wheezy, cannot change the address of eth1

[Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net>]

Greetings folks;

I just bought an ethernet switch, but it is a smart switch, so I needed 
to bring up my eth1 interface at an address in the 192.168.0.xx range so 
I can talk to it.  But despite the fact that it is so specified 
in /etc/network/interfaces, no amount of stopping and restarting the 
networking makes it take effect, its stuck at the old 192.168.1.3 
address.

The output on screen for an /etc/init.d/networking restart for eth1 is:
Configuring interface eth1=eth1 (inet)
run-parts --verbose /etc/network/if-pre-up.d
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wireless-tools
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant
ip addr add 192.168.0.25/255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 	 dev eth1 
label eth1
ip link set dev eth1   up
 ip route add default via 192.168.0.1  dev eth1 
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Failed to bring up eth1.

I cannot change it with ifconfig either. And the manpage for ip may as 
well be in swahili, lots of unexplained terminology.

So, short of rebooting so the changed interfaces might take effect, but 
will they, what is this "File exists" error?.

Does anyone have a clue what may be wrong?

And 5 years after I had a big fight with RTNETLINK, whatever the heck 
that is, it is still keeping the cause of the error secret.

So, net experts, what do I do?

Thanks.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>