#title KVM Guest Management <> ||<>|| = Manage your virtual machines = == From the GUI == There are several methods from the GUI, but the easiest to set up is probably [[/VirtManager|VirtManager]]. See the setup guide at the above link. Alternative management options include [[http://www.convirture.com/|convirt]] (GUI) or [[http://www.convirture.com/wiki/index.php?title=Convirt2_Installation|convirt2]] (WWW). == From the shell == You can manage your VMs from the shell using [[http://linux.die.net/man/1/virsh|virsh]]. You can get a list of the available commands if you type "help". Type "help command" to get additional infos for a particular command. === Define your new VM === Before you can manage your new VM with virsh, you must define it: {{{ $ virsh --connect qemu:///system Connecting to uri: qemu:///system Welcome to virsh, the virtualization interactive terminal. Type: 'help' for help with commands 'quit' to quit virsh # define /etc/libvirt/qemu/newvm.xml Domain newvm defined from /etc/libvirt/qemu/newvm.xml }}} Note that to list newvm, you must use 'list --inactive' or 'list --all', since list without any options will only list currently running machines. === List your VMs === Virsh allows you to list the virtual machines available on the current host: {{{ yhamon@paris:/etc/libvirt/qemu$ virsh --connect qemu:///system Connecting to uri: qemu:///system Welcome to virsh, the virtualization interactive terminal. Type: 'help' for help with commands 'quit' to quit virsh # help list NAME list - list domains SYNOPSIS list [--inactive | --all] DESCRIPTION Returns list of domains. OPTIONS --inactive list inactive domains --all list inactive & active domains virsh # list Id Name State ---------------------------------- 15 mirror running 16 vm2 running virsh # list --all Id Name State ---------------------------------- 15 mirror running 16 vm2 running - test5 shut off }}} === Define, undefine, start, shutdown, destroy VMs === The VMs you see with list --all are VMs that have been "defined" from an XML file. Every VM is configured via a XML file in /etc/libvirt/qemu. If you want to remove a VM from the list of VMs, you need to undefine it: {{{ virsh # undefine test5 # WARNING: undefine will delete your XML file! Domain test5 has been undefined virsh # list --all Id Name State ---------------------------------- 15 mirror running 16 vm2 running }}} To be able to undefine a virtual machine, it needs to be shutdown first: {{{ virsh # shutdown mirror Domain mirror is being shutdown }}} This command asks for a nice shutdown (like running shutdown in command line). '''Notice''': Ubuntu 10.04 server doesn't have acpid installed by default. This package needs to be installed on the guest OS before it will listen to any requests from the host. You can also use "destroy", the more brutal way of shutting down a VM, equivalent of taking the power cable off: {{{ virsh # destroy mirror Domain mirror destroyed }}} If you have made a change to the XML configuration file, you need to tell KVM to reload it before restarting the VM: {{{ virsh # define /etc/libvirt/qemu/mirror.xml Domain mirror defined from /etc/libvirt/qemu/mirror.xml }}} Then, to restart the VM: {{{ virsh # start mirror Domain mirror started }}} === Suspend and resume a Virtual Machine === Virsh allows you to easily suspend and resume a virtual machine. {{{ virsh # suspend mirror Domain mirror suspended virsh # resume mirror Domain mirror resumed }}} = Editing the attributes of a Virtual Machine = libvirt stores it's configuration as xml in '/etc/libvirt/qemu'. The xml is easy to understand, and is similar to VMware *.vmx files. While it is possible to edit these files in place and restart libvirt-bin for the changes to take effect, the recommended method for modifying the attributes of a virtual machine is via virsh (or virt-manager, if it supports changing the hardware you want to change). The concept is simple: 1. export (aka 'dump') the xml of the virtual machine you want to edit 1. edit the xml 1. import (aka 'define') the xml For example, to edit the machine named 'foo' (you can get a list of your machines with 'virsh list --all'), do:{{{ $ virsh dumpxml foo > /tmp/foo.xml (edit /tmp/foo.xml as needed) $ virsh define /tmp/foo.xml }}} == Adding CPUs == KVM allows you to create SMP guests. To allocate two CPUs to a VM, dump the xml as above, then edit your xml to have:{{{ ... 2 ... }}} Now define the VM as above. == Adding Memory == To change the memory allocation in a VM, dump the xml as above, then edit your xml to have:{{{ ... 262144 262144 ... }}} Now define the VM as above. Keep in mind that the memory allocation is in kilobytes, so to allocate 512MB of memory, use 512 * 1024, or 524288. == Changing the Network Card Model == kvm and qemu currently default to using the rtl8139 NIC. Supported NICs in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS are i82551, i82557b, i82559er, ne2k_pci, pcnet, rtl8139, e1000, and virtio. To use an alternate NIC, dump the xml as above, then edit your xml to have:{{{ ... ... ... }}} Now define the VM as above. == Adding USB Device Pass-through == === Limitations === * USB protocol <=2.0 * Apparmor modifications needed === Apparmor Modification === In order for a software program to access the usb device correctly the apparmor abstraction for qemu must be changed. Edit '''/etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/libvirt-qemu''' add a line: {{{ # this lets qemu read all USB device information and might be considered a security risk /run/udev/data/* r, }}} After making the changes the guest must be restarted to get its profile regenerated. === Adding USB devices === This can also be done via '''virt-manager'''. First find the usb Vendor ID and Product ID.: {{{ $ lsusb Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 005 Device 012: ID 0a5c:2110 Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth Controller Bus 005 Device 003: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub }}} In the event that the '''Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth Controller''' wants to be selected the vendor and product ids are '''0a5c''' and '''2110''' respectively. === Hot Add === Create an xml snippet just representing the device like {{{ }}} You can then attach/detach that via: {{{ $ virsh attach-device < # work with it in the guest $ virsh detach-device < }}} === Static Add === The IDs can be entered into the xml profile. This can be done through virsh through the '''edit ''' command.: {{{ windowsxp }}} == Get new IDs == To get a new mac address to paste into your xml file, use this command: MACADDR="52:54:$(dd if=/dev/urandom count=1 2>/dev/null | md5sum | sed 's/^\(..\)\(..\)\(..\)\(..\).*$/\1:\2:\3:\4/')"; echo $MACADDR To get a new uuid for your xml file, use: uuidgen <> ---- CategoryVirtualization