Qemu Networking (Tun/Tap)

Updated: Apr 22, 2023

Setting up networking in Qemu instance is very simple if you are using user mode networking stack. And most of us don’t care about Full fledged networking while using Qemu Guests. But configuring Network in Qemu with full access requires TUN/TAP configuration.

Here is some simple steps which I did to configure TUN/TAP in Ubuntu 9.04,

Inside Ubuntu(Host), type the following commands,

$ sudo apt-get install qemu kqemu-common kqemu-source
$ wget ftp://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/lfs-livecd/lfslivecd-x86-6.3-r2145-min.iso
$ sudo qemu -cdrom lfslivecd-x86-6.3-r2145-min.iso -boot d -kernel-kqemu -m 512 -net nic -net tap &
$ sudo ifconfig tap0 192.168.10.1
$ sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
$ sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -j MASQUERADE
$ sudo iptables -t filter -P FORWARD ACCEPT

Inside lfslivecd(Guest) type the following commands,

$ ifconfig eth0 192.168.10.2
$ route add default gw 192.168.10.1
$ cat > /etc/resolv.conf <<EOF
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
EOF
$

Ofcourse, you can use any distro as a guest in qemu. Enjoy Qemuing.