Linux is not about choice [was Re: Fedora too cutting edge?]

[Horst H. von Brand]

Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

> It doesn't seem as sensible as being able to plug into a known
> controller position and get a known device name, particularly in the
> scenario where the drives aren't hot-plug and you want to access a
> bunch of new ones after a reboot and know which is which.  But I'm not
> interested in turning this into a helpdesk session about special case
> procedures.  The same scenario happens even more often when I build a
> disk and ship it to a remote location where someone else (who doesn't
> know anything about linux...) swaps it into a server with multiple
> NICs - and now we have to associate the right NIC configuration with
> the right cable connection.  In the old days if it was eth0 yesterday
> it would still be eth0 today, but that doesn't happen anymore.  The
> servers typically have 4 nics with 2 in use and it can be painful
> figuring how to assign the addresses and routes so the network
> connections work on a new box or a replacement OS.

Get them by MAC, not as ethX. I.e., here I have in
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:

  # Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
  DEVICE=eth0
  ONBOOT=yes
  BOOTPROTO=dhcp
  HWADDR=00:a0:d1:78:d7:c5

and the correct name is given to that eth.

> So, the generic question is, now that the system uses essentially
> random names for devices, is there a way, or a plan for a way, to deal
> with situations where many choices of new devices appear as a result
> of hardware changes, disk moves, backup/restores on new hardware,

... random hot(un)plugging, ...

> etc. and if so, will it require a GUI to deal with it?  So far I've
> only heard the notion that these things should "just work" and I want
> to make sure that everybody knows it can't "just work" because the
> system can't possibly know want I want to do with a newly attached
> device

The systen /can/ tell e.g. this is still the FooLaser printer serial
XYZ-ABCDE, even though it is connected through a different USB port today.
AFAICS, as things stand, the system is /not/ doing anything funky, it just
gives a way of finding out what is where (and the device has a clear ID);
and uses this if the device had been configured before. Things do get
tricky if you want to dd(1) disk images around, or are fond of serial
devices connected through USB-serial dongles, etc. But then you want the
system to do non-obvious stuff...
-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                   User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                    Fono: +56 32 2654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria             +56 32 2654239
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