Switching network configuration from ifupdown to netplan

Last update: May 30 2026

In cloud servers created from pre-built images with Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04, the ifupdown utility is used to configure the network by default.

You can switch network configuration from ifupdown to netplan; the procedure depends on whether the cloud-init agent is installed in the image.

Cloud-init is installed

1. Connect to the server.

2. Remove ifupdown:

   sudo apt purge ifupdown

3. Perform a soft restart of the server:

   sudo reboot now

   The cloud-init agent will automatically configure the network for netplan.

Cloud-init is not installed

1. Connect to the server.

2. Create a configuration file for netplan:

   nano /etc/netplan/config.yaml

3. Optional: enter the necessary network settings in the file. Examples can be found in the Edit cloud server network configuration file instructions.

4. Check the file syntax:

   sudo netplan try

5. Apply the settings:

   sudo netplan apply