So I am running linux (debian mostly), and kvm these days. Before that I
was using linux and Virtualbox.
On the linux host I use a package called something like bridge-utils.
The command that does it all is brctl.
Let's say we have a debian host with a working plain network
configuration:
Code:
--------------------
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 172.31.0.10
netmask 255.255.0.0
network 172.31.0.0
broadcast 172.31.255.255
gateway 172.31.0.1
--------------------
Then you can install bridge-utils and change the configuration to this:
Code:
--------------------
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
address 172.31.0.10
netmask 255.255.0.0
network 172.31.0.0
broadcast 172.31.255.255
gateway 172.31.0.1
bridge_ports eth0
bridge_stp on
bridge_maxwait 0
--------------------
a bridge is like a virtual switch, it resembles he "managed" kind of
switches which get an IP on the network. Here, a virtual switch is
added on the 172.31.0.0 network, which goes through interface eth0. The
"bridge ports eth0" stanza you see here is the equivalent of running the
brctl command: 'brctl addif br0 eth0' and plugs the host NIC into the
virtual switch.
- All virtual machines with interfaces plugged into the switch will be
able to use the eth0 route to reach the physical network (provided they
know how to use the 172.31.0.0 network, of course.)
- The host computer is still reachable at address 172.31.0.10
Under VBox or kvm or whatever else I guess, if you create a VM with an
interface plugged into the "br0 native host device", then both the host
and the guest can be on the same network. DHCP requests work and all.
Create a VM with SBS, give it an ethernet card and you'll get your
players to talk to your virtual server as easily as if it were running
on the physical host.
Note that the MAC address used by the SBS server will be a MAC address
generated by the VM manager when creating the virtual machine: you need
to reconnect your squeezeboxen properly to this server, the first time.
I've had this work of a few years in Virtualbox (linux and mac hosts),
easily if not extremely reliably. This summer I upgraded my main server
and switched to using kvm, which is libre and offers much more
performance and reliability. Ease of use is a bit on the downside. I
can't speak of other options.
Being fast and reliable, KVM opens to much more convoluted
configurations.
The one I use is to have multiple networks of physical and virtual
machines, routed/filtered by a virtual machine. Only some portions of
the server host are accessible to some machines/networks, according to
the firewall configuration, yet it runs everything.
A virtualized network is extremely flexible, and a router/firewall VM
can be fast, because usually it lives in the belly of a whale, compared
to common routers.
Using a recent linux (2.6.32) on a host that has VT cpu extensions (a
PowerEdge circa 2006), I started running a Vyatta router as a kvm
virtual machine with great success. Vyatta is linux-based and uses the
Virtio drivers. I currently route between 5 different networks,
balkanization looms :)
I can go further on this virtual router scheme, but between bridging,
bonding, VLANs, routing, the subject is a bit numbing. Let me know.
One last word. I replaced the fast SAS 10k rpm system drive in my
server with an Intel SATA SSD. It did absolutely nothing to the feel of
the server from a workstation, as the network is the bottleneck. But the
SSD transfigured the responsiveness of my virtual machines beyond all
expectations.
--
epoch1970
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