Macvlan network

Macvlan is a virtual LAN that you can use if you want to assign several IP addresses to the same network interface, basically splitting up the network interface into several sub-interfaces with their own IP addresses. You can then assign IP addresses based on the randomly generated MAC addresses.

The macvlan network type allows to specify presets to use when connecting instances to a parent interface. In this case, the instance NICs can simply set the network option to the network they connect to without knowing any of the underlying configuration details.

Note

If you are using a macvlan network, communication between the Incus host and the instances is not possible. Both the host and the instances can talk to the gateway, but they cannot communicate directly.

Configuration options

The following configuration key namespaces are currently supported for the macvlan network type:

• user (free-form key/value for user metadata)

Note

Incus uses the CIDR notation where network subnet information is required, for example, 192.0.2.0/24 or 2001:db8::/32. This does not apply to cases where a single address is required, for example, local/remote addresses of tunnels, NAT addresses or specific addresses to apply to an instance.

The following configuration options are available for the macvlan network type:

Key	Type	Condition	Default	Description
gvrp	bool	-	false	Register VLAN using GARP VLAN Registration Protocol
mtu	integer	-	-	The MTU of the new interface
parent	string	-	-	Parent interface to create macvlan NICs on
vlan	integer	-	-	The VLAN ID to attach to
user.*	string	-	-	User-provided free-form key/value pairs