4 Creating A Debian Lenny Guest (Image-Based)

CentOs 5.2 KVM Host:

Now let's go back to our CentOS 5.2 KVM host.

Take a look at

man virt-install

to learn how to use virt-install.

To create a Debian Lenny guest (in bridging mode) with the name vm10, 512MB of RAM, two virtual CPUs, and the disk image ~/vm10.qcow2 (with a size of 12GB), insert the Debian Lenny Netinstall CD into the CD drive and run

virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n vm10 -r 512 --vcpus=2 -f ~/vm10.qcow2 -s 12 -c /dev/cdrom --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type linux --os-variant generic26 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --hvm

(The virt-install man page shows the values that are valid for --os-type and --os-variant. The virt-install version that comes with CentOS 5.2 doesn't know Debian Lenny, so we use generic26 for --os-variant.)

Of course, you can also create an ISO image of the Debian Lenny Netinstall CD...

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=~/debian-500-amd64-netinst.iso

... and use the ISO image in the virt-install command:

virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n vm10 -r 512 --vcpus=2 -f ~/vm10.qcow2 -s 12 -c ~/debian-500-amd64-netinst.iso --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type linux --os-variant generic26 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --hvm

The output is as follows:

[root@server1 ~]# virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n vm10 -r 512 --vcpus=2 -f ~/vm10.qcow2 -s 12 -c ~/debian-500-amd64-netinst.iso --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type linux --os-variant generic26 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --hvm


Starting install...
Creating storage file...  100% |=========================|  12 GB    00:00
Creating domain...                                                 0 B 00:00
Domain installation still in progress.  You can reconnect to
the console to complete the installation process.
[root@server1 ~]#

5 Connecting To The Guest

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop:

The KVM guest will now boot from the Debian Lenny Netinstall CD and start the Debian installer - that's why we need to connect to the graphical console of the guest. You can do this with virt-manager on the Ubuntu 8.10 desktop (see KVM Guest Management With Virt-Manager On Ubuntu 8.10).

Run

sudo virt-manager

on the Ubuntu desktop to start virt-manager.

(If you are on a Fedora 10 desktop, run:

su

virt-manager

)

In virt-manager, connect to the KVM host:

Type in the root password of the KVM host:

You should see vm10 as running. Mark that guest and click on the Open button to open the graphical console of the guest:

Type in the root password of the KVM host again:

You should now be connected to the graphical console of the guest and see the Debian installer:

Now install Debian as you would normally do on a physical system. Please note that at the end of the installation, the Debian guest needs a reboot. The guest will then stop, so you need to start it again, either with virt-manager or like this on our CentOS 5.2 KVM host command line:

CentOS 5.2 KVM Host:

virsh --connect qemu:///system

start vm10

quit

Afterwards, you can connect to the guest again with virt-manager and configure the guest. If you install OpenSSH (package openssh-server) in the guest, you can connect to it with an SSH client (such as PuTTY).