Biosdevnamebased

Biosdevnamebased is a network interface naming policy used on some Linux systems to derive interface names from BIOS or firmware–provided identifiers. It represents a compatibility-oriented approach that aligns interface names with the device’s firmware label or hardware topology, rather than using names purely based on the PCI location or arbitrary assignment.

Origin and mechanism: The concept originates from the biosdevname project, which maps physical network devices to stable names based on information exposed by the NICs and system firmware. When a system is configured for biosdevnamebased naming, the device manager (udev/systemd in many distributions) applies rules that assign names reflecting the BIOS/firmware identifiers. This aims to produce predictable names across reboots or hardware reconfiguration if the firmware information remains stable.

Relation to other naming schemes: Biosdevnamebased sits alongside other schemes such as BIOS-based naming and the more modern predictable network interface names (PNIN), which typically name interfaces using a location-based scheme like enp0s3 or ens33. In many modern distributions PNIN is the default, while biosdevnamebased is retained for compatibility with environments that rely on BIOS-derived labels.

Configuration and status: Enabling biosdevnamebased usually involves installing a biosdevname component and selecting a corresponding name policy in the system’s device naming configuration (such as udev rules or systemd-network naming settings). Some systems expose options to switch between biosdevnamebased and other policies, or to disable BIOS-based naming in favor of PNIN. Availability and behavior can vary by distribution, firmware, and virtualization.

Limitations: The approach depends on firmware- and hardware-provided identifiers being stable and exposed to the operating system. Firmware updates, PCI topology changes, or virtualization can affect the consistency of names. Today, biosdevnamebased is largely superseded by PNIN in many environments but may still be used for legacy compatibility.