F15 libvirt net-edit will not use static dhcp addresses for dnsmasq

[Deron Meranda]

In Fedora 15 I'm trying to set up statically-assigned DHCP addresses
for virtual machine domains, but libvirt does not pass this on to
dnsmasq.

I tried to edit the network xml definition file using

# virsh -c qemu:///system net-edit vmnet

I changed it from this:

<network>
  <name>vmnet</name>
  <uuid>d27e8fa9-d358-b505-fc7b-4fb0ec0e7c4f</uuid>
  <forward dev='eth0' mode='nat'/>
  <bridge name='virbr1' stp='on' delay='0' />
  <ip address='192.168.4.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
    <dhcp>
      <range start='192.168.4.128' end='192.168.4.254' />
    </dhcp>
  </ip>
</network>

by adding a couple <host> elements, into this:

<network>
  <name>vmnet</name>
  <uuid>d27e8fa9-d358-b505-fc7b-4fb0ec0e7c4f</uuid>
  <forward dev='eth0' mode='nat'/>
  <bridge name='virbr1' stp='on' delay='0' />
  <ip address='192.168.4.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
    <dhcp>
      <range start='192.168.4.128' end='192.168.4.254' />
      <host mac='52:54:00:e8:dc:ee' name='aaa.example.com' ip='192.168.4.32' />
      <host mac='52:54:00:22:6c:5c' name='bbb.example.com' ip='192.168.4.33' />
    </dhcp>
  </ip>
</network>

After saving the file I do get the message
   "Network vmnet XML configuration edited."

However, if I immediately net-edit it again, the <host> elements are
not there as if I had not changed it.

This also has the effect that the dnsmasq daemon is started without
having any of the command line options of "--dhcp-host" or
"--dhcp-hostsfile". Which means that the virtual domains do not
receive static IP addresses.

Also of note, when using net-edit if I also try to change anything
else, such as the dhcp start ip address, it too will get reverted back
after I save it.

Does anybody know what I may be doing wrong?

The package version is libvirt-0.8.8-4.fc15.x86_64

Thanks.

[Deron Meranda]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Deron Meranda  wrote:
> In Fedora 15 I'm trying to set up statically-assigned DHCP addresses
> for virtual machine domains, but libvirt does not pass this on to
> dnsmasq.

I think I solved this myself. You need to shut down the virtual
network before you can edit it.  Thus editing static DHCP addresses
must be done as follows:

# virsh -c qemu:///system net-destroy vmnet
# virsh -c qemu:///system net-edit vmnet
# virsh -c qemu:///system net-start vmnet