qtap interface for qemu / kvm

[aBitLater]

hello,

most of the time I'd like to start my guest OS winxp w/out networking. the How-to i read said that I could leave out "auto qtap0" from /etc/network/interfaces if I wanted to manually bring it up from the terminal with "sudo ifup qtap0".

So, with it running after booting (auto qtap0 still in interfaces file), I tried taking it down and up again, to test. When I "sudo ifdown qtap0" I get this back:

kill: 1: Illegal number: cat /var/run/vde_switch.pid

here's the block in the interfaces file, where vde_switch.pid is indicated.

auto qtap0
iface qtap0 inet static
address 10.111.111.254
netmask 255.255.255.0
pre-up /usr/bin/vde_switch --tap qtap0 --daemon --group vde2-net --mod 775 --mgmtmode 770 --pidfile /var/run/vde_switch.pid
pre-up /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
up iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
down iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
post-down kill -s HUP `cat /var/run/vde_switch.pid`

anyone know why I see that error?

[aBitLater]

I had to change the following (from /etc/network/interfaces)

post-down kill -s HUP `cat /var/run/vde_switch.pid`

to:

post-down kill -s HUP $(cat /var/run/vde_switch.pid)