[libvirt-users] libvirt beginner needs to create and start VMs entirely on command line

[Jeff Tchang]

I actually find I do almost all my VM management inside the virsh command.
If the VM appears to exist inside virsh but is in a shut off state then you
should try to start it.

VNC can also be SSH port forwarded (which I have done before).

Not sure if this will help but this is the command I use to create VMs:

virt-install \
  --name example \
  --vcpus=4 \
  --disk /data/example,size=80 \
  --ram 2048 \
  --graphics vnc,password=**********,listen=0.0.0.0,port=15916 \
  --accelerate \
  --cdrom /var/kvm/ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64-autoinstall.iso \
  --os-type=linux \
  --noautoconsole \
  --network network=default \
  --boot cdrom,fd,hd,network,menu=off

I also edit the XML file sometimes. Notice I have the autoinstall iso.
Basically I went through and created a ks.cfg file after extracting the ISO
file to a directory. Then I ran a command like this:

mkisofs -D -r -V "auto install" -cache-inodes -J -l -b
isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4
-boot-info-table -o /var/kvm/ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64-autoinstall.iso
/root/serveriso



On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 10:57 AM, KARR, DAVID <dk068x at att.com> wrote:

> I'm a beginner to libvirt and creating VMs, for that matter.  I have a set
> of specifications for VMs I need to create and log into, but I have to
> create them on an Ubuntu box that I only have ssh access to.  I won't have
> desktop GUI access, although I do have dynamic port forwarding, so I can
> access a browser GUI from my desktop.
>
> Reading through the libvirt info, I see numerous mentions about using VNC
> to do additional work, but I won't be able to use VNC (not allowed within
> our firewall).
>
> I could use some advice on how to move forward with this.  I've started at
> https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/libvirt.html for initial
> information.
>
> I managed to create a disk image for my first VM, and I believe I created
> the first VM using an ISO (based on CentOS, I believe), but I'll probably
> have to rebuild that, because I think I have to configure networks on the
> VM, which I didn't do on initial creation.  I was confused by the initial
> results from "virt-install", because it seemed to hang after a second or
> two (I posted this SO question about this:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31302871/trouble-using-virt-install-on-ubuntu-to-create-vm-just-hangs-after-displaying
> ).  The reply from this makes it seem like it was trying to present a GUI
> for next steps, but I of course never saw that.  The VM appears to exist,
> but in a "shut off" state.
>
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>
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