CentOS - Oct 2011 - multiple ifcfg-x locations on CentOS-6

CentOS-5
$ ll /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/*
total 0
$ ll /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices
total 0

CentOS-6
$ ll /sysconfig/networking/profiles
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Oct  7 15:19 default
$ ll /sysconfig/networking/profiles/*
total 24
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 158 Oct  7 15:19 hosts
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 116 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-br0
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 238 Oct  7 15:24 ifcfg-eth0
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 117 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-eth1
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root  40 Oct  7 15:19 network
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 120 Oct  7 15:25 resolv.conf


$ ll /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices
total 12
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 116 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-br0
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 238 Oct  7 15:24 ifcfg-eth0
-rw-r--r--. 2 root root 117 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-eth1

I spent the better part of two hours trying to discover
why I could not configure br0 to start after modifying
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts following my previously
succesful notes. I finally deleted ifcfg-bro and used the
existing ifcfg-eth0 and -eth1 scripts to at least get a
network connection working.  When I start the network
service I only saw l0 and eth0 start as eth1 is disabled. 
However, when I did an ifconfig I saw that br0 is
configured as well, but not by me.

Looking for br0 in the file system led me to the
directories listed above.  I do not recall seeing these
before and the only difference between this CentOS box and
the previous virtual host I installed is that this time I
selected the virtual host install option instead of
minimal install.  Evidently this was a misstep on my part.
 One that I doubt I shall repeat.

My questions are:  What are these duplicate, and
identical, files doing in multiple places on my system;
and why are they evidently interfering with the normal
processing of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts through the
service utility?




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James B. Byrne                mailto:ByrneJB at Harte-Lyne.ca
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James B. Byrne wrote:
> $ ll /sysconfig/networking/profiles/*
> total 24
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 158 Oct  7 15:19 hosts
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 116 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-br0
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 238 Oct  7 15:24 ifcfg-eth0
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 117 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-eth1
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root  40 Oct  7 15:19 network
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 120 Oct  7 15:25 resolv.conf
>
>
> $ ll /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices
> total 12
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 116 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-br0
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 238 Oct  7 15:24 ifcfg-eth0
> -rw-r--r--. 2 root root 117 Oct  7 15:19 ifcfg-eth1
               ^
look at that 2 there
> My questions are:  What are these duplicate, and
> identical, files doing in multiple places on my system;
those are hard-linked, most likely the same file in both subdirs (not 
identical files, a single file hard-linked twice)

the /etc/sysconfig/networking/* subdirs can exist on C5 as well, I think 
they're used by system-config-network

> and why are they evidently interfering with the normal
> processing of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts through the
> service utility?
on a C6 machine I have those dirs are empty, as on your C5 system. I 
probably never used system-config-network on it. Networking through 
/etc/init.d/network functions fine without them.