Introduction

• Using Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 as host.
• Using 32 bit kernel, so limiting guests to 32 bit kernels and 2GB ram.
• Will be using bridge support on host.

KVM Guest configuration

• The configuration of the guests are defined by xml files stored in /etc/libvirt/qemu/.
• The xml file is defined in detail here: http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html

• The define or create commands imports the xml file into virsh.
• The xml files can be generated by virsh or ubuntu-vm-builder or edited manually.

Creating a guest with virt-install

Create a sparse disk image

• Create a disk image for the root install:

  sudo qemu-img create -f qcow2 disk0.qcow2 10G
  

Running virt-install

• Run virt-install for ubuntu guest:

  sudo virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n guestName -r 512 \
  -f /vm/guestName/disk0.qcow2 -s 12 -c /vm/ubuntu-9.10-server-i386.iso \
  --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type linux --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 
  

• For OpenBSD guest:

  sudo virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n guestName -r 512 \
  -f /vm/guestName/disk0.qcow2 -s 12 -c /vm/install46.iso \
  --vnc --noautoconsole --os-variant openbsd4 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0
  

Connecting over VNC

• Check the vnc port in virsh:

  sudo virsh vncdisplay guestName
  

• The output will be the vnc port number to connect to on the host server.
• Use ssh to tunnel into the server and make the vnc port available locally.
• If the output from vncdisplay was :0:

  ssh -L 5910:127.0.0.1:5900 hostName
  

• If the output from vncdisplay was :4:

  ssh -L 5910:127.0.0.1:5904 hostName
  

• Use Chicken of the VNC on OS X or RealVNV VNC Viewer Free Edition on Windows.

• Once connected over vnc, install as normal.

• Reference:
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/CreateGuests
  http://scie.nti.st/2009/10/4/running-openbsd-4-5-in-kvm-on-ubuntu-linux-9-04

Updates to virsh xml

• These should not be necessary, but can be useful if cloning guests.

• Change interface to:

      <interface type='bridge'>
        <mac address='52:54:54:bb:f9:14'/>
        <source bridge='br0'/>
      </interface>
  

• To generate a new mac address:

  $ MACADDR="52:54:$(dd if=/dev/urandom count=1 2>/dev/null | md5sum | sed 's/^\(..\)\(..\)\(..\)\(..\).*$/\1:\2:\3:\4/')"; echo $MACADDR
  52:54:54:bb:f9:14
  $
  

• To generate a new UUID number:

  $ uuidgen
  41B72951-AA21-4BF2-BAF8-D0D7E70D5344
  $
  

• Remove any graphics reference

      <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' listen='127.0.0.1'/>
  

• Remove any input mouse references:

      <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
  

• Add device:

      <serial type='pty'>
        <target port='0'/>
      </serial>
      <console type='pty'>
        <target port='0'/>
      </console>
  

Finish Ubuntu guest install

• To have ubuntu guest respond to the shutdown command, install apcid:

  sudo apt-get install acpid
  

• Run updates, upgrade and dist-upgrade:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade
  sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
  

• Setup static ip address, instructions.

• Install the grub serial and console code.

Grub 2 - setting up serial console

• The following is the complete replacement for the grub file.
• On guest run:

  sudo cp /etc/default/grub $HOME/grub.bak
  sudo vi /etc/default/grub
  

  # If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
  # /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
  
  GRUB_DEFAULT=0
  # EDITED:
  #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
  
  #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
  # ADDED:
  GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
  
  GRUB_TIMEOUT="10"
  GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
  #GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
  # ADDED:
  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8"
  
  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
  
  # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
  #GRUB_TERMINAL=console
  # ADDED:
  GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
  GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"
  
  # The resolution used on graphical terminal
  # note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
  # you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
  #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
  
  # Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
  #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
  
  # Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entrys
  #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"
  

• Update grub with the new settings:

  sudo update-grub
  

• Ubuntu already has ttyS0 in /etc/securetty.

• Setup ttyS0 to start:

  sudo cp /etc/init/tty1.conf /etc/init/ttyS0.conf
  sudo vi /etc/init/ttyS0.conf
  

• Content should be:

  # ttyS0 - getty
  #
  ...
  exec /sbin/getty -L 115200 ttyS0 vt102
  

• Reference:
  http://linux.xvx.cz/188/debian-with-grub2-and-serial-connection/
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1341462

Finish OpenBSD guest install

Disable mpbios

First boot

• After installation, reboot the guest vm and quickly reconnect the vnc client.
• At the boot> prompt type:

  boot> bsd -c
  ...
  UKC> disable mpbios
   54 mpbios0 disabled
  UKC> quit
  ...
  

• If the guest vm has already started to boot it will hand and you will have to use virsh to destroy the vm.

Configure kernel

• The change made during boot will no persist, editing the kernel config is required.
• Login as root and type:

  # config -ef /bsd
  ...
  ukc> disable mpbios
  ...
  ukc> quit
  

Networking

• There are recommendations to change the network card type to e1000 to avoid hang ups and performance problems.
• Using --os-variant openbsd4 in the virt-install resulted in the following config:

      <interface type='bridge'>
        <mac address='54:52:00:5b:1d:6d'/>
        <source bridge='br0'/>
        <model type='pcnet'/>
      </interface>
  

• The code was updated to:

      <interface type='bridge'>
        <mac address='54:52:00:5b:1d:6d'/>
        <source bridge='br0'/>
        <!--model type='pcnet'/-->
        <model type='e1000'/>
      </interface>
  

• Reference:
  ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.6/i386/
  http://serverfault.com/questions/94484/libvirtd-kvm-networking-on-centos5-4
  http://scie.nti.st/2009/10/4/running-openbsd-4-5-in-kvm-on-ubuntu-linux-9-04
  http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Guest_Support_Status#UNIX_Family:_BSD