starting a vm with virt-manager

[Henning Sprang]

Hi,
Somehow I'd expect such a nice graphical tool as virt.manager, that,
if I can install, (and start the installed machine directly after
install), stop, restore, and do all the other nice things with a xen
vm, I must also be able to simply start a vm for which I have a config
lying around.

But I see nowhere any "start a vm" option. The only thing that is
there is a "restore vm" option, but when I chose a normal vm config
file, it always says "error restring domain - is the domain already
running".
I assume, this function is really only for domains that I saved (not
the same as  opposed to shut down, at leat in xen terminology).

Is that right? Am I right that virt.manager has no functionality to
simply start a vm with it's config file, and I must do this manually?

Henning

[Jan Mark Holzer]

Hi Henning,

    currently virt-manager does not offer a 'Start' option for VMs .
    virt-manager will provide full life-cycle support over time , 
including 'start' of VMs
    in a future release of virt-manager .

    Right now you'll have  to start a VM manually using "xm create (-c) 
VMname" .
    The "restore" option in virt-manager is part of the save/restore 
capabilities
    in virt-manager/Xen . Save/Restore allows you to save/snapshot a VM's
    memory footprint onto disk and 'restore/restart' the VM from this 
snapshot
    in the future.

Hth,

- Jan

Henning Sprang wrote:
>  Hi,
>  Somehow I'd expect such a nice graphical tool as virt.manager, that,
>  if I can install, (and start the installed machine directly after
>  install), stop, restore, and do all the other nice things with a xen
>  vm, I must also be able to simply start a vm for which I have a config
>  lying around.
>
>  But I see nowhere any "start a vm" option. The only thing that is
>  there is a "restore vm" option, but when I chose a normal vm config
>  file, it always says "error restring domain - is the domain already
>  running".
>  I assume, this function is really only for domains that I saved (not
>  the same as  opposed to shut down, at leat in xen terminology).
>
>  Is that right? Am I right that virt.manager has no functionality to
>  simply start a vm with it's config file, and I must do this manually?
>
>  Henning
>
>  -- 
>  Fedora-xen mailing list
>  Fedora-xen(a)redhat.com
>  https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-xen

[Henning Sprang]

On 12/28/06, Jan Mark Holzer <jmh(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>      Right now you'll have  to start a VM manually using "xm
> create (-c)
>  VMname" . 
Oh, I feared it being so (the only other possibility was it expecting
me to place the config in a special place).
That's really sad - it makes virt-manager look really incomplete -
it's a small and probably very easy to implement function (for those
who wrote the program and know i inside out), and something one is
really missing and that makes the experience very inconsistent.

I mean, a VM even get's started after install - so it is really
frustrating when searching and searching through the GUI and trying
the restore button, and only after a long while coming up with the
idea "hey, maybe this function is simply not implemented because it's
alpha software" - which is easier for me to come up with than for many
other people, cause I'm a software developer.

Henning

[Ian Patton]

It is open source.  Feel free to start adding that functionality.

Ian Patton

On 12/28/06, Henning Sprang <henning_sprang(a)gmx.de&gt; wrote:
>  On 12/28/06, Jan Mark Holzer <jmh(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  >     Right now you'll have  to start a VM manually using "xm create (-c)
>  > VMname" .
>
>  Oh, I feared it being so (the only other possibility was it expecting
>  me to place the config in a special place).
>  That's really sad - it makes virt-manager look really incomplete -
>  it's a small and probably very easy to implement function (for those
>  who wrote the program and know i inside out), and something one is
>  really missing and that makes the experience very inconsistent.
>
>  I mean, a VM even get's started after install - so it is really
>  frustrating when searching and searching through the GUI and trying
>  the restore button, and only after a long while coming up with the
>  idea "hey, maybe this function is simply not implemented because it's
>  alpha software" - which is easier for me to come up with than for many
>  other people, cause I'm a software developer.
>
>  Henning
>
>  --
>  Fedora-xen mailing list
>  Fedora-xen(a)redhat.com
>  https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-xen
>  


-- 
Ian Patton

[Henning Sprang]

On 12/28/06, Ian Patton <ian.patton(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>  It is open source.  Feel free to start adding that functionality.
I heard of the principle...

No, really - sorry when I sounded like I want to make somebody else
implementing that feature for me!
Actually I am testing these things cause I want to write something
about them - I myself am happy with the command line, and therefore
won't get engaged in this project, but I'd like to recommend some GUI
apps for people who want it.

And I'd be happy to be able to write that virt-manager is a complete
tool that not only let's you install and stop a vm, but even start one
:)

Henning

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Thu, Dec 28, 2006 at 04:14:03PM +0100, Henning Sprang wrote:
>  Hi,
>  Somehow I'd expect such a nice graphical tool as virt.manager, that,
>  if I can install, (and start the installed machine directly after
>  install), stop, restore, and do all the other nice things with a xen
>  vm, I must also be able to simply start a vm for which I have a config
>  lying around.
>  
>  But I see nowhere any "start a vm" option. The only thing that is
>  there is a "restore vm" option, but when I chose a normal vm config
>  file, it always says "error restring domain - is the domain already
>  running".
>  I assume, this function is really only for domains that I saved (not
>  the same as  opposed to shut down, at leat in xen terminology).
>  
>  Is that right? Am I right that virt.manager has no functionality to
>  simply start a vm with it's config file, and I must do this manually? 
The problem is ultimately in XenD itself - the RPC protocol used for
managing VMs has no spport for inactive guests - the 'xm' command line
tool has this functionality hardcoded in itself so its not exposed to
other tools via the API. The new Xen 3.0.4 released 2 weeks ago does
now have inactive guest support, so Xen in Fedora 7 will likely support
this. 

For the Xen 3.0.3 in Fedora Core 6, we have had to write some extra code
in libvirt to manage inactive domains by bypassing XenD. This was just
pushed to Fedora updates in libvirt 0.1.10  a few days back. Thus I will
now be able to enable support for inactive domains in the next release
of virt-manager - hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

So, yes, you are right that there is no way to start an existing guest
using virt-manager in Fedora today. We are actively implemnenting this
so expect it to appear in the near future....

Regards,
Dan.
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