Quoting "Richard W.M. Jones" <rjones@redhat.com>:
This patch allows selection of the NIC model for QEMU/KVM domains. The selection is done by adding a <model/> element to the XML, as in this example:
<interface type='user'> <mac address='00:16:3e:33:b8:d3'/> <model type='ne2k_pci'/> </interface>
The model type string is only checked to make sure it's a short alpha-numeric + underscore, since it seems impractical to extract the actual list of supported models.
I've found how to get the list of supported models: pgquiles@pravetz:~$ kvm -net nic,model=? -hda '' Warning: vlan 0 is not connected to host network qemu: Supported ISA NICs: ne2k_isa qemu: Supported PCI NICs: i82551 i82557b i82559er ne2k_pci pcnet rtl8139 e1000 virtio
If you choose a supported model then QEMU starts up with this extra -nic parameter:
/usr/bin/qemu-kvm -M pc -m 500 -smp 1 -monitor pty \ -boot c -hda /var/lib/xen/images/rhel51x32kvm.img \ -net nic,macaddr=00:16:3e:33:b8:d3,vlan=0,model=ne2k_pci -net user,vlan=0 \ -usb -vnc 127.0.0.1:0
If you choose a non-existant model then you get the error:
libvir: QEMU error : internal error QEMU quit during monitor startup
-- Pau Garcia i Quiles http://www.elpauer.org (Due to my workload, I may need 10 days to answer)