Before creating a new VM instance, you must create network bridges for management (MGT), high availability (HA), and packet ports (PKT0 and PKT1). These are linked to the physical interfaces on the host. This section explains how to create the network bridges and link to the physical interfaces. 

 For SR-IOV and Direct I/O  setup, network bridge is not required for PKT0 and PKT1.

  1. Log on to the host system as root user through an SSH client such as PuTTY.
  2. To navigate to network scripts directory, execute below command:

    cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
  3. Perform the following to create a bridge for MGT interface:

    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-mgtbridge file in vi editor using the following command:

      vi ifcfg-mgtbridge
    2. Enter the MGT bridge details. Information like IP Address, Netmask, and Gateway varies based on the configuration.

      TYPE=Bridge
      BOOTPROTO=none
      DEVICE=mgtbridge
      IPADDR=xx.xx.xx.xx
      NETMASK=xx.xx.xx.xx
      GATEWAY=xx.xx.xx.xx
      STP=off
      USERCTL=no
      NOZEROCONF=yes
      ONBOOT=yes
    3. Press Esc key.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  4. Link a bridge with MGT interface:
    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-eno1 file using vi editor using the following command.

      vi ifcfg-eno1
    2. Enter the MGT bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Ethernet
      UUID=fcd2131c-9142-42e4-bce4-825f4c8efc7f
      DEVICE=em1
      ONBOOT=yes
      BRIDGE="mgtbridge"
    3. Press Esc key.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  5. Perform the following to create a bridge for HA interface:

    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-habridge file using vi editor using the following command.

      vi ifcfg-habridge
    2. Enter the HA bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Bridge
      BOOTPROTO=none
      DEVICE=habridge
      STP=off
      USERCTL=no
      NOZEROCONF=yes
      ONBOOT=yes
      IPV6_DISABLED=yes
      IPV6INIT=no
    3. Press Esc.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  6. Link a bridge with HA interface:
    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-eno2 file using vi editor using the following command.

      vi ifcfg-eno2
    2. Enter the HA bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Ethernet
      UUID=fcd2131c-9142-42e4-bce4-825f4c8efc7f
      DEVICE=em2
      ONBOOT=yes
      BRIDGE="habridge"
    3. Press Esc key.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  7. Perform the following to create a bridge for PKT0 interface:

    1. Create and Open theifcfg-pkt0bridge file using vi editor using the following command:

      vi ifcfg-pkt0bridge
    2. Enter the PKT0 bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Bridge
      BOOTPROTO=none
      DEVICE=pkt0bridge
      IPADDR=xx.xx.xx.xx
      NETMASK=xx.xx.xx.xx
      GATEWAY=xx.xx.xx.xx
      STP=off
      USERCTL=no
      NOZEROCONF=yes
      ONBOOT=yes
    3. Press Esc.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  8. Link a bridge with PKT0 interface:
    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-eno3 file using vi editor using the following command.

      vi ifcfg-eno3
    2. Enter the PKT0 bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Ethernet
      UUID=fcd2131c-9142-42e4-bce4-825f4c8efc7f
      DEVICE=em3
      ONBOOT=yes
      BRIDGE="pkt0bridge"
    3. Press Esc key.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  9. Perform the following to create a bridge for PKT1 interface:

    1. Create and Open theifcfg-pkt1bridgefile using vi editor using the following command:

      vi ifcfg-pkt1bridge
    2. Enter the PKT1 bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Bridge
      BOOTPROTO=none
      DEVICE=pkt1bridge
      IPADDR=xx.xx.xx.xx
      NETMASK=xx.xx.xx.xx
      GATEWAY=xx.xx.xx.xx
      STP=off
      USERCTL=no
      NOZEROCONF=yes
      ONBOOT=yes


      The table below lists the parameters for MGT, HA, PKT0, and PKT1 bridges:

      ParameterDescriptionSetting
      TYPESpecify the bridge typeFor example, the Network Bridge
      BOOTPROTO

      The boot time protocol setting

      Set to none for this requirement

      DEVICEThe name of the bridge that is used to link with the physical interface on the host
      IPADDRThe IP address for this bridge
      NETMASKThe netmask value associated with the entered IP address
      GATEWAYThe gateway address associated with the entered IP address
      STP

      The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) setting

      Set to off for this requirement

      USERCTL

      The user control for the device

      Set to no to allow only the super-user root to control this device
      NOZEROCONF

      Enable/disable zeroconf routing

      Set to yes to disable zeroconf routing

      ONBOOT

      Choose whether or not to activate the bridge at boot-time

      Set to yes to activate the bridge at boot-time
      IPV6_DISABLED

      Specify whether or not to disable IPv6

      Set to yes to disable IPv6

      IPV6INIT

      Specify whether to initialize for IPv6 addressing

      Set to yes to initialize this interface for IPv6 addressing


    3. Press Esc.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  10. Link a bridge with PKT1 interface:
    1. Create and Open the ifcfg-eno4 file using vi editor using the following command.

      vi ifcfg-eno4
    2. Enter the PKT1 bridge details as shown below:

      TYPE=Ethernet
      UUID=fcd2131c-9142-42e4-bce4-825f4c8efc7f
      DEVICE=em4
      ONBOOT=yes
      BRIDGE="pkt1bridge"
    3. Press Esc key.

    4. To save the file and quit from vi editor, execute below command:

      :wq
  11. To list the interface created, execute below command:

    ls -ltr ifcfg-*

    The command executes with the following output.

    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 337 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-eno1
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 353 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-eno2
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 355 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-eno3
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 355 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-eno4
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 151 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-mgtbridge
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 150 Sep  4  2015 ifcfg-habridge
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 151 Apr 26 17:44 ifcfg-pkt0bridge
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 151 Apr 26 17:44 ifcfg-pkt1bridge