RHEL – How to Identify Logical and Physical Network Interface Names While Installing the OS

When you are configuring the RHEL Linux OS while installing it, you reach a point where you must enter the logical and physical names (MAC addresses) of the network interfaces.

This topic explains how to launch a user shell during the Red Hat Linux configuration to obtain the logical and physical network interface names that you need to continue the configuration.

Before You Begin

Find and record the MAC addresses of all your physical ports from their labels.

1. If you have not already done so, type: linux rescue at the boot prompt, and then press Enter.

   The Choose a Language screen appears.

2. In the Choose a Language screen, select the appropriate language, and then click OK.

   The Keyboard Type screen appears.

3. In the Keyboard Type screen, select the appropriate configuration, and then click OK.

   The Setup Network screen appears.

4. In the Setup Network screen, click No.

   The Rescue screen appears.

5. In the Rescue screen, click Skip.

   The user shell appears.

6. At the command prompt (#) in the user shell, type the following command to display all network interfaces, and then press Enter.

   # ifconfig -a

   The output of the Linux Red Hat named network interfaces appear.

   If you have multiple network interfaces and the output of interfaces scrolls off the top of the screen, you can display the output per interface.

7. To view the output per network interface, type the following at the command prompt, then press Enter:

   # ifconfig eth#

   where eth# is the interface number. For example, if you type:

   # ifconfig eth0

   The output for eth0 appears.

   In the sample output shown:

   • The eth0 entry in the first column refers to the Linux Red Hat logical named interface. This first column in the output identifies the logical names Red Hat assigned to the network interface.
   • The HWaddr 00.14.4F.0C:A1:F2 entry in second column (first row) refers to the physical MAC address of the network port.

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     Note - This MAC address is an example; the MAC addresses in your server will be different.

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8. Record the Red Hat logical network interface name with the physical port MAC address for future reference. You need to refer to this record when configuring the network interfaces during the Red Hat OS installation.
9. When you are done, do one of the following to exit the user shell.
   • From the ILOM, select Remote Control —> Remote Power Control —> Reset.
   • From the ILOM Remote Console, select Ctrl Alt Delete in the Keyboard menu.
   • From other consoles, press Ctrl —> Alt —> Delete.
10. Restart the Linux Red Hat installation program.