Need help for QEMU/KVM deployment

Software & Operating Systems Linux
1

Hi, i’m new to linux world. I just finished building a homelab off of my old rig and installed CentOS8 with Server.
Currently, in a dead end here. Need help for installing a fedora virtual machine. I could not get it to show anything so far.

My virt-install setup:
virt-install
–name myfedora
–ram 4096
–disk path=/home/qemu/images/myfedora.img,size=50
–vcpus 2 --os-type linux
–network bridge=br0
–graphics spice
–console pty,target_type=serial
–cdrom=/mnt/flashcopy/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-32-1.6.iso

From virsh list, it say running:
Id Name State

1 myfedora running

I’m actually have no idea which the correct to access VM, so far I tried virt-viewer, virsh console myfedora. None working.

When I use:
[root@localhost ~]# virsh console myfedora
Connected to domain myfedora
Escape character is ^]

and nothing happen.

I’m using my windows pc to access the CentOS8 both from web console and putty. Totally in dead end situation here. Really need some help.
Reason for why not using virt-manager in gui is I want to learn linux and after spending time using centos on virtualbox, I found out that most of the time I was using the terminal to navigate files. So would like to give headless server a try. Thanks!

2

You need a baseline to ensure things are working. HDD space is cheap. install virt-manager, make sure things are working. If they are not fix it using virt manager. Everything done there has an equivalent command line argument. Once you figure out what needs to be done to get the VM working and access, research those additional commands and start over.

It is okay to learn, but you cannot learn when you don’t know what you don’t know. No one will fault you for using the GUI during you journey to acquire knowledge.

1 Like
3

For an installation I would download the ISO and try something like this:

sudo virt-install --name myfedora \
                  --ram 4096 \
                  --disk path=./myfedora,size=50 \
                  --vcpus 2 \
                  --os-type linux --os-variant generic \
                  --network bridge=br0 \
                  --graphics none --console pty,target_type=serial \
                  --location '/path/to/fedora.iso' \
                  --extra-args 'console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

After you complete the installation press Control and ] to disconnect from the session.

4

I always have issues connecting to the console using virsh so I use virt-manager to install the OS then connect to a web-gui (like cockpit) or ssh

5

I am familiar with ESXi so basic virtualization configuration is not an issue. Just need help on how to in linux.

So far i’ve found “x forwarding” setup that could solve it but haven’t tried yet. Found same issue as mine on r/homelab.

Extra question if I may,
Does sysadmin works in command line or gui environment to manage their virtualization infrastructure?

6

At the placed that I have worked, they have either used an ESX appliance or KVM directly. In every case we either used the vmWare vSphere application to manage on the front end or for KVM, use virt-manager or cockpit to manage on the front end. IT is very rare to command line warrior your virtual infrastructure unless you are deploying multiple machines at the same time. Granted, most of these where either MS Windows shops or a mix between MS Windows and *nix. I have never worked in a fully *nix shop.