Question: I have a virtual Debian 11 server configured to be a router. On the router I use `systemd-networkd` to configure all of the network interfaces.

When I add a (virtual) interface to the router the interface will be detected as `ens1` with mac address `aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff`. I would like to change the name to a more meaningful name, for example `eth0`.

I created a file called `01-eth0.link` in `/etc/systemd/network` with the following information:

```
[Match]
MACAddress=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

[Link]
Name=eth0

```

After that I create a file called `02-eth0.network` with the following information:

```
[Match]
Name=eth0

[Network]
Address=192.168.1.1

```

When I do a `systemctl restart systemd-networkd` it will restart without a problem, but also without mentioning a renaming.

`networkctl` outputs the following:

```
IDX LINK         TYPE     OPERATIONAL SETUP
 49 ens1         ether    off         unmanaged

```

When I reboot the machine the name will be changed and the link will be up without a problem. But I would like to apply the `.link` configuration to the interface without a reboot.

Answer: 
Thanks to @telcoM who put me on the right track finding an answer.

By restarting the `systemd-udev-trigger` service the interface will be renamed according the `.link` file.

Full command: `systemctl restart systemd-udev-trigger.service`
I can't test this right now and haven't tried this exact procedure before, so take this with a grain of salt.

The `.link` files are not processed by `systemd-networkd`, but by `systemd-udevd` (see `man 5 systemd.link`). So you might want to try:

```
udevadm control --reload
udevadm trigger /sys/class/net/ens1

```