Ubuntu 16.04 - system boot waits saying "Raise network interfaces"

Question

I have an Ubuntu 16.04 system with two interfaces - eth0 configured with DHCP and eth1 configured with static ip addresses.

The /etc/network/interfaces file has the following config

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

# The Secondary network interface
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 10.10.1.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
dns-nameservers 74.82.42.42 4.2.2.2

## Virtual Interfaces for virtual hosts
auto eth1:11
iface eth1:11 inet static
address 10.10.1.11
netmask 255.255.255.0

auto eth1:12
iface eth1:12 inet static
address 10.10.1.12
netmask 255.255.255.0

auto eth1:13
iface eth1:13 inet static
address 10.10.1.13
netmask 255.255.255.0

The issue is, when DHCP server is not available on eth0 link or if the eth0 link is down, the system hangs for 5 mins, significantly slowing down the boot process.

violet@ubuntu-xenial:~$ systemd-analyze blame
      5min 241ms networking.service
          1.529s nmbd.service
          1.524s winbind.service

I tried reducing the time in /etc/systemd/system/network-online.target.wants/networking.service file which makes the system boot faster without waiting for the network service, however, that fails to load the virtual interfaces on eth1.

Is there a cleaner way to let the system boot without full network configuration on eth0 interface and still load all the static network configuration on eth1?

This may help: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2323253 — Mine, Jul 27 '16 at 03:21
.. or this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/203157/timeout-in-a-connection-to-a-dhcp-server — ElHeineken, Oct 12 '16 at 22:57

score 57 · Answer 1 · edited May 03 '18 at 22:46

57

It seems someone was paranoid about a client not getting it's DHCP in time.

Edit this file /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf and set timeout to a reasonable value, like

timeout 15

The default value of 300 seconds is way too high. The suggested replacement value of 15 was tested and works fine.

edited May 03 '18 at 22:46

delfiler

237

answered Oct 24 '16 at 22:28

boutch55555

1,226

3

Thank you. Labing DNS/DHCP at the moment and the 5 minute waits were killing me. – Ashley Hughes Jun 18 '17 at 07:54
1

Ubuntu has a number of odd default configs. It's been interesting... – William T Froggard Feb 22 '18 at 14:56
Wow, this will be really useful in further configurations. – David Tabernero M. Mar 06 '18 at 20:54
2

This does not work on Ubuntu 18, but this answer does. – xinthose Dec 03 '18 at 17:08
After all these years it still valid for me :) – Wajih Apr 03 '19 at 16:29

score 29 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 14 '17 at 10:40

29

So in your /etc/network/interfaces, change this:

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

to this:

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

This will start interface eth0 when the kernel detects a hotplug event from the interface (i.e. when you plug a cable in), instead of starting it at boot.

edited Dec 14 '17 at 10:40

guntbert

13,134

answered Jan 05 '17 at 19:21

Jonathan Walter

391

1

This approach works well on physical hardware but it fails in virtualized environments (tried vmware and virtualbox). It looks like the virtualized kernel does not generate proper events. – dtoubelis Apr 08 '17 at 14:55
This approach also fixed my issues after installing a new 10G network adapter in a box that previously only had built-in 1G. Ubuntu was able to see the card and load drivers, but the boot kept stalling waiting for Raise Network Interfaces. Adjusting the device name from eth0 accordingly fixed it. – Joseph Jaramillo Sep 08 '17 at 17:15

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 09 '17 at 19:47

3

As referenced in you can change the timeout value for raising the network interface (if running systemd):

Open a terminal window, and enter the command:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/network-online.target.wants/networking.service

Then change the line TimeoutStartSec=5min to a value that you choose. Save the file by pressing Ctrl+o and then Ctrl+x.

Finally, restart the daemon:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

edited Dec 09 '17 at 19:47

Ken Sharp

991
8
31

answered Nov 29 '17 at 15:51

Mike

31

5

It is generally a poor idea to start a GUI program using sudo... I have modified your answer to utilize tools which behave a bit better. – Charles Green Nov 29 '17 at 16:31
This is the correct answer for me. My computer is not always connected to network at boot-up. I don't want to wait 5 minutes for Ubuntu to figure that out. – Yitz Nov 25 '18 at 23:43
4

I'd love to know who the idiot is that thought a timeout of 5 minutes was a "good idea". – Clayton Dukes Dec 13 '18 at 03:56

Ubuntu 16.04 - system boot waits saying "Raise network interfaces"

3 Answers3

Linked