1 |
On Sat, 2009-05-16 at 13:30 +0600, Mike Kazantsev wrote: |
2 |
> On Fri, 15 May 2009 22:35:12 +0200 |
3 |
> "Reber, Simon" <linux@×××××××.ch> wrote: |
4 |
> |
5 |
> > But we now coming to the point where we want to install virtual guest |
6 |
> > systems to some of the systems. |
7 |
> > Since the servers are kept very basically do we not have any X packages |
8 |
> > installed, nor do we plant to. |
9 |
> > But from documentation and experience point of view, does it look like |
10 |
> > that we exactly do require something like that. |
11 |
> > |
12 |
> > So my question is, is there any way to install a guest system using KVM |
13 |
> > without having X system packages installed or a monitor plugged on? |
14 |
> > Meaning booting up the guest system, connecting from the localhost |
15 |
> > using some kind of serial console or something like that to connect to |
16 |
> > the particular virtual guest and run the installation task? |
17 |
> |
18 |
> I don't know what kind of documentation you've been reading, but there's |
19 |
> no real need for X (especially X-server) on the machine to deply/use kvm |
20 |
> guests there. |
21 |
> |
22 |
> If there's need for a graphical install (like MS Windows), you can use |
23 |
> VNC, otherwise ncurses-based interface should suffice to display both |
24 |
> bios data and text terminal, just append "-curses" flag to kvm line. |
25 |
> |
26 |
> Of course, all these features should be enabled via use-flags. |
27 |
> |
28 |
> And if you still want X for some reason, you can use sdl-based |
29 |
> graphical output thru X-forwarding, with a few additional libs (and X |
30 |
> flag enabled for ssh/sdl). |
31 |
> |
32 |
> Just an example of kvm start: |
33 |
> |
34 |
> exec kvm \ |
35 |
> -name "$VM" \ |
36 |
> -cpu core2duo \ |
37 |
> -smp 8 \ |
38 |
> -m "$MEM" \ |
39 |
> -drive file=/dev/mapper/vm_root-$VM,if=virtio \ |
40 |
> -drive file=/dev/mapper/vm_swap-$VM,if=virtio \ |
41 |
> -net nic,vlan=0,model=virtio,macaddr="XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:X$SN" \ |
42 |
> -net vde,vlan=0,sock=/var/run/vde/vde.ctl \ |
43 |
> -localtime \ |
44 |
> -kernel /boot/vmlinuz_vm32 \ |
45 |
> -append 'root=/dev/vda gentoo=nodevfs' \ |
46 |
> -daemonize \ |
47 |
> -nographic \ |
48 |
> # -monitor "telnet:127.0.0.1:820${SN},server,nowait" \ |
49 |
> # -vnc ":$SN" \ |
50 |
> # -curses \ |
51 |
> |
52 |
> vnc or curses lines (or both) here can be swapped w/ "-nographic" option |
53 |
> to enable graphical remote access. And you can control every |
54 |
> non-software aspect of VM via "-monitor" interface. |
55 |
> Of course, you won't need any of it as soon as you'll have sshd running. |
56 |
> |
57 |
> And I find it much easier to do the basic deployment by cloning desired |
58 |
> FS (or stage3) to VM partition, chrooting there, doing all the |
59 |
> necessary fine-tuning or compilation then booting VM from there into |
60 |
> fully operational (boot-and-forget) state. |
61 |
> Trick here is not to accidentally mount VM partition if it's (still) |
62 |
> running, since that might cause severe fs corruption. |
63 |
I've read documentations available on the internet (well I've googled |
64 |
them). But of some reason were all of them related to desktop systems or |
65 |
server systems with GUI. |
66 |
|
67 |
Anyway, I've tried your suggestion and it works perfectly fine. I |
68 |
therefore would like to thank you for the advice. |
69 |
|
70 |
Thanks again, |
71 |
Simon |