PowerProtect Data Manager: IP Forwarding Failure on VLAN Interface Due to Dot Notation

Summary: Installing Block Volume Protection Engine 19.22.0-16 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6 failed to apply IP forwarding settings. Because sysctl misinterprets VLAN interface names with a dot (e.g., bond0.900). It converts them to the path “/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0/900/” instead of “/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0.900/,” resulting in “No such file or directory” errors. The issue is fixed in the next release. ...

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Symptoms

Bare mental install of the Block Volume Protection Engine 19.22.0-16 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6 fails to apply IP forwarding settings.


The installSPP.sh script aborts when configuring IP forwarding for a VLAN interface. 

sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0/900/temp_prefered_lft: No such file or directory
sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0/900/temp_valid_lft: No such file or directory
sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/bond0/900/forwarding: No such file or directory
sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0/900/forwarding: No such file or directory
Failed to apply IP forwarding settings.
Performing clean up...

The expected path for VLAN interface settings is /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/bond0.900/.

[root@node01 emc-vProxy-SPP]# ls -lrt /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 lo
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 default
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 bond1
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 bond1.910
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 bond0
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:02 bond0.900
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:15 docker0
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2024-01-21 16:18 all

sysctl.conf entries for the VLAN interface

net.ipv6.conf.bond0.900.temp_prefered_lft=86400
net.ipv6.conf.bond0.900.temp_valid_lft=86400
net.ipv4.conf.bond0.900.forwarding=1
net.ipv6.conf.bond0.900.forwarding=1

Cause

Incorrect sysctl path resolution for VLAN interfaces

The installSPP.sh script fails because sysctl misinterprets interface names that contain a dot (.). When a VLAN interface such as bond0.900 is referenced in sysctl.conf using dot‑notation (e.g., net.ipv4.conf.bond0.900.forwarding=1), sysctl treats the dot as a directory separator. It constructs an invalid path like /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/bond0/900/forwarding instead of the correct /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/bond0.900/forwarding. The resulting “No such file or directory” errors prevent IP forwarding settings from being applied.

Resolution

The issue is fixed in an upcoming Dell Technologies release.

Before that release, the workaround is to change the VLAN name from e.g., bond0.100 to bond0-100.

Note: This workaround requires the network configuration change in the customer's environment.

Affected Products

PowerProtect Data Manager
Article Properties
Article Number: 000427023
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 13 Feb 2026
Version:  1
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