diff --git a/azurelinuxagent/common/osutil/default.py b/azurelinuxagent/common/osutil/default.py
index 189d8fe8fc..72824d7754 100644
--- a/azurelinuxagent/common/osutil/default.py
+++ b/azurelinuxagent/common/osutil/default.py
@@ -1116,7 +1116,7 @@ def set_dhcp_hostname(self, hostname):
     def restart_if(self, ifname, retries=3, wait=5):
         retry_limit=retries+1
         for attempt in range(1, retry_limit):
-            return_code=shellutil.run("ifdown {0} && ifup {0}".format(ifname))
+            return_code=shellutil.run("ifdown {0} && ifup {0}".format(ifname), expected_errors=[1] if attempt < retries else [])
             if return_code == 0:
                 return
             logger.warn("failed to restart {0}: return code {1}".format(ifname, return_code))
diff --git a/azurelinuxagent/common/utils/shellutil.py b/azurelinuxagent/common/utils/shellutil.py
index a17f8c27c9..0e3ee644c9 100644
--- a/azurelinuxagent/common/utils/shellutil.py
+++ b/azurelinuxagent/common/utils/shellutil.py
@@ -63,13 +63,13 @@ def has_command(cmd):
     """
     return not run(cmd, False)
 
-def run(cmd, chk_err=True):
+def run(cmd, chk_err=True, expected_errors=[]):
     """
     Calls run_get_output on 'cmd', returning only the return code.
     If chk_err=True then errors will be reported in the log.
     If chk_err=False then errors will be suppressed from the log.
     """
-    retcode, out = run_get_output(cmd, chk_err)
+    retcode, out = run_get_output(cmd, chk_err=chk_err, expected_errors=expected_errors)
     return retcode
 
 
diff --git a/tests/utils/test_shell_util.py b/tests/utils/test_shell_util.py
index 2d9b393965..fbc6b6cbc5 100644
--- a/tests/utils/test_shell_util.py
+++ b/tests/utils/test_shell_util.py
@@ -23,7 +23,32 @@
 import azurelinuxagent.common.utils.shellutil as shellutil
 import test
 
-class TestrunCmd(AgentTestCase):
+
+class ShellQuoteTestCase(AgentTestCase):
+    def test_shellquote(self):
+        self.assertEqual("\'foo\'", shellutil.quote("foo"))
+        self.assertEqual("\'foo bar\'", shellutil.quote("foo bar"))
+        self.assertEqual("'foo'\\''bar'", shellutil.quote("foo\'bar"))
+
+
+class RunTestCase(AgentTestCase):
+    def test_it_should_return_the_exit_code_of_the_command(self):
+        exit_code = shellutil.run("exit 123")
+        self.assertEquals(123, exit_code)
+
+    def test_it_should_be_a_pass_thru_to_run_get_output(self):
+        with patch.object(shellutil, "run_get_output", return_value=(0, "")) as mock_run_get_output:
+            shellutil.run("echo hello word!", chk_err=False, expected_errors=[1, 2, 3])
+
+        self.assertEquals(mock_run_get_output.call_count, 1)
+
+        args, kwargs = mock_run_get_output.call_args
+        self.assertEquals(args[0], "echo hello word!")
+        self.assertEquals(kwargs["chk_err"], False)
+        self.assertEquals(kwargs["expected_errors"], [1, 2, 3])
+
+
+class RunGetOutputTestCase(AgentTestCase):
     def test_run_get_output(self):
         output = shellutil.run_get_output(u"ls /")
         self.assertNotEquals(None, output)
@@ -35,10 +60,18 @@ def test_run_get_output(self):
         err = shellutil.run_get_output(u"ls 我")
         self.assertNotEquals(0, err[0])
 
-    def test_shellquote(self):
-        self.assertEqual("\'foo\'", shellutil.quote("foo"))
-        self.assertEqual("\'foo bar\'", shellutil.quote("foo bar"))
-        self.assertEqual("'foo'\\''bar'", shellutil.quote("foo\'bar"))
+    def test_it_should_log_the_command(self):
+        command = "echo hello world!"
+
+        with patch("azurelinuxagent.common.utils.shellutil.logger", autospec=True) as mock_logger:
+            shellutil.run_get_output(command)
+
+        self.assertEquals(mock_logger.verbose.call_count, 1)
+
+        args, kwargs = mock_logger.verbose.call_args
+        command_in_message = args[1]
+        self.assertEqual(command_in_message, command)
+
 
     def test_it_should_log_command_failures_as_errors(self):
         return_code = 99