Understanding automatic network hot-reconfiguration for Scaleway Instances

The Scaleway Instances product includes a feature called automatic network hot-reconfiguration.

This mechanism automatically configures or deconfigures a flexible IP address in the guest operating system when it is attached to or detached from an Instance.

This guide explains how to enable or disable the automatic network hot-reconfiguration mechanism on your Instance.

Supported configurations

Before proceeding, ensure that your operating system supports the target network configuration: refer to Scaleway’s compatibility guidelines on OS images and flexible IP type combinations.

Starting from October 10th, 2024, all GNU/Linux-based operating systems and InstantApp images for Scaleway Instances have automatic network hot-reconfiguration enabled by default.

To verify that the feature is active on your Instance, use the following command:

# systemctl is-active scw-net-reconfig.path

If the output is active, the feature is enabled and ready to use. If the output is inactive, you have to enable it first.

Enabling network hot-reconfiguration

Follow these steps to enable automatic network hot-reconfiguration on a Scaleway Instance where the feature is currently inactive.

1. Enable the QEMU Guest Agent. Refer to Scaleway’s documentation on enabling the QEMU Guest Agent (GQA) for further details.

2. Install the latest Scaleway ecosystem package.

   • Fedora / AlmaLinux / RockyLinux / CentOS

     # yum -y --best install scaleway-ecosystem
     

   • Debian / Ubuntu

     # apt-get update
     # apt-get -y install scaleway-ecosystem
     

     Note

     Ensure you install version 0.0.7-1 or higher of the scaleway-ecosystem package.

3. Enable the automatic network reconfiguration mechanism.

   On Debian and Ubuntu systems, the mechanism typically activates automatically after installing or upgrading the scaleway-ecosystem package. However, RedHat-based distributions may require a manual start:

   # systemctl enable --now scw-net-reconfig.path
   

   Note

   Rebooting your Instance will also activate network hot-reconfiguration.

Disabling network hot-reconfiguration

If you prefer to prevent automatic network reconfiguration when a flexible IP is attached or detached, run the following command:

# systemctl disable --now scw-net-reconfig.path