How to create Linux bridges and Open vSwitch bridges with NetworkManager

My virtual infrastructure Ansible role supports connecting VMs to both Linux and Open vSwitch bridges, but they must already exist on the KVM host.

Here is how to convert an existing Ethernet device into a bridge. Be careful if doing this on a remote machine with only one connection! Make sure you have some other way to log in (e.g. console), or maybe add additional interfaces instead.

Export interfaces and existing connections

First, export the the device you want to convert so we can easily reference it later (e.g. eth1).

export NET_DEV="eth1"

Now list the current NetworkManager connections for your device exported above, so we know what to disable later.

sudo nmcli con |egrep -w "${NET_DEV}"

This might be something like System eth1 or Wired connection 1, let’s export it too for later reference.

export NM_NAME="Wired connection 1"

Create a Linux bridge

Here is an example of creating a persistent Linux bridge with NetworkManager. It will take a device such as eth1 (substitute as appropriate) and convert it into a bridge. Note that we will be specifically giving it the device name of br0 as that’s the standard convention and what things like libvirt will look for.

Make sure you have exported your device as NET_DEV and its existing NetworkManager connection name as NM_NAME from above, you will use them below.

sudo nmcli con add ifname br0 type bridge con-name br0
sudo nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname "${NET_DEV}" master br0 con-name br0-slave-"${NET_DEV}"

Note that br0 probably has a different MAC address to your physical interface. If so, make sure you update and DHCP reservations (or be able to find the new IP once the bridge is brought up).

sudo ip link show dev br0
sudo ip link show dev "${NET_DEV}"

Configure the bridge

As mentioned above, by default the Linux bridge will get an address via DHCP. If you don’t want it to be on the network (you might have another dedicated interface) then disable DHCP on it.

sudo nmcli con modify br0 ipv4.method disabled ipv6.method disabled

Or, if you need set a static IP you can do that too.

sudo nmcli con modify br0 ipv4.method static ipv4.address 192.168.123.100/24

If you need to set a specific MTU like 9000 (defaults to 1500), you can do that.

sudo nmcli con modify br0-slave-"${NET_DEV}" 802-3-ethernet.mtu 9000

Finally, spanning tree protocol is on by default, so disable it if you need to.

sudo nmcli con modify br0 bridge.stp no

Bring up the bridge

Now you can either simply reboot, or stop the current interface and bring up the bridge (do it in one command in case you’re using the one interface, else you’ll get disconnected). Note that your IP might change once bridge comes up, if you didn’t check the MAC address and update any static DHCP leases.

sudo nmcli con down "${NM_NAME}" ; \
sudo nmcli con up br0

Create an Open vSwitch (OVS) bridge

OVS bridges are often used for plumbing into libvirt for use with VLANs.

We can create an OVS bridge which will consists of the bridge itself and multiple ports and interfaces which connect everything together, including the physical device itself (so we can talk on the network) and virtual ports for VLANs and VMs. By default the physical port on the bridge will use untagged (native) VLAN, but if all your traffic needs to be tagged then we can add a tagged interface.

Here is an example of creating a persistent OVS bridge with NetworkManager. It will take a device such as eth1 (substitute as appropriate) and convert it into an ovs-bridge.

Install dependencies

You will need openvswitch installed as well as the OVS NetworkManager plugin.

sudo dnf install -y NetworkManager-ovs openvswitch
sudo systemctl enable --now openvswitch
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Create the bridge

Let’s create the bridge, its port and interface with these three commands.

sudo nmcli con add type ovs-bridge conn.interface ovs-bridge con-name ovs-bridge
sudo nmcli con add type ovs-port conn.interface port-ovs-bridge master ovs-bridge con-name ovs-bridge-port
sudo nmcli con add type ovs-interface slave-type ovs-port conn.interface ovs-bridge master ovs-bridge-port con-name ovs-bridge-int

Patch in our physical interface

Next, create another port on the bridge and patch in our physical device as an Ethernet interface so that real traffic can flow across the network. Make sure you have exported your device as NET_DEV and its existing NetworkManager connection name as NM_NAME from above, you will use them below.

sudo nmcli con add type ovs-port conn.interface ovs-port-eth master ovs-bridge con-name ovs-port-eth
sudo nmcli con add type ethernet conn.interface "${NET_DEV}" master ovs-port-eth con-name ovs-port-eth-int

OK now you should have an OVS bridge configured and patched to your local network via your Ethernet device, but not yet active.

Configure the bridge

By default the OVS bridge will be sending untagged traffic and requesting an IP address for ovs-bridge via DHCP. If you don’t want it to be on the network (you might have another dedicated interface) then disable DHCP on the interface.

sudo nmcli con modify ovs-bridge-int ipv4.method disabled ipv6.method disabled

Or if you need to set a static IP you can do that too.

sudo nmcli con modify ovs-bridge-int ipv4.method static ipv4.address 192.168.123.100/24

If you need to set a specific MTU like 9000 (defaults to 1500), you can do that.

sudo nmcli con modify ovs-bridge-int 802-3-ethernet.mtu 9000
sudo nmcli con modify ovs-port-eth-int 802-3-ethernet.mtu 9000

Bring up the bridge

Before you bring up the bridge, note that ovs-bridge will probably have a MAC address which is different to your physical interface. Keep that in mind if you manage DHCP static leases, and make sure you can find the new IP so that you can log back in once the bridge is brought up.

Now you can either simply reboot, or stop the current interface and bring up the bridge and its interfaces (in theory we just need to bring up ovs-port-eth-int, but let’s make sure and do it in one command in case you’re using the one interface, else you’ll get disconnected and not be able to log back in). Note that your MAC address may change here, so if you’re using DHCP and you’ll get a new IP and your session will freeze, so be sure you can find the new IP so you can log back in.

sudo nmcli con down "${NM_NAME}" ; \
sudo nmcli con up ovs-port-eth-int ; \
sudo nmcli con up ovs-bridge-int

Now you have a working Open vSwitch implementation!

Create OVS VLAN ports

From there you might want to create some port groups for specific VLANs. For example, if your network does not have a native VLAN, you will need to create a VLAN interface on the OVS bridge to get onto the network.

Let’s create a new port and interface for VLAN 123 which will use DHCP by default to get an address and bring it up.

First, export the VLAN as a variable for ease of reference.

export VLAN_ID=123

Now, do the creating.

sudo nmcli con add type ovs-port conn.interface vlan${VLAN_ID} master ovs-bridge ovs-port.tag ${VLAN_ID} con-name ovs-port-vlan${VLAN_ID}
sudo nmcli con add type ovs-interface slave-type ovs-port conn.interface vlan${VLAN_ID} master ovs-port-vlan${VLAN_ID} con-name ovs-int-vlan${VLAN_ID}
sudo nmcli con up ovs-int-vlan${VLAN_ID}

If you need to set a static address on the VLAN interface instead, you can do so by modifying the interface.

sudo nmcli con modify ovs-int-vlan${VLAN_ID} ipv4.method static ipv4.address 192.168.123.100/24

View the OVS configuration

Show the switch config and bridge with OVS tools.

sudo ovs-vsctl show

Clean up old interface profile

It’s not really necessary, but you can disable the current NetworkManager config for the device so that it doesn’t conflict with the bridge, if you want to.

sudo nmcli con modify "${NM_NAME}" ipv4.method disabled ipv6.method disabled

Or you can even delete the old interface’s NetworkManager configuration if you want to (but it’s not necessary).

sudo nmcli con delete "${NM_NAME}"

That’s it!

One thought on “How to create Linux bridges and Open vSwitch bridges with NetworkManager

  1. This would be wonderful if someone ported OVS bridges to Windows – know if this has been done.

    Thanks for the great write up.

    LF

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