I have seen several messages asking for VDE networking support. There is an item also in your todo web page. http://libvirt.org/todo.html I have developed a patch to provide a basic support for VDE. It defines and manages the syntax: <domain ....> <device> <interface type='vde'> ... <switch path='/tmp/vde.ctl'/> </interface> </device> </domain> the switch tag can be omitted: vde uses the default switch. I have tested the qemu/kvm support. user-mode linux support is included but not tested yet. libvirt vde support for virtualbox has not been coded yet (virtualbox itself supports vde). The patch is against libvirt-0.8.7. renzo (designer/developer of VDE, university of bologna, wiki.virtualsquare.org) Signed-off-by: Renzo Davoli <renzo(a)cs.unibo.it&gt; --- --- a/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c 2011-01-10 11:49:49.000000000 +0100 +++ b/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c 2011-01-10 11:50:03.000000000 +0100 @@ -1083,6 +1083,7 @@ case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_INTERNAL: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_DIRECT: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST: + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: break; } --- a/src/uml/uml_conf.c 2011-01-10 12:03:54.000000000 +0100 +++ b/src/uml/uml_conf.c 2011-01-10 13:26:08.000000000 +0100 @@ -269,6 +269,14 @@ virBufferVSprintf(&buf, "tuntap,%s", def->ifname); break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: + /* ethNNN=vde,vde_switch,macaddr,port,group,mode,description */ + if (def->data.vde.vdeswitch) { + virBufferVSprintf(&buf, "vde,%s", def->data.vde.vdeswitch); + } else + virBufferAddLit(&buf, "vde"); + break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_INTERNAL: umlReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s", _("internal networking type not supported")); --- a/src/conf/domain_conf.h 2011-01-10 11:41:07.000000000 +0100 +++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.h 2011-01-10 13:21:08.000000000 +0100 @@ -288,6 +288,7 @@ VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_BRIDGE, VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_INTERNAL, VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_DIRECT, + VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE, VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST, }; @@ -336,6 +337,9 @@ int mode; virVirtualPortProfileParams virtPortProfile; } direct; + struct { + char *vdeswitch; + } vde; } data; char *ifname; virDomainDeviceInfo info; --- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c 2011-01-10 11:42:04.000000000 +0100 +++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c 2011-01-10 14:49:46.000000000 +0100 @@ -182,7 +182,8 @@ "network", "bridge", "internal", - "direct") + "direct", + "vde") VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virDomainChrChannelTarget, VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_CHANNEL_TARGET_TYPE_LAST, @@ -598,6 +599,10 @@ VIR_FREE(def->data.direct.linkdev); break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: + VIR_FREE(def->data.vde.vdeswitch); + break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_USER: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST: break; @@ -2293,6 +2298,7 @@ char *internal = NULL; char *devaddr = NULL; char *mode = NULL; + char *vdeswitch = NULL; virNWFilterHashTablePtr filterparams = NULL; virVirtualPortProfileParams virtPort; bool virtPortParsed = false; @@ -2379,7 +2385,11 @@ xmlStrEqual(cur->name, BAD_CAST "state")) { /* Legacy back-compat. Don't add any more attributes here */ devaddr = virXMLPropString(cur, "devaddr"); - } + } else if ((vdeswitch == NULL) && + def->type == VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE && + xmlStrEqual(cur->name, BAD_CAST "switch")) { + vdeswitch = virXMLPropString(cur, "path"); + } } cur = cur->next; } @@ -2529,6 +2539,11 @@ break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: + def->data.vde.vdeswitch = vdeswitch; + vdeswitch = NULL; + break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_USER: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST: break; @@ -6263,6 +6278,12 @@ " "); break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: + if (def->data.vde.vdeswitch) + virBufferEscapeString(buf, " <switch path='%s'/>\n", + def->data.vde.vdeswitch); + break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_USER: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST: break; --- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c 2011-01-10 13:11:17.000000000 +0100 +++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c 2011-01-10 13:26:28.000000000 +0100 @@ -1602,12 +1602,21 @@ case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_BRIDGE: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_INTERNAL: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_DIRECT: + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_LAST: break; } type_sep = ','; break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDE: + virBufferAddLit(&buf, "vde"); + if (net->data.vde.vdeswitch) + virBufferVSprintf(&buf, "%csock=%s", + type_sep, + net->data.vde.vdeswitch); + break; + case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_USER: default: virBufferAddLit(&buf, "user");