debian on debian KVM II

An attempt to simplify an older debian on debian KVM how-to.

The system. 
# cat /etc/debian_version /etc/issue
7.6
Debian GNU/Linux 7 \n \l

# uname -r
3.2.0-4-amd64
# grep "model\ name" /proc/cpuinfo -m1
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz
# egrep "vmx|svm" /proc/cpuinfo -c
4


Install qemu-kvm, libvirt-bin and virtinst 
# apt-get update
# apt-get install qemu-kvm libvirt-bin virtinst


Create a bridge (containing) to the host's physical interface

Create a debian guest that uses a virtual interface attached to a bridge interface named b0. 
# mkdir /home/vm
# virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n anaxagoras -r 2048 -vcpus=1 --disk path=/home/vm/anaxagoras.qcow2,size=20 -c /insigdato/OS.iso/debian-7.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type linux --description anaxagoras --network=bridge:b0 --hvm


To console into the new KVM guest from another host
( assuming you are working on a remote host ).

Find out where the KVM guest VNC console socket is in the KVM host. 
# netstat -putan|grep kvm
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:5900          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      7499/kvm



Set up SSH socket forwarding in another host 
$ ssh -lroot -L 5900:localhost:5900 192.0.2.29
where 192.0.2.29 is the KVM_host IP address.

and console into the forwarded socket. 
$ vncviewer localhost
5900 is the default port. For ports above 5900 use port_number-5900 to find out the vncviewer `port`.



Install.





I don 't like vnet0, vnet1 etc and prefer better names for the virtual interfaces attached to the bridge b0. To give a more descriptive name to the virtual interface and possibly circumvent a few issues I had in previous versions of virtinst and libvirt. 
# virsh
virsh # edit anaxagoras
add 
<target dev='anaxagoras'/>
in <interface ...     --Naming, the second toughest problem in CS :)

Set the KVM guest to autostart. 
virsh # autostart anaxagoras
Domain anaxagoras marked as autostarted


and start it. 
virsh # start anaxagoras
Domain anaxagoras started


List running guests. 
virsh # list 
 Id    Name                           State
----------------------------------------------------
 2     anaxagoras                     running

virsh # exit


Inspect the ethernet bridge. 
# brctl show
bridge name bridge id         STP enabled interfaces
b0          8000.40167e6d6745 yes         anaxagoras
                                          eth0








bridged KVM guest how-to



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