fix multiple bugs and add various enhancements
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The biosdevname packages contain a udev helper utility which provides an
optional convention for naming network interfaces; it assigns names to network
interfaces based on their physical location. The utility is disabled by default,
except for on a limited set of Dell PowerEdge, C Series and Precision
Workstation systems.

The biosdevname packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.4.1, which
provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version.
(BZ#825142)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• The biosdevname utility ignored the SMBIOS version check for PCI network

adapters. Consequently, PCI network adapter interfaces were renamed according to
PCI slot and port numbers on systems with unsupported SMBIOS versions. With this
update, the new biosdevname utility ensures that if the SMBIOS version is not
supported, PCI network adapter interfaces are not renamed. As a result, PCI
network adapters are named with the kernel default name in the scenario
described. (BZ#751373)

• When using Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) with embedded network

interface devices, the biosdevname utility did not check the System Management
BIOS (SMBIOS) type of the physical function for corresponding virtual functions.
Consequently, biosdevname did not find SMBIOS type 41 structure for the device
virtual functions and did not suggest interface names for these onboard network
interfaces. With this update, biosdevname now looks up the SMBIOS type 41
structure for the device virtual functions in the corresponding physical
function table. As a result, onboard network devices with virtual network
interfaces are now renamed according to the biosdevname naming scheme.
(BZ#804754)

• The biosdevname utility did not handle PCI cards with multiple ports.

Consequently, only the network interface of the first port of these cards was
renamed according to the biosdevname naming scheme. An upstream patch has been
applied and biosdevname now handles PCI cards with multiple ports. As a result,
all ports of multiple port PCI cards are now renamed according to the
biosdevname naming scheme. (BZ#815724)

All users of biosdevname are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
fix these bugs and add these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)