Debian Buster – How to Fix networking.service Fails

debianlinux-networkingnetworking

networking.service fails to bring up eth0:2 and eth0:3, but my configuration seems correct.

I tried several things, also renamed the NIC from ens3 to eth0

/etc/network/interfaces:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug eth0

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address xx.xxx.xxx.xxx/22
    gateway xx.xxx.xxx.x

allow-hotplug eth0:1
auto eth0:1
iface eth0:1 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::1000/64
    gateway fe80::1

allow-hotplug eth0:2
iface eth0:2 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::2000/64
    gateway fe80::1

allow-hotplug eth0:3
iface eth0:3 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::3000/64
    gateway fe80::1

Expected:

On boot, eth0 and eth0:1 are brought up automatically.

ifup eth0:2 and ifup eth0:3 brings up the other NICs

Actual:

ifup eth0:2
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
ifup: failed to bring up eth0:2

ifup eth0:3
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
ifup: failed to bring up eth0:3

It gives an ERROR, but despite the error, the adapter is loaded and the IPv6 is working.

Also, if i add

auto eth0:2

auto eth0:3

networking.service fails on boot:


● networking.service - Raise network interfaces
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/networking.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2019-07-19 20:29:26 CEST; 1min 21s ago
     Docs: man:interfaces(5)
  Process: 409 ExecStart=/sbin/ifup -a --read-environment (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 409 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Jul 19 20:29:24 root systemd[1]: Starting Raise network interfaces...
Jul 19 20:29:24 root ifup[409]: ifup: waiting for lock on /run/network/ifstate.eth0
Jul 19 20:29:26 root ifup[409]: Waiting for DAD... Done
Jul 19 20:29:26 root ifup[409]: RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Jul 19 20:29:26 root ifup[409]: ifup: failed to bring up eth0:2
Jul 19 20:29:26 root ifup[409]: RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Jul 19 20:29:26 root ifup[409]: ifup: failed to bring up eth0:3
Jul 19 20:29:26 root systemd[1]: networking.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jul 19 20:29:26 root systemd[1]: networking.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 19 20:29:26 root systemd[1]: Failed to start Raise network interfaces.

Despite the networking.service fails, all IPv6 are working.

I have no clue whats the problem.

Best Answer

You're trying to use the obsolete interface alias format (eth0:x) with IPv6, and that doesn't work. These are not actually separate interfaces, and never have been. It has also been recommended not to use them for more than a decade. You should not do so. (And you should ignore the long obsolete warning in the Debian wiki about this method.)

The correct configuration is to place all of the addresses in interface eth0 (or, rather, ens3 as it should not be eth0 anymore).

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug eth0

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address xx.xxx.xxx.xxx/22
    gateway xx.xxx.xxx.x

iface eth0 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::1000/64
    gateway fe80::1

iface eth0 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::2000/64

iface eth0 inet6 static
    address 2a03:xxxx:x:xxxx::3000/64
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