Type: nic

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Note

The nic device type is supported for both containers and VMs.

NICs support hotplugging for both containers and VMs (with the exception of the ipvlan NIC type).

Network devices, also referred to as Network Interface Controllers or NICs, supply a connection to a network. LXD supports several different types of network devices (NIC types).

nictype vs. network

When adding a network device to an instance, there are two methods to specify the type of device that you want to add: through the nictype device option or the network device option.

These two device options are mutually exclusive, and you can specify only one of them when you create a device. However, note that when you specify the network option, the nictype option is derived automatically from the network type.

nictype

When using the nictype device option, you can specify a network interface that is not controlled by LXD. Therefore, you must specify all information that LXD needs to use the network interface.

When using this method, the nictype option must be specified when creating the device, and it cannot be changed later.

network

When using the network device option, the NIC is linked to an existing managed network. In this case, LXD has all required information about the network, and you need to specify only the network name when adding the device.

When using this method, LXD derives the nictype option automatically. The value is read-only and cannot be changed.

Other device options that are inherited from the network are marked with a “yes” in the “Managed” field of the NIC-specific device options. You cannot customize these options directly for the NIC if you’re using the network method.

See Networking setups for more information.

Available NIC types

The following NICs can be added using the nictype or network options:

• bridged: Uses an existing bridge on the host and creates a virtual device pair to connect the host bridge to the instance.

• macvlan: Sets up a new network device based on an existing one, but using a different MAC address.

• sriov: Passes a virtual function of an SR-IOV-enabled physical network device into the instance.

• physical: Passes a physical device from the host through to the instance. The targeted device will vanish from the host and appear in the instance.

The following NICs can be added using only the network option:

• ovn: Uses an existing OVN network and creates a virtual device pair to connect the instance to it.

The following NICs can be added using only the nictype option:

• ipvlan: Sets up a new network device based on an existing one, using the same MAC address but a different IP.

• p2p: Creates a virtual device pair, putting one side in the instance and leaving the other side on the host.

• routed: Creates a virtual device pair to connect the host to the instance and sets up static routes and proxy ARP/NDP entries to allow the instance to join the network of a designated parent interface.

The available device options depend on the NIC type and are listed in the following sections.

nictype: bridged

Note

You can select this NIC type through the nictype option or the network option (see Bridge network for information about the managed bridge network).

A bridged NIC uses an existing bridge on the host and creates a virtual device pair to connect the host bridge to the instance.

Device options

NIC devices of type bridged have the following device options:

⤋⤊

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

host_name

Name of the interface inside the host

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

ipv4.address

IPv4 address to assign to the instance through DHCP

ipv4.routes

IPv4 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

ipv4.routes.external

IPv4 static routes to route to NIC

ipv6.address

IPv6 address to assign to the instance through DHCP

ipv6.routes

IPv6 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

ipv6.routes.external

IPv6 static routes to route to NIC

limits.egress

I/O limit for outgoing traffic

limits.ingress

I/O limit for incoming traffic

limits.max

I/O limit for both incoming and outgoing traffic

limits.priority

skb->priority value for outgoing traffic

maas.subnet.ipv4

MAAS IPv4 subnet to register the instance in

maas.subnet.ipv6

MAAS IPv6 subnet to register the instance in

mtu

MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

network

Managed network to link the device to

parent

Name of the host device

queue.tx.length

Transmit queue length for the NIC

security.ipv4_filtering

Whether to prevent the instance from spoofing an IPv4 address

security.ipv6_filtering

Whether to prevent the instance from spoofing an IPv6 address

security.mac_filtering

Whether to prevent the instance from spoofing a MAC address

security.port_isolation

Whether to respect port isolation

vlan

VLAN ID to use for non-tagged traffic

vlan.tagged

VLAN IDs or VLAN ranges to join for tagged traffic

Configuration examples

Add a bridged network device to an instance, connecting to a LXD managed network:

lxc network create <network_name> --type=bridge
lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic network=<network_name>

Note that bridge is the type when creating a managed bridge network, while the device nictype that is required when connecting to an unmanaged bridge is bridged.

Add a bridged network device to an instance, connecting to an existing bridge interface with nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=bridged parent=<existing_bridge>

See How to create a network and Configure devices for more information.

nictype: macvlan

Note

You can select this NIC type through the nictype option or the network option (see Macvlan network for information about the managed macvlan network).

A macvlan NIC sets up a new network device based on an existing one, but using a different MAC address.

If you are using a macvlan NIC, communication between the LXD host and the instances is not possible. Both the host and the instances can talk to the gateway, but they cannot communicate directly.

Device options

NIC devices of type macvlan have the following device options:

⤋⤊

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

gvrp

Whether to use GARP VLAN Registration Protocol

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

maas.subnet.ipv4

MAAS IPv4 subnet to register the instance in

maas.subnet.ipv6

MAAS IPv6 subnet to register the instance in

mtu

MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

network

Managed network to link the device to

parent

Name of the host device

vlan

VLAN ID to attach to

Configuration examples

Add a macvlan network device to an instance, connecting to a LXD managed network:

lxc network create <network_name> --type=macvlan parent=<existing_NIC>
lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic network=<network_name>

Add a macvlan network device to an instance, connecting to an existing network interface with nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=macvlan parent=<existing_NIC>

See How to create a network and Configure devices for more information.

nictype: sriov

Note

You can select this NIC type through the nictype option or the network option (see SR-IOV network for information about the managed sriov network).

An sriov NIC passes a virtual function of an SR-IOV-enabled physical network device into the instance.

An SR-IOV-enabled network device associates a set of virtual functions (VFs) with the single physical function (PF) of the network device. PFs are standard PCIe functions. VFs, on the other hand, are very lightweight PCIe functions that are optimized for data movement. They come with a limited set of configuration capabilities to prevent changing properties of the PF.

Given that VFs appear as regular PCIe devices to the system, they can be passed to instances just like a regular physical device.

VF allocation

The sriov interface type expects to be passed the name of an SR-IOV enabled network device on the system via the parent property. LXD then checks for any available VFs on the system.

By default, LXD allocates the first free VF it finds. If it detects that either none are enabled or all currently enabled VFs are in use, it bumps the number of supported VFs to the maximum value and uses the first free VF. If all possible VFs are in use or the kernel or card doesn’t support incrementing the number of VFs, LXD returns an error.

Note

If you need LXD to use a specific VF, use a physical NIC instead of a sriov NIC and set its parent option to the VF name.

Device options

NIC devices of type sriov have the following device options:

⤋⤊

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

maas.subnet.ipv4

MAAS IPv4 subnet to register the instance in

maas.subnet.ipv6

MAAS IPv6 subnet to register the instance in

mtu

MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

network

Managed network to link the device to

parent

Name of the host device

security.mac_filtering

Whether to prevent the instance from spoofing a MAC address

vlan

VLAN ID to attach to

Configuration examples

Add a sriov network device to an instance, connecting to a LXD managed network:

lxc network create <network_name> --type=sriov parent=<sriov_enabled_NIC>
lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic network=<network_name>

Add a sriov network device to an instance, connecting to an existing SR-IOV-enabled interface with nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=sriov parent=<sriov_enabled_NIC>

See How to create a network and Configure devices for more information.

nictype: physical

Note

• You can select this NIC type through the nictype option or the network option (see Physical network for information about the managed physical network).

• You can have only one physical NIC for each parent device.

A physical NIC provides straight physical device pass-through from the host. The targeted device will vanish from the host and appear in the instance (which means that you can have only one physical NIC for each targeted device).

Device options

NIC devices of type physical have the following device options:

⤋⤊

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

gvrp

Whether to use GARP VLAN Registration Protocol

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

maas.subnet.ipv4

MAAS IPv4 subnet to register the instance in

maas.subnet.ipv6

MAAS IPv6 subnet to register the instance in

mtu

MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

network

Managed network to link the device to

parent

Name of the host device

vlan

VLAN ID to attach to

Configuration examples

Add a physical network device to an instance, connecting to an existing physical network interface with nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=physical parent=<physical_NIC>

Adding a physical network device to an instance using a managed network is not possible, because the physical managed network type is intended to be used only with OVN networks.

See Configure devices for more information.

nictype: ovn

Note

You can select this NIC type only through the network option (see OVN network for information about the managed ovn network).

An ovn NIC uses an existing OVN network and creates a virtual device pair to connect the instance to it.

SR-IOV hardware acceleration

To use acceleration=sriov, you must have a compatible SR-IOV physical NIC that supports the Ethernet switch device driver model (switchdev) in your LXD host. LXD assumes that the physical NIC (PF) is configured in switchdev mode and connected to the OVN integration OVS bridge, and that it has one or more virtual functions (VFs) active.

To achieve this, follow these basic prerequisite setup steps:

1. Set up PF and VF:

   1. Activate some VFs on PF (called enp9s0f0np0 in the following example, with a PCI address of 0000:09:00.0) and unbind them.

   2. Enable switchdev mode and hw-tc-offload on the PF.

   3. Rebind the VFs.

   echo 4 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:09:00.0/sriov_numvfs
   for i in $(lspci -nnn | grep "Virtual Function" | cut -d' ' -f1); do echo 0000:$i > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/mlx5_core/unbind; done
   devlink dev eswitch set pci/0000:09:00.0 mode switchdev
   ethtool -K enp9s0f0np0 hw-tc-offload on
   for i in $(lspci -nnn | grep "Virtual Function" | cut -d' ' -f1); do echo 0000:$i > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/mlx5_core/bind; done
   

2. Set up OVS by enabling hardware offload and adding the PF NIC to the integration bridge (normally called br-int):

   ovs-vsctl set open_vswitch . other_config:hw-offload=true
   systemctl restart openvswitch-switch
   ovs-vsctl add-port br-int enp9s0f0np0
   ip link set enp9s0f0np0 up
   

VDPA hardware acceleration

To use acceleration=vdpa, you must have a compatible VDPA physical NIC. The setup is the same as for SR-IOV hardware acceleration, except that you must also enable the vhost_vdpa module and check that you have some available VDPA management devices :

modprobe vhost_vdpa && vdpa mgmtdev show

Device options

NIC devices of type ovn have the following device options:

⤋⤊

acceleration

Enable hardware offloading

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

host_name

Name of the interface inside the host

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

ipv4.address

IPv4 address to assign to the instance through DHCP

ipv4.routes

IPv4 static routes to route for the NIC

ipv4.routes.external

IPv4 static routes to route to NIC

ipv6.address

IPv6 address to assign to the instance through DHCP

ipv6.routes

IPv6 static routes to route to the NIC

ipv6.routes.external

IPv6 static routes to route to NIC

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

nested

Parent NIC name to nest this NIC under

network

Managed network to link the device to

security.acls

Network ACLs to apply

security.acls.default.egress.action

Default action to use for egress traffic

security.acls.default.egress.logged

Whether to log egress traffic that doesn’t match any ACL rule

security.acls.default.ingress.action

Default action to use for ingress traffic

security.acls.default.ingress.logged

Whether to log ingress traffic that doesn’t match any ACL rule

vlan

VLAN ID to use when nesting

Configuration examples

An ovn network device must be added using a managed network. To do so:

lxc network create <network_name> --type=ovn network=<parent_network>
lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic network=<network_name>

See How to set up OVN with LXD for full instructions, and How to create a network and Configure devices for more information.

nictype: ipvlan

Note

• This NIC type is available only for containers, not for virtual machines.

• You can select this NIC type only through the nictype option.

• This NIC type does not support hotplugging.

An ipvlan NIC sets up a new network device based on an existing one, using the same MAC address but a different IP.

If you are using an ipvlan NIC, communication between the LXD host and the instances is not possible. Both the host and the instances can talk to the gateway, but they cannot communicate directly.

LXD currently supports IPVLAN in L2 and L3S mode. In this mode, the gateway is automatically set by LXD, but the IP addresses must be manually specified using the ipv4.address and/or ipv6.address options before the container is started.

DNS

The name servers must be configured inside the container, because they are not set automatically. To do this, set the following sysctls:

• When using IPv4 addresses:

  net.ipv4.conf.<parent>.forwarding=1
  

• When using IPv6 addresses:

  net.ipv6.conf.<parent>.forwarding=1
  net.ipv6.conf.<parent>.proxy_ndp=1
  

Device options

NIC devices of type ipvlan have the following device options:

⤋⤊

gvrp

Whether to use GARP VLAN Registration Protocol

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

ipv4.address

IPv4 static addresses to add to the instance

ipv4.gateway

IPv4 gateway

ipv4.host_table

Custom policy routing table ID to add IPv4 static routes to

ipv6.address

IPv6 static addresses to add to the instance

ipv6.gateway

IPv6 gateway

ipv6.host_table

Custom policy routing table ID to add IPv6 static routes to

mode

IPVLAN mode

mtu

The MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

parent

Name of the host device

vlan

VLAN ID to attach to

Configuration examples

Add an ipvlan network device to an instance, connecting to an existing network interface with nictype:

lxc stop <instance_name>
lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=ipvlan parent=<existing_NIC>

Adding an ipvlan network device to an instance using a managed network is not possible.

See Configure devices for more information.

nictype: p2p

Note

You can select this NIC type only through the nictype option.

A p2p NIC creates a virtual device pair, putting one side in the instance and leaving the other side on the host.

Device options

NIC devices of type p2p have the following device options:

⤋⤊

boot.priority

Boot priority for VMs

host_name

Name of the interface inside the host

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

ipv4.routes

IPv4 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

ipv6.routes

IPv6 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

limits.egress

I/O limit for outgoing traffic

limits.ingress

I/O limit for incoming traffic

limits.max

I/O limit for both incoming and outgoing traffic

limits.priority

skb->priority value for outgoing traffic

mtu

MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

queue.tx.length

Transmit queue length for the NIC

Configuration examples

Add a p2p network device to an instance using nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=p2p

Adding a p2p network device to an instance using a managed network is not possible.

See Configure devices for more information.

nictype: routed

Note

You can select this NIC type only through the nictype option.

A routed NIC creates a virtual device pair to connect the host to the instance and sets up static routes and proxy ARP/NDP entries to allow the instance to join the network of a designated parent interface. For containers it uses a virtual Ethernet device pair, and for VMs it uses a TAP device.

This NIC type is similar in operation to ipvlan, in that it allows an instance to join an external network without needing to configure a bridge and shares the host’s MAC address. However, it differs from ipvlan because it does not need IPVLAN support in the kernel, and the host and the instance can communicate with each other.

This NIC type respects netfilter rules on the host and uses the host’s routing table to route packets, which can be useful if the host is connected to multiple networks.

IP addresses, gateways and routes

You must manually specify the IP addresses (using ipv4.address and/or ipv6.address) before the instance is started.

For containers, the NIC configures the following link-local gateway IPs on the host end and sets them as the default gateways in the container’s NIC interface:

169.254.0.1
fe80::1

For VMs, the gateways must be configured manually or via a mechanism like cloud-init (see the how to guide).

Note

If your container image is configured to perform DHCP on the interface, it will likely remove the automatically added configuration. In this case, you must configure the IP addresses and gateways manually or via a mechanism like cloud-init.

The NIC type configures static routes on the host pointing to the instance’s veth interface for all of the instance’s IPs.

Multiple IP addresses

Each NIC device can have multiple IP addresses added to it.

However, it might be preferable to use multiple routed NIC interfaces instead. In this case, set the ipv4.gateway and ipv6.gateway values to none on any subsequent interfaces to avoid default gateway conflicts. Also consider specifying a different host-side address for these subsequent interfaces using ipv4.host_address and/or ipv6.host_address.

Parent interface

This NIC can operate with and without a parent network interface set.

With the parent network interface set, proxy ARP/NDP entries of the instance’s IPs are added to the parent interface, which allows the instance to join the parent interface’s network at layer 2.

To enable this, the following network configuration must be applied on the host via sysctl:

• When using IPv4 addresses:

  net.ipv4.conf.<parent>.forwarding=1
  

• When using IPv6 addresses:

  net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1
  net.ipv6.conf.<parent>.forwarding=1
  net.ipv6.conf.all.proxy_ndp=1
  net.ipv6.conf.<parent>.proxy_ndp=1
  

Device options

NIC devices of type routed have the following device options:

⤋⤊

gvrp

Whether to use GARP VLAN Registration Protocol

host_name

Name of the interface inside the host

hwaddr

MAC address of the new interface

ipv4.address

IPv4 static addresses to add to the instance

ipv4.gateway

Whether to add an automatic default IPv4 gateway

ipv4.host_address

IPv4 address to add to the host-side veth interface

ipv4.host_table

Custom policy routing table ID to add IPv4 static routes to

ipv4.neighbor_probe

Whether to probe the parent network for IPv4 address availability

ipv4.routes

IPv4 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

ipv6.address

IPv6 static addresses to add to the instance

ipv6.gateway

Whether to add an automatic default IPv6 gateway

ipv6.host_address

IPv6 address to add to the host-side veth interface

ipv6.host_table

Custom policy routing table ID to add IPv6 static routes to

ipv6.neighbor_probe

Whether to probe the parent network for IPv6 address availability

ipv6.routes

IPv6 static routes for the NIC to add on the host

limits.egress

I/O limit for outgoing traffic

limits.ingress

I/O limit for incoming traffic

limits.max

I/O limit for both incoming and outgoing traffic

limits.priority

skb->priority value for outgoing traffic

mtu

The MTU of the new interface

name

Name of the interface inside the instance

parent

Name of the host device to join the instance to

queue.tx.length

Transmit queue length for the NIC

vlan

VLAN ID to attach to

Configuration examples

Add a routed network device to an instance using nictype:

lxc config device add <instance_name> <device_name> nic nictype=routed ipv4.address=192.0.2.2 ipv6.address=2001:db8::2

Adding a routed network device to an instance using a managed network is not possible.

See Configure devices for more information.

bridged, macvlan or ipvlan for connection to physical network

The bridged, macvlan and ipvlan interface types can be used to connect to an existing physical network.

macvlan effectively lets you fork your physical NIC, getting a second interface that is then used by the instance. This method saves you from creating a bridge device and virtual Ethernet device pairs and usually offers better performance than a bridge.

The downside to this method is that macvlan devices, while able to communicate between themselves and to the outside, cannot talk to their parent device. This means that you can’t use macvlan if you ever need your instances to talk to the host itself.

In such case, a bridge device is preferable. A bridge also lets you use MAC filtering and I/O limits, which cannot be applied to a macvlan device.

ipvlan is similar to macvlan, with the difference being that the forked device has IPs statically assigned to it and inherits the parent’s MAC address on the network.

MAAS integration

If you’re using MAAS to manage the physical network under your LXD host and want to attach your instances directly to a MAAS-managed network, LXD can be configured to interact with MAAS so that it can track your instances.

At the daemon level, you must configure maas.api.url and maas.api.key, and then set the NIC-specific maas.subnet.ipv4 and/or maas.subnet.ipv6 keys on the instance or profile’s nic entry.

With this configuration, LXD registers all your instances with MAAS, giving them proper DHCP leases and DNS records.

If you set the ipv4.address or ipv6.address keys on the NIC, those are registered as static assignments in MAAS.