Documentation “How to configure static IPs”: Ping between instances does not work

[blipp]

Description of documentation issue or suggestion
I followed the documentation https://multipass.run/docs/configure-static-ips to set up a bridge network on the host, and to launch two instances, and to connect them to the bridge network. The documentation suggests that I can ping from one instance to the other. However, this does not work. Ping from between host and instances works, respectively.

Host: Ubuntu 24.04
Multipass version 1.14.1

Citation of relevant part of the documentation:

Step 6: More instances
If desired, repeat steps 2-5 with different names/MACs/IP terminations (e.g. 10.13.31.14) to launch other instances with static IPs in the same network. You can ping from one instance to another to confirm that they are connected. For example:
multipass exec -n test1 -- ping 10.13.31.14

Proposal to fix issue or enact suggestion
I assume that some routing configuration might be missing on the host machine.

Additional context
Relevant documentation page: https://multipass.run/docs/configure-static-ips

Host network config

host $ ip a
[…]
7: br-test: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 16:31:ed:bb:72:08 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.13.31.1/24 brd 10.13.31.255 scope global noprefixroute br-test
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::cfdb:a26f:410a:d462/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
[…]

host $ ip route
default via 192.168.2.1 dev enx806d97190830 proto dhcp src 192.168.2.160 metric 100 
10.10.229.0/24 dev mpbr0 proto kernel scope link src 10.10.229.1 
10.13.31.0/24 dev br-test proto kernel scope link src 10.13.31.1 metric 425 
10.91.21.0/24 dev lxdbr0 proto kernel scope link src 10.91.21.1 linkdown 
172.17.0.0/16 dev docker0 proto kernel scope link src 172.17.0.1 linkdown 
192.168.2.0/24 dev enx806d97190830 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.2.160 metric 100

Instance “Server” network config

server-instance $ ip a
[…]
3: enp6s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:4b:ab:cd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.13.31.13/24 brd 10.13.31.255 scope global enp6s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fe4b:abcd/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
[…]

server-instance $ ip route
default via 10.10.229.1 dev enp5s0 proto dhcp src 10.10.229.116 metric 100 
10.10.229.0/24 dev enp5s0 proto kernel scope link src 10.10.229.116 metric 100 
10.10.229.1 dev enp5s0 proto dhcp scope link src 10.10.229.116 metric 100 
10.13.31.0/24 dev enp6s0 proto kernel scope link src 10.13.31.13

Instance “Client” network config

client-instance $ ip a
[…]
3: enp6s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:4b:ab:ce brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.13.31.14/24 brd 10.13.31.255 scope global enp6s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fe4b:abce/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
[…]

client-instance $ ip route
default via 10.10.229.1 dev enp5s0 proto dhcp src 10.10.229.71 metric 100 
10.10.229.0/24 dev enp5s0 proto kernel scope link src 10.10.229.71 metric 100 
10.10.229.1 dev enp5s0 proto dhcp scope link src 10.10.229.71 metric 100 
10.13.31.0/24 dev enp6s0 proto kernel scope link src 10.13.31.14 

[giuliazanchi]

Hi @blipp , I've tried to reproduce the issue on my system and I can ping instances correctly. I'll do some more tests and get back to you with more insights ASAP. In the meantime, have you looked at our How to troubleshoot networking page?