VDE network setup

A sample setup of qemu machines and VDE networking components is described. Configuration parameters for qemu might not be optimal since the emphasis was at the moment on the network configuration.


Tools & Components
Tools used for setting up following VDE network are:

• vde_switch - a virtual switch
• dpipe - two-way pipe here used to connect two switches
• vde_plug - connects virtual machine (VM) to a switch
• vde_plug2tap - connect tap device to a switch
• qemu - for running VMs

Network layout 

 Sample network setup consists of two switched networks.
Q1, Q2 and Q3 are qemu virtual machines.
S1,S2  are VDE switches to which VMs are connected.
S1 and S2 are connected using dpipe and vde_plug-s
tap0 is an interface on the actual host machine which is running S2. tap0 is connected to S2 using vde_tap2plug.

Scripts
Setup scripts are currentlty hosted elsewhere. Click on the link to see the code.

1. Launch S1 and S2, boot machines Q1..Q3 
2. Connect S1 and S2 to external world
3. Stop qemu machines and tear down VDE network
4. Sample /etc/network/interfaces file for qemu machines

Useful links

• How to connect guest and host