# libvirtd error message with ebtables

## paradigm-X

I recently installed KVM/Qemu on Gentoo, along with 'Libvirt' (http://libvirt.org/) to manage it. Libvirt included a supplementary program called libvirtd, a daemon program started from a CLI. These programs appear to run just fine, but I still get one error message appearing when libvirtd starts up, at least I think it is an error message. After typing 'libvirtd' and pressing Enter at the terminal, the program creates the following standard output: 

2013-11-20 11:38:18.085+0000: 7854: info : libvirt version: 1.1.3

2013-11-20 11:38:18.085+0000: 7854: info : virNetlinkEventServiceStart:518 : starting netlink event service with protocol 0

2013-11-20 11:38:18.085+0000: 7854: info : virNetlinkEventServiceStart:518 : starting netlink event service with protocol 15

2013-11-20 11:38:18.130+0000: 7866: info : dnsmasqCapsSetFromBuffer:682 : dnsmasq version is 2.66, --bind-dynamic is present, SO_BINDTODEVICE is in use

2013-11-20 11:38:18.238+0000: 7866: info : networkReloadFirewallRules:1553 : Reloading iptables rules

2013-11-20 11:38:18.238+0000: 7866: info : networkRefreshDaemons:1525 : Refreshing network daemons

2013-11-20 11:38:18.350+0000: 7866: warning : ebiptablesDriverInitCLITools:4244 : Could not find 'ip6tables' executable

2013-11-20 11:38:18.400+0000: 7866: error : virCommandWait:2348 : internal error: Child process (/bin/sh -c 'EBT="/sbin/ebtables"

cmd='\''$EBT -t nat -L'\''

eval res=\$\("${cmd} 2>&1"\)

if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then  echo "Failure to execute command '\''${cmd}'\'' : '\''${res}'\''.";  exit 1;fi

') unexpected exit status 1

2013-11-20 11:38:18.401+0000: 7866: error : ebiptablesDriverTestCLITools:4274 : Testing of ebtables command failed: Failure to execute command '$EBT -t nat -L' : 'The kernel doesn't support the ebtables 'nat' table.'.

2013-11-20 11:38:19.535+0000: 7866: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17301 : Scanning for configs in /var/run/libvirt/qemu

2013-11-20 11:38:19.540+0000: 7866: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17301 : Scanning for configs in /etc/libvirt/qemu

2013-11-20 11:38:19.540+0000: 7866: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17325 : Loading config file 'tails-0.21.xml'

2013-11-20 11:38:19.541+0000: 7866: info : qemuDomainSnapshotLoad:431 : Scanning for snapshots for domain tails-0.21 in /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/snapshot/tails-0.21

2013-11-20 11:38:19.844+0000: 7866: info : networkStartNetwork:2031 : Starting up network 'default'

2013-11-20 11:38:19.845+0000: 7866: info : virStorageBackendVolOpenCheckMode:1180 : Skipping special dir '.'

2013-11-20 11:38:19.845+0000: 7866: info : virStorageBackendVolOpenCheckMode:1180 : Skipping special dir '..'

Since I do not make use of ipv6 on this system and have it disabled, It looks to me as though this error message is merely a result of the program's startup routine including a step to check that ipv6 NAT functions correctly, which in my case I should expect to fail because, as I stated, I did not enable ipv6.  The one installed VM does have good internet connectivity using NAT through the host. I also know that I have in fact enabled ebtables in the kernel. The ebtables functionality I enable while compiling the kernel was only for that part required of it as per the instructions. If this "error" message indicates a different problem, I would want to fix it. Any ideas about it are welcome.

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## paradigm-X

I figured out what was causing the error message, which I later learned to be the culprit all along after researching some more about ebtables in the kernel configuration. It was not so much the lack of ipv6 functionality, which I still have disabled, but that the kernel menuconfig in the section for ebtables also has a setting related to NAT, which had not been set. Here was the clue I finally figured out from the earlier error message (cmd='\''$EBT -t nat -L'\''). Now the startup response appears error free when I start libvirtd:

2013-12-03 07:24:51.442+0000: 7981: info : libvirt version: 1.1.3

2013-12-03 07:24:51.442+0000: 7981: info : virNetlinkEventServiceStart:518 : starting netlink event service with protocol 0

2013-12-03 07:24:51.442+0000: 7981: info : virNetlinkEventServiceStart:518 : starting netlink event service with protocol 15

2013-12-03 07:24:51.475+0000: 7992: info : dnsmasqCapsSetFromBuffer:682 : dnsmasq version is 2.66, --bind-dynamic is present, SO_BINDTODEVICE is in use

2013-12-03 07:24:51.561+0000: 7992: info : networkReloadFirewallRules:1553 : Reloading iptables rules

2013-12-03 07:24:51.561+0000: 7992: info : networkRefreshDaemons:1525 : Refreshing network daemons

2013-12-03 07:24:51.689+0000: 7992: warning : ebiptablesDriverInitCLITools:4244 : Could not find 'ip6tables' executable

2013-12-03 07:24:52.891+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17301 : Scanning for configs in /var/run/libvirt/qemu

2013-12-03 07:24:52.896+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17301 : Scanning for configs in /etc/libvirt/qemu

2013-12-03 07:24:52.896+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17325 : Loading config file 'Debian.xml'

2013-12-03 07:24:52.898+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17325 : Loading config file 'Gentoo-hardened.xml'

2013-12-03 07:24:52.900+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17325 : Loading config file 'tails-0.21.xml'

2013-12-03 07:24:52.901+0000: 7992: info : virDomainObjListLoadAllConfigs:17325 : Loading config file 'Gentoo-desktop1.xml'

2013-12-03 07:24:52.903+0000: 7992: info : qemuDomainSnapshotLoad:431 : Scanning for snapshots for domain Debian in /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/snapshot/Debian

2013-12-03 07:24:52.904+0000: 7992: info : qemuDomainSnapshotLoad:431 : Scanning for snapshots for domain Gentoo-hardened in /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/snapshot/Gentoo-hardened

2013-12-03 07:24:52.904+0000: 7992: info : qemuDomainSnapshotLoad:431 : Scanning for snapshots for domain tails-0.21 in /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/snapshot/tails-0.21

2013-12-03 07:24:52.904+0000: 7992: info : qemuDomainSnapshotLoad:431 : Scanning for snapshots for domain Gentoo-desktop1 in /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/snapshot/Gentoo-desktop1

2013-12-03 07:24:53.205+0000: 7992: info : networkStartNetwork:2031 : Starting up network 'default'

2013-12-03 07:24:53.206+0000: 7992: info : virStorageBackendVolOpenCheckMode:1180 : Skipping special dir '.'

2013-12-03 07:24:53.206+0000: 7992: info : virStorageBackendVolOpenCheckMode:1180 : Skipping special dir '..'

So all is good in the program but the directions I originally followed were not adequate.

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