Networks

Commands for managing libvirt virtual networks — listing, inspecting, creating, activating, deactivating, and deleting networks that VMs can attach to.

ls

List all libvirt networks managed by the daemon, showing name, UUID, active state, persistence, autostart, mode, bridge, subnet, and gateway.

vmr network ls

Examples

vmr network ls

inspect

Show detailed information about a specific network.

vmr network inspect <NAME>

Arguments

Argument	Description
NAME	Name of the network to inspect

Output Fields

Field	Description
Name	Network name
UUID	Libvirt UUID
Active	Whether the network is currently active
Persistent	Whether the network persists across daemon restarts
Autostart	Whether the network starts automatically on host boot
Mode	Network mode (nat, isolated, routed, bridge, open, macvtap)
Bridge	Host bridge interface name
Subnet	Network subnet in CIDR notation
Gateway	Gateway IP address
DHCP Start	Start of the DHCP range
DHCP End	End of the DHCP range

Examples

vmr network inspect my-network

create

Create a new libvirt virtual network with the specified configuration.

vmr network create <NAME> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument	Description
NAME	Name for the new network

Options

Flag	Short	Description
--mode <MODE>	-m	Network mode: nat, isolated, routed, bridge, open, or macvtap
--subnet <CIDR>	-s	Subnet in CIDR notation (e.g., 192.168.100.0/24)
--gateway <IP>	-g	Gateway IP address (e.g., 192.168.100.1)
--dhcp-start <IP>		Start of the DHCP address range
--dhcp-end <IP>		End of the DHCP address range
--bridge <NAME>	-b	Host bridge interface name
--autostart	-a	Automatically start the network on host boot

Network Modes

Mode	Description
nat	NAT with host masquerade — guests can reach external networks through the host (default)
isolated	Isolated network with no external connectivity — guests can only communicate with each other
routed	Routed network with static routes — no NAT, requires external routing configuration
bridge	Bridged to an existing host bridge interface — guests appear on the host's physical network
open	Open/unrestricted forwarding — no firewall rules are applied
macvtap	Direct attachment via macvtap to a host physical interface

Examples

vmr network create my-nat-network \
  --mode nat \
  --subnet 192.168.100.0/24 \
  --gateway 192.168.100.1 \
  --dhcp-start 192.168.100.100 \
  --dhcp-end 192.168.100.254

vmr network create my-isolated-network \
  --mode isolated \
  --subnet 10.10.0.0/24 \
  --gateway 10.10.0.1 \
  --autostart

vmr network create my-bridge-network \
  --mode bridge \
  --bridge br0

TIP

For bridge mode, the host bridge interface must already exist. For macvtap mode, the parent device must be specified via the host configuration.

activate

Activate a previously defined but inactive network. VMs can only attach to active networks.

vmr network activate <NAME>

Arguments

Argument	Description
NAME	Name of the network to activate

Examples

vmr network activate my-network

deactivate

Deactivate a running network. VMs currently attached to the network may lose connectivity.

vmr network deactivate <NAME>

Arguments

Argument	Description
NAME	Name of the network to deactivate

Examples

vmr network deactivate my-network

WARNING

Deactivating a network does not detach VMs that are currently using it. Running VMs attached to the network will lose their network interface connectivity. Stop or migrate affected VMs first.

remove

Delete a network definition. The network must be inactive unless --force is specified, in which case it is deactivated and then deleted.

vmr network remove <NAME> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument	Description
NAME	Name of the network to remove

Options

Flag	Short	Description
--force	-f	Force removal — deactivate the network if it is currently active

Examples

vmr network remove my-network

vmr network remove my-network -f