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I'm trying to set an alias for an interface facing local network, but when i try to bring it up I receive this error:

RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Failed to bring up eth1:0.

Here is my /etc/network/interfaces # Loopback device: auto lo iface lo inet loopback

# device: eth0
auto  eth0
iface eth0 inet static
  address   X.X.X.X
  broadcast X.X.X.X
  netmask   255.255.255.0
  gateway   X.X.X.1

# device: eth1
auto  eth1
iface eth1 inet static
  address   10.0.0.1
  netmask   255.255.252.0

# device: eth1:0
auto  eth1:0
iface eth1:0 inet static
  address   10.0.0.2
  netmask   255.255.252.0

# default route to access subnet
up route add -net X.X.X.X netmask 255.255.255.0 gw X.X.X.1 eth0
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From my reading, it appears this is a problem with having multiple network routes, but I wan't able to get this working either. Best I've been able to manage is to have the vip show up under the physical adapter when running ip addr. The ip does work though. – Dana the Sane Mar 22 '12 at 15:29
Please remember to accept/upvote the best answer(s) to your question when possible (tick/check mark on the left). This way, the question is marked as "answered" and future readers can refer to it knowing the solution works. Thank you...:) – izx Aug 24 '12 at 21:44

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote

The "file" that "already exists" is the default route (gateway).

ifup will fail because it will try to add a default route that already exists for the base adapter. As @DanatheSane indicated in the comments, you can ignore this -- the alias works nevertheless.

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