Network Modes

How to set a network mode

You can set the mode of a zone in /var/ipfire/ethernet/settings.
Just add a line:

ZONE_MODE=the mode of the network zone

For example to set the Green zone to bridge mode add this line to /var/ipfire/ethernet/settings

GREEN_MODE=bridge

These settings are not changed from the setup command! You must edit this file manually with an editor like nano or vim.

The changes will take effect only after a reboot, so reboot your machine after your changed the mode of a zone.

Available network modes

IPFire support two network modes in the moment 'macvtap' and 'bridge'

Bridge

This mode creates a 802.3 bridge and attaches the physical interface to it.
The bridge is named ZONE0 the physical interface is named ZONEphys0.

You can add multiple interfaces to this bridge by adding a line

ZONE_SLAVES='<the mac addresses of the interfaces going here>'

to /var/ipfire/ethernet/settings.

Example

You have one physical interface in the green zone and want to turn this zone into bridge mode. Additionally, you want to add two in the moment unused other physical interfaces to this bridge. The line in /var/ipfire/settings looks like this:

GREEN_MODE=bridge
GREEN_SLAVES='<MAC address of the first in the moment unused interface> <MAC address of the second in the moment unused interface>'

Macvtap

This mode creates a macvtap interface upon the physical interface. The macvtap interface is called ZONE0, the physical interface is named ZONEphys0.
You can not add other interfaces to the macvtap interface.

Example

To turn the green zone into macvtap mode just add this line to /var/ipfire/ethernet/settings

GREEN_MODE=macvtap