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me_73172312

Member

Registered: 2024-03-10

Posts: 2

[Solved] Cannot get nftables to start on fresh install

I have installed nftables, but I am unable to execute any commands or start nftables.serice.

This is what I get when I try to list the rules:

$ sudo nft list ruleset
netlink: Error: cache initialization failed: Invalid argument

This is what I get when I try to start the service:

$ sudo systemctl start nftables
Job for nftables.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status nftables.service" and "journalctl -xeu nftables.service" for details.

The status on nftables suggests the same problem:

$ sudo systemctl status nftables
× nftables.service - Netfilter Tables
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nftables.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2024-03-10 17:56:35 EET; 1min 25s ago
       Docs: man:nft(8)
    Process: 11203 ExecStart=/usr/bin/nft -f /etc/nftables.conf (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 11203 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 8ms

Mar 10 17:56:35 kd-server systemd[1]: Starting Netfilter Tables...
Mar 10 17:56:35 kd-server nft[11203]: netlink: Error: cache initialization failed: Invalid argument
Mar 10 17:56:35 kd-server systemd[1]: nftables.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Mar 10 17:56:35 kd-server systemd[1]: nftables.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 17:56:35 kd-server systemd[1]: Failed to start Netfilter Tables.

Also journalctl -xeu nftables.service reveals no entries in the journal.

What I am missing? I have looked at relevant nftables wiki article, but I do not see any instructions that I have missed during installation.

Last edited by me_73172312 (2024-03-11 19:38:00)

me_73172312

Member

Registered: 2024-03-10

Posts: 2

Re: [Solved] Cannot get nftables to start on fresh install

I have solved it by rebooting the system. Very strange, I get windows vibes from this.

Spider.007

Member

Registered: 2004-06-20

Posts: 1,176

Re: [Solved] Cannot get nftables to start on fresh install

this happens when the nft kernel-module cannot be loaded. You most likely updated your system (updating the kernel thus removing the loadable modules for the running version) before running nft.
This can be worked-around by re-installing the kernel for the version you are currently running <pre>uname -r</pre> - or, as you found, restarting your machine