iftab man page on CentOS

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   8420 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
CentOS logo
[printable version]

IFTAB(5)		   Linux Programmer's Manual		      IFTAB(5)

NAME
       iftab - static information about the network interfaces

DESCRIPTION
       The  file /etc/iftab contains descriptive information about the various
       network interfaces.  iftab is only used by the program  ifrename(8)  to
       assign a consistent network interface name to each network interface.

       /etc/iftab  defines a set of mappings.  Each mapping contains an inter‐
       face name and a set of selectors. The selectors allow ifrename to iden‐
       tify  each  network  interface  on  the	system. If a network interface
       matches all descriptors of a mapping, ifrename attempt  to  change  the
       name of the interface to the interface name given by the mapping.

MAPPINGS
       Each  mapping is described on a separate line, it starts with an inter‐
       face name, and contains a set of descriptors,  separated	 by  space  or
       tabs.

       The  relationship between descriptors of a mapping is a logical and.  A
       mapping matches a network interface only is all the descriptors	match.
       If  a network interface doesn't support a specific descriptor, it won't
       match any mappings using this descriptor.

       If you want to use alternate descriptors for an interface name (logical
       or),  specify  two different mappings with the same interface name (one
       on each line).  Ifrename always use the first matching mapping starting
       from  the  end  of  iftab, therefore more restrictive mapping should be
       specified last.

INTERFACE NAME
       The first part of each mapping is  an  interface	 name.	If  a  network
       interface  matches  all	descriptors  of a mapping, ifrename attempt to
       change the name of the interface to the interface  name	given  by  the
       mapping.

       The  interface name of a mapping is either a plain interface name (such
       as eth2 or wlan1) or a interface name pattern containing a single wild‐
       card  (such as eth* or wlan*).  In case of wildcard, the kernel replace
       the '*' with the lowest available integer making	 this  interface  name
       unique.	Note  that  wildcard  is  only	supported for kernel 2.6.1 and
       2.4.30 and later.

       It is discouraged to try to map interfaces to default interfaces	 names
       such  as eth0, wlan0 or ppp0.  The kernel use those as the default name
       for any new interface, therefore most likely an interface will  already
       use this name and prevent ifrename to use it. Even if you use takeover,
       the interface may already be up in some cases.  Not  using  those  name
       will allow you to immediately spot unconfigured or new interfaces.
       Good  names are either totally unique and meaningfull, such as mydsl or
       privatehub, or use larger integer, such as eth5 or wlan5.   The	second
       type is usually easier to integrate in various network utilities.

DESCRIPTORS
       Each  descriptor is composed of a descriptor name and descriptor value.
       Descriptors specify a static attribute of a network interface, the goal
       is to uniquely identify each piece of hardware.

       Most users will only use the mac selector, other selectors are for more
       specialised setup.

       mac mac address
	      Matches the MAC Address of the interface with the specified  MAC
	      address.	The  MAC  address  of the interface can be shown using
	      ifconfig(8) or ip(8).  The specified MAC address may  contain  a
	      '*' for wilcard matching.
	      This  is	the  most  common  selector, as most interfaces have a
	      unique MAC address allowing to identify network interfaces with‐
	      out  ambiguity.  However, some interfaces don't have a valid MAC
	      address until they are brought  up,  in  such  case  using  this
	      selector is tricky.

       arp arp type
	      Matches  the  ARP	 Type (also called Link Type) of the interface
	      with the specified ARP type. The ARP Type of the	interface  can
	      be shown using ifconfig(8) or ip(8).
	      This  selector  is  useful when a driver create multiple network
	      interfaces for a single network card.

       driver driver name
	      Matches the Driver Name of  the  interface  with	the  specified
	      driver name. The Driver Name of the interface can be shown using
	      ethtool -i(8).

       businfo bus information
	      Matches the Bus Information of the interface with the  specified
	      bus  information.	 The  Bus  Information of the interface can be
	      shown using ethtool -i(8).

       firmware firmware revision
	      Matches the Firmware Revision of the interface with the firmware
	      revision information. The Firmware Revision of the interface can
	      be shown using ethtool -i(8).

       baseaddress base address
	      Matches the Base Address of the  interface  with	the  specified
	      base  address.  The  Base	 Address of the interface can be shown
	      using ifconfig(8).
	      Because most cards use dynamic allocation of the	Base  Address,
	      this selector is only useful for ISA and EISA cards.

       irq irq line
	      Matches the IRQ Line (interrupt) of the interface with the spec‐
	      ified IRQ line. The IRQ Line of the interface can be shown using
	      ifconfig(8).
	      Because there are IRQ Lines may be shared, this selector is usu‐
	      ally not sufficient to uniquely identify an interface.

       iwproto wireless protocol
	      Matches the Wireless Protocol of the interface with  the	speci‐
	      fied  wireless  protocol. The Wireless Protocol of the interface
	      can be shown using iwconfig(8).
	      This selector is only supported on wireless  interfaces  and  is
	      not sufficient to uniquely identify an interface.

       pcmciaslot pcmcia slot
	      Matches the Pcmcia Socket number of the interface with the spec‐
	      ified slot number. Pcmcia Socket number of the interface can  be
	      shown using cardctl ident(8).
	      This selector is usually only supported on 16 bits cards, for 32
	      bits cards it is advised to use the selector businfo.

       SYSFS{filename} value
	      Matches the sysfs attribute given by filename to	the  specified
	      value.  sysfs  attributes of the interface can be read in one of
	      the directory in the directory  /sys/class/net/.	 For  example,
	      the filename address is the MAC address of the device and should
	      be identical to the selector mac.
	      The sysfs filesystem is only supported  with  2.6.X  kernel  and
	      need  to	be  mounted.  sysfs  selectors are not as efficient as
	      other selectors, therefore they should be	 avoided  for  maximum
	      performance.

EXAMPLE
       # This is a comment
       eth2	 mac 08:00:09:DE:82:0E
       eth3	 driver wavelan interrupt 15 baseaddress 0x390
       eth4	 driver pcnet32 businfo 0000:02:05.0
       air*	 mac 00:07:0E:* arp 1
       myvpn	 SYSFS{address} 00:10:83:*

AUTHOR
       Jean Tourrilhes - jt@hpl.hp.com

FILES
       /etc/iftab

SEE ALSO
       ifrename(8), ifconfig(8), ip(8), ethtool(8), iwconfig(8).

wireless-tools			 01 March 2004			      IFTAB(5)
[top]

List of man pages available for CentOS

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net