Networks failed: The networks feature is not implemented on this backend. Linux x86-64

[jarrodu]

It looks like I am getting the same issue was @pauljsymonds.

Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Kernel: Linux 5.15.0-30-generic
Architecture: x86-64
Hardware Vendor: Lenovo
Hardware Model: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
multipass   1.9.2
multipassd  1.9.2

> multipass networks
networks failed: The networks feature is not implemented on this backend.

Originally posted by @jarrodu in #2364 (comment)

[townsend2010]

Hi @jarrodu,

Since you are on Intel Mac, it is using the hyperkit driver by default and additional networks are not supported nor will ever be supported. In order to use --network/networks, you'll need to switch to the qemu driver:

$ multipass set local.driver=qemu

Please note that if you already have hyperkit instances, these instances will be hidden, but not lost. We plan on deprecating Hyperkit support this year and use QEMU exclusively, but the part that is not trivial is developing a way to migrate Hyperkit instances into QEMU instances.

[jarrodu]

Hi, and thanks for the quick response. I am actually running Ubuntu on a ThinkPad. It also looks like I am using qemu.

> multipass get local.driver
qemu

Do you mind taking another quick look at the issue?

Thanks again.

[townsend2010]

Oh, sorry, I got confused about it originally being in a Mac issue.

Ok, yes, the qemu driver on Linux doesn't currently support additional networks. The lxd driver does and our intent was to move to LXD by default on Linux. However, I think QEMU will be staying and I'm thinking we should add additional networks for the qemu driver in due time.

Long story short, use the lxd driver on Linux if you need additional networks.

[jarrodu]

Okay. Perfect.

Just out of curiosity, is there somewhere I can learn more about why Multipass is not going to lxd by default? I am a big lxd fan. Especially, after 5.0 came out.

BTW: I am also a big Multipass fan. :-)

[townsend2010]

Oh, we will still probably move to LXD as the default driver. It's just that we've had a few issues with images that we need to support that didn't integrate well with LXD, but that is getting sorted out. I meant that we'll still keep qemu as an option and not drop support for it.

That said, the lxd driver should work for most purposes and is fully supported by us. Feel free to switch to it and report any issues that you may find.

Glad to hear you like Multipass so much 🙂