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Oracle Linux-KVM User's Guide

Oracle Linux: KVM User's Guide provides information about how to install, configure, and use the Oracle Linux KVM packages to run guest system on top of a bare metal Oracle Linux system.

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David

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

107 views

Oracle Linux-KVM User's Guide

Oracle Linux: KVM User's Guide provides information about how to install, configure, and use the Oracle Linux KVM packages to run guest system on top of a bare metal Oracle Linux system.

Uploaded by

David

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 52

Oracle Linux

KVM User's Guide

F29966-20
September 2022
Oracle Linux KVM User's Guide,

F29966-20

Copyright © 2020, 2022, Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Contents
Preface
Conventions vi
Documentation Accessibility vi
Access to Oracle Support for Accessibility vi
Diversity and Inclusion vii

1 About Oracle Linux KVM

Description of the Oracle Linux KVM Feature 1-1
Guest Operating System Requirements 1-1
Linux Guest Operating Systems 1-1
Microsoft Windows Guest Operating Systems 1-2
Oracle Solaris Guest Operating System 1-3
System Requirements and Recommendations 1-3
About Virtualization Packages 1-4

2 Installing KVM User Space Packages

Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels 2-1
Oracle Linux 7 2-1
Subscribing to ULN Channels 2-7
Enabling Yum Repositories 2-7
Oracle Linux 8 2-7
Subscribing to ULN Channels 2-9
Enabling Yum Repositories 2-9
Oracle Linux 9 2-9
Subscribing to ULN Channels 2-11
Enabling Yum Repositories 2-11
Installing Virtualization Packages 2-11
Installing Virtualization Packages During an Oracle Linux System Installation 2-11
Using the Installation Program to Install Virtualization Hosts 2-11
Using a Kickstart File to Install Virtualization Hosts 2-12
Installing Virtualization Packages on an Existing System 2-12

iii
Upgrading Virtualization Packages 2-13
Switching Application Streams on Oracle Linux 8 2-14
Switching to the Oracle KVM Stack 2-14
Switching to the Default KVM Stack 2-14
Validating the Host System 2-15

3 KVM Usage
Checking the Libvirt Daemon Status 3-1
Oracle Linux 7 and Oracle Linux 8 3-1
Oracle Linux 9 3-1
Working With Virtual Machines 3-2
Creating a New Virtual Machine 3-2
Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines 3-3
Starting a VM 3-3
Shutting Down a VM 3-3
Rebooting a VM 3-4
Suspending a VM 3-4
Resuming a Suspended VM 3-4
Forcefully Stopping a VM 3-4
Deleting a Virtual Machine 3-4
Configuring a Virtual Machine With a Virtual Trusted Platform Module 3-5
Working With Storage for KVM Guests 3-6
Storage Pools 3-7
Creating a Storage Pool 3-7
Listing Storage Pools 3-8
Starting a Storage Pool 3-8
Stopping a Storage Pool 3-9
Removing a Storage Pool 3-9
Storage Volumes 3-9
Creating a New Storage Volume 3-9
Viewing Information About a Storage Volume 3-10
Cloning a Storage Volume 3-10
Deleting a Storage Volume 3-10
Resizing a Storage Volume 3-11
Managing Virtual Disks 3-11
Adding or Removing a Virtual Disk 3-11
Removing a Virtual Disk 3-12
Extending a Virtual Disk 3-12
Working With Memory and CPU Allocation 3-13
Configuring Virtual CPU Count 3-13

iv
Configuring Memory Allocation 3-14
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests 3-15
Setting Up and Managing Virtual Networks 3-16
Adding or Removing a vNIC 3-17
Bridged and Direct vNICs 3-18
Interface Bonding for Bridged Networks 3-20
Cloning Virtual Machines 3-20
Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning 3-21
Cloning a Virtual Machine by Using the Virt-Clone Command 3-23
Cloning a Virtual Machine by Using Virtual Machine Manager 3-23

4 Known Issues for Oracle Linux KVM

Upgrading From QEMU 3.10 to Version 4.2.1 Can Prevent Existing KVM Guests From
Starting on Oracle Linux 7 4-1
Using vTPM With a Guest Fails on Oracle Linux 9 if FIPS Mode Is Enabled 4-1
Downgrading Application Streams Fail 4-2

v
Preface

Preface
Oracle Linux: KVM User's Guide provides information about how to install, configure,
and use the Oracle Linux KVM packages to run guest system on top of a bare metal
Oracle Linux system. This documentation provides information on using KVM on a
standalone platform in an unmanaged environment. Typical usage in this mode is for
development and testing purposes, although production level deployments are
supported. Oracle recommends that customers use Oracle Linux Virtualization
Manager for more complex deployments of a managed KVM infrastructure.

Conventions
The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention Meaning
boldface Boldface type indicates graphical user
interface elements associated with an
action, or terms defined in text or the
glossary.
italic Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis,
or placeholder variables for which you
supply particular values.
monospace Monospace type indicates commands
within a paragraph, URLs, code in
examples, text that appears on the screen,
or text that you enter.

Documentation Accessibility
For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle
Accessibility Program website at https://www.oracle.com/corporate/accessibility/.
For information about the accessibility of the Oracle Help Center, see the Oracle
Accessibility Conformance Report at https://www.oracle.com/corporate/accessibility/
templates/t2-11535.html.

Access to Oracle Support for Accessibility

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support
through My Oracle Support. For information, visit https://www.oracle.com/corporate/
accessibility/learning-support.html#support-tab.

vi
Preface

Diversity and Inclusion

Oracle is fully committed to diversity and inclusion. Oracle respects and values having a
diverse workforce that increases thought leadership and innovation. As part of our initiative to
build a more inclusive culture that positively impacts our employees, customers, and
partners, we are working to remove insensitive terms from our products and documentation.
We are also mindful of the necessity to maintain compatibility with our customers' existing
technologies and the need to ensure continuity of service as Oracle's offerings and industry
standards evolve. Because of these technical constraints, our effort to remove insensitive
terms is ongoing and will take time and external cooperation.

vii
1
About Oracle Linux KVM
This chapter provides a high-level overview of the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
feature on Oracle Linux, the user space tools that are available for installing and managing a
standalone instance of KVM, and the differences between KVM usage in this mode and
usage within a managed environment provided by Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager.

Description of the Oracle Linux KVM Feature

The KVM feature provides a set of modules that enable you to use the Oracle Linux kernel as
a hypervisor. KVM supports both x86_64 and aarch64 processor architectures and is
supported on Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8, and Oracle Linux 9 systems using either Red
Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) or any Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) since UEK R4.
By default, KVM is built into the kernel. KVM features are actively developed and might vary
depending on platform and kernel release. If you are using UEK you should refer to the
release notes for the kernel release that you are currently using to obtain information about
features and any known issues or limitations that may apply. See Unbreakable Enterprise
Kernel documentation for more information.
For enterprise or clustered KVM deployments on Oracle Linux, consider using Oracle Linux
Virtualization Manager which is a server virtualization management platform. Through its
Administration or virtual machine (VM) portals, you can configure, monitor, and manage an
Oracle Linux KVM environment, including hosts, VMs, storage, networks, and users. Oracle
Linux Virtualization Manager also provides a REST API for managing your Oracle Linux KVM
infrastructure, enabling you to integrate Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager with other
management systems or to automate repetitive tasks with scripts. Find out more at https://
docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/oracle-linux-virtualization-manager/.

Guest Operating System Requirements

The following guest operating systems can be used when installed within a standalone
instance of KVM.

Linux Guest Operating Systems

Linux Operating System 32-bit Architecture 64-bit Architecture
Oracle Linux 6 Yes* Yes
Oracle Linux 7 N/A Yes
Oracle Linux 8 N/A Yes
Oracle Linux 9 N/A Yes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Yes* Yes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 N/A Yes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 N/A Yes

1-1
Chapter 1
Guest Operating System Requirements

Linux Operating System 32-bit Architecture 64-bit Architecture

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 N/A Yes
CentOS 6 Yes* Yes
CentOS 7 N/A Yes
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server N/A Yes
12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server N/A Yes
15
Ubuntu 16.04 N/A Yes
Ubuntu 18.04 N/A Yes
Ubuntu 20.04 N/A Yes
Ubuntu 22.04 N/A Yes

Important:
* cloud-init is unavailable for 32-bit architectures.

You can download Oracle Linux ISO images and disk images from Oracle Software
Delivery Cloud: https://edelivery.oracle.com/linux.

Microsoft Windows Guest Operating Systems

Table 1-1 Microsoft Windows Supported Guest Operating Systems

Guest Operating System 64-bit 32-bit

Microsoft Windows Server Yes N/A
2022
Microsoft Windows Server Yes N/A
2019
Microsoft Windows Server Yes N/A
2016
Microsoft Windows Server Yes N/A
2012 R2
Microsoft Windows Server Yes N/A
2012
Microsoft Windows 11 Yes Yes
Microsoft Windows 10 Yes Yes
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Yes Yes
Microsoft Windows 8 Yes Yes
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Yes Yes

1-2
Chapter 1
System Requirements and Recommendations

Caution:
Microsoft Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft. See https://
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-7 for more information.
Microsoft Windows 8 is no longer supported by Microsoft. See https://
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-8 for more information.
Microsoft Windows 8.1 falls out of extended support by Microsoft in January 2023.
See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-81 for more
information.

Note:
Oracle recommends that you install the Oracle VirtIO Drivers for Microsoft Windows
in Windows VMs for improved performance for network and block (disk) devices
and to resolve common issues. The drivers are paravirtualized drivers for Microsoft
Windows guests running on Oracle Linux KVM hypervisors.

Testing of all Microsoft Windows guests on KVM is performed by using the Oracle VirtIO
Drivers for Microsoft Windows.
For instructions on how to obtain and install the drivers, see Oracle Linux: Oracle VirtIO
Drivers for Microsoft Windows for use with KVM.

Oracle Solaris Guest Operating System

Oracle Solaris 11.4 can be used as a guest operating system when installed within a
standalone instance of KVM.
Oracle Solaris 11.4.33 (Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU 33) is the minimum version that provides
VirtIO driver support.
For best results, follow these recommendations:
• Use at least a two-core configuration for the Oracle Solaris VM.
• Use the most current QEMU system type (Custom Emulated Machine = pc-i440fx-4.2) for
the Oracle Solaris VM.
You can download Oracle Solaris ISO images and disk images from Oracle Software Delivery
Cloud: https://edelivery.oracle.com/.

System Requirements and Recommendations

Although most systems running Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8, or Oracle Linux 9 are capable
of using KVM, there are some general hardware recommendations, requirements, and
guidelines that you should follow to run a guest on a host system. Many of these depend on
the kinds of applications being run on the virtual machine (VM) and the amount of work they
are expected to perform.
• Bare metal host

1-3
Chapter 1
About Virtualization Packages

KVM is supported when it is run on a bare metal host. Nested virtualization

scenarios are not supported for KVM.
• CPU
The host system CPU must have virtualization features Intel (VT-x) or AMD (AMD-
V) enabled. Arm (aarch64) CPUs are supported. If these are not available, you
should check that virtualization is enabled in the system firmware BIOS or UEFI.
As a rule of thumb, you can start with the following virtual CPU to host CPU ratios
(this ratio is of distinct CPU cores and assumes SMT is enabled):
– 1:1 to 2:1 can typically achieve good VM performance.
– 3:1 may cause some VM performance degradations.
– 4:1 or greater may cause significant VM performance problems.
The ratio of virtual CPUs to host CPUs should be determined by running
performance tests on your VM and host systems. Determining acceptable
performance depends on many factors such as, for example:
– Tasks your VM systems perform.
– Volume of tasks to be processed.
– Desired rate that these tasks need to be processed.
• Memory
3 GB reserved for the host is a good starting point but memory requirements for
the host operating system scale with the amount of physical memory available. For
systems with lots of available physical memory, you should increase the reserved
memory for the host operating system. For example, on a system with 1 TB
memory, Oracle recommends at least 20 GB available for the host operating
system. If system work on a host and all VMs start exceeding the available
physical RAM the performance impact is severe. However, if VMs are typically
idle, you may not need to allocate as much RAM. Make sure you do performance
testing to ensure your applications always have sufficient memory.
• Storage
The minimum disk space, usually 6 GB, required for the host operating system
should be met. Each VM requires its own storage for the guest operating system
and for swap usage. You should cater to around 6 GB, at minimum, per VM that
you intend to create, but you should consider the purpose of the VM and scale
accordingly.

About Virtualization Packages

Oracle Linux provides several virtualization packages that enable you work with KVM.
You can install virtualization packages from the Oracle Linux yum server or from the
Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). Packages are provided from various upstream
projects, including:
• https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Main_Page
• https://libvirt.org/
• https://www.qemu.org/
In most cases, the following packages are the minimally required for a virtualization
host:

1-4
Chapter 1
About Virtualization Packages

• libvirt: This package provides an interface to KVM, as well as the libvirtd daemon for
managing guest VMs.
• qemu-kvm: This package installs the QEMU emulator that performs hardware virtualization
so that guests can access host CPU and other resources.
• virt-install: This package provides command line utilities for creating and provisioning
guest VMs.
• virt-viewer: This package provides a graphical utility that can be loaded into a desktop
environment to access the graphical console of a guest VM.
As an alternative to installing virtualization packages individually, you can install virtualization
package groups.
The Virtualization Host package group contains the minimum set of packages that are
required for a virtualization host. If your Oracle Linux system includes a GUI environment,
you can also choose to install the Virtualization Client package group.

Note that the Cockpit web console also provides a graphical interface to interact with KVM
and libvirtd to set up and configure VMs on a system. See Oracle Linux: Using the Cockpit
Web Console for more information.

1-5
2
Installing KVM User Space Packages
This chapter describes how to configure the appropriate ULN channels or yum repositories
and how to install user space tools to manage a standalone instance of KVM. A final check is
performed to validate whether the system is capable of hosting guest VMs.

Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

Virtualization packages and their dependencies are available in a variety of locations on the
Oracle Linux yum server and on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN), depending on Oracle
Linux release, the system architecture, and use case or support requirements.

Oracle Linux 7
Due to the availability of several very different kernel versions and the requirement for more
recent versions of user space tools that may break compatibility with RHCK, there are several
different yum repositories and ULN channels across the different supported architectures for
Oracle Linux 7. Packages in the different channels have different use cases and different
levels of support. This section describes the available yum repositories and ULN channels for
each architecture.
Repositories and Channels That Are Available for x86_64 Platforms

2-1
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

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Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

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Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

2-4
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

Yum Repositories ULN Channels Description

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on-premises virtualization the
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• A minimum of Oracle
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• A minimum of
Unbreakable Enterprise
Kernel Release 4 is
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• Guest operating systems,
as supported on Oracle
Cloud Infrastructure and
described at https://
docs.oracle.com/iaas/
Content/Compute/
References/images.htm.
• KVM guests boot by using
iSCSI, VirtIO, VirtIO-SCSI
or IDE device emulation.

2-5
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

Repositories and Channels That Are Available for aarch64 Platforms

2-6
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

Caution:
Virtualization packages may also be available in the ol7_developer_EPEL yum
repository or the ol7_arch_developer_EPEL ULN channel. These packages are
unsupported and contain features that might never be tested on Oracle Linux and
may conflict with virtualization packages from other channels. If you intend to use
packages from any of the repositories or channels that are previously listed, first
uninstall any virtualization packages that installed from this repository. You can also
disable this repository or channel or set exclusions to prevent virtualization
packages from being installed from this repository.

Depending on your use case and support requirements, you must enable the repository or
ULN channel that you require before installing the virtualization packages from that repository
or ULN channel.

Subscribing to ULN Channels

If you are using ULN, follow these steps to ensure that the system is registered with ULN and
that the appropriate channel is enabled:
1. Log in to https://linux.oracle.com with your ULN user name and password.
2. On the Systems tab, from the list of registered systems, select the link name for the
specified system.
3. On the System Details page, select Manage Subscriptions.
4. On the System Summary page, from the list of available channels, select each of the
required channels, then click the right arrow to move each channel to the list of
subscribed channels.
5. Click Save Subscriptions.

Enabling Yum Repositories

If you are using the Oracle Linux yum server, you can either edit the repository configuration
files in /etc/yum.repos.d/ directly; or alternatively, if you have the yum-utils package
installed, you can use the yum-config-manager command, for example:
sudo yum-config-manager --enable ol7_kvm_utils ol7_UEKR6

If you want to prevent yum from installing the package versions from a particular repository,
you can set an exclude option on these packages for that repository. For instance, to prevent
yum from installing the virtualization packages in the ol7_developer_EPEL repository, use the
following command:
sudo yum-config-manager --setopt="ol7_developer_EPEL.exclude=libvirt* qemu*" --save

Oracle Linux 8
The number of options available on Oracle Linux 8 are significantly reduced as the available
kernels are newer and there are less options from which to choose.
Repositories and Channels That Are Available for Oracle Linux 8

2-7
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

2-8
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

Since the Application Stream repository or channel is required for system software on Oracle
Linux 8, it is enabled by default on any Oracle Linux 8 system.
If you intend to use the virt:kvm_utils2 application stream for improved functionality and
integration with newer features released within UEK, you must subscribe to the
ol8_kvm_appstream yum repository or ol8_base_arch_kvm_utils ULN channel. Note that the
virt:kvm_utils application stream is now a legacy stream on Oracle Linux 8.

Subscribing to ULN Channels

Enabling Yum Repositories

If you are using the Oracle Linux yum server, make sure that you have installed the most
recent version of the oraclelinux-release-el8 package and enable the required
repositories. For example:
sudo dnf install -y oraclelinux-release-el8
sudo dnf config-manager --enable ol8_appstream ol8_kvm_appstream

Oracle Linux 9
The number of options available on Oracle Linux 9 are significantly reduced as the available
kernels are newer and there are less options from which to choose. Note also that unlike
Oracle Linux 8, the packages for Oracle Linux 9 are not released as part of a DNF module.
Repositories and Channels That Are Available for Oracle Linux 9

2-9
Chapter 2
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels

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2-10
Chapter 2
Installing Virtualization Packages

Since the Application Stream repository or channel is required for system software on Oracle
Linux 9, it is enabled by default on any Oracle Linux 9 system.

Subscribing to ULN Channels

Enabling Yum Repositories

If you are using the Oracle Linux yum server, make sure that you have installed the most
recent version of the oraclelinux-release-el9 package and enable the required
repositories. For example:
sudo dnf install -y oraclelinux-release-el9
sudo dnf config-manager --enable ol9_kvm_utils ol9_UEKR7

Installing Virtualization Packages

Virtualization packages provide an interface to the KVM hypervisor, as well as user-space
tools.

Installing Virtualization Packages During an Oracle Linux System

Installation
You can use the following procedures to install virtualization packages during system
installation. The Anaconda installation program can be used to install a single virtualization
host. You can use a kickstart file to install virtualization hosts over the network.
Note that installation of virtualization software during system install on Oracle Linux 8 defaults
to a KVM stack most compatible with RHCK. If you wish to use an alternate KVM stack you
may need to perform steps to add other yum or dnf configuration and if you are running
Oracle Linux 8 you may need to select an alternate application stream for the installation.

Using the Installation Program to Install Virtualization Hosts

The following steps describe how to install a virtualization host with the Oracle Linux
graphical installation program:
1. Boot the Oracle Linux installation media and proceed to the Software Selection screen.
2. Select one of the following virtualization host types:
• Minimum Virtualization Host

2-11
Chapter 2
Installing Virtualization Packages

(Available on Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8, and Oracle Linux 9)

a. Select Virtualization Host in the Base Environment section.
b. Select Virtualization Host in the Add-ons for Selected Environment
section.
• Virtualization Host with GUI
(Not available on Oracle Linux 8)
a. Select Server with GUI in the Base Environment section.
b. Select the following package groups in the Add-ons for Selected
Environment section:
– Virtualization Client
– Virtualization Hypervisor
– Virtualization Tools
3. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Using a Kickstart File to Install Virtualization Hosts

You can install virtualization hosts by specifying individual packages or package
groups in the %packages section of a kickstart file.

Specify virtualization packages individually, as in the following example:

%packages
libvirt
qemu-kvm
virt-install

Specify the appropriate package groups for the installation type in the %packages
section of the kickstart file by using the @GroupID format:

Minimum Virtualization Host

%packages
@virtualization-hypervisor
@virtualization-tools
# The following group is optional. Uncomment line to include...:
#@virtualization-platform

Virtualization Host with GUI

%packages
@virtualization-hypervisor
@virtualization-client
@virtualization-platform
@virtualization-tools

Installing Virtualization Packages on an Existing System

1. Log into the target Oracle Linux system with a user that has administrative
privileges.
2. Ensure that your system has the appropriate yum repository or ULN channel
enabled for the virtualization package versions that you wish to install. See
Configuring Yum Repositories and ULN Channels for more information.

2-12
Chapter 2
Installing Virtualization Packages

Note:
If the target host system is running Oracle Linux 9 and you intend to use the
virtualization packages available in ol9_kvm_utils. You must first remove any
existing virtualization packages that may already be installed:
a. Run the following command to remove packages:
sudo dnf remove libvirt qemu-kvm edk2

b. Enable the ol9_kvm_utils and ol9_UEKR7 repositories:

sudo dnf config-manager --enable ol9_kvm_utils ol9_UEKR7

3. Update the system so that it has the most recent packages available.
• If you are using Oracle Linux 7, run the yum update command.
• If you are using Oracle Linux 8 or Oracle Linux 9, run the dnf update command.
4. Install virtualization packages on the system.
• If you are using Oracle Linux 7 run the following commands to install the base
virtualization packages and additional utilities:
sudo yum groupinstall "Virtualization Host"
sudo yum install qemu-kvm virt-install virt-viewer

• If you are using Oracle Linux 8 run the following commands to install the base
virtualization packages and additional utilities:
sudo dnf module install virt
sudo dnf install virt-install virt-viewer

Upgrading Virtualization Packages

Virtualization packages are updated by using the standard yum update or dnf update
command. Note that if you want to change the versions of the virtualization packages to
match the versions that are shipped in a particular yum repository or ULN channel, you might
need to specify the channel or repository from or to which you are installing packages. For
example, you would update to the latest supported virtualization packages that are available
in the ol7_kvm_utils repository as follows:
sudo yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="ol7_kvm_utils" update

If you want to downgrade packages to a version in an alternate repository or channel, you

must first remove the existing packages before installing the packages from the alternate
repository. For example, to downgrade from the virtualization packages in the ol7_kvm_utils
repository to the version of the same packages in the ol7_latest repository:

2-13
Chapter 2
Installing Virtualization Packages

sudo yum remove libvirt* qemu* virt-install

sudo yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="ol7_latest" install libvirt qemu-kvm
virt-install

Switching Application Streams on Oracle Linux 8

Virtualization packages on Oracle Linux 8 are released as a DNF module: virt. The
default stream in the module contains packages that are capable of working with both
RHCK and UEK. Alternate versions of the packages that are capable of taking
advantage of features supported only in UEK are available within a separate
application stream, virt:kvm_utils2, that is provided along with some newer versions
of non-modular packages within the ol8_kvm_appstream repository.

For more information about DNF modules and application streams, see Oracle Linux:
Managing Software on Oracle Linux.

Switching to the Oracle KVM Stack

On an existing Oracle Linux 8 system, you can switch from the default KVM stack to
the Oracle KVM stack in the virt:kvm_utils2 stream by performing the following
steps:
1. Remove any packages from the existing default virt stream:
sudo dnf module remove virt -y --all

2. Reset the virt module state so that it is neither enabled nor disabled:
sudo dnf module reset virt -y

3. Enable the virt:kvm_utils2 module and stream:

sudo dnf module enable virt:kvm_utils2 -y

4. Perform any necessary package upgrade or downgrade operations to handle

dependencies for the enabled module and stream:
sudo dnf --allowerasing distro-sync

5. Install the base packages from the virt:kvm_utils2 stream:

sudo dnf module install virt:kvm_utils2 -y

Caution:
Pre-existing guests that were created by using the default KVM stack may
not be compatible and may not start using the Oracle KVM stack.

Note that although you are able to switch to the Oracle KVM stack and install the
packages while using RHCK, the stack is not compatible. You must be running a
current version of UEK to use this software.

Switching to the Default KVM Stack

On an existing Oracle Linux 8 system, you can switch from the Oracle KVM stack to
the default KVM stack by performing the following steps:

2-14
Chapter 2
Validating the Host System

1. Remove any packages from the existing Oracle virt:kvm_utils or virt:kvm_utils2

streams:
sudo dnf module remove virt:kvm_utils -y --all
sudo dnf module remove virt:kvm_utils2 -y --all

2. Reset the virt module state so that it is neither enabled nor disabled:
sudo dnf module reset virt -y

3. Enable the virt module and stream:

sudo dnf module enable virt -y

4. Perform any necessary package upgrade or downgrade operations to handle

dependencies for the enabled module and stream:
sudo dnf --allowerasing distro-sync

5. Install the base packages from the virt stream:

sudo dnf module install virt -y

Caution:
Pre-existing guests that were created by using the Oracle KVM stack are not
compatible and may not start using the default KVM stack.

Validating the Host System

The libvirt package provides a validation utility that checks whether a system is capable of
functioning correctly as a virtualization host. The utility can check for several virtualization
functionalities, but KVM functionality is covered specifically by testing the qemu virtualization
type.
To test whether a system can act as a KVM host, run the following command:
sudo virt-host-validate qemu

If all of the checks return a PASS value, the system can host guest VMs. If any of the tests fail,
a reason is provided and information is displayed on how to resolve the issue, if such an
option is available.

Note:
If the following message is displayed, the system is not capable of functioning as a
KVM host:
QEMU: Checking for hardware virtualization: FAIL (Only emulated CPUs are
available, performance will be significantly limited)

In the event that this message is displayed, attempts to create or start a VM on the
host are likely to fail.

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KVM Usage
Several tools exist for administering the libvirt interface with KVM. In most cases, a variety
of different tools are capable of performing the same operation. This document focuses on
the tools that you can use from the command line. However, if you are using a desktop
environment, you might consider using a graphical user interface (GUI) such as the VM
Manager, to create and manage VMs. For more information about VM Manager, see https://
virt-manager.org/.
The Cockpit web console also provides a graphical interface to interact with KVM and
libvirtd to set up and configure VMs on a system. See Oracle Linux: Using the Cockpit
Web Console for more information.

Checking the Libvirt Daemon Status

The libvirt daemon runs as a monolithic systemd service in Oracle Linux 7 and Oracle
Linux 8. In Oracle Linux 9, the service is broken into multiple functional service sockets for
more atomic control and logging for each virtualization component.

Oracle Linux 7 and Oracle Linux 8

To check the status of the libvirt daemon, run the following command on the virtualization
host:
sudo systemctl status libvirtd

The output should indicate that the libvirtd daemon is running, as shown in the following
example output:
* libvirtd.service - Virtualization daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/libvirtd.service; enabled; vendor preset:
enabled)
Active: active (running) since time_stamp; xh ago

If the daemon is not running, start it by running the following command:

sudo systemctl start libvirtd

After you verify that the libvirtd service is running, you can start provisioning guest
systems.

Oracle Linux 9
Individual libvirt functional components or drivers are modularized into separate daemons
that are exposed using three systemd sockets for each driver.
The following systemd daemons are defined for individual drivers within libvirt specifically
for KVM:
• virtqemud: is the QEMU management daemon, for running virtual machines on KVM.

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• virtnetworkd: is the virtual network management daemon.

• virtnodedevd: is the host physical device management daemon.
• virtnwfilterd: is the host firewall management daemon.
• virtsecretd: is the host secret management daemon.
• virtstoraged: is the host storage management daemon.
• virtinterfaced: is the host Network Interface Card (NIC) management daemon.

All of the virtualization daemons must be running to expose the full virtualization
functionality available in libvirt. There is a single service and three UNIX sockets for
each daemon to expose different levels of access to the daemon. To enable all access
levels and to start all daemons, run:
for drv in qemu network nodedev nwfilter secret storage interface;
do
sudo systemctl enable virt${drv}d.service
sudo systemctl enable virt${drv}d{,-ro,-admin}.socket;
sudo systemctl start virt${drv}d{,-ro,-admin}.socket;
done

You do not need to start the service for each daemon, as the service is automatically
started when the first socket is established.
To see the a list of all of the sockets started and their current status, run:
sudo systemctl list-units --type=socket virt*

More information on the modularization of the systemd libvirt daemon is available at

https://libvirt.org/daemons.html

Working With Virtual Machines

A basic VM can be created without any complex storage, networking CPU or memory
requirements. You can create a new VM directly on the command line and you can
start, stop, and remove it in the same way.

Creating a New Virtual Machine

The virt-install command is the most commonly used command-line tool for
creating and setting up new VMs. This utility has many options to enable you to
customize your VM and control how it is created. For complete documentation on this
tool, view the VIRT-INSTALL(1) manual page; or, for a quick list of options, you can run
the virt-install --help command.

The following example, illustrates the creation of a simple VM and assumes that virt-
viewer is installed and available to load the installer in a graphical environment:
virt-install --name guest-ol8 --memory 2048 --vcpus 2 \
--disk size=8 --location OracleLinux-R8.iso --os-variant ol8.0

The following are detailed descriptions of each of the options that are specified in the
example:
• --name is used to specify a name for the VM. This name is registered as a domain
within libvirt.

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• --memory is used to specify the RAM available to the VM and is specified in MB.
• --vcpus is used to specify the number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) that should be available
to the VM.
• --disk is used to specify hard disk parameters. In this case, only the size is specified in
GB. If a path is not specified the disk image is created as a qcow file automatically. If
virt-install is run as root, the disk image is created in /var/lib/libvirt/images/
and is named using the name specified for the VM at install. If virt-install is run as
an ordinary user, the disk image is created in $HOME/.local/share/libvirt/images/.
• --location is used to provide the path to the installation media. The location can be an
ISO file, or an expanded installation resource hosted at a local path or remotely on an
HTTP or NFS server.
• --os-variant is an optional specification but provides some default parameters for each
VM that can help improve performance for a specific operating system or distribution. For
a complete list of options available, run osinfo-query os.
When you run the command, the VM is created and automatically starts to boot using the
install media specified in the location parameter. If you have the virt-viewer package
installed and the command is run in a terminal within a desktop environment, the graphical
console opens automatically and you can proceed with the guest operating system
installation within the console.

Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines

After a VM is created within KVM, it is registered as a domain within libvirt and you are able
to manage it by using the virsh command. To obtain a complete list of all registered
domains and their status, run the following command:
virsh list --all

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Id Name State
----------------------------------------------------
1 guest-ol8 running

Use the virsh help command to view available options and syntax. For example, to find
out more about the options available to listings of VMs, run virsh help list. This
command shows options to view listings of VMs that are stopped or paused or that are
currently active.

Starting a VM
To start a VM, run the following command:
virsh start guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 started

Shutting Down a VM
To gracefully shut down a VM, run the following command:

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virsh shutdown guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 is being shutdown

Rebooting a VM
To reboot a VM, run the following command:
virsh reboot guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 is being rebooted

Suspending a VM
To suspend a VM, run the following command:
virsh suspend guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 suspended

Resuming a Suspended VM
To resume a suspended VM, run the following command:
virsh resume guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 resumed

Forcefully Stopping a VM
To forcefully stop a VM, run the following command:
virsh destroy guest-ol8

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Domain guest-ol8 destroyed

Deleting a Virtual Machine

The following steps can be followed to remove a VM from a system:
1. If necessary, obtain information about the location of the VM by running the
following command to dump information about the VM and check for the source
files:
virsh dumpxml --domain guest-ol8 | grep 'source file'

The command returns output similar to the following:

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This step is helpful if you are unsure of the path where the disk for the VM is located.
2. Shut down the VM, if possible, by running the following command:
virsh shutdown guest-ol8

If the VM cannot be shut down gracefully you can force it to stop by running:
virsh destroy guest-ol8

3. To delete the VM, run:

virsh undefine guest-ol8

This step removes all configuration information about the VM from libvirt. Storage
artifacts such as virtual disks are left intact. If you need to remove these as well, you can
delete them manually from their location returned in the first step in this procedure, for
example:
rm /home/testuser/.local/share/libvirt/images/guest-
ol8-1.qcow2

Note:
It is not possible to delete a VM if it has snapshots. You should remove any
snapshots using the virsh snapshot-delete command before attempting to
remove a VM that has any snapshots defined.

Configuring a Virtual Machine With a Virtual Trusted Platform

Module
A virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) is a software-based representation of a physical
Trusted Platform Module 2.0 chip. A vTPM acts as any other virtual device and provides
security-related functions such as random number generation, attestation, key generation.
When added to a VM, a vTPM enables the guest operating system to create and store keys
that are private and not exposed to the guest operating system. If a VM is compromised and
vTPM is enabled, the risk of its secrets being compromised is greatly reduced because the
keys can be used only by the guest operating system for encryption or signing.
You can add a vTPM to an existing Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8, or Oracle Linux 9 KVM
VM. When you configure a vTPM, the VM files are encrypted but not the disks. Although, you
can choose to add encryption explicitly for the VM and its disks.

Note:
Virtual Trusted Platform Module is available on Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8, and
Oracle Linux 9 KVM guests, but not on QEMU.

To provide a vTPM to an existing Oracle Linux 7, Oracle Linux 8 or Oracle Linux 9 KVM VM,
follow the steps below.
1. Install the vTPM packages:

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yum -y install swtpm libtpms swtpm-tools

2. Shut down the KVM VM.

3. Edit the KVM VM configuration to include TPM settings. You can either modify the
KVM VM XML directly, or you can use the virsh edit command to edit the XML
and get validation for your changes:
• Use the virsh edit command to update the configuration for the VM:
virsh edit guest-ol8

• Modify the KVM VM's XML to include the TPM, as shown in the tpm section in
the following example:
<devices>
...
</input>
<input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
<input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
<tpm model='tpm-crb'>
<backend type='emulator' version='2.0'/>
</tpm>
<graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes'>
<listen type='address'/>
</graphics>
...
</devices>

Note that if you are creating a new VM, the virt-install command on Oracle
Linux 8 and Oracle Linux 9 also provides a --tpm option that enables you to
specify the vTPM information at installation time, for example:
virt-install --name guest-ol8-tpm2 --memory 2048 --vcpus 2 \
--disk path=/systest/images/guest-ol8-tpm2.qcow2,size=20 \
--location /systest/iso/ol8.iso --os-variant ol8 \
--network network=default --graphics vnc,listen=0.0.0.0 --tpm
emulator,model=tpm-crb,version=2.0

If you are using Oracle Linux 7, the virt-install command does not provide
this option, but you can manually edit the configuration after the VM is created.
4. Start the KVM VM.

Working With Storage for KVM Guests

Libvirt handles a variety of different storage mechanisms that you can configure for
use by VMs. These mechanisms are organized into different pools or units. By default,
libvirt uses directory-based storage pools for the creation of new disks, but pools can
be configured for different storage types including physical disk, NFS and iSCSI.
Depending on the storage pool type that is configured, different storage volumes can
be made available to your VMs to be used as block devices. In some cases, such as
when using iSCSI pools, volumes do not need to be defined as the LUNs for the iSCSI
target are automatically presented to the VM.
Note that you do not need to specifically define different storage pools and volumes to
use libvirt with KVM. These tools help you to manage how storage is used and
consumed by VMs as they need it. It is perfectly acceptable to use the default
directory-based storage and take advantage of manually mounted storage at the
default locations.

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Oracle recommends using Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager to easily manage and
configure complex storage requirements for KVM environments.

Storage Pools
Storage pools provide logical groupings of storage types that are available to host the
volumes that can be used as virtual disks by a set of VMs. A wide variety of different storage
types are provided. Local storage can be used in the form of directory based storage pools,
file system storage and disk based storage. Other storage types such as NFS and iSCSI
provide standard network based storage, while RBD and Gluster types provide support for
distributed storage mechanisms. More information is provided at https://libvirt.org/
storage.html.
Storage pools help to abstract underlying storage resources from the VM configurations. This
abstraction is particularly useful if you suspect that resources such as virtual disks may
change physical location or media type. Abstraction becomes even more important when
using network based storage because target paths, DNS or IP addressing may change over
time. By abstracting this configuration information, you can manage resources in a
consolidated way without needing to update multiple VM configurations.
You can create transient storage pools that are available until the host reboots, or you can
define persistent storage pools that are restored after a reboot.
Transient storage pools are started automatically as soon as they are created and the
volumes that are within them are made available to VMs immediately, however any
configuration information about a transient storage pool is lost after the pool is stopped, the
host reboots or if the libvirtd service is restarted. The storage itself is unaffected, but VMs
configured to use resources in a transient storage pool lose access to these resources.
Transient storage pools are created using the virsh pool-create command.

For most use cases, you should consider creating persistent storage pools. Persistent
storage pools are defined as a configuration entry that is stored within /etc/libvirt.
Persistent storage pools can be stopped and started and can be configured to start when the
host system boots. Libvirt can take care of automatically mounting and enabling access to
network based resources when persistent storage is configured. Persistent storage pools are
created using the virsh pool-define command, and usually need to be started after they
have been created before you are able to use them.

Creating a Storage Pool

To create a directory-based storage pool, virsh pool-define-as command with the dir
subcommand. For example, you can create a pool with the name pool_dir for a directory that
is located at /share/storage_pool on the host system:
virsh pool-define-as pool_dir dir --target /share/storage_pool

You can create other storage pool types by using the same virsh pool-define-as
command. The options that you use with this command depend on the storage type that you
select when you create your storage pool. For example, to create file system based storage,
that mounts a formatted block device, /dev/sdc1, at the mount point /share/storage_mount,
you can run:
virsh pool-create-as pool_fs fs --source-dev /dev/sdc1 --target /share/storage_mount

Similarly, you can add an NFS share as a storage pool, for example:

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virsh pool-create-as pool_nfs netfs --source-path /ISO --source-host

nfs.example.com \
--target /share/storage_nfs

It is also possible to create an XML file representation of the storage pool configuration
and load the configuration information from file using the virsh pool-define
command. For example, you could create a storage pool for a Gluster volume by
creating an XML file named gluster_pool.xml with the following content:
<pool type='gluster'>
<name>pool_gluster</name>
<source>
<host name='192.0.2.1'/>
<dir path='/'/>
<name>gluster-vol1</name>
</source>
</pool>

The previous example assumes that a Gluster server is already configured and
running on a host with IP address 192.0.2.1 and that a volume named gluster-vol1 is
exported. Note that the glusterfs-fuse package must be installed on the host and
you should verify that you are able to mount the Gluster volume before attempting to
use it with libvirt.
Run the following command to load the configuration information from the
gluster_pool.xml file into libvirt:
virsh pool-define gluster_pool.xml

Note that Oracle recommends using Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager when
attempting to use complex network based storage such as Gluster.
For more information on the XML format for a storage pool definition, see https://
libvirt.org/formatstorage.html#StoragePool.

Listing Storage Pools

You can list all of the defined storage pools by using the virsh pool-list command,
for example:
virsh pool-list --all

Use this command after you create a new storage pool to verify that it the storage pool
is available.

Starting a Storage Pool

To start a storage pool and make it accessible to any VMs, use the virsh pool-start
command, for example:
virsh pool-start pool_dir

If you require the storage pool to also start at boot, run:

virsh pool-autostart pool_dir

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Stopping a Storage Pool

To stop a storage pool use the virsh pool-destroy command, for example:
virsh pool-destroy pool_dir

Removing a Storage Pool

To remove the storage pool configuration completely use the virsh pool-undefine
command, for example:
virsh pool-undefine pool_dir

Storage Volumes
Storage volumes are created within a storage pool and represent the virtual disks that can be
loaded as block devices within one or more VMs. Some storage pool types do not need
storage volumes to be created individually as the storage mechanism may present these to
as block devices already. For example, iSCSI storage pools present the individual logical unit
numbers (LUNs) for an iSCSI target as separate block devices.
In some cases, such as when using directory or file system based storage pools, storage
volumes are individually created for use as virtual disks. In these cases, several disk image
formats are supported although some formats, such as qcow2, may require additional tools
such as qemu-img for creation.

For disk based pools, standard partition type labels are used to represent individual volumes;
while for pools based on the logical volume manager, the volumes themselves are presented
individually within the pool.
Note that storage volumes can be sparsely allocated when they are created by setting the
allocation value for the initial size of the volume to a value lower than the capacity of the
volume. The allocation indicates the initial or current physical size of the volume, while the
capacity indicates the size of the virtual disk as it is presented to the VM. Sparse allocation is
frequently used to over-subscribe physical disk space where VMs may ultimately require
more disk space than is initially available. For a non-sparsely allocated volume, the allocation
matches or exceeds the capacity of the volume. Exceeding the capacity of the disk provides
space for metadata, if required.
Note that you can use the --pool option if you have volumes with matching names in
different pools on the same system and you need to specify the pool to use for any virsh
volume operation. This practice is replicated across subsequent examples.

Creating a New Storage Volume

Depending on the storage pool type, you can create new storage volumes using the virsh
vol-create command. This command expects you to provide an XML file representation of
the volume parameters. For example, to create a new volume in storage pool named pooldir
you could create an XML file, volume1.xml with the required parameters and run:
virsh vol-create pooldir volume1.xml

The XML for a volume may depend on the pool type and the volume that is being created, but
in the case of a sparsely allocated 10 GB image in qcow2 format, the XML might look similar
to the following:

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<volume>
<name>volume1</name>
<allocation>0</allocation>
<capacity unit="G">10</capacity>
<target>
<path>/home/testuser/.local/share/libvirt/images/volume1.qcow2</path>
<permissions>
<owner>107</owner>
<group>107</group>
<mode>0744</mode>
<label>virt_image_t</label>
</permissions>
</target>
</volume>

For more information, see https://libvirt.org/formatstorage.html#StorageVol.

You can use the virsh vol-create-as command to create a volume by passing
command-line arguments to it. Many of the available options, such as the allocation or
format have default values set, so you can typically just specify the name of the
storage pool where the volume should be created, the name of the volume and the
capacity that you require, for example:
virsh vol-create-as --pool pooldir --name volume1 --capacity 10G

Viewing Information About a Storage Volume

Use the virsh vol-info command to view information about a volume to determine
its type, capacity, and allocation, for example:
virsh vol-info --pool pooldir volume1

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Name: volume1
Type: file
Capacity: 9.31 GiB
Allocation: 8.00 GiB

Cloning a Storage Volume

You can clone a storage volume using the virsh vol-clone command. This
command takes the name of the original volume and the name of the cloned volume
as a parameter and the clone is created in the same storage pool with identical
parameters. For example:
virsh vol-clone --pool pooldir volume1 volume1-clone

Deleting a Storage Volume

You can delete a storage volume by running the virsh vol-delete command. For
example, to delete the volume named volume1 in the storage pool named pooldir, run
the following command:
virsh vol-delete volume1 --pool pooldir

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Resizing a Storage Volume

As long as a storage volume is not being used by a VM, you can resize it by using the virsh
vol-resize command. For example:
virsh vol-resize --pool pooldir volume1 15G

It is generally not advisable to reduce the size of an existing volume, as doing so can risk
destroying data. However, if you attempt to resize a volume to reduce it, you must specify the
--shrink option with the new size value.

Managing Virtual Disks

Virtual disks are attached to VMs, usually as block devices based on disk images stored at
some or other path. Virtual disks can be defined for a VM when it is created, or can be added
to an existing VM. The command line tools available for the purpose of managing virtual disks
are not completely consistent in terms of their handling of storage volumes and storage
pools.

Adding or Removing a Virtual Disk

Storage volumes can be attached to a VM as a virtual disk when the VM is created. The
virt-install command enables you to specify the volume or storage pool directly for any
use of the --disk option. For example, to use an existing volume when creating a VM, using
virt-install, specify the disk as follows:
virt-install --name guest --disk vol=storage_pool1/volume1.qcow2
...

You can equally use virt-install to create a virtual disk as a volume within an existing
storage pool automatically at install. For example, to create a new disk image as a volume
within the storage pool named storage_pool1:
virt-install --name guest --disk pool=storage_pool1 size=10
...

Tools to attach a volume to an existing VM are limited and it is generally recommended that
you use a GUI tool like virt-manager or cockpit to assist with this operation. If you
expect that you may need to work with volumes a lot, consider using Oracle Linux
Virtualization Manager.
You can use the virsh attach-disk command to attach a disk image to an existing VM.
This command requires that you provide the path to the disk image when you attach it to the
VM. If the disk image is a volume, you can obtain it's correct path by running the virsh
vol-list command first.
virsh vol-list storage_pool_1

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Name Path
--------------------------------------------------------------------
volume1 /share/disk-images/volume1.qcow2

Attach the disk image within the existing VM configuration so that it is persistent and attaches
itself on each subsequent restart of the VM:

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virsh attach-disk --config --domain guest1 \

--source /share/disk-images/volume1.qcow2 --target sdb1

Note that you can use the --live option with this command to temporarily attach a
disk image to a running VM; or you can use the --persistent option to attach a disk
image to a running VM and also update it's configuration so that the disk is attached
on each subsequent restart.

Removing a Virtual Disk

You can remove a virtual disk from a VM by using the virsh detach-disk
command. For example, to remove the disk at the target sdb1 from the configuration
for the VM named guest1, you could run:
virsh detach-disk --config guest1 sdb1

Note that you can use the --live option with this command to temporarily detach a
disk image from a running VM; or you can use the --persistent option to detach a
disk image from a running VM and also update it's configuration so that the disk is
permanently detached from the VM on subsequent restarts.
Where disks are attached as block devices within a guest VM, you can obtain a listing
of the block devices attached to a guest so that you are able to identify the disk target
that is associated with a particular source image file, by running the virsh
domblklist command, for example:
virsh domblklist guest1

Detaching a virtual disk from the VM does note delete the disk image file or volume
from the host system. If you need to delete a virtual disk, you can either manually
delete the source image file or delete the volume from the host.

Extending a Virtual Disk

You can extend a virtual disk image by using the virsh blockresize command
while the VM is running. For example, to increase the size of the disk image at the
source location /share/disk-images/volume1.qcow2 on the running VM named guest1
to 20 GB, run:
virsh blockresize guest1 /share/disk-images/volume1.qcow2 20GB

You can verify that the resize has worked by checking the block device information for
the running VM, using the virsh domblkinfo command. For example to list all
block devices attached to guest1 in human readable format:
virsh domblkinfo guest1 --all --human

The virsh blockresize command enables you to scale up a disk on a live VM, but
it does not guarantee that the VM is able to immediately identify that the additional disk
resource is available. For some guest operating systems, restarting the VM may be
required before the guest is capable of identifying the additional resources available.
Individual partitions and file systems on the block device are not scaled using this
command. You need to perform these operations manually from withing the guest, as
required.

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Working With Memory and CPU Allocation

You can configure how many virtual CPUs (vCPUs) are active, as well as how much memory
is available for a given VM. These configuration changes can be made on a running VM by
hot plugging or hot unplugging; or, the changes can be stored in the VM's XML configuration
file. Note that changes can be limited by the VM host, the hypervisor, or by the original VM
description.

Configuring Virtual CPU Count

Optimizing vCPUs can impact the resource efficiency of your VMs. One way to optimize is to
adjust how many vCPUs are assigned to a VM. Hot plugging or hot unplugging vCPUs is
when you configure vCPU count on a running VM.
You can change the number of vCPUs that are active in a guest VM using the virsh
setvcpus command. By default, virsh setvcpus works on running guest VMs. To
change the number of vCPUs for a stopped VM, add the --config option.

For example, run the following command to set the number of vCPUs on a running VM:
virsh setvcpus domain-name, id, or uuid count-value --live

Note that the count value cannot exceed the number of CPUs assigned to the guest VM. The
count value also might be limited by the host, hypervisor, or from the original description of
the guest VM.
The following command options are available:
• domain
A string value representing the VM name, ID or UUID.
• count
A number value representing the number of vCPUs.
• --maximum
Controls the maximum number of vCPUs that can be hot plugged the next time the guest
VM is booted. This option can only be used with the --config option.
• --config
Changes the stored XML configuration for the guest VM and takes effect when the guest
is started.
• --live
The guest VM must be running and the change takes place immediately, thus hot
plugging a vCPU.
• --current
Affects the current guest VM.
• --guest
Modifies the CPU state in the current guest VM.
• --hotpluggable

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Configures the vCPUs so they can be hot unplugged.

You can use the --config and --live options together if supported by the hypervisor.
If you do not specify --config, --live, or --current, the --live option is assumed. If
you do not select an option and the guest VM is not running, the command fails.
Furthermore, if no options are specified, it is up to the hypervisor whether the --
config option is also assumed; and the hypervisor determines whether the XML
configuration is adjusted to make the change persistent.

Configuring Memory Allocation

To improve the performance of a VM, you can assign additional host RAM to the VM.
You can also decrease the amount of allocated memory to free up the resource for
other VMs or tasks. Hot plugging or hot unplugging memory is when you configure
memory size on a running VM.
You use the virsh setmem command to change the available memory for a VM. If
you want to change the maximum memory that can be allocated, use the virsh
setmaxmem command.

To change a VM's memory allocation, run:

virsh setmem domain-name, id, or uuid --kilobytes size

You must specify the size as a scaled integer in kibibytes and the new value cannot
exceed the amount you specified for the VM. Values lower than 64 MB are unlikely to
work with most VM operating systems. A higher maximum memory value does not
affect active VMs. If the new value is lower than the available memory, it shrinks
possibly causing the VM to crash.
The following command options are available:
• domain
A string value representing the VM name, ID or UUID.
• size
A number value representing the new memory size, as a scaled integer. The
default unit is KiB, but you can select from other valid memory units:
– b or bytes for bytes
– KB for kilobytes (103 or blocks of 1,000 bytes)
– k or KiB for kibibytes (210 or blocks of 1024 bytes)
– MB for megabytes (106 or blocks of 1,000,000 bytes)
– M or MiB for mebibytes (220 or blocks of 1,048,576 bytes)
– GB for gigabytes (109 or blocks of 1,000,000,000 bytes)
– G or GiB for gibibytes (230 or blocks of 1,073,741,824 bytes)
– TB for terabytes (1012 or blocks of 1,000,000,000,000 bytes)
– T or TiB for tebibytes (240 or blocks of 1,099,511,627,776 bytes)
• --config
Changes the stored XML configuration for the guest VM and takes effect when the
guest is started.

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Chapter 3
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

• --live
The guest VM must be running and the change takes place immediately, thus hot
plugging memory.
• --current
Affects the memory on the current guest VM.
To set the maximum memory that can be allocated to a VM, run:
virsh setmaxmem domain-name_id_or_uuid size --current

You must specify the size as a scaled integer in kibibytes unless you also specify a
supported memory unit, which are the same as for the virsh setmem command.

All other options for virsh setmaxmem are the same as for virsh setmem with one
caveat. If you specify the --live option be aware that not all hypervisors facilitate live
changes of the maximum memory limit.

Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

KVM provides tools to add or remove vNICs of different types and to facilitate complex
networking architectures. Networking in KVM is achieved by creating virtual Network
Interface Cards (vNICs) on the guest VM. vNICS are mapped to the host system's own
network infrastructure, by connecting to a virtual network running on the host itself; by directly
using a physical interface on the host; through the use of Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-
IOV) capabilities on a PCIe device; or by use of a network bridge that enables the vNIC to
share a physical network interface on the host.
In most cases, vNICs are defined when the VM is first created, however the libvirt API allows
for vNICs of different types to be added or removed from VMs as required and also facilitates
hot plugging to enable you to perform these actions on a running VM to avoid downtime.
Networking with KVM can be complex as it can involve components that are configured
directly on the host itself, configuration for the VM within libvirt and also configuration for
the network within the running guest operating system. As a result, for many development
and testing environments, it is often sufficient to configure each vNIC to use the virtual
networking provided by libvirt. This driver is used to create a virtual network that uses
Network Address Translation (NAT) to enable VMs to gain access to external resources. This
approach is simple to configure and often facilitates similar network access already
configured on the host system.
Where VMs may need to belong to specific subnetworks, a bridged network can be used.
Network bridges use virtual interfaces that are mapped to and share a physical interface on
the host. In this configuration, network traffic from a VM behaves like it is coming from an
independent system on the same physical network as the host system. Depending on the
tools used, some manual changes to the host network configuration may be required before it
can be set up for a VM.
Networking for VMs can also be configured to directly use a physical interface on the host
system. This configuration can provide network behavior similar to using a bridged network
interface in that the vNIC behaves as if it is connected to the physical network directly. Direct
connections tend to use the macvtap driver to extend physical network interfaces to provide a
range of functionality that can also provide a virtual bridge that behaves similarly to a bridged
network but which is easier to configure and maintain and which offers improved
performance.

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Chapter 3
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

KVM is able to use SR-IOV for passthrough networking where a PCIe interface
supports this functionality. The SR-IOV hardware must be properly set up and
configured on the host system before you are able to attach the device to a VM and
configure the network to use this device.
Where network configuration is likely to be complex, Oracle recommends using Oracle
Linux Virtualization Manager. Simple networking configurations and operations are
described here to facilitate the majority of basic deployment scenarios.

Setting Up and Managing Virtual Networks

If you are considering using virtual networking with NAT for your VM networking
requirements, you can use the default virtual network that is set up by libvirt for VMs or
you can create and manage different virtual networks within KVM for the purpose of
grouping VMs on their own subnetworks.
Use the following command to list all virtual networks that are configured on the host:
virsh net-list --all

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Name State Autostart Persistent
----------------------------------------------------------
default active yes yes

You can find out more about a network using the virsh net-info command. For
example, to find out about the default network, run:
virsh net-info default

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Name: default
UUID: 16318035-eed4-45b6-99f8-02f1ed0661d9
Active: yes
Persistent: yes
Autostart: yes
Bridge: virbr0

Note that the virtual network uses a network bridge, called virbr0, not to be confused
with traditional bridged networking. The virtual bridge is not connected to a physical
interface and relies on NAT and IP forwarding to connect VMs to the physical network
beyond. Libvirt also handles IP address assignment for VMs using DHCP. The default
network is typically in the range 192.168.122.1/24. To see the full configuration
information about a network, use the virsh net-dumpxml command:
virsh net-dumpxml default

Output similar to the following is displayed:

<network>
<name>default</name>
<uuid>16318035-eed4-45b6-99f8-02f1ed0661d9</uuid>
<forward mode='nat'>
<nat>
<port start='1024' end='65535'/>
</nat>
</forward>
<bridge name='virbr0' stp='on' delay='0'/>

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Chapter 3
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

Adding or Removing a vNIC

You can use the virsh attach-interface command to add a new vNIC to an existing
VM. This command can be used to create a vNIC on a VM that uses any of the networking
types that KVM is capable of supporting.
virsh attach-interface --domain guest --type network --source default --config

You must specify the following parameters with this command:

• --domain
The VM name, ID or UUID.
• --type
The type of networking that the vNIC should use. Available options include:
– network for a libvirt virtual network using NAT
– bridge for a bridge device on the host
– direct for a direct mapping to one of the host's network interfaces or bridges
– hostdev for a passthrough connection using a PCI device on the host.
• --source
The source that should be used for the network type specified. These vary depending on
the type:
– for a network, specify the name of the virtual network
– for a bridge specify the name of the bridge device
– for a direct connection specify the name of the host's interface or bridge
– for a hostdev connection specify the PCI address of the host's interface formatted as
domain:bus:slot.function.
• --config
Changes the stored XML configuration for the guest VM and takes effect when the guest
is started.
• --live
The guest VM must be running and the change takes place immediately, thus hot
plugging the vNIC.
• --current
Affects the current guest VM.
Additional options are available to further customize the interface, such as setting the MAC
address or configuring the target macvtap device when using some of the alternate network
types. You can also use --model option to change the model of network interface that is

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Chapter 3
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

presented to the VM. By default, the virtio model is used, but alternate models, such
as e1000 or rtl8139 are available, Run virsh help attach-interface for more
information, or refer to the VIRSH(1) man page.
Remove a vNIC from a VM using the virsh detach-interface command, for
example:
virsh detach-interface --domain guest --type network --mac 52:54:00:41:6a:65 --
config

Note that the domain or VM name and type are required parameters. If the VM has
more than one vNIC attached, you must specify the mac parameter to provide the MAC
address of the vNIC that you wish to remove. You can obtain this value by listing the
vNICs that are currently attached to a VM. For example, you can run:
virsh domiflist guest

Output similar to the following is displayed:

Interface Type Source Model MAC
-------------------------------------------------------
vnet0 network default virtio 52:54:00:8c:d2:44
vnet1 network default virtio 52:54:00:41:6a:65

Bridged and Direct vNICs

Bridged vNICs enable a VM's network to act independently to the host's network
configuration by sharing the same physical network interface to connect to the existing
network infrastructure. This configuration can reduce complexity and is easy to
manage.
Traditional network bridging using linux bridges is supported using the bridge type
when attaching an interface. The virsh iface-bridge command can be used to create a
bridge on the host system and add a physical interface to it. For example, to create a
bridge named vmbridge1 with the Ethernet port named enp0s31f6 attached, you can
run:
virsh iface-bridge vmbridge1 enp0s31f6

Once the bridge is created, you can attach it by using the virsh attach-
interface command as described in Adding or Removing a vNIC.

There are several issues that you may need to be aware of when using traditional linux
bridged networking for KVM guests. For instance, it is not simple to set up a bridge on
a wireless interface due to the number of addresses available in 802.11 frames.
Furthermore, the complexity of the code to handle software bridges can result in
reduced throughput, increased latency and additional configuration complexity. The
main advantage that this approach offers, is that it allows the host system to
communicate across the network stack directly with any guests configured to use
bridged networking.
Most of the issues related to using traditional linux bridges can be easily overcome by
using the macvtap driver which simplifies virtualized bridge network significantly. For
most bridged network configurations in KVM, this is the preferred approach because it
offers better performance and it is easier to configure. The macvtap driver is used
when the network type is set to direct.

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Chapter 3
Setting Up Networking for KVM Guests

The macvtap driver creates endpoint devices that follow the tun/tap ioctl interface model to
extend an existing network interface so that KVM can use it to connect to the physical
network interface directly to support different network functions. These functions can be
controlled by setting a different mode for the interface. The following modes are available:
• vepa (Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregator) is the default mode and forces all data from a
vNIC out of the physical interface to a network switch. If the switch supports hairpin
mode, different vNICs connected to the same physical interface are able to communicate
via the switch. Many switches currently do not support hairpin mode, which means that
VMs with direct connection interfaces running in VEPA mode are unable to communicate,
but can connect to the external network via the switch.
• bridge mode connects all vNICS directly to each other so that traffic between VMs using
the same physical interface is not sent out to the switch and is facilitated directly. This
mode is the most useful option when using switches that do not support hairpin mode,
and when you need maximum performance for communications between VMs. It is
important to note that when configured in this mode, unlike a traditional software bridge,
the host is unable to use this interface to communicate directly with the VM.
• private mode behaves like a VEPA mode vNIC in the absence of a switch supporting
hairpin mode. However, even if the switch does support hairpin mode, two VMs
connected to the same physical interface are unable to communicate with each other.
This option has limited use cases.
• passthrough mode attaches a physical interface device or an SR-IOV Virtual Function
(VF) directly to the vNIC without losing the migration capability. All packets are sent
directly to the configured network device. There is a one-to-one mapping between
network devices and VMs when configured in passthrough mode because a network
device cannot be shared between VMs in this configuration.
Unfortunately, the virsh attach-interface command does not provide an option for you
to specify the different modes available when attaching a direct type interface that uses the
macvtap driver and defaults to vepa mode . The graphical virt-manager utility makes setting
up bridged networks using macvtap significantly easier and provides options for each different
mode.
Nonetheless, it is not very difficult to change the configuration of a VM by editing the XML
definition for it directly. The following steps can be followed to configure a bridged network
using the macvtap driver on an existing VM:

1. Attach a direct type interface to the VM using the virsh attach-interface

command and specify the source for the physical interface that should be used for the
bridge. In this example, the VM is called guest1 and the physical network interface on the
host is a wireless interface called wlp4s0:
virsh attach-interface --domain guest1 --type direct --source wlp4s0 --config

2. Dump the XML for the VM configuration and copy it to a file that you can edit:
virsh dumpxml guest1 > /tmp/guest1.xml

3. Edit the XML for the VM to change the vepa mode interface to use bridged mode. If there
are many interfaces connected to the VM, or you wish to review your changes, you can
do this in a text editor. If you are happy to make this change globally, run:
sed -i "s/mode='vepa'/mode='bridge'/g" /tmp/guest1.xml

4. Remove the existing configuration for this VM and replace it with the modified
configuration in the XML file:

3-19
Chapter 3
Cloning Virtual Machines

virsh undefine guest1

virsh define /tmp/guest1.xml

5. Restart the VM for the changes to take affect. The direct interface is attached in
bridge mode and is persistent and automatically started when the VM boots.

Interface Bonding for Bridged Networks

The use of bonded interfaces for higher throughput is common where hosts may run
several concurrent VMs that are providing multiple services at once. Where a single
physical interface may have provided sufficient bandwidth for applications hosted on a
physical server, the increase in network traffic when running multiple VMs can have a
negative impact on network performance where a single physical interface is shared.
By using bonded interfaces, the throughput capability for your VMs can be increased
significantly and you are able to also take advantage of the high availability features
that come with a network bond.
Since the physical network interfaces that a VM may use are located on the host and
not on the VM, setting up any form of bonded networking for greater throughput or for
high availability, must be configured on the host system, itself. This approach enables
you to configure network bonds on the host and then to attach a virtual network
interface, using a network bridge, directly to the bonded network on the host.
Network bonding of physical interfaces for Oracle Linux 7 is described in Oracle Linux
7: Setting Up Networking. For Oracle Linux 8, see Oracle Linux 8: Setting Up
Networking. To achieve HA networking for you VMs, you should configure a network
bond on the host system first.
When the bond is configured, you should configure your VM networks to use the
bonded interface when you create a network bridge. You can do this by using either
the bridge type interface or using a direct interface configured to use the macvtap
driver's bridge mode. The bond interface can be used instead of a physical network
interface when configuring a virtual network interface.

Cloning Virtual Machines

You can use two types of VM instances to create copies of VMs:
• Clone
A clone is an instance of a single VM. You can use a clone to set up a network of
identical VMs which you can optionally distribute to other destinations.
• Template
A template is an instance of a VM that you can use as the cloning source. You can
use a template to create multiple clones and optionally make modifications to each
clone.
The difference between clones and templates is how they are used. For the created
clone to work properly, ensure that you remove information and modify configurations
unique to the VM that is being cloned before cloning. This information and
configurations differs based on how you will use the clones, for example:
• anything assigned to the VM such as the number of Network Interface Cards
(NICs) and their MAC addresses.
• anything configured within the VM such as SSH keys.

3-20
Chapter 3
Cloning Virtual Machines

• anything configured by an application installed on the VM such as activation codes and

registration information.
You must remove some of the information and configurations from within the VM. Other
information and configurations must be removed from the VM using the virtualization
environment.

Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning

Before cloning a VM, you must prepare it by running the virt-sysprep utility on its disk
image or by completing the following steps.

Note:
For more information on how to use the virt-sysprep utility to prepare a VM and
understand the available options, see https://libguestfs.org/virt-sysprep.1.html.

1. Build the VM that you want to use for the clone or template.
a. Install any needed software.
b. Configure any non-unique operating system and application settings.
2. Remove any persistent or unique network configuration details.
a. Run the following command to remove any persistent udev rules:
rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Note:
If you do not remove the udev rules, the name of the first NIC might be
eth1instead of eth0.

b. Modify /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth[x] to remove the HWADDR and

static lines as well as any other unique or non-desired settings, such as UUID, for
example:
DEVICE=eth[x]
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
#NETWORK=10.0.1.0 <- REMOVE
#NETMASK=255.255.255.0 <- REMOVE
#IPADDR=10.0.1.20 <- REMOVE
#HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx <- REMOVE
#USERCTL=no <- REMOVE

After modification, your file should not include a HWADDR entry or any unique
information, and at a minimum include the following lines:
DEVICE=eth[x]
ONBOOT=yes

3-21
Chapter 3
Cloning Virtual Machines

Important:
You must remove the HWADDR entry because if its address does not
match the new guest's MAC address, the ifcfg is ignored.

c. If you have /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-eth[x]

and /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-eth[x] files, ensure they
have the same content as the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-
eth[x] file.

Note:
Ensure that any additional unique information is removed from the
ifcfg files.

3. If the guest VM from which you want to create a clone is registered with ULN, you
must de-register it. For more information, see the Oracle Linux: Unbreakable Linux
Network User's Guide for Oracle Linux 6 and Oracle Linux 7.
4. Run the following command to remove any sshd public/private key pairs:
rm -rf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*

Note:
Removing ssh keys prevents problems with ssh clients not trusting these
hosts.

5. Remove any other application-specific identifiers or configurations that might

cause conflicts if running on multiple machines.
6. Configure the VM to run the relevant configuration wizards the next time it boots.
• For Oracle Linux 6 and below, run the following command to create an empty
file on the root file system called .unconfigured:
touch /.unconfigured

• For Oracle Linux 7, run the following commands to enable the first boot and
initial-setup wizards:
sed -ie 's/RUN_FIRSTBOOT=NO/RUN_FIRSTBOOT=YES/' /etc/sysconfig/firstboot
systemctl enable firstboot-graphical
systemctl enable initial-setup-graphical

Note:
The wizards that run on the next boot depend on the configurations
that have been removed from the VM. Also, on the first boot of the
clone we recommend that you change the hostname.

3-22
Chapter 3
Cloning Virtual Machines

Important:
Before proceeding with cloning, shut down the VM. You can clone a VM using
virt-clone or virt-manager.

Cloning a Virtual Machine by Using the Virt-Clone Command

You can use virt-clone to clone VMs from the command line; however, you need root
privileges for virt-clone to complete successfully. The virt-clone command provides a
number of options that can be passed on the command line, which include general, storage
configuration, networking configuration, and other miscellaneous options. Only the --
original is required.

Run virt-clone --help to see a complete list of options, or refer to the VIRT-CLONE(1)
man page.
Run the following command to clone a VM on the default connection, automatically
generating a new name and disk clone path:
virt-clone --original vm-name --auto-clone

Run the following command to clone a VM with multiple disks:

virt-clone --connect qemu:///system --original vm-name --name vm-clone-name \
--file /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm-clone-name.img --file /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm-
clone-data.img

Cloning a Virtual Machine by Using Virtual Machine Manager

Complete the following steps to clone a guest VM using VM Manager.
1. Start VM Manager in one of the following ways:
• Launch VM Manager from the System Tools menu.
• Run the virt-manager command as root.
2. From the list of guest VMs, right-click the guest VM you want to clone and click Clone.
The Clone VM window opens.
3. In the Name field, change the name of the clone or accept the default name.
4. To change the Networking information, click Details. Then, enter a new MAC address
for the clone and click OK.
5. For each disk in the cloned guest VM, select one of the following options:
• Clone this disk - The disk is cloned for the cloned guest VM.
• Share disk with guest-virtual-machine-name - The disk is shared by the guest VM
to be cloned and its clone.
• Details - Opens the Change storage path window if you want to select a new path
for the disk.
6. Click Clone.

3-23
4
Known Issues for Oracle Linux KVM
This chapter provides information about known issues for Oracle Linux KVM. If a workaround
is available, that information is also provided.

Upgrading From QEMU 3.10 to Version 4.2.1 Can Prevent

Existing KVM Guests From Starting on Oracle Linux 7
Attempting to upgrade a KVM host from QEMU version 3.10 to version 4.2.1 results in a
libvirt server error that can prevent existing KVM guests from starting on an Oracle Linux 7
host.
An error similar to the following is displayed:
Upgrade qemu-3.1.0-7.el7.x86_64 to qemu-4.2.1-4.el7.x86_64, kvm can not be
started, got below libvirt service error:

Dec 21 15:10:48 ca-ex05db01.us.oracle.com libvirtd[23588]: Unable to read

from monitor: Connection reset by peer
Dec 21 15:10:48 ca-ex05db01.us.oracle.com libvirtd[23588]: internal error:
qemu unexpectedly closed the monitor: 2020-12-21T23:10:48.306929Z
qemu-system-x86_64: We need to set caching-mode=on for intel-iommu to enable
device assignment with IOMMU protection.
Dec 21 15:10:52 ca-ex05db01.us.oracle.com libvirtd[23588]: internal error:
Failed to autostart VM 'ca-ex05db01vm01.us.oracle.com': internal error: qemu
unexpectedly closed the monitor: 2020-12-21T23:10:48.306929Z
qemu-system-x86_64: We need to set caching-mode=on for intel-iommu to enable
device assignment with IOMMU protection.
Dec 21 15:10:52 ca-ex05db01.us.oracle.com libvirtd[23588]: nl_recv returned
with error: No buffer space available

To work around this issue so that KVM guests can run the updated qemu version, edit the
XML file of each KVM guest, adding the caching_mode='on' parameter to the iommu section
for each driver sub-element, as shown in the following example:
<iommu model='intel'>
<driver aw_bits='48' caching_mode='on'/>
</iommu>

(Bug ID 32312933)

Using vTPM With a Guest Fails on Oracle Linux 9 if FIPS Mode

Is Enabled
If FIPS mode is enabled on an Oracle Linux 9 host and a VM is configured to use vTPM, the
guest operating system fails to install or the VM is unable to launch. The current workaround
is to disable FIPS mode if you need to run guests with vTPM.
(Bug 34290427)

4-1
Chapter 4
Downgrading Application Streams Fail

Downgrading Application Streams Fail

The virt:kvm_utils2 application stream is updated with additional packages. If you
try to downgrade to a previous version of the virt:kvm_utils2 application stream, the
downgrade process fails with several package conflict error messages. This issue is
the result of a limitation in DNF for handling dependencies in application streams.
To resolve this issue, you must remove the existing packages, reset the
virt:kvm_utils2 application stream, enable the older version of the virt:kvm_utils2
application stream and then reinstall the packages. See Switching to the Oracle KVM
Stack for steps to remove existing packages, resetting the application stream and then
installing packages.
(Bug ID 34623368)

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