In order to reorder network devices (e.g. swap eth1 with eth2), the persistent-net rules from udev can be edited. Usually there is a file at the following location:
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
The file contains several rules, for example:
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="3c:ab:cd:00:ab:cd", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth2"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="3c:ab:cd:00:ab:ce", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth3"
By editing this file it is possible to change the NAME of each rule. After that, to reload the rules, simply issue this command:
udevadm control --reload-rules
Edit: you need to unload the modules first (modprobe -r e1000e for example), ensure the udev rules are reloaded, and load the modules back in. If the network drivers are built into the kernel, you need to reboot.
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