[Users] simple networking?

I am trying to set up a testing network using o-virt, but the networking is refusing to cooperate. I am testing for possible use in two different production setups. My previous experience has been with VMWare. I have always set up a single bridged network on each host. All my hosts, VMs, and non-VM computers were peers on the LAN. They could all talk to each other, and things worked very well. There was a firewall/gateway that provided access to the Internet, and hosts, VMs, and could all communicate with the Internet as needed. o-virt seems to be compartmentalizing things beyond all reason. Is there any way to set up simple networking, so ALL computers can see each other? Is there anywhere that describes the philosophy behind the networking setup? What reason is there that networks are so divided? After banging my head against the wall trying to configure just one host, I am very frustrated. I have spent several HOURS Googling for a coherent explanation of how/why networking is supposed to work, but only fine obscure references like "letting non-VMs see VM traffic would be a huge security violation". I have no concept of what king of an installation the o-virt designers have in mind, but it is obviously worlds different from what I am trying to do. The best I can tell, o-virt networking works like this (at least when you have only one NIC): there must be an ovirtmgt network, which cannot be combined with any other network. the ovirtmgt network cannot talk to VMs (unless that VM is running the engine) the ovirtmgt network can only talk to hosts, not to other non-VM computers a VM network can talk only to VMs cannot talk to hosts cannot talk to non-VMs hosts cannot talk to my LAN hosts cannot talk to VMs VMs cannot talk to my LAN All of the above are enforced by a boatload of firewall rules that o-virt puts into every host and VM under its jurisdiction. All of the above is inferred from things I Googled, because I can't find anywhere that explains what or how things are supposed to work--only things telling people WHAT THEY CANT DO. All I see on the mailing lists is people getting their hands slapped because they are trying to do SIMPLE SETUPS that should work, but don't (due to either design restrictions or software bugs). My use case A: * My (2 or 3) hosts have only one physical NIC. * My VMs exist to provide services to non-VM computers. * The VMs do not run X-windows, but they provide GUI programs to non-VMs via "ssh -X" connections. * MY VMs need access to storage that is shared with hosts and non-VMs on the LAN. Is there some way to TURN OFF network control in o-virt? My systems are small and static. I can hand-configure the networking a whole lot easier than I can deal with o-virt (as I have used it so far). Mostly I would need to be able to turn off the firewall rules on both hosts and VMs. banging head against wall, Ted