How to Configure Bridged Networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 / 14.04 / Debian 9
Bridged networking or network is a dedicated network card to a virtual machine which provides a communication path to outside network, and this must be set up before creating a virtual machine using Virtual Manager.
READ: How to install KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 / Ubuntu 14.04
This guide will help you to configure bridged networking on Ubuntu 16.04 / Ubuntu 14.04.
You can either use a command line or graphical mode.
Install bridge-utils package using the apt command.
sudo apt-get install -y bridge-utils resolvconf
Command line
Edit interface file to create bridge “br1“, this should be executed on KVM host.
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
My machine has two network cards eth0 and eth1, so I have created a bridge using both network card.
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8) auto lo iface lo inet loopback #Bridge Name # auto br1 # Bridge Information # iface br1 inet static bridge_ports eth1 eth0 bridge_stp off bridge_fd 9 # Bride IP # address 192.168.12.7 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.12.0 broadcast 192.168.12.255 gateway 192.168.12.2 dns-nameservers 192.168.12.2 dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8
Bring up the bridge.
sudo ifup br1
OR
Restart the network service.
sudo service networking restart
Graphical Mode
Click on the dash and search for Virtual Machine Manager.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Virt Manager](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Virt-Manager.jpg)
or
virt-manager
Edit >> Connection details >> Click on Plus sign.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking Connection Details](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Connection-Details.jpg)
Choose bridge as an interface type and then click on forward.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking Interface type](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Interface-type.jpg)
Set a Name, start mode as on boot and choose to activate now.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking Configure Interface](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Configure-Interface.jpg)
You can configure ip address by clicking on Configure right to IP settings. Once IP is configured, click OK.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking Configure IP for bridge](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Configure-IP-for-bridge.jpg)
Clik on the finish to create a bridge called “br1”.
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking.jpg)
Verify ip address by using the following command.
ifconfig br1
Output:
br1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0c:29:26:55:17 inet addr:192.168.12.7 Bcast:192.168.12.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fe26:5517/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:250 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:229 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:21236 (21.2 KB) TX bytes:31676 (31.6 KB)
![Configure bridged networking for KVM on Ubuntu 16.04 - Bridged Networking Verifying details](https://www.itzgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ubuntu-14.10-Bridged-Networking-Verifying-details.jpg)
That’s All.