Quoting Anders Norrbring
Nope, sorry that I didn't make it clear. The config that has PERSISTENT_NAME='eth0' is labelled eth1 and vice versa.
Alas, just the opposite of what I want.
RTFM - from section 22.3: * Persistent interface names can be assigned to all interfaces whose configurations do not bear the interface names. This can be done by means of entries PERSISTENT_NAME=<pname> names in an interface configuration (ifcfg-*). However, the persistent name pname should not be the same as the name that would automatically be assigned by the kernel. Therefore, eth*, tr*, wlan*, qeth*, iucv*, and so on are not permitted. Instead, use net* or descriptive names like external, internal, or dmz. A persistent name can only be assigned to an interface immediately after its registration, which means that the driver of the network card must be reloaded or hwup <device description> must be executed. The command rcnetwork restart is not sufficient for this purpose. You cannot use eth0 and eth1 for persistent names ;P Try net0 and net1. Jeffrey