fwiw, this issue is affecting me as well. I only see it on real hardware, but apparently it helps to add a lot of bridge interfaces to trigger the issue, particularly OVS bridges. The Traceback I see refers to a real interface name, so I think this may occur under other circumstances than interface rename: 2022-08-16 10:23:30,009 - __init__.py[DEBUG]: Selected renderer 'netplan' from priority list: ['netplan', 'eni', 'sysconfig'] 2022-08-16 10:23:30,009 - netplan.py[DEBUG]: V2 to V2 passthrough 2022-08-16 10:23:30,014 - util.py[DEBUG]: Writing to /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml - wb: [644] 4180 bytes 2022-08-16 10:23:30,014 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['netplan', 'generate'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,188 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/ovs-system'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,191 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/lo'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,195 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/bondM'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,200 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/enp129s0f0'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,204 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/eno1'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,207 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2808'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,212 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2806'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,215 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,220 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2804'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,225 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/bond0'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,229 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/enp129s0f1'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,234 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/eno2'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,239 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2807'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,243 - subp.py[DEBUG]: Running command ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2805'] with allowed return codes [0] (shell=False, capture=True) 2022-08-16 10:23:30,247 - util.py[WARNING]: failed stage init 2022-08-16 10:23:30,248 - util.py[DEBUG]: failed stage init Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/cmd/main.py", line 740, in status_wrapper ret = functor(name, args) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/cmd/main.py", line 410, in main_init init.apply_network_config(bring_up=bring_up_interfaces) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/stages.py", line 937, in apply_network_config return self.distro.apply_network_config( File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/distros/__init__.py", line 233, in apply_network_config self._write_network_state(network_state) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/distros/debian.py", line 142, in _write_network_state return super()._write_network_state(network_state) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/distros/__init__.py", line 129, in _write_network_state renderer.render_network_state(network_state) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/net/netplan.py", line 260, in render_network_state self._net_setup_link(run=self._postcmds) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/net/netplan.py", line 282, in _net_setup_link subp.subp(cmd, capture=True) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cloudinit/subp.py", line 335, in subp raise ProcessExecutionError( cloudinit.subp.ProcessExecutionError: Unexpected error while running command. Command: ['udevadm', 'test-builtin', 'net_setup_link', '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2805'] Exit code: 1 Reason: - Stdout: Stderr: Trying to open "/etc/systemd/hwdb/hwdb.bin"... Trying to open "/etc/udev/hwdb.bin"... Trying to open "/usr/lib/systemd/hwdb/hwdb.bin"... Trying to open "/lib/systemd/hwdb/hwdb.bin"... Trying to open "/lib/udev/hwdb.bin"... === trie on-disk === tool version: 249 file size: 11124932 bytes header size 80 bytes strings 2374708 bytes nodes 8750144 bytes Load module index Found cgroup2 on /sys/fs/cgroup/, full unified hierarchy Found container virtualization none. Loaded timestamp for '/etc/systemd/network'. Loaded timestamp for '/run/systemd/network'. Parsed configuration file /usr/lib/systemd/network/99-default.link Parsed configuration file /usr/lib/systemd/network/73-usb-net-by-mac.link Parsed configuration file /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-enp129s0f1.link Parsed configuration file /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-enp129s0f0.link Parsed configuration file /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-eno2.link Parsed configuration file /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-eno1.link Created link configuration context. Failed to open device '/sys/class/net/br-bond0.2805': No such device Unload module index Unloaded link configuration context.