Fix RTNETLINK Answers: File Exists Error on ifup

eth0networkingUbuntu

I have an Ubuntu Server I'm adding some interfaces for and I can't figure out what I am be missing.

Here's my /etc/network/interfaces/

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address 10.100.60.54
    netmask 255.255.0.0
    network 10.100.0.0
    broadcast 10.100.255.255
    gateway 10.100.0.1

 iface eth0:0 inet static
    address 10.100.60.71
    netmask 255.255.0.0
    gateway 10.100.0.1

Then the following occurs:

sudo ifup eth0:0
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Failed to bring up eth0:0.

Looked around for this issue and everyone seems to encounter it in different ways. Any ideas?

Best Answer

The gateway stanza creates a default route for the whole machine. The second stanza would create a second default route, and you get a File exists error.

This error means you'd have a second route for the prefix 0.0.0.0/0 -- that's what a default route is.

If you need further explanations about routing, please fell free to ask.

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