Bridge Networking in CentOS 6.3

Bridge networking is a useful technique to allow Virtual Guests to access your networking hardware. This guide was written in mind for CentOS 6.3 but should be applicable to other Linux versions (with modifications).

1. Copy the file /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 as br0

   cp /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-br0

   
   
2. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and add the line:
   

   BRIDGE=br0

   You can also delete the lines:
   

   BOOTPROTO
   IPADDR
   GATEWAY
   DNS1
   DNS2

3. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-br0 and edit the lines:
   

   DEVICE=br0
   TYPE=Bridge

   You can also delete the lines:
   

   HWADDR
   UUID

4. Restart your network:
   

   service network restart

    

References

• Howtoforge.com guide to Virtualisation with KVM
• Cyberciti post on KVM Bridging
• The isborken blog on setting up a headless KVM