Installation guide

A workaround is to switch to a different type of virtualized NIC. For example, Intel PRO/1000 (e1000)

or virtio (the para-virtualized network driver).

To switch to the e1000 driver:

1. Shutdown the guest operating system.

2. Edit the guest's configuration file with the virsh command (where GUEST is the guest's

name):

# virsh edit GUEST

The virsh edit command uses the $EDITOR shell variable to determine which editor to

use.

3. Find the network interface section of the configuration. This section resembles the snippet

below:

[output truncated]

</interface>

4. Change the type attribute of the model element from 'rtl8139' to 'e1000'. This will change

the driver from the rtl8139 driver to the e1000 driver.

[output truncated]

</interface>

5. Save the changes and exit the text editor

6. Restart the guest operating system.

Alternatively, you can install new guests with a different network driver. This may be required if you

are having difficulty installing guests over a network connection. This method requires you to have at

least one virtual machine already created (possibly installed from CD or DVD) to use as a template.

1. Create an XML template from an existing virtual machine:

# virsh dumpxml GUEST > /tmp/guest.xml

2. Copy and edit the XML file and update the unique fields: virtual machine name, UUID, disk

image, MAC address, and any other unique parameters. Note that you can delete the UUID

and MAC address lines and virsh will generate a UUID and MAC address.

# cp /tmp/guest.xml /tmp/new-guest.xml

# vi /tmp/new-guest.xml

Add the model line in the network interface section:

[output truncated]

</interface>

Red Hat En t erp rise Lin ux 5 Virt ualizat ion Guid e

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