Contents
kvm
package¶
Originally, the kvm
package
also provided the KVM Kernel modules. Now, these modules are included
with the Kernel and only userspace components are included in the current
kvm
package.
The kvm
package provides
qemu-kvm, the program that performs the actual
emulation. In addition to the qemu-kvm program, the
kvm
package also comes with
a monitoring utility (kvm-stat), firmware components,
key-mapping files, scripts, and Windows drivers
(/usr/share/qemu-kvm/win-virtio-drivers.iso
).
Using the libvirt
-based tools is the recommended way of managing
VM Guests. Interoperability with other virtualization tools has been
tested and is an essential part of Novell's support stance. All tools
are provided by packages carrying the tool's name.
libvirt
: A toolkit that provides management of VM Guests, virtual
networks, and storage. libvirt
provides an API, a daemon, and a shell
(virsh).
Virtual Machine Manager: A graphical management tool for VM Guests.
vm-install: Define a VM Guest and install its operating system.
virt-viewer: An X viewer client for VM Guests which supports TLS/SSL encryption of x509 certificate authentication and SASL authentication.
Support for creating and manipulating file-based virtual disk images is
provided by qemu-img. qemu-img is
provided by the package
virt-utils
.
KVM is not installed by default. To install KVM and all virtualization tools, proceed as follows:
Start YaST and choose
+ .Select
and confirm with .Confirm the list of packages that is to be installed with
.Agree to set up a network bridge by clicking
. It is recommended using a bridge on a VM Host Server (virtual machine host), but if you prefer to manually configure a different network setup, you can safely skip this step by clicking .
After the setup has been finished, you can either reboot the machine as
YaST suggests, or manually load the required kernel modules and start
libvirtd
to avoid a reboot:
modprobe kvm-intel # on Intel machines only modprobe kvm-amd # on AMD machines only rclibvirtd start
Currently, Novell only supports KVM full virtualization on x86_64 hosts. KVM is designed around hardware virtualization features included in AMD (AMD-V) and Intel (VT-x) CPUs, virtualization features of chipsets, and PCI devices, such as an I/O Memory Mapping Unit (IOMMU) and Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)).
You can test whether your CPU supports hardware virtualization with the following command:
egrep '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
If this command returns no output, your processor either does not support hardware virtualization, or this feature has been disabled in the BIOS.
The following websites identify processors which support hardware virtualization:
http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/HVM_Compatible_Processors |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization |
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The KVM Kernel modules will not load if the CPU does not support hardware virtualization or if this feature is not enabled in the BIOS. |
The general minimum hardware requirements for the VM Host Server are the same as outlined in Section “Hardware for AMD64 and Intel 64” (Chapter 2, Installation on x86, AMD64, Intel 64, and Itanium, ↑Deployment Guide). However, additional RAM for each virtualized guest is needed—it should at least be the same amount that is needed for a physical installation. It is also strongly recommended to have at least one processor core or hyper-thread for each guest.
The following itemization lists guest operating systems tested and their support status offered by Novell. All operating systems listed are supported in both 32 and 64-bit x86 versions. Para-virtualized drivers (PV drivers) are listed where available.
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Guest images created under a previous SUSE Linux Enterprise version are not supported. |
virtio-net
: Virtual network driver.
virtio-blk
: Virtual block device driver for
para-virtualized block devices.
virtio-balloon
: Memory driver for dynamic
memory allocation. Allows to dynamically change the amount of memory
allocated to a guest.
kvm-clock
: Clock synchronization driver.
Supported KVM Guest Operating Systems on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Fully virtualized | |
PV drivers: |
kvm-clock, virtio-net, virtio-blk, virtio-balloon | |
Support Status: |
Fully Supported | |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Fully virtualized | |
PV drivers: |
kvm-clock, virtio-net, virtio-blk, virtio-balloon | |
Support Status: |
Fully Supported | |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP4 | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Fully virtualized | |
Support Status: |
Fully Supported | |
Note: |
| |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP1 | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Fully virtualized | |
PV drivers: |
kvm-clock, virtio-net, virtio-blk, virtio-balloon | |
Support Status: |
Tech Preview | |
RedHat Enterprise Linux 4.x / 5.x | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Fully Virtualized | |
PV drivers: | ||
Support Status: |
Best Effort | |
Note: |
| |
Windows XP SP3+ / Windows Server 2003 SP2+ / Windows Server 2008+ / Windows Vista SP1+ / Windows 7 | ||
Virtualization Type: |
Best Effort | |
PV drivers: |
virtio-net, virtio-blk, virtio-balloon | |
Support Status: |
Best Effort |
To improve the performance of the guest operating system, para-virtualized drivers are provided when available. Although they are not required, it is strongly recommended to use them. The para-virtualized drivers are available as follows:
included in Kernel
http://drivers.suse.com/novell/Novell-virtio-drivers-2.6.27/sle10-sp3/install-readme.html
not available
available in RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.4 and newer
/usr/share/qemu-kvm/win-virtio-drivers.iso