[libvirt-users] The saga continues ....

[William A. Mahaffey III]

.... I have a 64-bit CentOS 5.6 VM running on a 64-bit FC14 host. 
Actually, I *HAD* a 64-bit CentOS 5.6 VM :-) .... After a read of the 
virt-install man page, I concluded that I could lose the current VM (but 
*NOT* its HDD image) & recreate it fairly easily w/ the right combo of 
arguments to virt-install. The proceedings:




[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:30 PM] 1163 # virsh list
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
   1 CentOS-5.6-64bitVM   running

[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:30 PM] 1164 # virsh destroy 
CentOS-5.6-64bitVM
Domain CentOS-5.6-64bitVM destroyed

[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:30 PM] 1165 # virsh list
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------

[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:30 PM] 1166 # virsh undefine 
CentOS-5.6-64bitVM
Domain CentOS-5.6-64bitVM has been undefined

[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:30 PM] 1167 # virsh list
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:31 PM] 1169 # virt-install   -n 
CentOS-5.6-64bitVM  -r 2048  --arch=x86_64  --cpu core2duo,disable=vmx  
--vcpus=2,maxvcpus=2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1  --os-type=linux  
--os-variant=rhel5  --import  --disk 
path=/home/VMs/CentOS.5.6-64bit-VM/disk.img,format=raw  --autostart  
--prompt
This will overwrite the existing path 
'/home/VMs/CentOS.5.6-64bit-VM/disk.img'
Do you really want to use this disk (yes or no)
no
What would you like to use as the disk (file path)?
quit
How large would you like the disk (quit) to be (in gigabytes)?
^CInstallation aborted at user request
[root at Q6600:/etc, Mon Aug 15, 04:31 PM] 1170 #


i.e. I chickened out at the ominous-sounding message about wiping out my 
hard-won disk image .... I thought (from the man-page) that the 
'--import' command would skip any attempts at installing anything, 
define the VM from the arguments supplied, & boot it from the 
already-prepped disk image .... Am I right here ? If not, is there a 
recommended way to re-create my VM (mostly) from the extant disk image 
w/o having to redo whatever initialization I have done so far (setup a 
user, install compilers & dev.env., install Intel compiler, etc.) ? 
Also, is there a recommended way for the host to copy that disk image 
somewhere so I can try to reuse it if my future attempts at re-creation 
don't pan out ? TIA ....




-- 

	William A. Mahaffey III

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

	"The M1 Garand is without doubt the finest implement of war
	 ever devised by man."
                            -- Gen. George S. Patton Jr.