diff --git a/ctdb/config/events/legacy/10.interface.script b/ctdb/config/events/legacy/10.interface.script
index 72e0c101d47..d87f6c52c58 100755
--- a/ctdb/config/events/legacy/10.interface.script
+++ b/ctdb/config/events/legacy/10.interface.script
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ fi
 get_all_interfaces ()
 {
     # Get all the interfaces listed in the public_addresses file
-    all_interfaces=$(sed -e 's/^[^\t ]*[\t ]*//' \
+    all_interfaces=$(sed -e '/^#.*/d' \
+			 -e 's/^[^\t ]*[\t ]*//' \
 			 -e 's/,/ /g' \
 			 -e 's/[\t ]*$//' "$ctdb_public_addresses")
 
diff --git a/ctdb/config/functions b/ctdb/config/functions
index 2395d8d4dc8..a4e73ad0594 100755
--- a/ctdb/config/functions
+++ b/ctdb/config/functions
@@ -611,6 +611,9 @@ drop_all_public_ips ()
 	# _x is intentionally ignored
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034
 	while read _ip _x ; do
+		case "$_ip" in
+		\#*) continue ;;
+		esac
 		drop_ip "$_ip"
 	done <"${CTDB_BASE}/public_addresses"
 }