Network Settings - USB Ethernet but no USB Ethernet Adapter Connected

Rocky Linux General
1

I just installed Rocky Linux 8.6 on a few Intel based servers and AMD based servers. These servers only have Gigabit Ethernet ports. Mysteriously, Rocky Linux detected a USB Ethernet connection. It shows up under Network Settings and also ip a.

The device looks like it might be a USB hub. Does anyone know if this is a udev bug thinking the usb hub is a usb ethernet adapter?

2

I noticed the same USB Ethernet network interface when I installed Rocky Linux 8.5. My Intel server is a Dell R640, and Dell explains the reason why a USB Ethernet network device is showing up.

The short explanation is that a feature named “OS to iDRAC Pass-through” provides in-band communication between the OS and iDRAC through the USB NIC. So it appears the OS will identify it as a network interface.

A more in-depth explanation is detailed by Dell and which IP might be assigned by default here:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/idrac9-lifecycle-controller-v3.0-series/idrac_3.00.00.00_ug/enabling-or-disabling-os-to-idrac-pass-through?guid=guid-25fc6820-9a01-4739-87c3-d2036b9adf80&lang=en-us

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r640/idrac_3.31.31.31_ug/enabling-or-disabling-os-to-idrac-pass-through-using-web-interface?guid=guid-062477a9-b315-4a59-a591-233fd0f3daa9&lang=en-us

Rocky-USB-Interface