Linux Rename Eth0 Network Interface Card Name [ Udev ]

Step #1: Find out the MAC address of the Ethernet device

Type the following command:
# ifconfig -a | grep -i --color hwaddr
Sample outputs:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5
pan0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 4a:71:40:ed:5d:99
vmnet1    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:01
vmnet8    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:08
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10

Note down the MAC address.

Step #2: Rename eth0 as wan0

To rename eth0 as wan0, edit a file called 70-persistent-net.rules in/etc/udev/rules.d/ directory, enter:
# vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
The names of the Ethernet devices are listed in this file as follows:

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1680 (tg3) SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

Locate and identify the line with the NIC from step 1 (look for the MAC address). It may look like above. In this example, the interface eth0 will be renamed to wan0 (changeNAME="eth0" to NAME="wan0"):

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1680 (tg3) SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="wan0"

Save and close the file. Reboot the system to test changes:
# reboot
Verify new settings:
# ifconfig -a
# ifconfig wan0
# ifconfig -a | less
# ip addr show