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Configure Bridges

    To configure a bridge on CentOS 7 or RHEL 7, you need to create a file with bridge configuration (for example, ifcfg-brX) and modify the file for the physical interface (for example, ifcfg-ethX). The following steps describe how to set up a bridge on both CentOS 7 and RHEL 7. We show examples for configuring bridge devices that either obtain IP addresses using DHCP or statically.

    Install the bridge-utils package.

    yum install bridge-utils
    

    Go to the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory:

    cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
    

    Open the network script for the device you are adding to the bridge and add your bridge device to it. The edited file should look similar to the following:

    DEVICE=eth0
    # change the hardware address to match the hardware address your NIC uses
    HWADDR=00:16:76:D6:C9:45
    ONBOOT=yes
    BRIDGE=br0
    NM_CONTROLLED=no
    

    Create a new network script in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory called ifcfg-br0 or something similar. The br0 is the name of the bridge, but this can be anything as long as the name of the file is the same as the DEVICE parameter, and the name is specified correctly in the previously created physical interface configuration (ifcfg-ethX).

    If you are using DHCP, the configuration will look similar to:

    DEVICE=br0
    TYPE=Bridge
    BOOTPROTO=dhcp
    ONBOOT=yes
    DELAY=0
    

    If you are using a static IP address, the configuration will look similar to:

    DEVICE=br0
    TYPE=Bridge
    BOOTPROTO=static
    IPADDR=static_IP_address
    NETMASK=netmask
    GATEWAY=gateway
    ONBOOT=yes
    

    Enter the following command:

    systemctl restart network.service