Configure Network Bridge on Ubuntu Debian Linux

This post will guide you how to setup and configure a network interface bridge on Ubuntu or Debian Linux system. How do I create a network bridge based on an existing network interface on Ubuntu Linux.

Configure Network Bridge on Ubuntu Debian Linux

If you want to create a network bridge, and you need to find one network interface, and then update one configuration file called /etc/network/interface. Just do the following steps:

#1 Install brctl package

Type the following command:

# apt-get install bridge-utils

Outputs:

root@ubuntu-dev:~# apt-get install bridge-utils

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

The following NEW packages will be installed:

bridge-utils

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 480 not upgraded.

Need to get 28.6 kB of archives.

After this operation, 102 kB of additional disk space will be used.

Get:1 http://cn.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 bridge-utils amd64 1.5-9ubuntu1 [28.6 kB]

Feched 28.6 kB in 4s (5,753 B/s)

Selecting previously unselected package bridge-utils.

(Reading database ... 179571 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack .../bridge-utils_1.5-9ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking bridge-utils (1.5-9ubuntu1) ...

Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...

Setting up bridge-utils (1.5-9ubuntu1) ...

#2 create network bridge br0

If you want to create a network bridge br0 based on the network interface enp0s3, you need to create an configuration file called bro, and placed it in /etc/network/interfaces.d/ directory.

Create br0 file via vim editor:

# vim /etc/network/interfaces.d/br0

Adding the following lines into the file.

# For the bootproto as static

auto br0

iface br0 inet static

address 192.168.1.199

broadcast 192.168.1.255

netmask 255.255.255.0

gateway 192.168.1.1

bridge_ports enp0s3

bridge_stp off

bridge_waitport 0

bridge_fd 0

# For the bootproto as DHCP

auto br0

iface br0 inet dhcp

bridge_ports enp0s3

#3 restart the network service

After updated the configuration file, and you need to restart the network service, type:

# systemctl restart network.service

#4 show bridge

# brctl show