Using virt-manager

Procedure 8.1. Creating a para-virtualized Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest with virt-manager

1. Open virt-manager

Start virt-manager. Launch the Virtual Machine Manager application from the Applications menu and System Tools submenu. Alternatively, run the virt-manager command as root.

Using virt-manager 3. Start the new virtual machine wizard

Pressing the New button starts the virtual machine creation wizard.

Press Forward to continue. 4. Name the virtual machine

Provide a name for your virtualized guest. The following punctuation and whitespace characters are permitted for '_', '.' and '-' characters.

Chapter 8. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a para-virtualized guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Press Forward to continue. 5. Choose a virtualization method

Using virt-manager

Press Forward to continue. 6. Select the installation method

Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be installed using one of the following methods: • local install media, either an ISO image or physical optical media.

• Select Network install tree if you have the installation tree for Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosted somewhere on your network via HTTP, FTP or NFS.

• PXE can be used if you have a PXE server configured for booting Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation media. Configuring a sever to PXE boot a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation is not covered by this guide. However, most of the installation steps are the same after the media boots.

Set OS Type to Linux and OS Variant to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as shown in the screenshot.

Chapter 8. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a para-virtualized guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Press Forward to continue. 7. Locate installation media

Select ISO image location or CD-ROM or DVD device. This example uses an ISO file image of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation DVD.

a. Press the Browse button.

b. Search to the location of the ISO file and select the ISO image. Press Open to confirm your selection.

Using virt-manager

Press Forward to continue.

Image files and SELinux

For ISO image files and guest storage images it is recommended to use the /var/lib/ libvirt/images/ directory. Any other location may require additional configuration for SELinux, refer to Section 16.2, “SELinux and virtualization” for details.

8. Storage setup

Assign a physical storage device (Block device) or a file-based image (File). File-based images should be stored in the /var/lib/libvirt/images/ directory to satisfy default SELinux permissions. Assign sufficient space for your virtualized guest and any applications the guest requires.

Chapter 8. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a para-virtualized guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Press Forward to continue.

Migration

Live and offline migrations require guests to be installed on shared network storage. For information on setting up shared storage for guests refer to Part V, “Virtualization storage topics”.

Using virt-manager

Press Forward to continue. 10. Memory and CPU allocation

The Memory and CPU Allocation window displays. Choose appropriate values for the virtualized CPUs and RAM allocation. These values affect the host's and guest's performance.

Virtualized guests require sufficient physical memory (RAM) to run efficiently and effectively. Choose a memory value which suits your guest operating system and application requirements. Remember, guests use physical RAM. Running too many guests or leaving insufficient memory for the host system results in significant usage of virtual memory and swapping. Virtual memory is significantly slower which causes degraded system performance and responsiveness. Ensure you allocate sufficient memory for all guests and the host to operate effectively.

Assign sufficient virtual CPUs for the virtualized guest. If the guest runs a multithreaded application, assign the number of virtualized CPUs the guest will require to run efficiently. Do not assign more virtual CPUs than there are physical processors (or hyper-threads) available on the host system. It is possible to over allocate virtual processors, however, over allocating has a significant, negative effect on guest and host performance due to processor context switching overheads.

Chapter 8. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a para-virtualized guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Press Forward to continue.

11. Verify and start guest installation Verify the configuration.

Using virt-manager

Press Finish to start the guest installation procedure. 12. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Complete the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation sequence. The installation sequence is covered by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Installation Guide. Refer to Red Hat Documentation1

Chapter 9.

Installing a fully-virtualized Windows

guest

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 supports the installation of any Microsoft Windows operating system as a fully virtualized guest. This chapter describes how to create a fully virtualized guest using the command-line (virt-install), launch the operating system's installer inside the guest, and access the installer through virt-viewer.

To install a Windows operating system on the guest, use the virt-viewer tool. This tool allows you to display the graphical console of a virtual machine (via the VNC protocol). In doing so, virt- viewer allows you to install a fully virtualized guest's operating system through that operating system's installer (e.g. the Windows XP installer).

Installing a Windows operating system involves two major steps:

1. Creating the guest (using either virt-install or virt-manager)

2. Installing the Windows operating system on the guest (through virt-viewer)

Note that this chapter does not describe how to install a Windows operating system on a fully- virtualized guest. Rather, it only covers how to create the guest and launch the installer within the guest. For information on how to install a Windows operating system, refer to the relevant Microsoft installation documentation.

9.1. Using virt-install to create a guest

The virt-install command allows you to create a fully-virtualized guest from a terminal, i.e. without a GUI. If you prefer to use a GUI instead, refer to Section 6.3, “Creating guests with virt- manager” for instructions on how to use virt-manager.

Important

Before creating the guest, consider first if the guest needs to use KVM Windows para-virtualized drivers. If it does, keep in mind that you can do so during or after installing the Windows operating system on the guest. For more information about para-virtualized drivers, refer to Chapter 11, KVM Para-virtualized Drivers.

For instructions on how to install KVM para-virtualized drivers, refer to Section 11.2, “Installing the KVM Windows para-virtualized drivers”.

It is possible to create a fully-virtualized guest with only a single command. To do so, simply run the following program (replace the values accordingly):

# virt-install \

--name=guest-name \ --network network=default \ --disk path=path-to-disk \ --disk size=disk-size \

--cdrom=path-to-install-disk \ --vnc --ram=1024

The path-to-disk must be a device (e.g. /dev/sda3) or image file (/var/lib/libvirt/ images/name.img). It must also have enough free space to support the disk-size.