Boot QEMU KVM with libvirt/sVirt but without using virt-install tool in command line

Question

Can anyone help me on how to boot QEMU KVM with libvirt/sVirt but without using virt-install tool in command line.

or using virsh tool

Answer 1

In order to use virt-install, you need to install the following:

yum install qemu-kvm qemu-img libvirt libvirt-python libvirt-client virt-install virt-viewer bridge-utils tigervnc-server

Then, you can start the daemon:

systemctl start libvirtd

Now, download the OS you want to install, and then copy it to the folder shown below:

cp CentOS-7-x86_64-Everything-1708.iso /var/lib/libvirt/images/

Finally, run virt-install. Here is an example of what the script should look like:

os="--os-type=linux --os-
variant=centos7.0"
location="--location=/var/lib/libvirt/images/CentOS-7-x86_64-Everything-1708.iso"
cpu="--vcpus 2"
ram="--ram 2048"
name="centos7"
disk="--disk /dev/mapper/centos_192- root,size=40"
type="--virt-type qemu"
network="--network network=default"
graphics="--graphics none"

virt-install $os $network $disk $location $cpu $ram $type $disk $graphics --name=$name

After running virt-install, verify that the VM is running using virsh:

virsh list
Id Name State
----------------------------------------------------
4 centos7 running

Virt-install command-line options

Below are some command-line options, but this isn't an extensive list, so I encourage you to do some research in order to fully take advantage of this tool.

os="--os-type=linux --os-variant=centos7.0" --  

Some of these commands have main options, as well as sub options. For example, if you type os-type=linux, then you need to further specify --os-variant=centos7.0. You can get a list of OSes that virt-install supports by typing osinfo-query os.

location="--location=/var/lib/libvirt/images/CentOS-7-x86_64-Everything-1708.iso" 

This is where you've copied the ISO image file containing the OS you want to install.

cpu="--vcpus 2"

The CPU command-line option enables you to specify the number of vCPUs assigned to the VM. In this example, I'm assigning two vCPUs.

ram="--ram 2048" 

The RAM command-line option enables you to specify the amount of memory assigned to the VM. In this example, I'm assigning 2,048 MBs -- or 2 GBs.

name="centos7" 

The name command-line option enables you to assign a name to the VM. In this example, I'm naming the VM centos7.

disk="--disk /dev/mapper/centos_192-root,size=40" 

This is where the VM will be installed and the size, in gigabytes, to be allocated. This must be a disk partition and not a mount point. Type df -h to list disk partitions.

type="--virt-type qemu" 

The type command-line enables you to choose the type of VM you want to install. You can use KVM, QEMU, Xen or KQEMU. Type virsh capabilities to list all of the options. In this example, I'm using QEMU.

network="--network network=default"

Use network=default to set up bridge networking using the default bridge device. This is the easiest method, but there are other options.

graphics="--graphics none" 

The graphics command-line option specifies that no graphical VNC or SPICE interface should be created. Use this for a kickstart installation or if you want to use a ttyS0 serial connection.