Virtual interfaces do not return after restarting network or performing an ifdown and ifup

This document (7000144) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
XEN

Situation

SLES 11 Xen kernel
Virtual interfaces are setup with aliases
vifname=<alias> is set

An issue has been discovered with guests running on an Xen hypervisor where an alias for the virtual interface adapter has been set. Upon performing any type of restart of the network:

rcnetwork restart
ifdown
ifup

The virtual interfaces do not re-appear and the guests have no network connectivity.

Resolution

Remove the alias setting from the configuration file (bolded):

#==[ Configuration File ]===========================#
# /etc/xen/vm/VMName
name="VMName"
description="None"
uuid="<uuid>"
memory=1024
maxmem=1024
vcpus=1
on_poweroff="destroy"
on_reboot="restart"
on_crash="destroy"
localtime=0
keymap="en-us"
builder="linux"
bootloader="/usr/bin/pygrub"
bootargs=""
extra=" "
disk=[ 'phy:/dev/sda3,xvda,w', ]
vif=[ 'vifname=MYALIAS.0,bridge=br0', ]
vfb=['type=vnc,vncunused=1']

Cause

An issue has been discovered while using aliases on this particular version of SLES.

Additional Information

Watch this TID for updates as the root issue is resolved. For now, use the work-around outlined above.

Disclaimer

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