Virtualization With KVM On A CentOS 5.2 Server

[AdrianG]

Thank you for another excellent guide, Falko. I followed your directions on using KVM with CentOS, but with CentOS 5.3. I also used a Windows Vista guest in my testing. To do this I had to search for a newer RPM of KVM84, as the Vista installer wouldn't boot due to an ACPI bug in the archaic version of KVM in the CentOS repository.

After that minor hiccup, everything is running great with the exception of networking. My Vista guest is unable to obtain an IP address. Googling older posts lead me to believe it was the default rtl8139 emulation and Vista's built-in driver, but I experience the same issue having forced e1000 in the guest's XML. Your guide walked though how to configure bridged networking, but I'm not sure it is implied this configuration would allow Windows guests to see the ineternet / hosts local network. Or perhaps that is only part of the puzzle?

Any thoughts, ideas or other input?

Thanks,
Adrian

[falko]

Do other guest operating systems (e.g. Linux) have the same problem?

[AdrianG]

Yes, I just tested with Debian Lenny and observed the same issue.

If I give the guests a static IP address, they ARE able ping other members of the local network and internet. Even with a static address, I am unable to use DNS (even though they can ping the local DNS server) nor can I view web pages even if I give the ip address of the web server.

Thanks,
Adrian

[falko]

That seems to be a problem with your DHCP server then.

Have you tried to use different DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf?

[AdrianG]

That seems to be a problem with your DHCP server then.

No, the DHCP server on the other side (local to the CentOS server) is currently serving an entire domain without issue. The CentOS was also a DHCP client until I made it static during this tutorial - after which it can still see everything fine, even browse the internet. Or are you referring to some DHCP mechanism the CentOS host is supposed to be providing these guests?

I can give the guests static IP addresses on the host's subnet and they can ping any machine on said subnet, even my 2003 Server domain controller (which is also our only DNS.) It seems I can do nothing more than ping those machines, however. It is as if a firewall on this host is filtering everything the guests try to pass through except ICMP, or the host bridge function is misconfigured here.

Thanks,
Adrian