libvirt
| Summary |
|---|
| This article does not try to cover everything about libvirt, just the things that were not intuitive at first or not well documented. |
| Related |
| QEMU |
| KVM |
libvirt is a virtualization API and a daemon for managing virtual machines (VMs) -- remote or locally, using multiple virtualization back-ends (QEMU/KVM, etc).
Contents
1 Installing
For servers you need the following packages from the official Parabola repositories:
- libvirt
- urlgrabber (required by virtinst)
- qemu (optional if not using KVM)
- dnsmasq (optional)
- bridge-utils (optional)
For GUI management tools, you also need all of the following from the official Parabola repositories:
2 Configuration
2.1 Run daemon
Change default user and group in /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf. QEMU defaults to nobody:nobody.
Start and enable the libvirtd daemon.
2.2 PolicyKit authorization
To allow a non-root user in group libvirt to manage virtual machines, you need to create the following file (for polkit >= 0.107 only):
/etc/polkit-1/rules.d/50-org.libvirt.unix.manage.rules
polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id == "org.libvirt.unix.manage" &&
subject.isInGroup("libvirt")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});
Alternatively, you can grant only the monitoring rights with org.libvirt.unix.monitor.
For more information, see the libvirt wiki.
2.3 Unix file-based permissions
If you wish to use Unix file-based permissions to allow some non-root users to use libvirt, you can modify the configuration files.
First, you will need to create the libvirt group and add any users you want to have access to libvirt to that group.
# groupadd libvirt # gpasswd -a [username] libvirt
Any users that are currently logged in will need to log out and log back in to update their groups. Alternatively, the user can use the following command in the shell they will be launching libvirt from to update the group:
$ newgrp libvirt
Uncomment the following lines in /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf (they are not all in the same location in the file):
/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
#unix_sock_group = "libvirt" #unix_sock_ro_perms = "0777" #unix_sock_rw_perms = "0770" #auth_unix_ro = "none" #auth_unix_rw = "none"
2.4 Enable KVM acceleration for QEMU
Running virtual machines with the usual QEMU emulation (i.e. without KVM)), will be painfully slow. You definitely want to enable KVM support if your CPU supports it. To find out, run the following command:
egrep --color "vmx|svm" /proc/cpuinfo
If that command generates output, then your CPU supports hardware acceleration via KVM; if that command does not generate output, then you cannot use KVM.
If KVM is not working, you will find the following message in your /var/log/libvirt/qemu/VIRTNAME.log:
/var/log/libvirt/qemu/VIRTNAME.log
Could not initialize KVM, will disable KVM support
More info is available from the official KVM FAQ
2.5 Stopping / resuming guest at host shutdown / startup
Running guests may be suspended (or shutdown) at host shutdown automatically using the libvirt-guests service. On the other hand, at host startup, this same daemon will resume (startup) the suspended (shutdown) guests automatically. Check /etc/conf.d/libvirtd-guests for libvirt-guests options.
2.6 Starting KVM virtual machines on boot up
If you use virt-manager and virsh as your VM tools, then this is very simple. At the command line to set a VM to automatically start at boot-up:
$ virsh autostart <domain>
To disable autostarting:
$ virsh autostart --disable <domain>
Virt-manager is equally easy having an autostart check box in the boot options of the VM.
3 Usage
3.1 Installing a new VM
To create a new VM, you need some sort of installation media, which is usually a standard .iso file. Copy it to the /var/lib/libvirt/images/ directory (alternatively, you can create a new storage pool directory in virt-manager and copy it there).
Then run virt-manager, connect to the server, right click on the connection and choose New. Choose a name, and select Local install media. Just continue with the wizard.
On the 4th step, you may want to uncheck Allocate entire disk now -- this way you will save space when your VM is not using all of its disk. However, this can cause increased fragmentation of the disk, and you must pay attention to the total available disk space on the VM host because it is much easier to over-allocate disk space to VMs.
On the 5th step, open Advanced options and make sure that Virt Type is set to kvm. If the kvm choice is not available, see section Enable KVM acceleration for QEMU above.
3.2 Creating a storage pool in virt-manager
First, connect to an existing server. Once you are there, right click and choose Details. Go to Storage and press the + icon at the lower left. Then just follow the wizard. :)
4 Remote access to libvirt
4.1 Using unencrypted TCP/IP socket (most simple, least secure)
Edit /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf:
/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
listen_tls = 0 listen_tcp = 1 auth_tcp=none
It is also necessary to start the server in listening mode by editing /etc/conf.d/libvirtd
/etc/conf.d/libvirtd
LIBVIRTD_ARGS="--listen"
4.2 Using SSH
The openbsd-netcat package is needed for remote management over SSH.
To connect to the remote system using virsh:
$ virsh -c qemu+ssh://username@host/IP address/system
If something goes wrong, you can get some logs using:
$ LIBVIRT_DEBUG=1 virsh -c qemu+ssh://username@host/IP address/system
To display the graphical console for a virtual machine:
$ virt-viewer --connect qemu+ssh://username@host/IP address/system myvirtualmachine
To display the virtual machine desktop management tool:
$ virt-manager -c qemu+ssh://username@host/IP address/system
4.3 Using Python
The libvirt package comes with a python2 API in /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/libvirt.py
General examples are given in /usr/share/doc/libvirt-python-your_libvirt_version/examples/
Unofficial example using qemu and openssh:
#! /usr/bin/env python2
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import socket
import sys
import libvirt
if (__name__ == "__main__"):
conn = libvirt.open("qemu+ssh://xxx/system")
print "Trying to find node on xxx"
domains = conn.listDomainsID()
for domainID in domains:
domConnect = conn.lookupByID(domainID)
if domConnect.name() == 'xxx-node':
print "Found shared node on xxx with ID " + str(domainID)
domServ = domConnect
break
5 Bridged Networking
To use physical Ethernet from your virtual machines, you have to create a bridge between your physical Ethernet device (here eth0) and the virtual Ethernet device the VM is using.
5.1 Host configuration
libvirt creates the bridge virbr0 for NAT networking, so use another name such as br0 or virbr1. You have to create a new Netcfg Profile to configure the bridge, for example (with DHCP configuration):
/etc/network.d/br0
INTERFACE="br0" CONNECTION="bridge" DESCRIPTION="KVM Bridge connection" BRIDGE_INTERFACES="eth0" IP="dhcp" ## sets forward delay time #FWD_DELAY=0 ## sets max age of hello message #MAX_AGE=10
5.2 Guest configuration
Now we have to activate the bridge interface in our VMs. If have a recent GNU/Linux machine, you can use this code in the .xml file:
example.xml
[...]
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='br0'/>
<mac address='24:42:53:21:52:49'/>
<model type='virtio' />
</interface>
[...]
