nftables refuses to add chain

Question

I am trying to run the following nft commands:

nft add table netdev filter
nft -- add chain netdev filter input { type filter hook ingress device vlan100 priority -500 \; policy accept \; }
nft add rule netdev filter input ip daddr 198.18.0.0/24 udp dport 1234 counter drop

However, when I try to run the second command I keep getting this error:

Error: Could not process rule: No such file or directory
add chain netdev filter input { type filter hook ingress device vlan100 priority -500 ; policy accept ; }
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This error is too general and not clear what it means.

• I checked to make sure table netdev filter was created. (It is)
• I tried in interactive mode by just supplying add chain netdev filter input { type filter hook ingress device vlan100 priority -500 ; policy accept ; }, and I get this error

Error: Could not process rule: No such file or directory
add chain netdev filter input { type filter hook ingress device vlan100 priority -500 ; policy accept ; }
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

• Other suggested from this post that I need to "Enable Kernel Options" however its not clear how I do this? How do I enable Kernel options? I also read this post And Question2 on this post , but this post does not detail how to actually enable these options. Do I need to recompile Linux from source with these options enabled? If so, how does one accomplish this, can someone share a guide on how to do this please?
• I am running kernel version 5.4.0-91 on Ubuntu 20.04.
• I am not sure if I am missing a kernel option? I can see the following when running cat /boot/config-5.4.0-91-generic | grep -i "Config_NF_\|Config_NETFILTER"

CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_ADVANCED=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_INGRESS=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_FAMILY_BRIDGE=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_FAMILY_ARP=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK_ACCT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK_QUEUE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK_LOG=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK_OSF=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_COMMON=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_NETDEV=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_CONNCOUNT=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_MARK=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SECMARK=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_ZONES=y
# CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_PROCFS is not set
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_EVENTS=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_TIMEOUT=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_TIMESTAMP=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_LABELS=y
CONFIG_NF_CT_PROTO_DCCP=y
CONFIG_NF_CT_PROTO_GRE=y
CONFIG_NF_CT_PROTO_SCTP=y
CONFIG_NF_CT_PROTO_UDPLITE=y
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_AMANDA=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_FTP=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_H323=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_IRC=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_BROADCAST=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_NETBIOS_NS=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SNMP=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_PPTP=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SANE=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SIP=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_TFTP=m
CONFIG_NF_CT_NETLINK=m
CONFIG_NF_CT_NETLINK_TIMEOUT=m
CONFIG_NF_CT_NETLINK_HELPER=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK_GLUE_CT=y
CONFIG_NF_NAT=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_AMANDA=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_FTP=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_IRC=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_SIP=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_TFTP=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_REDIRECT=y
CONFIG_NF_NAT_MASQUERADE=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_SYNPROXY=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_SET=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_INET=y
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_NETDEV=y
CONFIG_NF_DUP_NETDEV=m
CONFIG_NF_FLOW_TABLE_INET=m
CONFIG_NF_FLOW_TABLE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XTABLES=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_CONNMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_SET=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_AUDIT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_CHECKSUM=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_CLASSIFY=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_CONNMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_CONNSECMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_CT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_DSCP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_HL=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_HMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_IDLETIMER=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_LED=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_LOG=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_MARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_NAT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_NETMAP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_NFLOG=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_NFQUEUE=m
# CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_NOTRACK is not set
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_RATEEST=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_REDIRECT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_MASQUERADE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_TEE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_TPROXY=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_TRACE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_SECMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_TCPOPTSTRIP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_ADDRTYPE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_BPF=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CGROUP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CLUSTER=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_COMMENT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNBYTES=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNLABEL=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNLIMIT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNMARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNTRACK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CPU=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_DCCP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_DEVGROUP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_DSCP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_ECN=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_ESP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_HASHLIMIT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_HELPER=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_HL=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_IPCOMP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_IPRANGE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_IPVS=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_L2TP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_LENGTH=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_LIMIT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_MAC=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_MARK=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_MULTIPORT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_NFACCT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_OSF=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_OWNER=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_POLICY=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_PHYSDEV=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_PKTTYPE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_QUOTA=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_RATEEST=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_REALM=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_RECENT=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_SCTP=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_SOCKET=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_STATE=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_STATISTIC=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_STRING=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_TIME=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_U32=m
CONFIG_NF_DEFRAG_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_SOCKET_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_TPROXY_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_IPV4=y
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_ARP=y
CONFIG_NF_FLOW_TABLE_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_DUP_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_ARP=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_REJECT_IPV4=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_SNMP_BASIC=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_PPTP=m
CONFIG_NF_NAT_H323=m
CONFIG_NF_SOCKET_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_TPROXY_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_IPV6=y
CONFIG_NF_FLOW_TABLE_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_DUP_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_REJECT_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_DEFRAG_IPV6=m
CONFIG_NF_TABLES_BRIDGE=m
CONFIG_NF_LOG_BRIDGE=m
CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_BRIDGE=m

Why can I not add the chain? What am I doing wrong?

UPDATE:

The problem was related to the interface name. I was following instructions from this post (step 6). I did not realize they created an interface with the name "vlan100". However after closer inspection from the author's github README.md (Found here) It shows they created "vlan100" earlier on in the context of the setup. The fix for myself was to apply the netdev chain to an existing network interface (primarily the one I was sending traffic to)

Answer 1

In the nftables wiki, the netdev family is described like this:

The netdev family is different from the others in that it is used to create base chains attached to a single network interface. Such base chains see all network traffic on the specified interface, with no assumptions about L2 or L3 protocols.

"No assumptions about L2 protocols" would probably mean that VLAN tags have not been processed yet at that point. That would seem to mean could attach netdev chains to physical network devices only, not to VLAN devices.

Note: this is just my guess. But if it turns out to be correct, the error message would make sense: the vlan100 virtual network interface would not exist in the context of netdev nftables family, because it is not a physical network interface.