Using persistent name on heartbeat

This document (3692218) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

Situation

On a system with multiple network devices that have different drivers, it could happen that interface names for these devices switch randomly at every boot. This will confuse heartbeat because the configuration is related to the device names like eth0, eth1, etc.

Resolution

To avoid this problem, the network devices name has to relate to the MAC-Adress of the Network Card. This can be done with the persistent name option.

On a heartbeat system, the following steps are required:

Add the option PERSISTENT_NAME to the file /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth-id*
e.g. PERSISTENT_NAME='nic0'
(Important: Do not use any default name like eth0, eth1, etc.)
Add the given persistent name also to the file /etc/ha.d/haresourses.
E.g. "bs1 192.168.0.0/16/nic0 drbddisk::drbd0 ..."
Reboot the system.
Note: simply restarting the network does not work.
(for more information see the documentation on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server CD1)

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.