** Description changed:
[ Impact ]
Setting a primary interface on an active-backup bond fails when using Netplan
with the NetworkManager renderer (e.g. via Cockpit or nmcli).
"netplan apply" exits with code 78:
Error in network definition: tbond: interface 'cockpit' is not defined
primary: "cockpit"
^
As a result, NetworkManager drops the 'primary' attribute from
bond.options, preventing deterministic failover behavior.
[ Fix ]
1. In handle_bond_primary_member() (src/parse.c), if direct lookup by NetDef
ID returns NULL, fall back to searching parsed_defs for any netdef where
match.original_name or set_name matches the requested interface name.
2. In process_missing_ids() (src/parse.c), handle NETPLAN_DEF_TYPE_BOND for
NETPLAN_BACKEND_NM by creating a placeholder definition (identical to existing
VLAN and VETH handling). This ensures cross-file resolution succeeds even when
the bond YAML file sorts lexicographically before the member interface YAML
file.
3. Added test_bond_primary_nm_matched_by_name in
tests/generator/test_bonds.py.
[ Test Plan ]
1. In an Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) container/system, install network-manager and
netplan.io.
2. Create a dummy interface:
$ ip link add cockpit type dummy
$ ip link set cockpit up
3. Create connections using nmcli:
$ nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name cockpit ifname cockpit
$ nmcli connection add type bond con-name tbond ifname tbond bond.options
"mode=active-backup,downdelay=0,miimon=100,updelay=0,primary=cockpit"
$ nmcli con modify cockpit master tbond
4. Verify with netplan:
$ netplan apply
$ nmcli con show tbond | grep ^bond
5. On unpatched netplan.io, 'netplan apply' fails with exit code 78 and
'primary=cockpit' is missing from bond.options.
6. With the updated package, 'netplan apply' exits with 0 and bond.options
shows:
bond.options:
mode=active-backup,downdelay=0,miimon=100,primary=cockpit,updelay=0
[ Where problems could occur ]
The fallback lookup checks match.original_name and set_name only when direct
NetDef ID lookup fails, preserving existing behavior for standard Netplan
configurations.
For NetworkManager bonds, creating a placeholder definition in
process_missing_ids() allows multi-file parsing to complete without early
abort; placeholders are ignored during keyfile generation and YAML emission, so
no extraneous configuration files are generated.
If a bond YAML references a non-existent interface on a system not managed by
NetworkManager, the parser will still report an error on the missing interface.
[ Other Info ]
+ The fix has been submitted upstream in PR
https://github.com/canonical/netplan/pull/616 (all CI checks passing, 100% C
code coverage on src/parse.c).
+ Once merged upstream, the fix will land directly in the development series
(stonking) and resolute (26.04).
+ This debdiff targets noble (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS).
Full test suite passed (14/14 suites OK, 0 regressions).
--- [ Original Report ]
Ubuntu 2404
network-manager 1.46.0-1ubuntu2.2
netplan.io 1.1.1-1~ubuntu24.04.1
When [improving support for primary interfaces of
bonds](https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/pull/21533) in
Cockpit, we encountered this message in the journal:
```
Feb 10 08:43:17 ubuntu NetworkManager[9361]:
/etc/netplan/90-NM-861a710b-9858-48f4-b5e5-a770ab67bd1f.yaml:13:18: Error in
network definition: tbond: interface 'cockpit' is not defined
Feb 10 08:43:17 ubuntu NetworkManager[9361]: primary: "cockpit"
Feb 10 08:43:17 ubuntu NetworkManager[9361]: ^
```
The message seems to come from "netplan apply":
```
# netplan apply
[...]
/etc/netplan/90-NM-4883fb46-4315-41f1-b945-bb096768da61.yaml:13:18: Error in
network definition: tbond: interface 'cockpit' is not defined
primary: "cockpit"
^
# echo $?
78
```
NetworkManager seems to ignore the failure, and somehow the bond
interface is created anyway, but the "bond.options" setting of its
connection doesn't include the expected "primary" attribute:
```
# nmcli con show tbond | grep ^bond
bond.options:
mode=active-backup,downdelay=0,miimon=100,updelay=0
```
I have no idea what the relationship between netplan and NetworkManager
is. I am guessing that NetworkManager is writing the yaml files in
/etc/netplan/.
The problem seems to be that the definition of the "cockpit" interface
uses a generated name:
```
network:
version: 2
ethernets:
NM-3287d9ea-ffda-49df-9f21-27594d7cc1b8:
renderer: NetworkManager
match:
name: "cockpit"
wakeonlan: true
networkmanager:
uuid: "3287d9ea-ffda-49df-9f21-27594d7cc1b8"
name: "cockpit"
passthrough:
connection.controller: "tbond"
connection.master: "tbond"
connection.port-type: "bond"
connection.slave-type: "bond"
ethernet._: ""
```
If I change this to
```
network:
version: 2
ethernets:
cockpit:
renderer: NetworkManager
match:
name: "cockpit"
[...]
```
then the error disappears and `bond.options` shows the expected value:
```
# nmcli con show tbond | grep ^bond
bond.options:
mode=active-backup,downdelay=0,miimon=100,primary=cockpit,updelay=0
```
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2098093
Title:
Setting primary interface for a bond fails with netplan
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