virt April 2009

virt@lists.fedoraproject.org

33 participants
72 discussions

Testing *virt* packages for Fedora 10
by Ján ONDREJ (SAL) 29 Apr '09

29 Apr '09

Hello, after some tests with Fedora 11 packages of qemu I needed to downgrade my packages to previous version. Before updates I used fedora-testing repository to update these packages only: yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing qemu\* kvm\* \*virt\* gtk-vnc But now it looks, like current packages are not in fedora-testing and these in fedora-10-updates are older like my latest packages. What is status of testing repositories for current stable Fedora? Can I help with something? SAL

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ANNOUNCE: libguestfs 1.0.15 released
by Richard W.M. Jones 29 Apr '09

29 Apr '09

I'm pleased to announce version 1.0.15 of libguestfs, the library for accessing and modifying virtual machine filesystems. Home page: http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/libguestfs/ Downloads: http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/libguestfs/files/ Source: http://git.et.redhat.com/?p=libguestfs.git;a=shortlog New since the previous announcement we have: - New 'virt-inspector' tool. This can tell you at a high level what is on a virtual machine, such as how its filesystems are mounted, what OS and version it is running, what kernel, drivers and apps are installed. http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/libguestfs/virt-inspector.1.html - New 'lvremove', 'vgremove', 'pvremove' commands. - Add really working support for NTFS and FAT. - Add really working support for CD-ROMs and DVDs. - Add --ro option for read-only mounts in guestfish. - New 'set-e2uuid', 'get-e2uuid', 'set-e2label', 'get-e2label' commands for setting ext2/3/4 UUIDs and labels. - New 'debug' command for debugging daemon internals. - Guestfish recipes. - Many bugs fixed (note: including a data corruptor that affected FileOut transfers, so upgrading is recommended). Rich. -- Richard Jones, Emerging Technologies, Red Hat http://et.redhat.com/~rjones virt-df lists disk usage of guests without needing to install any software inside the virtual machine. Supports Linux and Windows. http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/virt-df/

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[PATCH] libguestfs: missing dependency for-initramfs.sh
by Jim Meyering 28 Apr '09

28 Apr '09

Hi Rich, As you know, today I was burned by this missing dependency. Here's the fix: >From 4f4b02acd1b30282f9f938483bacf2833c6e047c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering <meyering(a)redhat.com> Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:43:12 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] add dependency to ensure make-initramfs.sh is rebuilt when needed * Makefile.am (make-initramfs.sh): New rule. --- Makefile.am | 3 +++ 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am index a65c9d7..47ef6d0 100644 --- a/Makefile.am +++ b/Makefile.am @@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ $(INITRAMFSIMG): initramfs/fakeroot.log daemon/guestfsd bash $(top_builddir)/update-initramfs.sh touch $@ +make-initramfs.sh: make-initramfs.sh.in + ./config.status $@ + # Tests. These are auto-generated from the test descriptions. check_PROGRAMS = tests -- 1.6.3.rc3.199.g24398

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arch setting with koan
by Thomas S Hatch 28 Apr '09

28 Apr '09

I already posted about this in the cobbler list and they sent me over here. It seems that whenever I try to install a new virtual machine(kvm) with koan, and the ram for the machine is 4 gigs or higher the machine fails to install. The domain and hard drive image are created, but they won't start up to do the install. My guess was that the arch was being set to i686 in the libvirt xml file, and that that was causing issues, but the vms with 2 gigs of ram and arch="i686" in the libvirt config install just fine with a 64 bit version of Fedora. I then decided to track down where the arch assignment was being made in the code, koan uses the default arch supplied by virtinst.FullVirtGuest. In that code the 2 lines that detect the host arch are commented out, I uncommented them, and tried again. The arch in the libvirt xml files became x86_64, but they still failled to install for vms with 4 gigs of ram! So I am stumpted! Anyone have any suggestions? Host machine: Fedora 10 64 bit, 8 3Ghz core, 32 Gigs of ram 1TB hdd -Tom Hatch

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Re: libguestfs: fix for checking perl modules
by Richard W.M. Jones 28 Apr '09

28 Apr '09

On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 11:21:59AM +0100, Luciano Miguel Ferreira Rocha wrote: > Another patch, this fix invoking make-initramfs.sh and > update-initramfs.sh. > > On a normal make (normal in RHEL 5.3), $(builddir) is empty. > Automake/conf uses $(top_builddir) instead. > > -------------- 8< -------------- > --- a/Makefile.am > +++ b/Makefile.am > @@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ $(INITRAMFSIMG) $(VMLINUZ): initramfs/fakeroot.log > initramfs/fakeroot.log: make-initramfs.sh.in > -mv $(INITRAMFSIMG) $(INITRAMFSIMG).bak > -mv $(VMLINUZ) $(VMLINUZ).bak > - if ! bash $(builddir)/make-initramfs.sh; then rm -f $@; exit 1; > fi > + if ! bash $(top_builddir)/make-initramfs.sh; then rm -f $@; exit > 1; fi > > $(INITRAMFSIMG): initramfs/fakeroot.log daemon/guestfsd > rm -f $@ > - bash $(builddir)/update-initramfs.sh > + bash $(top_builddir)/update-initramfs.sh > touch $@ > > # Tests. These are auto-generated from the test descriptions. > -------------- 8< -------------- Thanks - applied. You're trying to compile libguestfs on RHEL 5.3? That's entering new territory. > I have one problem when creating the initramfs, though. If I run the > make as normal user, after the 'yum install' make fails with: > chroot: cannot run command `chmod': No such file or directory > > This is caused by ldconfig calls under yum fail. Probably because > ldconfig is statically compiled and fake* don't work with that? Which version of fakeroot and fakechroot do you have? You need a very recent fakechroot (2.9 + patches -- see the Fedora Rawhide package), otherwise nothing will work. > When running make as root, the ldconfig calls don't fail, but You really don't want to be running 'make' as root. There be dragons! Or at least a good way to mess up your machine. Rich. -- Richard Jones, Emerging Technologies, Red Hat http://et.redhat.com/~rjones virt-top is 'top' for virtual machines. Tiny program with many powerful monitoring features, net stats, disk stats, logging, etc. http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/virt-top

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virt-manager/libvirtd beginner question: how to "convert" qemu-kvm image for use by virt-manager
by Tom London 27 Apr '09

27 Apr '09

I have a pre-existing qemu-kvm VM that I run with the following command: qemu-kvm -localtime -vga std -m 512 -usbdevice tablet -name "Windows XP" -hda ~/VirtualMachines/raw.img -k en-us I've been trying to "convert/adapt" this to be run with virt-manager, without success. Is there a "recipe" I can follow? I ran the following 'virt-install' command on a "copy" of the image: [root@tlondon ~]# virt-install --name=WinXP --ram=512 --accelerate --os-type=windows --os-variant=winxp -v --import --file=/home/tbl/VirtualMachines/gold-raw.img --vnc Starting install... Guest installation complete... restarting guest. [root@tlondon ~]# But the VM fails to complete booting: I see the BIOS screen, followed by the Windows "previous attempt to boot failed" screen, and an endless cycling between these 2 screens. virt-manager shows the VM running. I clean up each time by "forcing shutdown" and deleting the VM from within virt-manager. I can boot the image (~/VirtualMachines/gold-raw.img) after this with 'qemu-kvm' without problem. I've tried swapping '--sdl' for '--vnc', adding 'noacpi', dropping '--accelerate', to no avail. Is what I'm trying to do feasible, or is the qemu-kvm image 'polluted' with unsupported drivers and or settings? Appreciate any help! tom -- Tom London

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guestfish recipes (examples)
by Richard W.M. Jones 25 Apr '09

25 Apr '09

I put up a set of examples using libguestfs / guestfish. These are small (< 10 line) shell scripts that show you how to do some interesting stuff to virtual machines: http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/libguestfs/recipes.html Fedora users' own contributions are welcome too! Rich. -- Richard Jones, Emerging Technologies, Red Hat http://et.redhat.com/~rjones virt-p2v converts physical machines to virtual machines. Boot with a live CD or over the network (PXE) and turn machines into Xen guests. http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/virt-p2v

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customizing VMM on a per-user basis to use libguestfs?
by Robert P. J. Day 24 Apr '09

24 Apr '09

is there a mechanism for customizing VMM settings on a per-user basis? i ask since i'd like to test guestfish and libguestfs on a recently-created VM but, by default, new VM images are created in /var/lib/libvirt/images, and that directory is not accessible to non-root users. as a non-root user, if i was about to start working with VMs, i'd like to be able to invoke "virt-manager" and, *before* creating any VMs, set some config options, such as where my images are going to go (ideally, in a personal images directory). that would make those images accessible to my account. but if i fire up "virt-manager", i can see "Edit" -> "Preferences" but that doesn't allow me that kind of per-user configuration. does that kind of configuration even exist? and, with those default settings and permissions, how *would* one use libguestfs and guestfish as a regular user? or am i once again missing something critical? rday -- ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry. Web page: http://crashcourse.ca Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rpjday Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday ========================================================================

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i8042.c: No controller found
by Jerry James 24 Apr '09

24 Apr '09

Hi all, I'm doing some kernel development, using a virtual machine to manage the frequent reboots. The host is an 8-core x86_64 Fedora 10 machine with 8GB of RAM. The guest is a 2-core x86_64 CentOS 5.3 machine with 1GB of RAM. I'm starting the virtual machine as follows: qemu-kvm -m 1G -smp 2 -k en-us -std-vga -name CentOS5.3 -hda /var/lib/libvirt/images/CentOS5.3.img "$@" Approximately every other reboot, when the CentOS kernel is just starting up, I see this message on the console: i8042.c: No controller found and then, when the machine is fully booted, I cannot use the mouse or keyboard in the guest machine, leaving me with only one option: reboot and hope it doesn't happen the next time. Usually one more reboot fixes it, but not always. Does anyone know what is causing this? Just in case the "-k en-us" has something to do with it, I added that because otherwise the arrow keys don't work correctly. Up arrow gets mapped to PrtScn, for example. As an aside, I used to use virt-manager, but couldn't figure out how to get virt-manager to turn on -std-vga. If someone can solve that problem for me, I'll go back to virt-manager. Thanks, -- Jerry James http://loganjerry.googlepages.com/ http://jjames.fedorapeople.org/

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slightly OT: Comparing apples with apples?
by Gianluca Sforna 24 Apr '09

24 Apr '09

Hi all, sorry for the slightly off topic post, but I'm looking for some definitive answers here. A couple days ago, I performed a "boot race" with Fedora 11 and Ubuntu 9.04, thinking it would be the easiest way to visualize which is faster to boot in a default installation. So basically, I created two identical VMs with virt manager and installed both from the liveCD, then fully updated them. The recorded boot sequence was repeated multiple times to see if results were consistent. Now, of course I hit a nerve there, because I had many complaints, ranging from the video being a fake, to personal attacks, to more or less weird attempts to explain why Fedora booted faster. The most common complain was that competing for the host's resources was not fair, something along the line: Fedora starts first becasue has no grub, grabs some critical resource and Ubuntu has to wait for it before continuing. So basically the question is: do you think there could be any reason why such a test can be unfair to one of the VMs? -- Gianluca Sforna http://morefedora.blogspot.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/gianlucasforna

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virt April 2009