[Mostly Solved] Netctl can't use interface, interface is up

Question

Hey all,
I've previously used NetworkManager, but after some issues I tried to use something a bit less bloated to troubleshoot and found netctl to be amazing, how networking should always be. And magically my wireless at uni started working again. Initially netctl worked fine, it still does for the most part but on boot the interfaces seem to be hogged by something else, an issue NetworkManager was able to resolve apparently.
To use netctl, I have to start NetworkManager, then stop it. I can then use netctl without issue.
In a troubleshooting attempt I tried disabling udev renaming, so I am back to eth0 and wlan0: Issues persist.
[root@t60 boza]# netctl status tomato
[email protected] - Networking for netctl profile tomato
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; static)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2013-05-03 00:07:10 EST; 11min ago
Docs: man:netctl.profile(5)
Process: 497 ExecStart=/usr/lib/network/network start %I (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
May 03 00:07:10 t60 systemd[1]: Starting Networking for netctl profile tomato...
May 03 00:07:10 t60 network[497]: Starting network profile 'tomato'...
May 03 00:07:10 t60 network[497]: The interface of network profile 'tomato' is already up
May 03 00:07:10 t60 systemd[1]: [email protected]: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
May 03 00:07:10 t60 systemd[1]: Failed to start Networking for netctl profile tomato.
May 03 00:07:10 t60 systemd[1]: MESSAGE=Unit [email protected] entered failed state.
Cheers
Last edited by deags (2013-05-02 04:28:07)

Answer 1

Sorry, you are right I haven't worded this well.
You are correct, there are no other network management daemons running, and on boot the interface is DOWN.
Despite being down, netctl can not start the interface.
If I manually 'ip link set wlan0 down', despite it already being reported as DOWN, netctl can then use the interface.
Here is some output, after logging in:
[root@t60 ~]# netctl start tomato
Job for [email protected] failed. See 'systemctl status [email protected]' and 'journalctl -xn' for details.
[root@t60 ~]# netctl status tomato
[email protected] - Networking for netctl profile tomato
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; static)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2013-05-03 01:51:59 EST; 42s ago
Docs: man:netctl.profile(5)
Process: 456 ExecStart=/usr/lib/network/network start %I (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
May 03 01:51:58 t60 systemd[1]: Starting Networking for netctl profile tomato...
May 03 01:51:59 t60 network[456]: Starting network profile 'tomato'...
May 03 01:51:59 t60 network[456]: The interface of network profile 'tomato' is already up
May 03 01:51:59 t60 systemd[1]: [email protected]: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
May 03 01:51:59 t60 systemd[1]: Failed to start Networking for netctl profile tomato.
May 03 01:51:59 t60 systemd[1]: MESSAGE=Unit [email protected] entered failed state.
[root@t60 ~]# ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
link/ether 00:15:58:2b:ea:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
link/ether 00:13:02:69:8c:d4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
As you can see, netctl thinks the interface is UP, but ip says it is DOWN. To get going from this point, this works:
[root@t60 ~]# ip link set wlan0 down
[root@t60 ~]# netctl start tomato
[root@t60 ~]#