<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style> </head> <body dir="ltr"> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Hi libvirt users,</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> I have been using libvirt on Debian Linux for a few months. (Mostly with virt-manager. I haven't yet learned all of the command line commands.)</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> I'm currently confused by bridge mode networking, which I think is what I require to address the particular use case, which I will describe:</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> My use case:</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Prior to this I have been using routed mode to organize my VMs. Most of the VMs I deploy are for services (web servers, mail servers, etc) so I require them to have static IP addresses on my local network.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ==== An aside / comment: I *can* set those static IPs using the command line virsh net-edit (from memory) command and then change the settings in the xml files. However, s<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ince this seems like something that many users would require regularly it would be nice to be able to set static IP in the GUI when configuring with virt-manager. I assume that the same people who maintain libvirt also maintain virt-manager? If I'm wrong please re-direct me.</span></div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Returning to the main discussion: It would be more convenient for me personally if I were able to set the IP addresses of these VMs using static addresses configured via an external DHCP server. I believe I can do this if my network is in "bridge" mode instead of NAT or Routed. I know this should be possible from reading information online but there doesn't seem to be any option for this in the virt-manager GUI.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ==== To give more details on my setup: My network has a pfsense instance which is able to provide IP addresses to local machines. I would like to use the same pfsense machine to provide IP addresses to virtual machines. If I am not mistaken, the only way to do this would be to bridge the network on which the VMs reside to the network on which the pfsense machine resides.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> I will provide some screenshots to illustrate my confusion. When creating a new virtual network, I assume that I do not want to enable DHCPv4, because I want the pfsense system to allocate IP addresses. I do not know whether I should leave "Enable ipv4 network address space definition" or what the value should be. See image below.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <img size="51867" contenttype="image/png" unselectable="on" tabindex="-1" style="max-width: 100%; user-select: none;" data-outlook-trace="F:1|T:1" src="cid:4e926d97-7a58-4350-93cc-0db7c401c075"><br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Further in the setup (step 4), I assume I need to choose "Forward to physical network" rather than "Isolated virtual network".</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> For the destination option, I do not know what should be chosen. I don't fully understand how this option works.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> For "Mode" there are three options: NAT, Routed and finally "Open". I cannot find any documentation which indicates what "Open" means. NAT and Routed are clearly not the correct options here - by a process of elimination that would imply that "Open" means "bridged" but I have a feeling that this is incorrect and I don't understand something else. Again, see screengrab below.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <img size="58888" contenttype="image/png" unselectable="on" tabindex="-1" style="max-width: 100%; user-select: none;" data-outlook-trace="F:1|T:1" src="cid:f2ea4e34-c418-48d3-86b2-d7ff1002990a"><br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> I am quite keen to contribute something to documentation. At the moment I don't understand enough about how libvirt works to be able to do this.</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Apologies if my questions have been directed to the wrong people. If this is the case could you please re-direct me to the right place to ask such questions?</div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Best regards</div> </body> </html>