formatnetwork.html.in

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    <h1>Network XML format</h1>

    <ul id="toc">
    </ul>

    <p>
      This page provides an introduction to the network XML format. For background
      information on the concepts referred to here, consult the <a href="archnetwork.html">network driver architecture</a>
      page.
    </p>

    <h2><a name="elements">Element and attribute overview</a></h2>

    <p>
      The root element required for all virtual networks is
      named <code>network</code> and has no attributes.
      The network XML format is available <span class="since">since 0.3.0</span>
    </p>

    <h3><a name="elementsMetadata">General metadata</a></h3>

    <p>
      The first elements provide basic metadata about the virtual
      network.
    </p>

    <pre>
      &lt;network&gt;
        &lt;name&gt;default&lt;/name&gt;
        &lt;uuid&gt;3e3fce45-4f53-4fa7-bb32-11f34168b82b&lt;/uuid&gt;
        ...</pre>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>name</code></dt>
      <dd>The content of the <code>name</code> element provides
        a short name for the virtual network. This name should
        consist only of alpha-numeric characters and is required
        to be unique within the scope of a single host. It is
        used to form the filename for storing the persistent
        configuration file. <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span></dd>
      <dt><code>uuid</code></dt>
      <dd>The content of the <code>uuid</code> element provides
        a globally unique identifier for the virtual network.
        The format must be RFC 4122 compliant, eg <code>3e3fce45-4f53-4fa7-bb32-11f34168b82b</code>.
        If omitted when defining/creating a new network, a random
        UUID is generated. <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span></dd>
    </dl>

    <h3><a name="elementsConnect">Connectivity</a></h3>

    <p>
      The next set of elements control how a virtual network is
      provided connectivity to the physical LAN (if at all).
    </p>

    <pre>
        ...
        &lt;bridge name="virbr0" stp="on" delay="5"/&gt;
        &lt;domain name="example"/&gt;
        &lt;forward mode="nat" dev="eth0"/&gt;
        ...</pre>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>bridge</code></dt>
      <dd>The <code>name</code> attribute on the <code>bridge</code> element
        defines the name of a bridge device which will be used to construct
        the virtual network. The virtual machines will be connected to this
        bridge device allowing them to talk to each other. The bridge device
        may also be connected to the LAN. It is recommended that bridge
        device names started with the prefix <code>vir</code>, but the name
        <code>virbr0</code> is reserved for the "default" virtual network.
        This element should always be provided when defining a new network.
        Attribute <code>stp</code> specifies if Spanning Tree Protocol is
        'on' or 'off' (default is 'on'). Attribute <code>delay</code> sets
        the bridge's forward delay value in seconds (default is 0).
        <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>domain</code></dt>
      <dd>
        The <code>name</code> attribute on the <code>domain</code> element
        defines the DNS domain of the DHCP server. This element is optional.
        <span class="since">Since 0.4.5</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>forward</code></dt>
      <dd>Inclusion of the <code>forward</code> element indicates that
        the virtual network is to be connected to the physical
        LAN. the <code>mode</code> attribute determines the method of
        forwarding; possible selections are 'nat' and 'route'. If mode
        is not specified, NAT forwarding will be used for
        connectivity.  If a network has any IPv6 addresses defined,
        even if <code>mode</code> is given as 'nat', the IPv6 traffic
        will be forwarded using routing, since IPv6 has no concept of NAT.
        Firewall rules will allow forwarding to any other network device whether
        ethernet, wireless, dialup, or VPN. If the <code>dev</code> attribute
        is set, the firewall rules will restrict forwarding to the named
        device only. If the <code>mode</code> attribute is set to <code>route</code>
        then the traffic will not have NAT applied. This presumes that the
        local LAN router has suitable routing table entries to return traffic
        to this host. <span class="since">Since 0.3.0; 'mode' attribute since
        0.4.2</span></dd>
    </dl>

    <h3><a name="elementsAddress">Addressing</a></h3>

    <p>
      The final set of elements define the addresses (IPv4 and/or
      IPv6, as well as MAC) to be assigned to the bridge device
      associated with the virtual network, and optionally enable DHCP
      services.
    </p>

    <pre>
        ...
        &lt;mac address='00:16:3E:5D:C7:9E'/&gt;
        &lt;dns&gt;
          &lt;txt name="example" value="example value" /&gt;
        &lt;/dns&gt;
        &lt;ip address="192.168.122.1" netmask="255.255.255.0"&gt;
          &lt;dhcp&gt;
            &lt;range start="192.168.122.100" end="192.168.122.254" /&gt;
            &lt;host mac="00:16:3e:77:e2:ed" name="foo.example.com" ip="192.168.122.10" /&gt;
            &lt;host mac="00:16:3e:3e:a9:1a" name="bar.example.com" ip="192.168.122.11" /&gt;
          &lt;/dhcp&gt;
        &lt;/ip&gt;
        &lt;ip family="ipv6" address="2001:8794:ca2:2::1" prefix="64" /&gt;
      &lt;/network&gt;</pre>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>mac</code></dt>
      <dd>The <code>address</code> attribute defines a MAC
        (hardware) address formatted as 6 groups of 2-digit
        hexadecimal numbers, the groups separated by colons
        (eg, <code>"52:54:00:1C:DA:2F"</code>).  This MAC address is
        assigned to the bridge device when it is created.  Generally
        it is best to not specify a MAC address when creating a
        network - in this case, if a defined MAC address is needed for
        proper operation, libvirt will automatically generate a random
        MAC address and save it in the config. Allowing libvirt to
        generate the MAC address will assure that it is compatible
        with the idiosyncrasies of the platform where libvirt is
        running. <span class="since">Since 0.8.8</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>ip</code></dt>
      <dd>The <code>address</code> attribute defines an IPv4 address in
        dotted-decimal format, or an IPv6 address in standard
        colon-separated hexadecimal format, that will be configured on
        the bridge
        device associated with the virtual network. To the guests this
        address will be their default route. For IPv4 addresses, the <code>netmask</code>
        attribute defines the significant bits of the network address,
        again specified in dotted-decimal format.  For IPv6 addresses,
        and as an alternate method for IPv4 addresses, you can specify
        the significant bits of the network address with the <code>prefix</code>
        attribute, which is an integer (for example, <code>netmask='255.255.255.0'</code>
        could also be given as <code>prefix='24'</code>. The <code>family</code>
        attribute is used to specify the type of address - 'ipv4' or 'ipv6'; if no
        <code>family</code> is given, 'ipv4' is assumed. A network can have more than
        one of each family of address defined, but only a single address can have a
        <code>dhcp</code> or <code>tftp</code> element. <span class="since">Since 0.3.0;
        IPv6, multiple addresses on a single network, <code>family</code>, and
        <code>prefix</code> since 0.8.7</span>
      </dd><dt><code>tftp</code></dt><dd>Immediately within
        the <code>ip</code> element there is an optional <code>tftp</code>
        element. The presence of this element and of its attribute
        <code>root</code> enables TFTP services.  The attribute specifies
        the path to the root directory served via TFTP. <code>tftp</code> is not
        supported for IPv6 addresses, can only be specified on a single IPv4 address
        per network.
        <span class="since">Since 0.7.1</span>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>dns</code></dt><dd>
        The dns element of a network contains configuration information for the
        virtual network's DNS server. <span class="since">Since 0.9.3</span>
        Currently supported elements are:
        <dl>
          <dt><code>txt</code></dt>
          <dd>A <code>dns</code> element can have 0 or more <code>txt</code> elements.
            Each txt element defines a DNS TXT record and has two attributes, both
            required: a name that can be queried via dns, and a value that will be
            returned when that name is queried. names cannot contain embedded spaces
            or commas. value is a single string that can contain multiple values
            separated by commas. <span class="since">Since 0.9.3</span>
          </dd>
          <dt><code>host</code></dt>
          <dd>The <code>host</code> element within <code>dns</code> is the
            definition of DNS hosts to be passed to the DNS service. The IP
            address is identified by the <code>ip</code> attribute and the names
            for that IP address are identified in the <code>hostname</code>
            sub-elements of the <code>host</code> element.
            <span class="since">Since 0.9.3</span>
          </dd>
        </dl>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>dhcp</code></dt>
      <dd>Also within the <code>ip</code> element there is an
        optional <code>dhcp</code> element. The presence of this element
        enables DHCP services on the virtual network. It will further
        contain one or more <code>range</code> elements. The
        <code>dhcp</code> element is not supported for IPv6, and
        is only supported on a single IP address per network for IPv4.
        <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>range</code></dt>
      <dd>The <code>start</code> and <code>end</code> attributes on the
        <code>range</code> element specify the boundaries of a pool of
        IPv4 addresses to be provided to DHCP clients. These two addresses
        must lie within the scope of the network defined on the parent
        <code>ip</code> element.  <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>host</code></dt>
      <dd>Within the <code>dhcp</code> element there may be zero or more
        <code>host</code> elements; these specify hosts which will be given
        names and predefined IP addresses by the built-in DHCP server. Any
        such element must specify the MAC address of the host to be assigned
        a given name (via the <code>mac</code> attribute), the IP to be
        assigned to that host (via the <code>ip</code> attribute), and the
        name to be given that host by the DHCP server (via the
        <code>name</code> attribute).  <span class="since">Since 0.4.5</span>
      </dd><dt><code>bootp</code></dt><dd>The optional <code>bootp</code>
        element specifies BOOTP options to be provided by the DHCP server.
        Two attributes are supported: <code>file</code> is mandatory and
        gives the file to be used for the boot image; <code>server</code> is
        optional and gives the address of the TFTP server from which the boot
        image will be fetched.  <code>server</code> defaults to the same host
        that runs the DHCP server, as is the case when the <code>tftp</code>
        element is used.  The BOOTP options currently have to be the same
        for all address ranges and statically assigned addresses.<span
        class="since">Since 0.7.1 (<code>server</code> since 0.7.3).</span>
      </dd>
    </dl>

    <h2><a name="examples">Example configuration</a></h2>

    <h3><a name="examplesNAT">NAT based network</a></h3>

    <p>
      This example is the so called "default" virtual network. It is
      provided and enabled out-of-the-box for all libvirt installations.
      This is a configuration that allows guest OS to get outbound
      connectivity regardless of whether the host uses ethernet, wireless,
      dialup, or VPN networking without requiring any specific admin
      configuration. In the absence of host networking, it at least allows
      guests to talk directly to each other.
    </p>

    <pre>
      &lt;network&gt;
        &lt;name&gt;default&lt;/name&gt;
        &lt;bridge name="virbr0" /&gt;
        &lt;forward mode="nat"/&gt;
        &lt;ip address="192.168.122.1" netmask="255.255.255.0"&gt;
          &lt;dhcp&gt;
            &lt;range start="192.168.122.2" end="192.168.122.254" /&gt;
          &lt;/dhcp&gt;
        &lt;/ip&gt;
        &lt;ip family="ipv6" address="2001:8794:ca2:2::1" prefix="64" /&gt;
      &lt;/network&gt;</pre>

    <h3><a name="examplesRoute">Routed network config</a></h3>

    <p>
      This is a variant on the default network which routes traffic
      from the virtual network to the LAN without applying any NAT.
      It requires that the IP address range be pre-configured in the
      routing tables of the router on the host network. This example
      further specifies that guest traffic may only go out via the
      <code>eth1</code> host network device.
    </p>

    <pre>
      &lt;network&gt;
        &lt;name&gt;local&lt;/name&gt;
        &lt;bridge name="virbr1" /&gt;
        &lt;forward mode="route" dev="eth1"/&gt;
        &lt;ip address="192.168.122.1" netmask="255.255.255.0"&gt;
          &lt;dhcp&gt;
            &lt;range start="192.168.122.2" end="192.168.122.254" /&gt;
          &lt;/dhcp&gt;
        &lt;/ip&gt;
        &lt;ip family="ipv6" address="2001:8794:ca2:2::1" prefix="64" /&gt;
      &lt;/network&gt;</pre>

    <h3><a name="examplesPrivate">Isolated network config</a></h3>

    <p>
      This variant provides a completely isolated private network
      for guests. The guests can talk to each other, and the host
      OS, but cannot reach any other machines on the LAN, due to
      the omission of the <code>forward</code> element in the XML
      description.
    </p>

    <pre>
      &lt;network&gt;
        &lt;name&gt;private&lt;/name&gt;
        &lt;bridge name="virbr2" /&gt;
        &lt;ip address="192.168.152.1" netmask="255.255.255.0"&gt;
          &lt;dhcp&gt;
            &lt;range start="192.168.152.2" end="192.168.152.254" /&gt;
          &lt;/dhcp&gt;
        &lt;/ip&gt;
        &lt;ip family="ipv6" address="2001:8794:ca2:3::1" prefix="64" /&gt;
      &lt;/network&gt;</pre>

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