KVM/Libvirt bridged/routed networking not working on newer guest kernels

Question

I have a dedicated server running Debian 6, with Libvirt (0.9.11.3) and Qemu-KVM (qemu-kvm-1.0+dfsg-11, Debian).
I am having a problem getting bridged/routed networking to work in KVM guests with newer kernels (>2.6.38). NATted networking works fine though.
Older kernels work perfectly fine as well.
The host kernel is at version 3.2.0-2-amd64, the problem was also there on an older host kernel.
The contents of the host's /etc/network/interfaces (ip removed):

# Loopback device:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# bridge
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
  address   176.9.xx.xx
  broadcast 176.9.xx.xx
  netmask   255.255.255.224
  gateway   176.9.xx.xx
  pointopoint   176.9.xx.xx
  bridge_ports eth0
  bridge_stp off
  bridge_maxwait 0
  bridge_fd 0
  up route add -host 176.9.xx.xx dev br0 # VM IP
  post-up mii-tool -F 100baseTx-FD br0

# default route to access subnet
up route add -net 176.9.xx.xx netmask 255.255.255.224 gw 176.9.xx.xx br0

The output of ifconfig -a on the host:

br0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 54:04:a6:8a:66:13  
          inet addr:176.9.xx.xx  Bcast:176.9.xx.xx  Mask:255.255.255.224
          inet6 addr: fe80::5604:a6ff:fe8a:6613/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:20216729 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:19962220 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:14144528601 (13.1 GiB)  TX bytes:7990702656 (7.4 GiB)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 54:04:a6:8a:66:13  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:26991788 errors:0 dropped:12066 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:19737261 errors:270082 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:270082
          collisions:1686317 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:15459970915 (14.3 GiB)  TX bytes:6661808415 (6.2 GiB)
          Interrupt:17 Memory:fe500000-fe520000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:6240133 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:6240133 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:6081956230 (5.6 GiB)  TX bytes:6081956230 (5.6 GiB)

virbr0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 52:54:00:79:e4:5a                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
          inet addr:192.168.100.1  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0                                                                                                                                                                                                   
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
          RX packets:225016 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                                                                                                                                                                              
          TX packets:412958 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0                                                                                                                                                                                                            
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
          RX bytes:16284276 (15.5 MiB)  TX bytes:687827984 (655.9 MiB)                                                                                                                                                                                                         

virbr0-nic Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 52:54:00:79:e4:5a                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

vnet0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr fe:54:00:93:4e:68                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:ff:fe93:4e68/64 Scope:Link                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
          RX packets:607670 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                                                                                                                                                                              
          TX packets:5932089 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0                                                                                                                                                                                                           
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
          RX bytes:83574773 (79.7 MiB)  TX bytes:1092482370 (1.0 GiB)                                                                                                                                                                                                          

vnet1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr fe:54:00:ed:6a:43                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:ff:feed:6a43/64 Scope:Link                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
          RX packets:922132 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                                                                                                                                                                              
          TX packets:6342375 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0                                                                                                                                                                                                           
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500 
          RX bytes:251091242 (239.4 MiB)  TX bytes:1629079567 (1.5 GiB)

vnet2     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr fe:54:00:0d:cb:3d  
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:ff:fe0d:cb3d/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:9461 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:665189 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500 
          RX bytes:4990275 (4.7 MiB)  TX bytes:49229647 (46.9 MiB)

vnet3     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr fe:54:cd:83:eb:aa  
          inet6 addr: fe80::fc54:cdff:fe83:ebaa/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1649 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12177 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500 
          RX bytes:77233 (75.4 KiB)  TX bytes:2127934 (2.0 MiB)

The guest's /etc/network/interfaces, in this case running Ubuntu 12.04 (ip removed):

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 176.9.xx.xx
        netmask 255.255.255.248
        gateway 176.9.xx.xx                # Host IP
        pointopoint 176.9.xx.xx            # Host IP
        dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

The output of ifconfig -a on the guest:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 52:54:cd:83:eb:aa  
          inet addr:176.9.xx.xx  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.255
          inet6 addr: fe80::5054:cdff:fe83:ebaa/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:14190 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1768 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2614642 (2.6 MB)  TX bytes:82700 (82.7 KB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:954 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:954 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:176679 (176.6 KB)  TX bytes:176679 (176.6 KB)

Output of ping -c4 on the guest:

PING google.nl (173.194.35.151) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from muc03s01-in-f23.1e100.net (173.194.35.151): icmp_req=1 ttl=55 time=14.7 ms
From static.174.82.xx.xx.clients.your-server.de (176.9.xx.xx): icmp_seq=2 Redirect Host(New nexthop: static.161.82.9.176.clients.your-server.de (176.9.82.161))
64 bytes from muc03s01-in-f23.1e100.net (173.194.35.151): icmp_req=2 ttl=55 time=15.1 ms
From static.198.170.9.176.clients.your-server.de (176.9.170.198) icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
From static.198.170.9.176.clients.your-server.de (176.9.170.198) icmp_seq=4 Destination Host Unreachable

--- google.nl ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 2 received, +2 errors, 50% packet loss, time 3002ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 14.797/14.983/15.170/0.223 ms, pipe 2

The static.174.82.xx.xx.clients.your-server.de (176.9.xx.xx) is the host's IP.
I have encountered this problem with every guest OS I've tried, that being Fedora, Ubuntu (server/desktop) and Debian with an upgraded kernel. I've also tried compiling the guest kernel myself, to no avail.
I have no problem with recompiling a kernel, though the host cannot afford any downtime.
Any ideas on this problem are very welcome.

EDIT: I can ping the host from inside the guest.

SharkWipf · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-13 12:02:35Z

Ok, I have found the solution myself. Apparently, the article on the Hetzner wiki wasn't complete. Redirects were still being sent, resulting in Hetzner (where we have our server) blocking the traffic. I am not sure how it had to do with what kernel version the guests were running, if someone can explain that I would very much like to hear it.

You can find out if you suffer from the same problem by executing the following command:

for file in `find /proc/ -iname send_redirects`; do echo $file; cat $file; done

which outputs something like:

/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/send_redirects
0
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/default/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/lo/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/send_redirects
0
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/br0/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/vnet1/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/vnet0/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/virbr0/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/virbr0-nic/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/vnet2/send_redirects
1
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/vnet3/send_redirects
1

I have to admit I do not know which ones should or should not be 0, but I have set them all to 0, and now it works fine, so I'll leave it at that.

for file in `find /proc/ -iname send_redirects`; do echo 0 > $file; done

Lluís · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-28 13:37:47Z

I had the same issue, thanks for sharing your solution. I think the setting is needed only on physical and bridge interface (eth0 and br0). You can make the change persistent by setting it into /etc/sysctl.d/

#/etc/sysctl.d/10-no-icmp-redirects.conf
# Hetzner says:
# Because of our network setup, the Host machine could send ICMP
# "redirect" messages to all guests, telling them to find the Hetzner
# gateway directly.  That is impossible: Hetzner would throw away the
# traffic from the virtual interfaces because of their non registered
# MAC addresses (ie different from the main interface).
net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.eth0.send_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.br0.send_redirects=0
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects=0

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