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14.14. Managing Virtual Networks

This section covers managing virtual networks with the virsh command. To list virtual networks:
# virsh net-list
This command generates output similar to:
# virsh net-list
Name                 State      Autostart
-----------------------------------------
default              active     yes
vnet1	             active     yes
vnet2	             active     yes
To view network information for a specific virtual network:
# virsh net-dumpxml NetworkName
This displays information about a specified virtual network in XML format:
# virsh net-dumpxml vnet1
<network>
  <name>vnet1</name>
  <uuid>98361b46-1581-acb7-1643-85a412626e70</uuid>
  <forward dev='eth0'/>
  <bridge name='vnet0' stp='on' forwardDelay='0' />
  <ip address='192.168.100.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
    <dhcp>
      <range start='192.168.100.128' end='192.168.100.254' />
    </dhcp>
  </ip>
</network>
Other virsh commands used in managing virtual networks are:
  • virsh net-autostart network-name — Autostart a network specified as network-name.
  • virsh net-create XMLfile — generates and starts a new network using an existing XML file.
  • virsh net-define XMLfile — generates a new network device from an existing XML file without starting it.
  • virsh net-destroy network-name — destroy a network specified as network-name.
  • virsh net-name networkUUID — convert a specified networkUUID to a network name.
  • virsh net-uuid network-name — convert a specified network-name to a network UUID.
  • virsh net-start nameOfInactiveNetwork — starts an inactive network.
  • virsh net-undefine nameOfInactiveNetwork — removes the definition of an inactive network.