RHBA-2015:1338 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

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

Description

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

The biosdevname packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.6.2, which
provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version.
Notably, it provides the *dev_port* attribute for a new Mellanox driver and
allowing naming of FCoE devices to be ignored. (BZ#1158564)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, the biosdevname utility did not parse Vital Product Data (VPD)

correctly. As a consequence, names for network interfaces on Vindicator 2 Emulex
card were displayed incorrectly when NIC extended partitioning (nPAR-EP) was
enabled. VPD parsing has been modified, and Network interface names are now
displayed correctly. (BZ#1133523)

• Prior to this update, the biosdevname utility did not read Vital Product Data

(VPD) on NICs with vpd-r:2.0, which resulted in incorrect network interface
names when NIC partitioning (NPAR) was enabled on certain NICs. With this
update, biosdevname reads VPD data also in cases when NIC has vpdr:2.0, and
interface names are now formed as expected if NPAR is enabled. (BZ#1207557)

• Due to a scheme used for slot numbers derivation, the biosdevname utility did

not populate proper names for Virtual Functions (VFs) of on-board NICs. Now, the
scheme that enables VFs of on-board NICs can have proper names, too.
(BZ#1212449)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• This update provides an implementation of 10-GB Ethernet adapters naming

scheme from Mellanox. Now, the biosdevname utility produces expected network
interface names for Mellanox 10-GB Ethernet adapters that have 2 physical ports
on the same PCI device. The /sys/class/net/<iface>/dev_port attribute is
designed to distinguish network interfaces. (BZ#1003465, BZ#1084225)

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.

For details on how to apply this update, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/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 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• 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 Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)