diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
index bc86c7fb3..cd3772c52 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@
   delegate_to: localhost
   ignore_errors: yes
 
+- name: "Delete default network interface if not running"
+  shell: ip link del $(virsh net-info default | awk '$1 == "Bridge:" { print $2 }')
+  when: virsh_network_status.rc != 0
+  ignore_errors: yes
+  delegate_to: localhost
+
 - name: "Start default network if not running"
   command: virsh net-start default
   when: virsh_network_status.rc != 0
@@ -85,8 +91,7 @@
     msg: "Unable to verify the libvirt default network is available"
   when: >
     virsh_network_status.rc != 0 and
-    task_start_default_net.rc != 0 and
-    'File exists' not in task_start_default_net.stderr
+    task_start_default_net.rc != 0
 
 - name: "Create virtual machines"
   script: create_vm_nodes-for-role.sh
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-ironic-install/tasks/ironic_config.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-ironic-install/tasks/ironic_config.yml
index 62313940b..b770b5223 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-ironic-install/tasks/ironic_config.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-ironic-install/tasks/ironic_config.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,18 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 ---
+- name: "Fail if the network interface does not exist"
+  fail:
+    msg: >
+      The configured network interface {{ network_interface }} does
+      not exist
+  when: "{{ 'ansible_' ~ ans_network_interface not in hostvars[inventory_hostname] }}"
+- name: "Fail if the network interface has no IP address assigned"
+  fail:
+    msg: >
+      The configured network interface {{ network_interface }} does
+      not have an IP address assigned
+  when: "{{ not hostvars[inventory_hostname]['ansible_' ~ ans_network_interface].get('ipv4', {}).get('address') }}"
 - name: "Update driver list if PXE drivers are enabled"
   set_fact:
     enabled_drivers: "{{ enabled_drivers }},{{ pxe_drivers }}"