diff --git a/mxrouter/mxrouterctl b/mxrouter/mxrouterctl
index b9d2696..4105180 100755
--- a/mxrouter/mxrouterctl
+++ b/mxrouter/mxrouterctl
@@ -373,9 +373,30 @@ sub radvd {
 	$radvd{$if}=$conf;
 }
 
-our $want_if;
+# 'lo' implied without config. Note: ipv6 seems to *need* lo for unknown reasons
+our $want_if = {'lo' => 1};    # includes lo, veth and physical devices but not vlan devices
 our $want_veth;
 
+sub configure_if {
+	my ($want_if)=@_;
+	for my $if (keys %$want_if) {
+		netif_is_up($if) or  sys('ip', 'link', 'set', $if, "up");
+	}
+}
+
+sub unconfigure_if {
+	my ($have_if)=@_;
+	for my $if (keys %$have_if) {
+		if (-d "/sys/class/net/$if/device") {
+			# hardware device
+			sys('ip', 'link', 'set', $if, 'netns', 1);
+		} else {
+			# virtual device
+			sys('ip', 'link', 'del', $if);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 our $DHCRELAY_FORWARD;
 our %DHCRELAY_IF;
 
@@ -411,7 +432,6 @@ sub disable_ipv4_rp_filter {
 
 
 
-
 sub start {
 
 	-d "/var/run/mxrouter/$NETNS" or sys ('mkdir','-p',"/var/run/mxrouter/$NETNS");
@@ -480,12 +500,16 @@ sub start {
 	my $have_addr=read_active_ip();
 	my ($new_addr,$del_addr)=({},{});
 
-	# for some yet unknown reason, ipv6 seems to need loopback....
-
-	netif_is_up('lo') or sys('ip link set lo up');
-
-	for my $dev (keys %$want_if, keys %$want_veth) {
-		netif_is_up($dev) or sys('ip','link','set',$dev,'up');
+	my $have_if = {map {$_ => 1} network_devices()};
+	for (keys %$want_if) {
+		exists $have_if->{$_} or warn "Interface $_ not available\n";
+	}
+	my $del_if={};
+	for (keys %$have_if) {
+		exists $want_if->{$_}
+			|| exists $want_vlan->{$_}
+			|| $_ eq 'lo'
+			or $del_if->{$_} = 1;
 	}
 
 	my ($have_vlan)=read_active_vlans();
@@ -554,7 +578,9 @@ sub start {
 	unconfigure_route($del_route);
 	unconfigure_ip($del_addr);
 	unconfigure_vlans($del_vlan,{});
+	unconfigure_if($del_if);
 
+	configure_if($want_if);
 	configure_vlans($new_vlan,{});
 	configure_ip($new_addr);
 	configure_route($new_route);
@@ -625,6 +651,7 @@ sub interface {
 
 sub veth {
 	my ($dev) = @_;
+	$want_if->{$dev} = 1;
 	$want_veth->{$dev} = 1;
 }
 
@@ -793,6 +820,21 @@ if (!$opt_this_ns) {
 		have_netns($NETNS) or die "not running (network namespace $NETNS does not exist)\n";
 		system('ip','netns','exec',$NETNS,$0,'--this-ns',@SAVED_ARGV) and exit 1;
 		delete_netns($NETNS);
+	} elsif ($cmd eq 'reload') {
+		have_netns($NETNS) or die "not running (network namespace $NETNS does not exist)\n";
+		# create veth pair if not yet available
+		for my $dev (sort keys %$want_veth) {
+			-d "/sys/class/net/$dev" and next;
+			sys('ip', 'link', 'add', $dev, 'type', 'veth', 'peer', 'name', $dev, 'netns', $NETNS);
+			sys('ip', 'link', 'set', $dev, 'up');
+		}
+		# move interfaces which are still in the init namespace
+		# ignore veth devices and lo, which exists in both namespaces
+		for my $dev (sort keys %$want_if) {
+			$dev eq 'lo'  || $want_veth->{$dev} and next;
+			-d "/sys/class/net/$dev" and sys('ip', 'link', 'set', $dev, 'netns', $NETNS);
+		}
+		system('ip', 'netns', 'exec', $NETNS,$0,'--this-ns', @SAVED_ARGV) and exit 1;
 	} else {
 		have_netns($NETNS) or die "not running (network namespace $NETNS does not exist)\n";
 		system('ip','netns','exec',$NETNS,$0,'--this-ns',@SAVED_ARGV) and exit 1;