Bridging in Fedora Core 13

Alteeve Wiki :: How To :: Bridging in Fedora Core 13

This covers how to add a bridge to a network interface in Fedora Core 13 to enable virtual server ethernet devices direct access to the physical ethernet device.

This is not a comprehensive HowTo! It's strictly meant to solve one problem.

Remove NetworkManager

The NetworkManager application is great for laptops and workstations, but really isn't appropriate for servers. The assumption here is that you are working on a server, of course. So to remove NetworkManager and switch to using good old network, run:

# Disable and stop NetworkManager
chkconfig NetworkManager off
/etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop
# Enable and start 'network'
chkconfig network on
/etc/init.d/network start

Optionally, you may want to simply remove NetworkManager:

# Perhaps overkill, but this should get everything.
yum remove NetworkManager NetworkManager-glib NetworkManager-gnome NetworkManager-devel NetworkManager-devel NetworkManager-glib NetworkManager-glib-devel NetworkManager-glib-devel NetworkManager-openconnect NetworkManager-openvpn NetworkManager-pptp NetworkManager-vpnc yum-NetworkManager-dispatcher

Be careful that you don't pull out important dependencies.

Setup Networking

Network configuration files on most or all Red Hat derivatives are found in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory, so go there:

cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

There should already be an existing ifcfg-eth0. Likewise, there will be an extra file with incrementing final numbers for each installed and recognized network card.

[root@an-node02 network-scripts]# cat ifcfg-eth0 
# Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
DNS1=192.139.81.117
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
HWADDR=90:E6:BA:71:82:D8
IPADDR=192.168.1.72
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
IPV6INIT=no
USERCTL=no
BRIDGE=br0
[root@an-node02 network-scripts]# cat ifcfg-br0 
# Internet-facing bridge
DEVICE=br0
TYPE=Bridge
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=192.168.1.12
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
DNS1=192.139.81.117
DNS2=192.139.81.1

 

Any questions, feedback, advice, complaints or meanderings are welcome.
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