How can I bridge Xen virtual machines' networks to the bonding device on dom0?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later version, or configuration with xen-3.0.3-80.el5 or greater.

Issue

There is a bonding device already available on dom0. How do I modify the Xen configuration so that the virtual machines can bridge its network traffic through this bonding device?

Resolution

  • Make sure the bonding device is configured correctly on dom0 machine. Refer to /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-2.6.18/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt file for more detailed information.

  • Modify /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp file and change "network-script" parameter to the following:

    (network-script 'network-bridge-bonding netdev=bond0')

  • Reboot the machine to apply the new setting. After the system reboot, the new network interface called "pbond<n>" appears when ifconfig command is invoked.

  • When creating a new virtual machine via graphics tool, a new option called "pbond<n>(bond<n>)" can be specified from "share physical device" select box in the network configuration step.

Notes: If there are multi-bonding devices need to be bridge on dom0, please refer to How do I configure multiple guest network bridges to use multiple bonding devices on domain 0?

Root Cause

  • There was a bug when bonding device is used with network-bridge script. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 introduced network-bridge-bonding script to enable bridging on bonded device. Refer to BZ429154.
  • Component
  • xen

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