diff --git a/patches/systemvm/debian/config/root/redundant_router/enable_pubip.sh.templ b/patches/systemvm/debian/config/root/redundant_router/enable_pubip.sh.templ
index 3e22c0d0a55..0e2d03a9041 100644
--- a/patches/systemvm/debian/config/root/redundant_router/enable_pubip.sh.templ
+++ b/patches/systemvm/debian/config/root/redundant_router/enable_pubip.sh.templ
@@ -16,14 +16,18 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+ip link|grep BROADCAST|grep -v eth0|grep -v eth1|cut -d ":" -f 2 > /tmp/iflist
+ip addr show eth2 | grep "inet" 2>&1 > /dev/null
+is_init=$?
+
 set -e
 
-ip link|grep BROADCAST|grep -v eth0|grep -v eth1|cut -d ":" -f 2 > /tmp/iflist
 while read i
 do
-    if [ "$i" == "eth2" ]
+    # if eth2'ip has already been configured, we would use ifconfig rather than ifdown/ifup
+    if [ "$i" == "eth2" -a "$is_init" != "0" ]
     then
-        ifdown $i --force
+        ifdown $i
         ifup $i
     else
         ifconfig $i down