KVM

KVM is a virtualization engine, like VirtualBox or VMWare. It is stripped down in that it does not have the fancy GUI to manage it. This makes it more suitable for use on servers. Along the same line, it automatically sets up a virtual console using SPICE or VNC.

I am testing it on Dart, a server that runs Centos 6.5

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

I have gotten a virtual machine set up but don't have the network connection going yet. I don't have much experience using the bridged network.

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

Installed packages via yum

Use

Create a new virtual machine, then start it.

mkdir /var/kvm
cd /var/kvm
qemu-img create -f qcow2 bigbluebutton.img 10G
/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm -hda bigbluebutton.img -cdrom ~/ubuntu-13.10-server-i386.iso -boot d -m 2048 -vnc :0

Now connect via VNC client. On a Mac, I downloaded Vine VNC Client. It made me jump through hoops. I hope not to have to use it again.