I am running KVM virtualization with libvirtd (libvirt) 0.10.2  in bridged network mode, however I still have the default virtual network bridge/interfaces and dnsmasq on the host. What I am trying to understand is whether or not dnsmasq and the virtual network (virbr0, Vnet0 and Vnet1) still play any role. If not, can I remove them?

On most virtual hosts I see they are left around even when a network bridge has been manually setup and  the default virtual network bridge/interfaces and dnsmasq are not serve any purpose.

Thanks 

Mimi


[bigfoot@localhost ~]$ ifconfig
br0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr E2:59:52:12:34:4C
          inet addr:135.17.1XX.XX  Bcast:135.17.1XX.XX  Mask:255.255.255.128
          inet6 addr: fe80::ea39:35ff:fe12:948e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:564577 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:303315 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:566465184 (540.2 MiB)  TX bytes:83532692 (79.6 MiB)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr E2:59:52:12:34:4C
          inet6 addr: fe80::ea39:35ff:fe12:948e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:806142 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:450977 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:711888772 (678.9 MiB)  TX bytes:175377460 (167.2 MiB)
          Interrupt:28 Memory:f7100000-f7120000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:276793 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:276793 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:551259266 (525.7 MiB)  TX bytes:551259266 (525.7 MiB)

virbr0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 52:54:00:2A:1B:AF
          inet addr:192.168.122.1  Bcast:192.168.122.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

vnet0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr FE:54:00:A0:8D:50
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:ff:fea0:8d50/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:124812 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:343055 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
          RX bytes:55075362 (52.5 MiB)  TX bytes:138488556 (132.0 MiB)

vnet1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr FE:54:00:71:A8:78
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:ff:fe71:a878/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:17834 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:318816 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
          RX bytes:2279102 (2.1 MiB)  TX bytes:20534286 (19.5 MiB)

[bigfoot@localhost ~]$