Linux Virtualization Operations

Internal

• Linux Virtualization

Commands

virsh

virt-install	guestmount	guestunmount	virt-builder	virt-cat	virt-filesystems	virt-inspector
libguestfs	virt-copy-in	virt-copy-out	virt-customize	virt-df	virt-diff	virt-edit	virt-format
virt-log	virt-ls	virt-make-fs	virt-p2v	virt-rescue	virt-resize	virt-sparsify	virt-sysprep
virt-tar-out	virt-tar-in	virt-top	virt-v2v	virt-viewer	virt-what	virt-who	virt-xml-validate
qemu-img

Virtualization Host Storage Operations

Storage Pool Operations

• Disk-Based Storage Pool Configuration
• Partition-Based Storage Pool Configuration
• Directory-Based Storage Pool Configuration
• LVM-Based Storage Pool Configuration
• Storage Pool Deletion

Storage Volume Operations

• Storage Volume Creation
• Storage Volume Rename
• Storage Volume Cloning
• Storage Volume Deletion

Virtualization Host Network Operations

• Attaching a Guest Directly to a Virtualization Host Network Interface
• Modifying the Range of the DHCP Server for a Virtual Network
• Bridged Networking Configuration

Create a Guest Virtual Machine

Virtualization host storage and host-level networking must be configured as a prerequisite to creating guest virtual machines. Once storage pools and storage volumes are made available, and the networking is configured, guest virtual machines can be created with

virt-install

If the XML definition of a virtual machine is available, it can be created with:

virsh define

Start/Stop Guest VMs

   virsh start
   virsh shutdown

Connect to the Guest VM

   virsh console

Adding Storage to Guests

Adding Storage to Guests

Cloning a Guest VM

• Shut down the guest with virsh shutdown.
• Export the XML configuration with virsh dumpxml.
• Copy the XML definition under a new name, conventionally the name of the guest being built.
• Edit the XML as needed. Things you may want to change:
  • The name of the guest.
  • Remove the <uuid> line, a new UUID will be generated.
  • The amount of memory, specified as <memory>. Remove the <currentMemory> line.
  • The number of vCPUs allocated to the guest.
  • Remove the "cdrom" disk(s), if it is not going to be used.
  • Edit the <disk> definitions and adjust the names for the new storage volumes that will be provisioned for the new virtual machine. The virtual machine will definitely need a virtual machine image, stored in (usually) qcow2 format
• Clone the virtual machine image with the new name.
• Create any other storage volume that may be needed.
• Define the guest with virsh define.