how to change the name of wlan0 to eth1 in ubuntu 8.04?

christyyim · 03-19-2009, 02:19 AM

is there possible for me to change the name of "wlan0" of Wi-Fi card to "eth1" in ubuntu 8.04? What will be the command?

Thanks!

Didier Spaier · 03-19-2009, 02:47 AM

Either add an appropriate "ifrename" command to a startup script -- should be run before the interface is brought up --, or add a rule to /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules -- at least this is how I would do it on my distribution.

To know your WI-FI card's MAC address -- which you will be linking eth1 to --, see output of

Code:

ifconfig -a|grep HWaddr

christyyim · 03-19-2009, 04:05 AM

Thanks Didier Spaier for your quick reply.

However I not really understand what you mean since I just began with Linux OS

the output of the command "ifconfig -a | grep HWaddr" in my laptop was:

Code:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1d:92:51:af:27  
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1c:bf:98:b1:60  
wlan0:avahi Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1c:bf:98:b1:60  
wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-1C-BF-98-B1-60-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00

The reason I wish to change the name of "wlan0" to "eth1" is because I have to develop a program that need to differentiate between wired and wireless interfaces. Previously I worked in Ubuntu 7.10. It gave me "eth0" and "eth1" which has different index. In Ubuntu 8.04, it gave me "eth0" and "wlan0" which are the same index. Hence, I wonder is there a way for me to rename "wlan0" to "eth1" in Ubuntu 7.10.

How is the "ifrename" command works?

Any advices are welcomed.

Thanks.

Didier Spaier · 03-19-2009, 05:06 AM

To know how the "ifrename" command works:

Code:

man ifrename

To know how to write an udev rule:

Code:

man udev

or ask Google.

Nevertheless to differentiate between wired and wireless interfaces there are other methods.

In your case, a simple one is to check if the interface name begin with "wlan". If yes then it is wireless.

An other one -- more general -- is to check the output of "iwconfig" -- by the way somebody already told you that in another thread. For each interface, if you get "no wireless extensions." as an answer, it is not a wireless interface.