disable a network interface on booting ubuntu

Question

I use ubuntu 12.04. I need to boot with one of the network interfaces 'eth1' down. I tried adding

sudo ifconfig eth1 down

to /etc/rc.local However it seems the interface is brought up and then down. Is there any way it should not start on boot?

Solution 1

You can add the interfaces that should not come up on boot on a new file /etc/network/interfaces.noboot, then bring them up when needed with:

sudo ifup -i /etc/network/interfaces.noboot -v eth1

Solution 2

You should be able to remove the relevant entries from the /etc/network/interfaces file but check out it's associated documentation interfaces(5) to be sure.