[virt-tools-list] Unable to provision VM attaching it directly to a OVS bridge

[Lucas Brasilino]

Hi All

I have interests in researching on virtual networks and
SDN. To keep things simple, I've decided to use libvirt/virt-tools to
manage VM's since my focus is on the network, instead of using a
full feature system like OpenStack.

I'm quite new with libvirt/virt-tools, but I have a good experience with
openvswitch and other virtualizations technologies (which I dropped in
libvirt/kvm favor).

I'm using Fedora 19 packages

openvswitch (1.11.0-1.fc19.x86_64)
libvirt (1.0.5.6-3.fc19.x86_64)
virt-install (0.10.0-4.fc19.noarch)

I've created an OVS bridge (databr0) outside libvirt, and then defined it
inside libvirt with:

<network>
  <name>databr0</name>
  <forward mode='bridge'/>
  <bridge name='databr0'/>
  <virtualport type='openvswitch'/>
</network>

And then 'net-autostart' and 'net-start' it with virsh. Now I've got:
# LANG=en_US virsh net-list
 Name                 State      Autostart     Persistent
----------------------------------------------------------
 databr0              active     yes           yes

When I try to provision an VM, if I use the virt-install option
"--network=bridge:databr0,model=virtio,mac=00:00:00:00:00:03"
I got the following error:

# virt-install --connect qemu:///system --virt-type kvm --name vm2
--ram 768 --disk path=/home/lucas/local/vm/images/vm2.img --vnc
--cdrom /home/lucas/local/vm/fc19-x86_64.iso
--network=bridge:databr0,model=virtio,mac=00:00:00:00:00:03
--os-type=linux --os-variant fedora19

Starting install...
ERROR    Unable to add bridge databr0 port vnet0: Operation not supported
Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
  virsh --connect qemu:///system start vm2
otherwise, please restart your installation.

I just managed to create a VM when I use '--nonetworks' option and after
I do a 'virtsh edit vm2' and add:

  <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='00:00:00:00:00:03'/>
      <source bridge='databr0'/>
      <virtualport type='openvswitch'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05'
function='0x0'/>
    </interface>

Well, I read elsewhere that openvswitch bridging isn't fully
supported. Is it the case or I'm facing another kind of problem ?

regards
Lucas Brasilino
MSc Student @ Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE)
twitter: @lucas_brasilino