centos man page for nameif

NAMEIF(8)						Linux System Administrator's Manual						 NAMEIF(8)

NAME
       nameif - name network interfaces based on MAC addresses

SYNOPSIS
       nameif [-c configfile] [-s]
       nameif [-c configfile] [-s] {interface macaddress}

NOTE
       This program is obsolete. For replacement check ip link.  This functionality is also much better provided by udev methods.

DESCRIPTION
       nameif  renames	network  interfaces  based on mac addresses. When no arguments are given /etc/mactab is read. Each line  of it contains an
       interface name and a Ethernet MAC address. Comments are allowed starting with #.  Otherwise the interfaces specified on	the  command  line
       are processed.  nameif looks for the interface with the given MAC address and renames it to the name given.

       When the -s argument is given all error messages go to the syslog.

       When the -c argument is given with a file name that file is read instead of /etc/mactab.

NOTES
       nameif should be run before the interface is up, otherwise it'll fail.

FILES
       /etc/mactab

SEE ALSO
       ip(8), udev(7)

BUGS
       Only works for Ethernet currently.

net-tools							    2008-10-03								 NAMEIF(8)