Network Configuration

ServoBox networking options for robot communication and VM management.

Overview

ServoBox provides simplified networking setup for robot applications. For advanced networking configurations, ServoBox VMs can be managed like any standard KVM/QEMU VM using standard virtualization tools.

Default NAT Networking

Simple, works out of the box for basic VM access.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Host System                        │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  VM: 192.168.122.100           │ │
│  └─────────────┬──────────────────┘ │
│                │                    │
│         ┌──────┴──────┐             │
│         │  virbr0     │             │
│         │  (NAT)      │             │
│         └──────┬──────┘             │
│                │                    │
│         ┌──────┴──────┐             │
│         │  Host NIC   │             │
│         └──────┬──────┘             │
└────────────────┼────────────────────┘
                 │
            Internet

Usage

# Default NAT setup
servobox init

# With custom IP
servobox init --ip 192.168.122.50/24

# SSH access
servobox ssh

Direct NIC Setup for Robots

Add direct host NICs for low-latency robot communication.

Single Robot Setup

┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Host System                           │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  VM                              │  │
│  │    enp1s0: 192.168.122.100 (NAT) │  │
│  │    enp2s0: 172.16.0.10 (direct)  │  │
│  └──────┬────────────┬──────────────┘  │
│         │            │                 │
│    ┌────┴─────┐    ┌─┴──┐              │
│    │  virbr0  │    │eth0│              │
│    │  (NAT)   │    │    │              │
│    └──────────┘    └─┬──┘              │
│                      │                 │
│                  ┌───┴──┐              │
│                  │Robot │              │
│                  └──────┘              │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘

Setup:

servobox init --host-nic eth0
servobox start
servobox ssh

Dual Robot Setup

┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Host System                           │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  VM                              │  │
│  │    enp1s0: 192.168.122.100 (NAT) │  │
│  │    enp2s0: 172.16.0.10 (direct)  │  │
│  │    enp3s0: 172.17.0.10 (direct)  │  │
│  └──────┬────────────┬──────┬───────┘  │
│         │            │      │          │
│    ┌────┴─────┐    ┌─┴──┐ ┌─┴──┐       │
│    │  virbr0  │    │eth0│ │eth1│       │
│    │  (NAT)   │    │    │ │    │       │
│    └──────────┘    └─┬──┘ └─┬──┘       │
│                      │      │          │
│                  ┌───┴──┐ ┌─┴────┐     │
│                  │Robot1│ │Robot2│     │
│                  └──────┘ └──────┘     │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘

Setup:

servobox init --host-nic eth0 --host-nic eth1
servobox start
servobox ssh

Interactive Network Setup

Use the network setup wizard for guided configuration:

servobox init --choose-nic

Or configure networks after VM creation:

servobox network-setup

The wizard will show available NICs and guide you through selection:

=== ServoBox Network Setup ===
Select host NICs to attach to the VM (max 2 for dual robot setups).

  [1] eth0  driver=e1000e ip=172.16.0.10/24
  [2] eth1  driver=e1000e ip=172.17.0.10/24
  [3] wlan0  driver=iwlwifi ip=192.168.1.100/24

Select first NIC (or press ENTER to skip): 1
✓ Selected: eth0

Automatic Configuration

ServoBox automatically: - ✅ Mirrors host IP to VM (same IP on both sides) - ✅ Maps NICs to predictable names: - First direct NIC → enp2s0 in VM - Second direct NIC → enp3s0 in VM - ✅ Injects persistent netplan configuration

SSH Key Management

Copy SSH keys from host to VM for seamless access:

# Copy host SSH keys to VM
servobox ssh-copy-keys

# Or manually
ssh-copy-id servobox-usr@$(servobox ip)

Advanced Networking

For complex networking requirements (bridges, VLANs, custom topologies), ServoBox VMs can be managed using standard KVM/QEMU tools and libvirt, just like any other virtual machine.