I ran into an annoyance trying to clone some Ubuntu LAMP virtual machines that I was using for website development. Every time I cloned the virtual machine, eth0 would go missing, and ifconfig would show only the loopback device, lo.
It turns out that when you clone a VMware virtual machine, the cloned virtual machine’s network interface gets a new MAC address (which, of course, it must to work on the same LAN). But Ubuntu, and many other Linux distributions, cache the old MAC address in a configuration file.
In Ubuntu, the file is /etc/udev/rule.d/70-persistent-net.rules. After cloning, it will contain a reference to the old network interface as eth0:
The easiest way to fix this problem is to simply delete the file. Ubuntu will regenerate it properly the next time it boots up.
sudo rm /etc/udev/rule.d/70-persistent-net.rules
After deleting the file, you need to reboot. After rebooting, ifconfig should show eth0 and everything should just work.
If you’re feeling less adventurous, you can rename the file to *.old so that you can restore it if something doesn’t work:
sudo mv /etc/udev/rule.d/70-persistent-net.rules /etc/udev/rule.d/70-persistent-net.rules.old
You can also edit the file to remove the old reference to eth0, and rename the new eth1 reference to eth0. But deleting the file and rebooting seems more convenient.
The relevant filename is slightly different in other Linux distributions. For example, in Debian, the filename is /etc/udev/rules.d/z25_persistent-net.rules.
This article was originally published on 24 June 2010 on newmatilda.com.
Earlier this week, the Standing Committee on Communications tabled a report on its yearlong inquiry into cybercrime. The report, headed Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime makes 34 recommendations aimed at improving computer security in Australia. One of them in particular — a proposed industry code requiring Australians to install and maintain antivirus and firewall software to access the internet — has sparked some debate.
To assess the merits of that recommendation, it is necessary to understand how ISPs are presently (mostly not) regulated in the area of cyber security, and what exactly the report proposes to change.
The Internet Industry Association (IIA), a group representing ISPs, is largely responsible for writing the codes that regulate them. In relation to cyber security, the IIA recently released a voluntary code of practice titled icode. Among other things, this code lists a number of steps that ISPs may take when they become aware of malware-infected machines on their networks (such as notifying the user or disconnecting the user from the internet), but it leaves it up to the relevant ISP to decide which course of action is appropriate in the circumstances.
The current code is thus doubly voluntary. First, the code itself is voluntary, so ISPs can choose not to comply with it at all, and, second, ISPs that choose to comply with the code are not required to take any particular steps in relation to malware-infected machines on their network. That is, the current code does not provide for any mandatory steps to be taken in relation to malware-infected machines on ISPs’ networks. And in no way does it require users to install and maintain antivirus and firewall software.
The first thing that the new report proposes to change is to have an industry code that is registered. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) presently has a power under the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) to register industry codes that deal with certain things. Where such an industry code is registered, ACMA can direct an ISP to comply with the code. Failure to comply with such a direction exposes the ISP to a civil penalty of up to $250,000 per breach. A registered industry code is thus effectively mandatory.
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