Trouble finding out what is creating virtual network devices

Gecko

12/21/22, 12:15 PM

So for some reason I have a bunch of virtual network devices named br-XXXXXXXXXXXX and I have no idea what is creating them.

user@device:~$ ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: wlp59s0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: virbr0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.1/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global virbr0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: virbr0-nic: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel master virbr0 state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: br-3c6d01bee8c8: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default 
    link/ether 02:42:6b:d1:a7:e3 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 172.18.0.1/16 brd 172.18.255.255 scope global br-3c6d01bee8c8
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
6: br-4fee1a53fcc2: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default 
    link/ether 02:42:8a:d4:10:cd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 172.19.0.1/16 brd 172.19.255.255 scope global br-4fee1a53fcc2
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
.
.
.
11: docker0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default 
    link/ether 02:42:31:67:1d:73 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 172.17.0.1/16 brd 172.17.255.255 scope global docker0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

I'd like to remove theses virtual devices as they cause some network issues on my setup due to occupying 172.XX.0.0/16 subnets.

I already tried deleting all of these virtual devices individually with sudo ip link delete <devicename> but they just re-appear after reboot.

Happening on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (Desktop)

0 + 3

network-manager

networking

20.04

David

12/22/22, 6:25 AM

Are you using any kind of VPN?

Gecko

12/23/22, 8:58 AM

Yes. I have two OpenVPN configurations as well as my university VPN managed via NetworkManager which I use on a semiregular basis. I was not connected to a VPN when running `ip a` though and there are more `br-XXXXXXXXXXXX` than I have VPN configurations saved.

David

12/23/22, 9:07 AM

They can create virtual devices, I do not know if that is the case here but something to look at.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Trouble finding out what is creating virtual network devices

TH: ปัญหาในการค้นหาว่าอะไรกำลังสร้างอุปกรณ์เครือข่ายเสมือน

RO: Probleme în a afla ce creează dispozitive de rețea virtuală

RU: Не удается выяснить, что создает виртуальные сетевые устройства

VI: Rắc rối tìm hiểu những gì đang tạo ra các thiết bị mạng ảo

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.