Working with systemd-networkd
I have recently got a chance to work on systemd-networkd, and I wondered why I never came across this before. I was so used to networking.service that I never thought if there was an alternative option to it. Working with it, I realized that it is compelling, and it isn’t a crappy option at all.
What is systemd-networkd?
systemd-networkd is a system service that manages networks. Debian conventionally has the networking service configured as the default network manager. systemd-networkd is an alternative option to the inherent Debian networking service — networking.service.
Is systemd-networkd a replacement for default Debian Networking?
Ideally, you can configure a system to use either one of the two options to manage networking. If needed, a system can have both systemd-networkd and networking configured on it, managing a few interfaces with systemd-networkd and the remaining with networking. But at any point in time, only one of these services should control a specific interface.
Setting up systemd-networkd:
To switch the network manager to systemd-networkd on a server, make sure you can directly access the system in case there are any issues with the networking setup after switching to systemd-networkd…