Virtualize pi cluster

codecaps · August 11, 2019, 11:43pm

is there a way to virtualize multiple raspberry pis simultaneously with functioning networking amongst them to have a virtual raspberry pi cluster?
i’m working on a software project in which what i described above is part of. i tried with qemu and the qemu-rpi-kernel from user ‘dhruvvyas90’ on github but according to the readme networking is not supported which is crucial for our project.
i didn’t come across any similar project and wondered if it would be even possible (and if not: why not?)

TheCakeIsNaOH · August 11, 2019, 11:51pm

Welcome to the forum. I moved your post to the general Linux catagory as this is not vfio related.

But on to your question, it is not clear, do you want to run virtual machines on a cluster of rasberry pi’s, or do you want to make virtual rasberry pi’s on a single computer?

codecaps · August 11, 2019, 11:57pm

i’d like to run multiple raspberry pi instances on one computer while being able to let the communicate with each other (ideally with a virtual network)

TheCakeIsNaOH · August 12, 2019, 12:10am

I am not seeing anything about networking in the readme here-

github.com

dhruvvyas90/qemu-rpi-kernel/blob/master/README.md

# qemu-rpi-kernel

Ready-made kernels that can be used to emulate a Raspberry Pi using QEMU.

They are compiled from the same [kernel sources] used for official Raspian
images, with tweaks to make them suitable for use with QEMU, and are supposed
to be used along with official Raspbian images.

## Obtaining Raspbian

Before starting, you should download a [Raspbian image] from the Raspberry Pi
website and extract the `.zip` archive to obtain an `.img` file.

## Choosing a kernel image

This repository contains three types of kernel images:

* `kernel-qemu-4.*.*-buster` are the most recent images, which are compatible
  with Raspbian Buster and Stretch. To use these images, you'll need the
  `versatile-pb.dtb` file which is also contained in this repository. Unless

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I think it should just work with qemu, just make and start a couple machines, with them all connected to a virtual netwirm.

codecaps · August 12, 2019, 12:26am

seems like you’re right!
according to this tutorial https://github.com/wimvanderbauwhede/limited-systems/wiki/Raspbian-%22stretch%22-for-Raspberry-Pi-3-on-QEMU networking is not possible so i just browsed the github commits and discovered that by now features like libvirt instructions were added which probably enabled networking.
thank you!

TheCakeIsNaOH · August 12, 2019, 12:28am

You are very welcome, and welcome again to the forum.