Installing Debian on OVH / Soyoustart

[rcd]

OVH and Soyoustart use a strange pseudo-DHCP system where you have to configure the hwaddr with them, but still set the IP address on the server. The route is really strange and may be something completely different to the IP address, so a manual route has to be entered. OVH's help page is here https://docs.ovh.com/gb/en/dedicated/network-bridging/

This is always a bit tricky, but now I have to install a Debian server for the first time, and it simply fails to work with the Debian installer. It keeps saying the default route doesn't work (it does with other distro's, no idea why the Debian installer don't work).

Anyway, so I just skipped that step, completed my server and went into add the details into /etc/network/interfaces, but now when I do a ifup ens18, I get the error that essentially say that the route command is not existing.

Does anyone know how to get Debian to install in this environment?

I guess I could just download and use the full CD, but I don't really know which to pick. Centos have a "minimal" that seems to work fine with that distro, does something similar exist here?

[L_V]

Just some commands, not to fix, not to solve, but to clarify:

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ls /sys/class/net

cat /etc/network/interfaces

apt list iproute2

/sbin/ifconfig -a

lspci -k | grep -A2 Ethernet


[rcd]

So, i run the installer, and it ends up with the "Your network is probably not using the DHCP protocol ..." -- which, yes, it isn't, not the normal way anyway, so I go "configure network manually". Everything as normal, but when it gets to the gateway page it is preset with the first 3 quads, expecting probably a .1 -- but that is not how OVH network is setup, they use the first 3 quads from the host (hypervisor) with .254 at the end - but that gets Debian to throw a "The gateway address you entered is unreachable". Yes, it is until the route is setup, that's just how OVH is set up. ... So, anyway I pick "do not configure network at this time" and expect to setup "by hand" once I get in.

I complete the install, login on the console, and enter /etc/network/interfaces as per instructions on the OVH page, and thats where I get the error that now it's missing the /sbin/route command .... i.e after adding the interfaces details, i do an ipup ens18 and get the eror

# ifup ens18
/bin/sh: 1: route: not found
ifup: failed to bring up ens18

ls /sys/class/net
ens18 lo

cat /etc/network/interfaces

I can't copy/paste from the console, but it's what you see on the OVH page with eth0 replaced with ens18, FAILOVER_IP replaced with my IP and GATEWAY_IP replace with my gateway IP.

apt list iproute2
... installed

/sbin/ifconfig -a
... command not found

but "ip a" shows the FAILOVER_IP is there, up, but no route

lspci -k | grep -A2 Ethernet
.. indicating a Red Hat network device, subsystem and virtio-pci.

[L_V]

Then this, but not easy to report in your conditions

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/bin/ip a

/bin/ip link set ens18 up

Looks like OVH support is necessary.

[rcd]

Ok, i found (a) solution:

When the installer ask for the gateway you have to leave it empty, the installer doesn't understand OVH's gateway. Proceed with the rest of the installation as normal, complete and reboot.

Now login to the console, and add the gateway to /etc/network/interfaces:

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# cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug ens18
iface ens18 inet static
        address FAILOVER_IP
        # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
        dns-nameservers YOURNAMESERVERS
        dns-search YOURDOMAIN
        post-up ip route add GATEWAY_IP dev ens18
        post-up ip route add default via GATEWAY_IP
        post-down ip route del GATEWAY_IP dev ens18
        post-down ip route del default via GATEWAY_IP

(note the different syntax relative to OVH's guide)

Finally, because the installer couldn't configure sources because of the missing gateway, update /etc/apt/sources.list:

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#

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.0.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 NETINST 20190706-10:23]/ buster main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.0.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 NETINST 20190706-10:23]/ buster main


deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main

# This system was installed using small removable media
# (e.g. netinst, live or single CD). The matching "deb cdrom"
# entries were disabled at the end of the installation process.
# For information about how to configure apt package sources,
# see the sources.list(5) manual.

PS. this is for Debian 10 / Buster. I'm normally not a Debian guy so I don't know how Debian 9 would differ from this.

[L_V]

Ha that's clear.
I did not notice that you tried to setup the OVH gateway during Debian installation.
In summary:
1 - you install Debian
2 - you reconfigure the network with OVH directives.