Configure Network Bridging Properties

A network bridge joins two or more network segments and enables them to work as a single network. Bridging is implemented at the datalink layer (L2) of the networking stack. Bridges use a packet-forwarding mechanism based on MAC addresses to connect subnetworks together.

Using the bridge properties on the Networking page in the web console, Cockpit administrators can easily create and maintain host bridge configurations.

What Do You Need?

• The Cockpit web console must be installed and accessible.

  For details, see these topics: Install and Enable Cockpit and Log in to the Cockpit Web Console.

• Two or more physical or virtual network devices are installed on the host system.
• The cockpit-networkmanager package is installed. Typically, this package is installed by default. For package installation details, see Install and Manage Add-on Applications.
• Administrator privileges.

Steps

Using the Cockpit web console, follow these steps to create, change, or remove a network bridged configuration on the host system.

1. In the Networking page, navigate to the Interface panel and perform any of the following:
   • Create Linux bridge configuration. Click Add Bridge, specify the following properties on the Bridge Settings dialog, and then click Save.

     Property	Description
     Name	In the Name text box, choose to use the default bridge name provided (for example, bridge0) or enter a user-specific bridge name.
     Ports	In the Ports checkbox list, add interfaces to the bridge by selecting the applicable check boxes.
     Option	Select or clear the checkbox for Spanning Tree Protocol support. Note: For multiple or redundant bridge configurations, enabling the Spanning Tree Protocol helps to prevent multiple hops and cyclic routes.

     The name of the new bridge configuration appears in Interface pane of the Networking page.

   • Edit, disable, or remove existing Linux bridge properties.
     1. In the Interface panel, click the name of a bridge (for example bridge0) that you want edit.

        The Networking [bridge name] page appears.

     2. In the Networking [bridge name] page, edit the configurable bridge properties as needed. For example:

        Toggle the state of a bridge connection	Turn off the toggle switch to deactivate the bridge connection state or turn on the toggle switch to activate the bridge connection state.
        Delete a bridge configuration	Click Delete (next to the bridge name) to remove the bridge configuration on the host.
        Toggle the state of a bridge port. connection	In the Ports table, turn off the toggle switch to deactivate a port or turn on the toggle switch to activate the port.
        Automatically connect bridge configuration (after reboot)	Select the checkbox to enable or clear the check box to disable.
        IPv4 or IPv6 Network Address	Click the applicable Automatic link to change the IPv4 or IPv6 network addressing.
        Edit bridge port: bridge name properties	Click the link to edit any of the applicable properties appearing on the Bridge Settings dialog. For example, bridge name, assigned ports, and to set the spanning tree protocol option.
        Edit port-specific bridge properties	In the Ports table, click a port name that's part of the bridge configuration, and then as needed, edit any of the following port specific property values for MTU, bridge port, and Automatic Connection.