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" /&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.
	<span class="since">Since 0.3.0</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. If
	no attributes are set, NAT forwarding will be used for connectivity.
	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 IPv4 address range available,
      and optionally enable DHCP sevices.
    </p>

    <pre>
        ...
	&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;/network&gt;</pre>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>ip</code></dt>
      <dd>The <code>address</code> attribute defines an IPv4 address in
	dotted-decimal format, that will be configured on the bridge
	device associated with the virtual network. To the guests this
	address will be their default route. The <code>netmask</code>
	attribute defines the significant bits of the network address,
	again specified in dotted-decimal format.  <span class="since">Since 0.3.0</span>
      </dd>
      <dt><code>dhcp</code></dt>
      <dd>Immediately 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.
	<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>
    </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 type="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;/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 type="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;/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;/network&gt;</pre>

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