[Bug 824596] Re: /etc/init/network-interface.conf makes it impossible to have persistent PPP connection

[FrankAu]

I have encountered the same issue - with a thread in the forums as ...

   [ubuntu] pppd drops link frequently after LTS Server upgrade from 8.04 Hardy to Lucid 10.04
   http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1918431

... and discovered a related bug report ...

   udev stops pppd persist working
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ifupdown/+bug/78043

As of this morning the "restart" of pppd still refuses to happen ... now
working on understanding how to switch on enough logging to see who has
the penchant throwing the toys out of the sandpit!

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/824596

Title:
  /etc/init/network-interface.conf makes it impossible to have
  persistent PPP connection

Status in “ifupdown” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  I have a server with a static PPP connection to the Internet. (It's a
  PPPoE connection to an ISP, actually.) I want said PPP connection to
  come up on boot and then *always stay up* (unless I take it down
  temporarily myself for sysadmin work, obviously). This used to be
  possible with hardy, but now doesn't work at all with lucid unless I
  hack /etc/init/network-interface.conf. Otherwise when say the other
  side closes the connection, it doesn't get restarted.

  I have my PPP connection configured with "persist" and "maxfail 0". I
  also have a script / upstart conf file to restart the pppd program if
  it terminates unexpectedly, but I don't think that impacts this bug
  report. Here's the root of the problem, to the best of my
  understanding. When the PPP connection is stopped, the kernel destroys
  the ppp0 interface. Upstart sees this and the network-interface.conf
  then calls "ifdown ppp0", and so whatever the pppd daemon was going to
  do beforehand (restart the connection, for instance), now it's being
  stopped. I commented out the "ifup" and "ifdown" lines in network-
  interface.conf, and now my PPP connection restarts properly when it's
  interrupted.

  I believe the solution would involve only doing ifup/ifdown calls in
  network-interface.conf for network interfaces that are actual hardware
  being plugged in on an actual physical bus in the computer. At least I
  know that udev also has a set of "ifup" and "ifdown" calls deep in its
  bowels, but these don't cause problem for my PPP connection, so udev
  must be doing something different there...

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