KVM

KVM is a virtualization engine, like VirtualBox or VMWare. It is not locked to a Gui; this makes it more suitable for use on servers. Along the same line, it automatically sets up a virtual console using SPICE(http://www.spice-space.org/) or VNC. This allows out of band access to a virtual machine.

I am testing it on Dart, a server that runs Debian 7.

I want to migrate wildsong.biz and hupi.org to virtual machines so that I can host them on Dart but still keep them walled off in their own worlds to make them easier to manage.

Also I need to be able to run Ubuntu to test out BigBlueButton. (It seemed the easiest path at the moment.)

I now have a virtual machine set up but don't have the network connection going yet.

I am also working out the best console connection to use, SPICE looks cool. Checking that out today. 2/15/14 On my Mac I found that the native VNC connection did not work but that Vine VNC does. I looked at NoMachine a bit but it's not free.

Set up

Package installation

sudo apt-get install qemu-kvm

Use

Create a new virtual machine, then start it.

mkdir /var/kvm
cd /var/kvm
qemu-img create -f qcow2 hupi.img 10G
kvm -hda hupi.img -cdrom ~bwilson/LinuxImages/debian-7.8.0-amd64-netinst.iso -boot d -m 2048 -vnc :0 &

Now connect via VNC client. On my Mac, last year I downloaded Vine VNC Client. It made me jump through hoops. I just tried Chicken of the VNC and it's fine. http://sourceforge.net/projects/chicken/

One thing about using VNC server on Dart, I can connect and disconnect any time without worrying about the session state as I do when using ssh.

Starting the machine with some extra networking goodies

kvm -hda hupi.img -vnc :0 -device e1000,netdev=user.0 -netdev user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::5555-:22 &

Bridged network

Host

Change the host /etc/network/interfaces file. Restart networking.

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet manual

auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
       bridge_ports eth0
       bridge_stp off
       bridge_fd 0
       bridge_maxwait 0