---
title: "Bridged networking in virt-manager"
id: "85"
type: "post"
slug: "bridged-networking-in-virt-manager"
published_at: "2008-09-05T17:06:55+00:00"
modified_at: "2014-04-12T20:33:59+00:00"
url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager/"
markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager.md"
excerpt: "I have an ongoing inability to commit to a single virtualization platform because I’m always looking for one that has everything I need, is free and open source, and runs well on my dinosaur hardware. Maybe I’ll post another time......"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Software & Technology"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "bridged network"
  - "device"
  - "eth0"
  - "Fedora"
  - "greyed"
  - "kvm"
  - "Linux"
  - "out"
  - "physical"
  - "shared"
  - "shared physical device"
  - "virt"
  - "virt-manager"
---

[Skip to the content](#site-content)
[John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com)

### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion

- [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/)
- [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/)
- [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/)
- [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/)

 Toggle search field

- [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/)
- [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/)
- [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/)
- [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/)

# [Bridged networking in virt-manager](https://johnpoelstra.com/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager/)

I have an ongoing inability to commit to a single virtualization platform because I’m always looking for one that has everything I need, is free and open source, and runs well on my dinosaur hardware. Maybe I’ll post another time about my experiences with VMWare, Qemu, VirtualBox, and Xen.

Anyway, I just got a x86_64 KVM capable box from a co-worker that a is a few years old, but it is a few years newer than my existing hardware :-) I did a fresh install of Fedora 9, installed the Virtualization group, and set off to do a network install using `virt-manager`. That was when I discovered that the *shared physical device* interface option was *grayed out* and couldn’t be used.

I went hunting around on Google for the solution, but didn’t find anything obvious right away. In the end I found this excellent page: [http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking](http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking)
[http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking](http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking)
–oddly enough linked to in the comments of some instructions that didn’t work. In all likelihood you do **not** need to do the `# cat > ifcfg-eth0 <<EOF` step as you probably already have a working network card. I did not add the `iptables` (firewall) rules either.

Now to get a rawhide tree that installs. In the meantime I’m also experimenting with this very interest project: [oVirt](http://ovirt.org/)
.

**Update:** This is still applicable for Fedora 14 and earlier.

#### John Poelstra

John Poelstra coaches directors in finance and software. Trained through the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions. He brings 25 years of experience from the inside: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast.

[Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/)
[Author website](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146)

September 5, 2008

[Software & Technology](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/software/)

[bridged network](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/bridged-network/)
, [device](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/device/)
, [eth0](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/eth0/)
, [Fedora](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/fedora/)
, [greyed](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/greyed/)
, [kvm](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/kvm/)
, [Linux](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/linux/)
, [out](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/out/)
, [physical](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/physical/)
, [shared](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/shared/)
, [shared physical device](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/shared-physical-device/)
, [virt](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/virt/)
, [virt-manager](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/virt-manager/)

[Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/fedora-10-schedule-update/)
[Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/build-fedora-10-beta-isos-with-jigdo/)

## 2 Comments

## [Add yours](#respond)

1. James Laska[September 9, 2008 at 3:12 am](https://johnpoelstra.com/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager/#comment-75) [Reply](#comment-75) Thanks for this. I never knew were the bridged entry went. But now I know how to get it back 🙂 [Reply](#comment-75)
2. [Mr. Icon](http://www.mricon.com/) [September 5, 2008 at 11:00 am](https://johnpoelstra.com/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager/#comment-74) [Reply](#comment-74) I totally agree — it was mind-boggling hard to find good information about creating a shared bridge. I think I eventually found the same page as you have listed. [Reply](#comment-74)

### Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](/bridged-networking-in-virt-manager/#respond)

### John Poelstra

[https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756](https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756)

### Subscribe to Podcast

[Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1)
[Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)
[by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)
[RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)

### Links

- [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/)
- [Coaching](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/)

### Subscribe to Podcast

[Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1)
[Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)
[by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)
[RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/)

© 2026 [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com/)
 — Powered by [WordPress](http://www.wordpress.org)

Theme by [Anders Noren](https://andersnoren.se)
 — [Up ↑](#)