Kvm

Introduction

This page has some guides for run KVM under Linux, specifically Ubuntu

Packages

Install the packages you need like so

sudo aptitude install qemu-kvm libvirt-bin ubuntu-vm-builder bridge-utils

I also find these other packages helpful

sudo aptitude install virt-manager virt-viewer virt-goodies 

Paths

Libvirt is the method we're using to manage the VMs. It wants to put disk images in /var/lib/libvirt/images/ but I prefer /opt/vm/kvm so I just relink it.

sudo rmdir /var/lib/libvirt/images
sudo mkdir -p /opt/vm/kvm
sudo ln -s /opt/vm/kvm /var/lib/libvirt/images

Permissions

Run this command

sudo adduser yourusername kvm

virt-manager

Now you can create a VM! run this command (it can also be found in the Gnome menu under System Tools => Virtual Machine Manager)

virt-manager

Click on File=>Add Connection and choose KVM/QEMU Localhost

Right-click on the localhost (QEMU) and choose New. This will bring up the VM creation wizard.

Further Reading

• Virtualization on Ubuntu
• KVM on Ubuntu
• KVM homepage