I have an Ubuntu server with several IP addresses attached to it. 127.0.0.1 is listed as venet0 by ifconfig. I'm using Chef to configure the server. The problem is that chef is listing 127.0.0.1 as the IP address for the server instead of one of the server's "real" IPs. (apparent "ohai ipaddress" uses the first IP listed by ifconfig to determine the server's IP).

How can I change the order so the servers main IP is listed first instead of the 127.0.0.1?

Can venet0 be deleted and venet0:0 be "promoted" to take its place since 127.0.0.1 is already listed in the "lo" interface?

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:334 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:334 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:16700 (16.7 KB)  TX bytes:16700 (16.7 KB)

venet0    Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  P-t-P:127.0.0.1  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP BROADCAST POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:7622207 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8183436 errors:0 dropped:1 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:2102750761 (2.1 GB)  TX bytes:2795213667 (2.7 GB)

venet0:0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:XXX.XXX.XXX.XX1  P-t-P:XXX.XXX.XXX.XX1  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP BROADCAST POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1500  Metric:1

venet0:1  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:XXX.XXX.XXX.XX2  P-t-P:XXX.XXX.XXX.XX2  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP BROADCAST POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1500  Metric:1

route -n

route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.0.2.1       0.0.0.0         255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0 venet0
0.0.0.0         192.0.2.1       0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 venet0