Weird linux problem #1 - ip link set he-ipv6 up fails w/ solution

[eonesixfour]

This was on a Xen virtual hosting and I'm not entirely sure if it's something I've done or something they've done or .... I have a similar Xen hosting I'm planning to play around with in future, just haven't gotten there yet but here's the problem.

Both linux examples on the tunnel info page failed, eg:

# ip link set he-ipv6 up
RTNETLINK answers: Invalid argument

Yet when I 'apt-get install tspc' there was a tunnel up and running no problem at all so I knew some combination of commands would work, in the end it turns out all I needed to do was 'ifconfig he-ipv6 up' and the rest of the ipv6 commands would work fine, I have no idea why ip link set he-ipv6 up wouldn't.

Hope this saves someone some time that ends up in the same situation.