Re: [Qemu-devel] Hot reload network configuration

[Markus Armbruster]

Stefan Hajnoczi <address@hidden> writes:

> On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 08:50:54PM +0800, Hu Keping wrote:
>> Is there any possible that start qemu with --net=none and then change the
>> configuration of the network, say using tap for example?
>
> Yes.  If your machine type supports PCI hotplug then you can use the
> netdev_add and device_add commands.  This is equivalent to hotplugging a
> NIC into a running machine.
>
> I don't have exact syntax because I haven't tested it, but it should be
> similar to using the -netdev tap,id=netdev0 -device e1000,netdev=netdev0
> command-line option syntax.

Aside: we should be able to swap out the network backend without
unplugging + plugging the frontend, in a way that looks like unplugging
+ plugging the network cable, possibly changing to a different network.
As far as I know, we can't do that today, but it could be a fun project.