# How to add a routed NIC device to a virtual machine
When adding a [routed NIC device](https://canonical.com/lxd/docs/default/reference/devices_nic/index.html.md#nic-routed) to an instance, you must configure the instance to use the link-local gateway IPs as default routes.
For containers, this is configured for you automatically.
For virtual machines, the gateways must be configured manually or via a mechanism like `cloud-init`.
To configure the gateways with `cloud-init`, firstly initialize an instance:
CLI
```none
lxc init ubuntu:24.04 my-vm --vm
```
API
```none
lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "my-vm",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
},
"type": "virtual-machine"
}'
```
UI
Then add the routed NIC device:
CLI
```none
lxc config device add my-vm eth0 nic nictype=routed parent=my-parent ipv4.address=192.0.2.2 ipv6.address=2001:db8::2
```
API
```none
lxc query --request PATCH /1.0/instances/my-vm --data '{
"devices": {
"eth0": {
"ipv4.address": "192.0.2.2",
"ipv6.address": "2001:db8::2",
"nictype": "routed",
"parent": "my-parent",
"type": "nic"
}
}
}'
```
UI
You cannot add a routed NIC device through the UI directly.
Therefore, go to the instance detail page, switch to the Configuration tab and select YAML configuration.
Then click Edit instance and add the routed NIC device to the `devices` section.
For example:
```none
devices:
eth0:
ipv4.address: 192.0.2.2
ipv6.address: 2001:db8::2
nictype: routed
parent: my-parent
type: nic
```
In this configuration, `my-parent` is your parent network, and the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are within the subnet of the parent.
Next we will add some `netplan` configuration to the instance using the `cloud-init.network-config` configuration key:
CLI
```none
cat < cloud-init.txt < Cloud-init tab and click Edit instance.
Click the Create override icon for the Network config and enter the following configuration:
```none
network:
version: 2
ethernets:
enp5s0:
routes:
- to: default
via: 169.254.0.1
on-link: true
- to: default
via: fe80::1
on-link: true
addresses:
- 192.0.2.2/32
- 2001:db8::2/128
```
This `netplan` configuration adds the [static link-local next-hop addresses](https://canonical.com/lxd/docs/default/reference/devices_nic/index.html.md#nic-routed) (`169.254.0.1` and `fe80::1`) that are required.
For each of these routes we set `on-link` to `true`, which specifies that the route is directly connected to the interface.
We also add the addresses that we configured in our routed NIC device.
For more information on `netplan`, see [their documentation](https://netplan.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).
#### NOTE
This `netplan` configuration does not include a name server.
To enable DNS within the instance, you must set a valid DNS IP address.
If there is a `lxdbr0` network on the host, the name server can be set to that IP instead.
Before you start your instance, make sure that you have [configured the parent network](https://canonical.com/lxd/docs/default/reference/devices_nic/index.html.md#nic-routed-parent) to enable proxy ARP/NDP.
Then start your instance:
CLI
```none
lxc start my-vm
```
API
```none
lxc query --request PUT /1.0/instances/my-vm/state --data '{"action": "start"}'
```
UI
Go to the instance list or the respective instance and click the Start button (▷).