True NAS Scale – Setting up a Bridge Network for VM’s

Final Result:
Motherboard Network Interface ‘enp9s0‘ is now bridged to ‘br0‘ which is then connected to the home network. Add the “br0” interface to your Windows/Linux VM’s to be able to see SMB Shares etc..

Written for TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.2

The Easy Way: (Which didn’t work for me at least)

Official Guide: https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/scaletutorials/virtualization/accessingnasfromvm/

Another Guide from the Forums: https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/network-bridge-not-working-on-22-02-rc-2.98401/post-681642

Some people are helped by turning off APPS & VM’s since that might effect the network test.

Possible issues you will hit,

  1. TrueNas Bridge ‘br0‘ will have a NEW Mac Address & Possible new IP

If you use a system that reserves IP’s based on MAC (e.g. DHCP or Firewalla) then it will get a new IP.

e.g. My interface ‘enp9s0’ has ip & domain reserved “cam-server.lan” but the new Bridge ‘br0’ got a new IP (due to a new MAC) and domain “cam-server.lan.lan” was created on Firewalla. I renamed ‘enp9s0’ one to “cam-server-non-bridge.lan” once everything was done set ‘br0’ to be ‘cam-server.lan’ then cleared dns caches.

2. You may have issues with the True NAS Admin Website when setting up the bridge (I did at least) or you may have made it so your machine no longer connects to the Lan/Wan.

Plug in a keyboard and go through the console method,

Select (1) Network Interfaces

Move the Settings (DHCP / Reserved IPs to the New Bridge)

Since my network uses DHCP I turned ipv4_dhcp to ON on the old interface and made sure the IP Aliases were empty.

(If you DON’T USE DHCP, keep track of your IP Aliases since you will need to copy them over to the bridge)

Then on my bridge network ‘br0’ I set ipv4_dhcp to ON; and if you don’t use DHCP copy your IP Aliases here from your old network interface.

Be sure to add your old network interface as Bridge Member!

Then quit and save, and if needed reboot!

(Hopefully they make it easier in the future to setup bridges, but using the website for me just made a “Please Wait..” loading screen and then the server rebooted)

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