How to enable DHCP on an interface
To let the interface named enp3s0
get an address via DHCP, create a YAML file with the following:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: dhcp4: true
How to configure a static IP address on an interface
To set a static IP address, use the addresses
keyword, which takes a list of (IPv4 or IPv6) addresses along with the subnet prefix length (e.g. /24).
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: addresses: - 10.10.10.2/24
How to configure DNS servers and search domains
The lists of search domains and DNS server IP addresses can be defined as below:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: addresses: - 10.10.10.2/24 nameservers: search: - "mycompany.local" addresses: - 10.10.10.253 - 8.8.8.8
How to connect multiple interfaces with DHCP
DHCP can be used with multiple interfaces. The metrics for the routes acquired from DHCP can be changed with the use of DHCP overrides.
In this example, enp5s0
is preferred over enp6s0
, as it has a lower route metric:
network: version: 2 ethernets: enp5s0: dhcp4: yes dhcp4-overrides: route-metric: 100 enp6s0: dhcp4: yes dhcp4-overrides: route-metric: 200
How to connect to an open wireless network
For open wireless networks, Netplan only requires that the access point is defined. In this example, opennetwork
is the network SSID:
network: version: 2 wifis: wl0: access-points: opennetwork: {} dhcp4: yes
How to configure your computer to connect to your home Wi-Fi network
If all you need is to connect to your local domestic Wi-Fi network, use the configuration below:
network: version: 2 renderer: NetworkManager wifis: wlp2s0b1: dhcp4: yes access-points: "network_ssid_name": password: "**********"
How to connect to a WPA Personal wireless network without DHCP
For private wireless networks, the access point name and password must be specified:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd wifis: wlp2s0b1: dhcp4: no dhcp6: no addresses: [192.168.0.21/24] nameservers: addresses: [192.168.0.1, 8.8.8.8] access-points: "network_ssid_name": password: "**********" routes: - to: default via: 192.168.0.1
How to connect to WPA Enterprise wireless networks with EAP+TTLS
network: version: 2 wifis: wl0: access-points: workplace: auth: key-management: eap method: ttls anonymous-identity: "@internal.example.com" identity: "joe@internal.example.com" password: "v3ryS3kr1t" dhcp4: yes
How to connect to WPA Enterprise wireless networks with EAP+TLS
network: version: 2 wifis: wl0: access-points: university: auth: key-management: eap method: tls anonymous-identity: "@cust.example.com" identity: "cert-joe@cust.example.com" ca-certificate: /etc/ssl/cust-cacrt.pem client-certificate: /etc/ssl/cust-crt.pem client-key: /etc/ssl/cust-key.pem client-key-password: "d3cryptPr1v4t3K3y" dhcp4: yes
Many different modes of encryption are supported. See the Netplan reference page.
How to use multiple addresses on a single interface
The addresses
keyword can take a list of addresses to assign to an interface. You can also defined a label
for each address:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: addresses: - 10.100.1.37/24 - 10.100.1.38/24: label: "enp3s0:0" - 10.100.1.39/24: label: "enp3s0:some-label"
How to use multiple addresses with multiple gateways
Similar to the example above, interfaces with multiple addresses can be configured with multiple gateways.
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: addresses: - 10.0.0.10/24 - 11.0.0.11/24 routes: - to: default via: 10.0.0.1 metric: 200 - to: default via: 11.0.0.1 metric: 300
We configure individual routes to default (or 0.0.0.0/0) using the address of the gateway for the subnet. The metric
value should be adjusted so the routing happens as expected.
DHCP can be used to receive one of the IP addresses for the interface. In this case, the default route for that address will be automatically configured with a metric
value of 100.
How to use NetworkManager as a renderer
Netplan supports both networkd
and NetworkManager
as back ends. You can specify which network back end should be used to configure particular devices by using the renderer
key. You can also delegate all configuration of the network to NetworkManager itself by specifying only the renderer
key:
network: version: 2 renderer: NetworkManager
See also: NetworkManager default configuration
How to configure interface bonding
Bonding is configured by declaring a bond interface with a list of physical interfaces and a bonding mode:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd bonds: bond0: dhcp4: yes interfaces: - enp3s0 - enp4s0 parameters: mode: active-backup primary: enp3s0
How to configure multiple bonds
Below is an example of a system acting as a router with various bonded interfaces and different types. Note the ‘optional: true’ key declarations that allow booting to occur without waiting for those interfaces to activate fully.
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp1s0: dhcp4: no enp2s0: dhcp4: no enp3s0: dhcp4: no optional: true enp4s0: dhcp4: no optional: true enp5s0: dhcp4: no optional: true enp6s0: dhcp4: no optional: true bonds: bond-lan: interfaces: [enp2s0, enp3s0] addresses: [192.168.93.2/24] parameters: mode: 802.3ad mii-monitor-interval: 1 bond-wan: interfaces: [enp1s0, enp4s0] addresses: [192.168.1.252/24] nameservers: search: [local] addresses: [8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4] parameters: mode: active-backup mii-monitor-interval: 1 gratuitious-arp: 5 routes: - to: default via: 192.168.1.1 bond-conntrack: interfaces: [enp5s0, enp6s0] addresses: [192.168.254.2/24] parameters: mode: balance-rr mii-monitor-interval: 1
How to configure network bridges
Use the following configuration to create a simple bridge consisting of a single device that uses DHCP:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp3s0: dhcp4: no bridges: br0: dhcp4: yes interfaces: - enp3s0
How to create a bridge with a VLAN for libvirtd
To get libvirtd to use a specific bridge with a tagged VLAN, while continuing to provide an untagged interface as well would involve:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: enp0s25: dhcp4: true bridges: br0: addresses: [ 10.3.99.25/24 ] interfaces: [ vlan15 ] vlans: vlan15: accept-ra: no id: 15 link: enp0s25
Then libvirtd would be configured to use this bridge by adding the following content to a new XML file under /etc/libvirt/qemu/networks/
. The name of the bridge in the <bridge> tag as well as in <name> need to match the name of the bridge device configured using Netplan:
<network> <name>br0</name> <bridge name='br0'/> <forward mode="bridge"/> </network>
How to create VLANs
To configure multiple VLANs with renamed interfaces:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: mainif: match: macaddress: "de:ad:be:ef:ca:fe" set-name: mainif addresses: [ "10.3.0.5/23" ] nameservers: addresses: [ "8.8.8.8", "8.8.4.4" ] search: [ example.com ] routes: - to: default via: 10.3.0.1 vlans: vlan15: id: 15 link: mainif addresses: [ "10.3.99.5/24" ] vlan10: id: 10 link: mainif addresses: [ "10.3.98.5/24" ] nameservers: addresses: [ "127.0.0.1" ] search: [ domain1.example.com, domain2.example.com ]
How to use a directly connected gateway
This allows setting up a default route, or any route, using the “on-link” keyword where the gateway is an IP address that is directly connected to the network even if the address does not match the subnet configured on the interface.
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: ens3: addresses: [ "10.10.10.1/24" ] routes: - to: default # or 0.0.0.0/0 via: 9.9.9.9 on-link: true
For IPv6 the configuration would be very similar:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: ens3: addresses: [ "2001:cafe:face:beef::dead:dead/64" ] routes: - to: default # or "::/0" via: "2001:cafe:face::1" on-link: true
How to configure source routing
In the example below, ens3 is on the 192.168.3.0/24 network and ens5 is on the 192.168.5.0/24 network. This enables clients on either network to connect to the other and allow the response to come from the correct interface.
Furthermore, the default route is still assigned to ens5 allowing any other traffic to go through it.
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: ens3: addresses: - 192.168.3.30/24 dhcp4: no routes: - to: 192.168.3.0/24 via: 192.168.3.1 table: 101 routing-policy: - from: 192.168.3.0/24 table: 101 ens5: addresses: - 192.168.5.24/24 dhcp4: no routes: - to: default via: 192.168.5.1 - to: 192.168.5.0/24 via: 192.168.5.1 table: 102 routing-policy: - from: 192.168.5.0/24 table: 102
How to configure a loopback interface
networkd
does not allow creating new loopback devices, but a user can add new addresses to the standard loopback interface, lo
, in order to have it considered a valid address on the machine as well as for custom routing:
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: lo: addresses: [ "127.0.0.1/8", "::1/128", "7.7.7.7/32" ]
How to integrate with Windows DHCP Server
For networks where DHCP is provided by a Windows Server using the dhcp-identifier
keyword allows for interoperability:
network: version: 2 ethernets: enp3s0: dhcp4: yes dhcp-identifier: mac
How to connect to an IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel
Here, 1.1.1.1 is the client’s own IP address; 2.2.2.2 is the remote server’s IPv4 address, “2001:dead:beef::2/64” is the client’s IPv6 address as defined by the tunnel, and “2001:dead:beef::1” is the remote server’s IPv6 address.
Finally, “2001:cafe:face::1/64” is an address for the client within the routed IPv6 prefix:
network: version: 2 ethernets: eth0: addresses: - 1.1.1.1/24 - "2001:cafe:face::1/64" routes: - to: default via: 1.1.1.254 tunnels: he-ipv6: mode: sit remote: 2.2.2.2 local: 1.1.1.1 addresses: - "2001:dead:beef::2/64" routes: - to: default via: "2001:dead:beef::1"
How to configure SR-IOV Virtual Functions
For SR-IOV network cards, it is possible to dynamically allocate Virtual Function interfaces for every configured Physical Function. In Netplan, a VF is defined by having a link: property pointing to the parent PF.
network: version: 2 ethernets: eno1: mtu: 9000 enp1s16f1: link: eno1 addresses : [ "10.15.98.25/24" ] vf1: match: name: enp1s16f[2-3] link: eno1 addresses : [ "10.15.99.25/24" ]
How to connect two systems with a WireGuard VPN
Generate the private and public keys in the first peer. Run the following commands with administrator privileges:
wg genkey > private.key wg pubkey < private.key > public.key cat private.key UMjI9WbobURkCDh2RT8SRM5osFI7siiR/sPOuuTIDns= cat public.key EdNnZ1/2OJZ9HcScSVcwDVUsctCkKQ/xzjEyd3lZFFs=
Do the same in the second peer:
wg genkey > private.key wg pubkey < private.key > public.key cat private.key UAmjvLDVuV384OWFJkmI4bG8AIAZAfV7LarshnV3+lc= cat public.key AIm+QeCoC23zInKASmhu6z/3iaT0R2IKraB7WwYB5ms=
Use the following configuration in the first peer
(replace the keys and IP addresses as needed):
network: tunnels: wg0: mode: wireguard port: 51820 key: UMjI9WbobURkCDh2RT8SRM5osFI7siiR/sPOuuTIDns= addresses: - 172.16.0.1/24 peers: - allowed-ips: [172.16.0.0/24] endpoint: 10.86.126.56:51820 keys: public: AIm+QeCoC23zInKASmhu6z/3iaT0R2IKraB7WwYB5ms=
In the YAML file above, key
is the first peer’s private key
and public
is the second peer’s public key
. endpoint
is the second peer
IP address.
Use the following configuration in the second peer
:
network: tunnels: wg0: mode: wireguard port: 51820 key: UAmjvLDVuV384OWFJkmI4bG8AIAZAfV7LarshnV3+lc= addresses: - 172.16.0.2/24 peers: - allowed-ips: [172.16.0.0/24] endpoint: 10.86.126.40:51820 keys: public: EdNnZ1/2OJZ9HcScSVcwDVUsctCkKQ/xzjEyd3lZFFs=
In the YAML file above, key
is the second peer’s private key
and public
is the first peer’s public key
. endpoint
is the first peer's
IP address.
How to connect your home computer to a cloud instance with a WireGuard VPN
Follow the same steps from the previous how-to to generate the necessary keys.
The difference here is that your computer is likely behind one or more devices doing NAT so you probably don’t have a static public IP to use as endpoint in the remote system.
Use the following configuration in your computer:
network: tunnels: wg0: mode: wireguard port: 51821 key: UMjI9WbobURkCDh2RT8SRM5osFI7siiR/sPOuuTIDns= addresses: - 172.17.0.1/24 peers: - allowed-ips: [172.17.0.0/24] endpoint: 54.234.x.y:51821 keys: public: AIm+QeCoC23zInKASmhu6z/3iaT0R2IKraB7WwYB5ms=
Again, key
is your private key and public
is the remote system’s public key. The endpoint
is the public IP address of your instance.
In the remote instance you just need to omit the endpoint
.
network: tunnels: wg0: mode: wireguard port: 51821 key: UAmjvLDVuV384OWFJkmI4bG8AIAZAfV7LarshnV3+lc= addresses: - 172.17.0.2/24 peers: - allowed-ips: [172.17.0.0/24] keys: public: EdNnZ1/2OJZ9HcScSVcwDVUsctCkKQ/xzjEyd3lZFFs=
Don’t forget to allow the UDP port 51821
in your instance’s security group.
After applying your configuration you should be able to reach your remote instance through the IP address 172.17.0.2
.
How to change Advertised MSS (‘Maximal Segment Size’) in custom route
network: version: 2 renderer: networkd ethernets: ens3: addresses: [ "10.10.10.1/24" ] routes: - to: 192.168.0.0/24 via: 10.10.10.168 advertised-mss: 1400