O sistema operacional deve manter uma lista de detalhes físicos da NIC dentro do arquivo:
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
Aqui está o meu exemplo:
# This file maintains persistent names for network interfaces.
# See udev(7) for syntax.
#
# Entries are automatically added by the 75-persistent-net-generator.rules
# file; however you are also free to add your own entries.
# PCI device 0x10ec:0x8168 (r8169)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:23:54:95:74:e5", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"
Observe a seção "ATTR {address} =="?