Applies To

OpenSUSE upgrade performing from version Leap 15.6 to Leap 16.0.

Problem

After upgrading to openSUSE Leap 16.0, network interfaces are renamed from legacy names (e.g., eth0, eth1) to predictable names (e.g., ens32, ens33). Existing network configuration files still reference the old names, causing network connectivity to fail after the upgrade.

Reference: openSUSE Leap 16.0 Release Notes - jsc-PED-12725

Cause

openSUSE Leap 16.0 adopts predictable network interface naming, a systemd standard that names interfaces based on hardware topology (slot, bus, MAC) rather than discovery order. Legacy names like eth0 were assigned arbitrarily at boot and could change between reboots — predictable names are stable and hardware-specific, improving reliability in multi-NIC and virtualized environments.

Solution/Workaround

The application handles this automatically — no manual script execution is required. The migration runs in two phases during the OS upgrade process:

Phase 1 — Pre-Upgrade Backup (automatically triggered after upgrade)

The Cryptshare application backs up all current network configuration files from /etc/sysconfig/network and records the current interface names.

Migration State File

Once the upgrade is initiated, the application creates the file /var/lib/network-migration-state.json. This file is for informational purposes — it gives a clear record of what the application did during the migration and can be used to confirm the upgrade completed successfully.

After phase -1 , the migration state file will have the following fields:

{
  "backup_dir": "/root/network_backups/backup_20260215_130049",
  "timestamp": "20260215_130049",
  "hostname": "CSCS4QA27",
  "backup_date": "2026-02-15T13:00:50+01:00",
  "os_version_before": "15.6"
}

The details of fields in the file are given below.

Phase 2 — Post-Upgrade Migration (automatically triggered after upgrade)

The Cryptshare application reads the backed-up ifcfg-eth* and ifroute-eth* files, maps each ethX to the corresponding new predictable interface name, and writes renamed config files back to /etc/sysconfig/network. A rollback point is also created before any changes are made. The network service (wicked) is then restarted to apply the new configuration.

After Phase 2 — Post-Upgrade Migration, two additional fields are appended:

{
  "backup_dir": "/root/network_backups/backup_20260215_130049",
  "timestamp": "20260215_130049",
  "hostname": "CSCS4QA27",
  "backup_date": "2026-02-15T13:00:50+01:00",
  "os_version_before": "15.6",
  "migration_completed": "2026-02-16T16:15:56+01:00",
  "migration_status": "success"
}

The details of two new fields are given below.