install KVM on RHEL

 1# pre-checks hardware for intel CPU
 2grep -e 'vmx' /proc/cpuinfo 
 3lscpu | grep Virtualization
 4lsmod | grep kvm
 5
 6# on RHEL9 Workstation
 7sudo dnf install virt-install virt-viewer -y
 8sudo dnf install -y libvirt
 9sudo dnf install virt-manager -y
10sudo dnf install -y virt-top libguestfs-tools guestfs-tools
11sudo gpasswd -a $USER libvirt
12
13# Helper
14sudo dnf -y install bridge-utils
15
16# Start libvirt
17sudo systemctl start libvirtd
18sudo systemctl enable libvirtd
19sudo systemctl status libvirtd

Basic Checks

1virsh nodeinfo

Config a Bridge network

Important note that network are created with root user but VM with current user.

 1# Non permanent bridge
 2sudo ip link add virbr1 type bridge
 3sudo ip link set eno1 up
 4sudo ip link set eno1 master virbr1
 5sudo ip address add dev virbr1 192.168.2.1/24
 6
 7# Permanent bridge
 8sudo nmcli con add ifname virbr1 type bridge con-name virbr1
 9sudo nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname eno1 master virbr1
10sudo nmcli con modify virbr1 bridge.stp no
11sudo nmcli con down eno1
12sudo nmcli con up virbr1
13sudo ip address add dev virbr1 192.168.123.1/24
14
15# KVM - Bridge Network
16cat > hostbridge.xml << EOF
17<network>
18  <name>hostbridge</name>
19  <forward mode='bridge'/>
20  <bridge name='virbr1'/>
21</network> 
22EOF
23
24sudo virsh net-define hostbridge.xml
25sudo virsh net-start hostbridge
26sudo virsh net-autostart hostbridge
27
28# Give qemu ACL
29echo "allow all" | sudo tee /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
30echo "include /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf" | sudo tee --append /etc/qemu/bridge.conf
31sudo chown root:${USER} /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
32sudo chmod 640 /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
33
34# Check network
35sudo nmcli con show --active
36sudo virsh net-list --all
37sudo virsh net-edit hostbridge
38sudo virsh net-info hostbridge
39sudo virsh net-dhcp-leases hostbridge
40
41# Due to bridge-utils package
42brctl show
43
44# Create a VM with this bridge
45virt-install \
46--name pfsense --ram 2048 --vcpus 2 \
47--disk $HOME/pfsense/disk0.qcow2,size=12,format=qcow2 \
48--autostart \
49--cdrom $HOME/pfsense/netgate-installer-amd64.iso \
50--network bridge=virbr0,model=e1000 \
51--network network=hostbridge,model=e1000 \
52--graphics vnc,listen=0.0.0.0 --noautoconsole \
53--osinfo freebsd14.0 \
54--debug
55
56# delete network
57sudo virsh net-destroy hostbridge
58sudo virsh net-undefine hostbridge
59sudo nmcli con del virbr1
60sudo nmcli con del eno1

install Pfsense VM

  • Download from Netgate website (account requested)

  • Make network config

Important note: no need to prepare NetworkManager config, KVM will handle creation of the bridge. Also note that dns enable is set to disables the use of libvirts DHCP server (pfsense is taking over).

 1cat > pfsense.xml << EOF
 2<network>
 3  <name>pfsense-router</name>
 4  <uuid></uuid>
 5  <forward mode='nat'>
 6  </forward>
 7  <bridge name='virbr1' stp='on' delay='0'/>
 8  <dns enable='no'/>
 9  <ip address='192.168.123.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
10  </ip>
11</network>
12EOF
13
14sudo virsh net-define pfsense.xml
15sudo virsh net-start pfsense-router
16sudo virsh net-autostart pfsense-router
17
18# Give qemu ACL
19echo "allow all" | sudo tee /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
20echo "include /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf" | sudo tee --append /etc/qemu/bridge.conf
21sudo chown root:${USER} /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
22sudo chmod 640 /etc/qemu-kvm/${USER}.conf
23
24# Check network
25nmcli con show --active
26sudo virsh net-list --all
27sudo virsh net-edit pfsense-router
28sudo virsh net-info pfsense-router
29sudo virsh net-dhcp-leases pfsense-router
  • Create and Run Pfsense VM
 1# Create pfsense vm
 2virt-install \
 3--name pfsense --ram 2048 --vcpus 2 \
 4--disk $HOME/pfsense/disk0.qcow2,size=12,format=qcow2 \
 5--cdrom $HOME/pfsense/netgate-installer-amd64.iso \
 6--network bridge=virbr0,model=e1000 \
 7--network bridge=virbr1,model=e1000 \
 8--graphics vnc,listen=0.0.0.0 --noautoconsole \
 9--osinfo freebsd14.0 \
10--autostart \
11--debug
12
13virsh start pfsense
  • Create OKD vm
 1virt-install \
 2--name okd --ram 2048 --vcpus 2 \
 3--disk $HOME/okd-latest/disk0.qcow2,size=50,format=qcow2 \
 4--autostart \
 5--cdrom $HOME/okd-latest/rhcos-live.iso \
 6--network bridge=virbr0,model=e1000 \
 7--network bridge=virbr1,model=e1000 \
 8--graphics vnc,listen=0.0.0.0 --noautoconsole \
 9--osinfo detect=on,require=off \
10--debug

 1sudo virt-install -n master01 \
 2  --description "Master01 OKD Cluster" \
 3  --ram=8192 \
 4  --cdrom "$HOME/okd-latest/rhcos-live.iso" \
 5  --vcpus=2 \
 6  --disk pool=default,bus=virtio,size=10 \
 7  --graphics none \
 8  --osinfo detect=on,require=off \
 9  --serial pty \
10  --console pty \
11  --network network=openshift4,mac=52:54:00:36:14:e5

 1sudo cp {{OKUB_INSTALL_PATH}}/rhcos-live.iso /var/lib/libvirt/images/rhcos-live-{{PRODUCT}}-{{RELEASE_VERSION}}.iso
 2export COREOS_INSTALLER="podman run --privileged --pull always --rm -v /dev:/dev -v /var/lib/libvirt/images:/data -w /data quay.io/coreos/coreos-installer:release"
 3sudo ${COREOS_INSTALLER} iso kargs modify -a "ip={{IP_MASTERS}}::{{GATEWAY}}:{{NETMASK}}:okub-sno:{{INTERFACE}}:none:{{DNS_SERVER}}" "rhcos-live-{{PRODUCT}}-{{RELEASE_VERSION}}.iso"
 4sudo virt-install --name="openshift-sno" \
 5 --vcpus=4 \
 6 --ram=8192 \
 7 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/sno-{{PRODUCT}}-{{RELEASE_VERSION}}.qcow2,bus=sata,size=120 \
 8 --network network=sno,model=virtio \
 9 --boot menu=on \
10 --graphics vnc --console pty,target_type=serial --noautoconsole \
11 --cpu host-passthrough \
12 --osinfo detect=on,require=off \
13 --cdrom /var/lib/libvirt/images/rhcos-live-{{PRODUCT}}-{{RELEASE_VERSION}}.iso

Checks Pfsense VM

1# Checks
2virsh list
3virsh domifaddr pfsense
4virsh domiflist pfsense
5
6# Connect to console
7virt-viewer --domain-name pfsense

Delete Pfsense VM

 1virsh destroy pfsense  
 2virsh undefine pfsense --remove-all-storage
 3
 4# disk can be deleted only manually
 5rm -f ~/pfsense/disk0.qcow2
 6
 7# delete network
 8sudo virsh net-destroy pfsense-router
 9sudo virsh net-undefine pfsense-router
10sudo nmcli con del virbr1
11sudo nmcli con del eno1

Create a worker

 1# Generate a MAC address
 2date +%s | md5sum | head -c 6 | sed -e 's/\([0-9A-Fa-f]\{2\}\)/\1:/g' -e 's/\(.*\):$/\1/' | sed -e 's/^/52:54:00:/';echo
 3
 4sudo virt-install -n worker03.ocp4.example.com \
 5  --description "Worker03 Machine for Openshift 4 Cluster" \
 6  --ram=8192 \
 7  --vcpus=4 \
 8  --os-type=Linux \
 9  --os-variant=rhel8.0 \
10  --noreboot \
11  --disk pool=default,bus=virtio,size=50 \
12  --graphics none \
13  --serial pty \
14  --console pty \
15  --pxe \
16  --network bridge=openshift4,mac=52:54:00:95:d4:ed

Sources

Blog redhat