under vmware, cloned ubuntu VMs lose network configuration

[Scott J. Goldman]

Binary package hint: udev

When a vmware user clones a VM, unique hw identifiers, including MAC addresses, are regenerated so that they don't conflict with the original VM. So, after the VM is cloned, the mapping in /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules isn't really valid anymore. For the case of a single nic, eth0 will become, eth1, for instance. Network configurations will no longer persist.

For the sake of vmware users, it might make sense to exclude the vmware OID from participating in the MAC matching in /lib/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules. One might consider adding lines like:
#Don't use VMware virtual NIC interfaces.
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00-05-69*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00-0c-29*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00-1c-14*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00-50-56*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00-50-69*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""

at some point in udev development, i think this was actually fixed (see http://<email address hidden>/msg136139.html ) but the change must have been since reverted for some reason.

thanks!
-sjg

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: udev 151-12
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.36-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Jan 12 17:42:19 2011
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: udev

[Scott J. Goldman (scottjgo)]

err, sorry those should be colons, not dashes:
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00:05:69:*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00:0c:29:*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00:1c:14:*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00:50-56:*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""
ENV{MATCHADDR}=="00:50:69:*", ENV{MATCHADDR}=""