Ubuntu 16.04.3: failed to start raise network interfaces

Question

I have Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS with EVE-NG running on top of it. I have run into a known issue with Predictable-Network-Interface-Names and changed interface names to old style, but something is still wrong.

During the boot I see "failed to start raise network interfaces" message. Then, that's what systemctl shows:

* networking.service - Raise network interfaces
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/networking.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/networking.service.d
           `-50-insserv.conf-$network.conf
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2017-11-14 07:06:04 EST; 20min ago
     Docs: man:interfaces(5)
  Process: 677 ExecStart=/sbin/ifup -a --read-environment (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 570 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ "$CONFIGURE_INTERFACES" != "no" ] && [ -n "$(ifquery --read-environment --list --exclude=lo)" ] && udevadm settle (
 Main PID: 677 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Nov 14 07:06:03 eve-ng ifup[677]: Waiting for pnet2 to get ready (MAXWAIT is 32 seconds).
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng ifup[677]: SIOCADDRT: File exists
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng ifup[677]: Failed to bring up pnet2.
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng ifup[677]: Waiting for pnet3 to get ready (MAXWAIT is 32 seconds).
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng ifup[677]: interface eth4 does not exist!
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng ifup[677]: Waiting for pnet4 to get ready (MAXWAIT is 32 seconds).
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng systemd[1]: networking.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng systemd[1]: Failed to start Raise network interfaces.
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng systemd[1]: networking.service: Unit entered failed state.
Nov 14 07:06:04 eve-ng systemd[1]: networking.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'

However, my interfaces are successfully renamed: dmesg | grep eth confirms no renamig occurs during boot.

All of interfaces are up and running, I'm able to SSH to this host.

There are four things I have already done (and none worked):

You disable the assignment of fixed names, so that the unpredictable kernel names are used again. For this, simply mask udev's rule file for the default policy: ln -s /dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-setup-link.rules // done

You pass the net.ifnames=0 on the kernel command line // done

You create your own manual naming scheme, for example by naming your interfaces "internet0", "dmz0" or "lan0". For that create your own .link files in /etc/systemd/network/, that choose an explicit name or a better naming scheme for one, some, or all of your interfaces. // done:

cat /etc/systemd/network/10-eth.link
[Match]
MACAddress=00:0c:29:20:c2:66
[Link]
Name=eth0
[Match]
MACAddress=00:0c:29:20:c2:70
[Link]
Name=eth1
[Match]
MACAddress=00:0c:29:20:c2:7a
[Link]
Name=eth2
[Match]
MACAddress=00:0c:29:20:c2:84
Name=eth3

I did create a new file 10-rename-network.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ and added the following content to it: SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff", NAME="eth0" //done:

cat /etc/udev/rules.d/10-rename-network.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="00:0c:29:20:c2:66", NAME="eth0"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="00:0c:29:20:c2:70", NAME="eth1"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="00:0c:29:20:c2:7a", NAME="eth2"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="00:0c:29:20:c2:84", NAME="eth3"

Is there anything I'm missing?

Answer 1

Reason

The problem was caused by Predictable-Network-Interface-Names from systemd/udev. Possible solution

According to this source you can either:

You disable the assignment of fixed names, so that the unpredictable kernel names are used again. For this, simply mask udev's rule file for the default policy: ln -s /dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-setup-link.rules
You create your own manual naming scheme, for example by naming your interfaces "internet0", "dmz0" or "lan0". For that create your own .link files in /etc/systemd/network/, that choose an explicit name or a better naming scheme for one, some, or all of your interfaces. See systemd.link(5) for more information.
You pass the net.ifnames=0 on the kernel command line

Applied solutions

I did create a new file 10-rename-network.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ and added the following content to it:

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff", NAME="eth0"

where

eth0 = desired network interface name, used in /etc/network/interfaces
ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff = hardware mac address of the network device

I'd recommend rebooting after completing this to make sure the change is sticky.