kvm bridged network not available in GUI

[Simon Blandford]

Using Kubuntu 11.10
Virtual Machine Manager 0.9.0-1ubuntu3
Asus Zenbook

Enhancement request

By default there is no way in the GUI to set up a bridged network device. Under Connection Details, Network Interfaces there is the message "Libvirt connection does not support interface management".

I know there are some black-screen solutions to bridge interfaces but these seem to require setting a fixed IP address and writing into /etc/network/interfaces. This is fine for a fixed server but a laptop may use eth0 for network, or it may use wlan0 for network, or perhaps ppp0 for mobile broadband. The IP address could be anything depending on the network the laptop is connected to at the time. The network is usually managed by a desktop applet (I think) and only lo is defined in /etc/network/interfaces.

It would be nice if there was a solution for bridging network adaptors that was as transparent and easy to use as that provided by Virtualbox or VMware Player. Going further than that, maybe one that would bridge whatever available network device is currently being used.

I would like to use KVM since my Zenbook needs a bleeding-edge kernel to work properly and both VMware and Virtualbox kernel modules crash the kernel when installed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Robert Hutton (rwh-helms-deep)]

Yes, you can set this up with some commands in a terminal and modifying /etc/network/interfaces. Some simple instructions here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/Networking#Bridged_Networking

Note the bits about capabilities, and note also that it's possible to use DHCP to assign both the KVM host's IP address, and the guests' ip addresses through the bridged connection. In this configuration, they'll all end up with IP addresses on the physical network, assigned by whatever dhcp server is available on that network segment.

One important thing to keep in mind is that wireless network cards usually don't support bridging. I'm not sure what the status of bridging on PPPoE or PPPoA interfaces are.

However, I agree it'd be nice to have virt-manager working properly! :)

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Does bridge networking show up in virt-manager if you install the "hal" package from universe?

[Simon Blandford (home-simonb)]

Thanks.

I just installed the hal package.

Some progress but not quite there yet.

I now get lo:macvtap and wlan:macvtap appear as a available source devices on the VM network configuration page.

I selected wlan:macvtap and tried all the available Source Mode options, VEPA, Bridge, Private and Passthrough and booted up the VM. I was not able to obtain an address via DHCP from the network with any option.

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

In that case, we'll need to wait for the netcf MIR to go through (LP: #904014), and for libvirt to be rebuilt with interface management. Most likely will be in 12.10.