[clug] I need help with KVM vitualization

[eyal at eyal.emu.id.au]

On 2020-07-19 21:07, Michael Still via linux wrote:
> https://moozing.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/converting-a-physical-machine-to-a-virtual-machine/
> 
> This looks like a reasonable guide to me.

Yes, it reads well.

Initially I think that I need to create a storage pool on a large partition,
there is not enough room on /. I may actually modify 'default' to the new location.

BTW, I have stray items left from the first failure, like

$ sudo virsh pool-list
  Name      State    Autostart
-------------------------------
  default   active   yes
  eyal      active   yes

and 'eyal' is actually my home directory.

If I do
	$ sudo virsh pool-destroy eyal
will the pool be gone but the data remain untouched? The man page says so.

I also see

$ sudo virsh list --all
  Id   Name       State
---------------------------
  -    fedora32   shut off

But there is no image file anywhere. All I can find is

$ sudo ls -l `sudo find /var/lib/libvirt/ -name '*fedora32*'`
/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-3-fedora32:
total 0
srwxrwxr-x 1 qemu qemu 0 Jul 18 23:38 org.qemu.guest_agent.0

/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-3-fedora32:
total 8
-rw------- 1 qemu qemu 32 Jul 18 23:38 master-key.aes
srwxrwxr-x 1 root root  0 Jul 18 23:38 monitor.sock

I expect I can safely 'delete' it in virt-manager? This is the only vm listed there.

I can see related files under /etc/libvirt/ describing the above resources.

> Michael

Thanks,
	Eyal

> On Sun, 19 Jul 2020, 8:02 pm Eyal Lebedinsky via linux, <
> linux at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> 
>> On 2020-07-19 19:29, Michael Still via linux wrote:
>>> KVM is a totally cromulent tool to do this sort of thing, but you'd have
>> a
>>> better experience if you were using libvirt or a libvirt wrapper
>>> (virt-manager, a hobby project from a burnt out cloud engineer, that sort
>>> of thing).
>>
>> I am not even clear about how kvm, qemu and libvirt relate to each other.
>> Hence my search for a good doco.
>>
>>> What you describe should just work.
>>
>> "should"...
>>
>> I did use virt-manager in this case. I pointed it at the vdi file and let
>> it boot.
>> It then failed etc.
>>
>> My plan now is this:
>> - start virt-manager, tell it the disk size I want, memory, CPUS... boot a
>> clonezilla iso.
>> then:
>> - clone from the original machine to this empty disk.
>> or:
>> - create an ext4 partition. Mount it.
>> - rsync the content of the original machine into this partition
>> - probably fix fstab and install grub
>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2020, 4:51 pm Eyal Lebedinsky via linux, <
>>> linux at lists.samba.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The first thing I need is a pointer at a good doco that explains what
>>>> linux kvm is and how to import
>>>> a physical machine into the virtual domain.
>>>>
>>>> I dd'ed the root disk (/dev/sda) to a file on a local disk of the
>> machine
>>>> that will be the VM host.
>>>> I searched for instructions and found most are missing what I consider
>>>> essential detail, like where
>>>> exactly I should run each step etc. Others have a more complicated setup
>>>> (lvm and what not).
>>>>
>>>> My main worry is that I tried it once, used the GUI tool (virt-manager)
>>>> and pointed it at a disk
>>>> image (from a VirtualBox I had lying around). It started booting
>> (offered
>>>> the grub selection)
>>>> then showed a screen with three dots and gone quiet. After a few
>> minutes I
>>>> got an error message
>>>> and a dracut prompt.
>>>>
>>>> Not knowing how to proceed I decided to just abandon this vm. I issued
>>>> 'halt' inside the small
>>>> console window and it did it.
>>>> It also shut down the host machine (and probably every other linux
>> machine
>>>> in Australia - I
>>>> could not tell).
>>>>
>>>> I was surprised that a virtual tool can do this to the host, having used
>>>> Vmware and VirtualBox
>>>> where there is a clear fence around the VM world.
>>>>
>>>> So much fun, but I probably need to educate myself better about what KVM
>>>> really is.
>>>>
>>>> My need is simple:
>>>>      - I have an image (dd) of the disk from a physical machine. I want
>> to
>>>> run it as a virtual
>>>>        machine on another host. How do I import the image?
>>>>      - Is kvm the correct tool for this? Should I go back to using
>>>> VirtualBox?
>>>>
>>>> TIA
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Eyal at Home (eyal at eyal.emu.id.au)
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> linux mailing list
>>>> linux at lists.samba.org
>>>> https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/linux
>>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Eyal at Home (eyal at eyal.emu.id.au)
>>
>> --
>> linux mailing list
>> linux at lists.samba.org
>> https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/linux
>>


-- 
Eyal at Home (eyal at eyal.emu.id.au)