[Bug 1686784] [NEW] no predictable names for platform (non-PCI) NICs

[dann frazier]

Public bug reported:

[Impact]
Systems may have NICs attached to the "platform" bus. These are NICs that are onboard, but not attached to a PCI(-like) bus. Rather, they are described by firmware directly. None of the naming policies enabled by Ubuntu by default matches these NICs, so they end up having unpredictable names. In the case where other NICs are attached (e.g. PCIe cards), the ethN enumeration race occurs, making it impossible to have an interface name that is persistent across reboots. That is, if you do a network install over "eth0", on reboot that NIC now maybe "eth3", which causes it to fail to start the network on boot.

The HiSilicon D05 boards are an example of this. It has 4 onboard NICs
that are described by ACPI directly, and may also have other PCIe NICs
plugged in.

[Test Case]
Boot a system with the characteristics described above, and check to see if any "ethN" interfaces exist.

[Regression Risk]
TBD - depends on the proposed solution.

** Affects: systemd (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Affects: systemd (Ubuntu Xenial)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: systemd (Ubuntu Yakkety)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Affects: systemd (Ubuntu Zesty)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Also affects: systemd (Ubuntu Zesty)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: systemd (Ubuntu Yakkety)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: systemd (Ubuntu Xenial)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Changed in: systemd (Ubuntu Xenial)
       Status: New => Confirmed

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1686784

Title:
  no predictable names for platform (non-PCI) NICs

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in systemd source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in systemd source package in Yakkety:
  New
Status in systemd source package in Zesty:
  New

Bug description:
  [Impact]
  Systems may have NICs attached to the "platform" bus. These are NICs that are onboard, but not attached to a PCI(-like) bus. Rather, they are described by firmware directly. None of the naming policies enabled by Ubuntu by default matches these NICs, so they end up having unpredictable names. In the case where other NICs are attached (e.g. PCIe cards), the ethN enumeration race occurs, making it impossible to have an interface name that is persistent across reboots. That is, if you do a network install over "eth0", on reboot that NIC now maybe "eth3", which causes it to fail to start the network on boot.

  The HiSilicon D05 boards are an example of this. It has 4 onboard NICs
  that are described by ACPI directly, and may also have other PCIe NICs
  plugged in.

  [Test Case]
  Boot a system with the characteristics described above, and check to see if any "ethN" interfaces exist.

  [Regression Risk]
  TBD - depends on the proposed solution.

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