[pve-devel] [PATCH pve-manager v2 1/1] api/ui: show/return alternative interface names

[Stefan Hanreich]

Was formulating my response to v1, but you were too fast with sending a
v2 for me. I think we need to also consider the case where we pinned and
replaced the names in /e/n/i via pveeth already, but the changes to the
network interface names haven't yet been applied. The problem here is
that we also return interfaces contained in /proc/net/dev in the
overview as well [1] - which would lead to duplicate interface names in
the view.

I considered applying the changes to the network interface names
immediately via `udevadm trigger`. Alternatively, I thought of adding
the old names as altnames when pinning network interfaces, but not in a
persistent manner. I think both would solve this state between
transitioning from the old names to the new names. What do you think?

Generally I agree with using the names from the /e/n/i file as our
'real' name, since the view is basically the interfaces file, but with
the important caveat that we also include interfaces from /proc/net/dev.

[1]
https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-common.git;a=blob;f=src/PVE/INotify.pm;h=dbad08c3fc5494403a061b9d77d587314477a9f5;hb=HEAD#l897

On 7/15/25 11:07, Dominik Csapak wrote:
> in api listing for all interfaces, and in the GET call for an individual
> interface.
> 
> For intefaces that are already using an 'altname' in the iface stanza,
> we look up the 'legacy' interface name and the remaining altnames and
> show those.
> 
> If we don't show them, the user might be confused if the bridge ports
> and interface names don't correlate.
> 
> enables the additional alternative names column in the network view on
> the gui.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Dominik Csapak <d.csapak at proxmox.com>
> ---
> changes from v1:
> * also show alternative names for ifaces with altname stanza
>   (include legacy iface in that case)
> * sort the altnames
> 
>  PVE/API2/Network.pm         | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  www/manager6/node/Config.js |  1 +
>  2 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/PVE/API2/Network.pm b/PVE/API2/Network.pm
> index a8cd7649..53e0ea0e 100644
> --- a/PVE/API2/Network.pm
> +++ b/PVE/API2/Network.pm
> @@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use PVE::RESTHandler;
>  use PVE::RPCEnvironment;
>  use PVE::JSONSchema qw(get_standard_option);
>  use PVE::AccessControl;
> +use PVE::Network;
>  use IO::File;
>  
>  use base qw(PVE::RESTHandler);
> @@ -231,6 +232,32 @@ sub json_config_properties {
>      return $prop;
>  }
>  
> +sub extract_altnames {
> +    my ($iface, $altnames) = @_;
> +
> +    $altnames = PVE::Network::altname_mapping() if !defined($altnames);
> +
> +    my $iface_altnames = [];
> +    my $original_iface;
> +
> +    # when we get an altname, first extract the legacy iface name
> +    if (my $legacy_iface = $altnames->{$iface}) {
> +        push $iface_altnames->@*, $legacy_iface;
> +        $original_iface = $iface;
> +        $iface = $legacy_iface;
> +    }
> +
> +    for my $altname (keys $altnames->%*) {
> +        next if defined($original_iface) && $original_iface eq $altname;
> +        if ($altnames->{$altname} eq $iface) {
> +            push $iface_altnames->@*, $altname;
> +        }
> +    }
> +
> +    return [sort $iface_altnames->@*] if scalar($iface_altnames->@*) > 0;
> +    return undef;
> +}
> +
>  __PACKAGE__->register_method({
>      name => 'index',
>      path => '',
> @@ -390,6 +417,8 @@ __PACKAGE__->register_method({
>  
>          my $ifaces = $config->{ifaces};
>  
> +        my $altnames = PVE::Network::altname_mapping();
> +
>          delete $ifaces->{lo}; # do not list the loopback device
>  
>          if (my $tfilter = $param->{type}) {
> @@ -424,6 +453,9 @@ __PACKAGE__->register_method({
>              my $type = $ifaces->{$k}->{type};
>              delete $ifaces->{$k}
>                  if ($type eq 'bridge' || $type eq 'OVSBridge') && !$can_access_vnet->($k);
> +
> +            my $iface_altnames = extract_altnames($k, $altnames);
> +            $ifaces->{$k}->{altnames} = $iface_altnames if defined($iface_altnames);
>          }
>  
>          return PVE::RESTHandler::hash_to_array($ifaces, 'iface');
> @@ -789,10 +821,15 @@ __PACKAGE__->register_method({
>          my $config = PVE::INotify::read_file('interfaces');
>          my $ifaces = $config->{ifaces};
>  
> +        my $iface = $param->{iface};
> +
>          raise_param_exc({ iface => "interface does not exist" })
> -            if !$ifaces->{ $param->{iface} };
> +            if !$ifaces->{$iface};
> +
> +        my $altnames = extract_altnames($iface);
> +        $ifaces->{$iface}->{altnames} = $altnames if defined($altnames);
>  
> -        return $ifaces->{ $param->{iface} };
> +        return $ifaces->{$iface};
>      },
>  });
>  
> diff --git a/www/manager6/node/Config.js b/www/manager6/node/Config.js
> index 4cd1671c..f6cd8749 100644
> --- a/www/manager6/node/Config.js
> +++ b/www/manager6/node/Config.js
> @@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ Ext.define('PVE.node.Config', {
>                      iconCls: 'fa fa-exchange',
>                      itemId: 'network',
>                      showApplyBtn: true,
> +                    showAltNames: true,
>                      groups: ['services'],
>                      nodename: nodename,
>                      editOptions: {