The bridge-utils package provides hooks so you can set up a bridge interface in /etc/network/interfaces. Here is an example: auto br0 iface br0 inet static address 192.168.1.2/24 gateway 192.168.1.1 bridge_ports eth0 eth1 Note that you do not have to specify separate iface stanzas for eth0 and eth1. For more information, type "man bridge-utils-interfaces".