libvirt users - Sep 2016 - Re: installing and accessing a VM? - newbie question maybe

wanted to follow up on that part (thanks about all comment suggestion regarding
virt-viewer and vcn, etc. I will test them as well but would prefer the
'console way' if possible

On August 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM Martin Kletzander <mkletzan at redhat.com>
wrote:
> *   When you are connected you don't see anything because the VM
doesn't
> have console properly set up, I'd guess.
the xml file of my machines (all of them actually) have the below in the
'console' section.

? ? ...
? ? <console type='pty'>
? ? ? <target type='serial' port='0'/>
? ? </console>
? ? ...

Is it this has to be adjusted in order to 'properly set up the console'
?
any pointers what to put here? tried 'bash' for 'type' but that
didn't work

best ...Gunnar


thanks & best
> On August 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM Martin Kletzander <mkletzan at
redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> Please don't use HTML messages for the list, or at least configure your
> MUA to send both plaintext and HTML messages.
> 
> So, here are some pointers:
> 
> *   When you are connected you don't see anything because the VM
doesn't
> have console properly set up, I'd guess.
> 
> *   The string "^]" means "Hold Ctrl and press ]",
that's the usual
> escape character, for more info why it's done this way, you can read
> a bit about terminals if you're interested.
> 
> *   The command "virsh connect something vm_name" means run
virsh, and in
> it execute command "connect something vm_name", but
'connect' means
> connecting to the daemon (or a driver) and takes one argument, so the
> 'vm_name' there doesn't make sense. You could do virsh console
> vm_name, but that's essentially what virt-install did at the end of
> the installation.
> 
> *   You might try using virt-manager instead if you're not familiar
with
> the terminal (I'm guessing that by the fact that it doesn't look
like
> you tried reading the man pages). virt-manager is able to do
> everything virt-install does and it also offers graphics console and
> other options. For you the benefit would be that it is GUI.
> 
> *   Or if you just want to see the guest, virt-viewer is a lightweight
> viewer that does not have any options to configure the vm, but you
> can use it for accessing the graphics displays.
> 
> Hope that helped, have a nice day.
> 
> Martin

On Thu, Sep 01, 2016 at 10:11:38AM +0800, vrms at netcologne.de
wrote:
>wanted to follow up on that part (thanks about all comment suggestion
regarding virt-viewer and vcn, etc. I will test them as well but would prefer
the 'console way' if possible
>
>On August 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM Martin Kletzander <mkletzan at
redhat.com> wrote:
>
>> *   When you are connected you don't see anything because the VM
doesn't
>> have console properly set up, I'd guess.
>
>the xml file of my machines (all of them actually) have the below in the
'console' section.
>
>? ? ...
>? ? <console type='pty'>
>? ? ? <target type='serial' port='0'/>
>? ? </console>
>? ? ...
>
>Is it this has to be adjusted in order to 'properly set up the
console' ?
>any pointers what to put here? tried 'bash' for 'type' but
that didn't work
>
>best ...Gunnar
>
This is fine, there is no need to do anything here.  As I said, the only
thing you need to do is convince the guest kernel to use that ttyS0 as a
console (by appending console=ttyS0 as a kernel cmdline parameter).
Details on how to do that are explained in my previous mail.

Also, there is no need to guess parts of the configuration, we have a
documentation for the XML [1], as well as bunch of other things [2] and
working man pages.

Martin

[1] https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html
[2] https://libvirt.org/docs.html
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I have been coming closer to what I want (at least for the installation process)
using this now

   sudo virt-install --name=my_domain --ram=512 --vcpus=1 \
   --location=/path/to/ubuntu-16.04.1-server-amd64.iso \
   --disk /path/to/vm.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio,size=32 \
   --network bridge:br0 \
   --os-type=linux  \
   --nographics \
   --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

I get a console view of the VM in the hosts console and can attend and guide the
installation process as hoped for. I guess --extra-args='console=tty0
console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' is what enables this. This seems not to be
persisting though.
After the post-installation's reboot I am at the beginning again 

   Connected to domain ubn1604
   Escape character is ^]

and the '--extra-args' are not supported by 'virsh console'

so, is there any way to get the 'console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
serial' up again after a reboot?
I tried 

virsh console --devname 'console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'
[my_domain]

 
> On September 1, 2016 at 1:31 PM Martin Kletzander
<mkletzan@redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Sep 01, 2016 at 10:11:38AM +0800, vrms@netcologne.de wrote:
> 
> > wanted to follow up on that part (thanks about all comment suggestion
regarding virt-viewer and vcn, etc. I will test them as well but would prefer
the 'console way' if possible
> > 
> > On August 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM Martin Kletzander
<mkletzan@redhat.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > *   When you are connected you don't see anything because the
VM doesn't
> > > have console properly set up, I'd guess.
> > 
> > the xml file of my machines (all of them actually) have the below in
the 'console' section.
> > 
> > ...
> >  
> >  
> >  
> >  ...
> > 
> > Is it this has to be adjusted in order to 'properly set up the
console' ?
> > any pointers what to put here? tried 'bash' for 'type'
but that didn't work
> > 
> > best ...Gunnar
> 
> This is fine, there is no need to do anything here. As I said, the only
> thing you need to do is convince the guest kernel to use that ttyS0 as a
> console (by appending console=ttyS0 as a kernel cmdline parameter).
> Details on how to do that are explained in my previous mail.
> 
> Also, there is no need to guess parts of the configuration, we have a
> documentation for the XML [1], as well as bunch of other things [2] and
> working man pages.
> 
> Martin
> 
> [1] https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html
> [2] https://libvirt.org/docs.html

I have been coming closer to what I want (at least for the installation process)
using this now

sudo virt-install --name=my_domain --ram=512 --vcpus=1 \
--location=/path/to/ubuntu-16.04.1-server-amd64.iso \
--disk /path/to/vm.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio,size=32 \
--network bridge:br0 \
--os-type=linux  \
--nographics \
--extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

I get a console view of the VM in the hosts console and can attend and guide the
installation process as hoped for. I guess --extra-args='console=tty0
console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' is what enables this. This seems not to be
persisting though.
After the post-installation's reboot I am at the beginning again

Connected to domain ubn1604
Escape character is ^]

and the '--extra-args' are not supported by 'virsh console'

so, is there any way to get the 'console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
serial' up again after a reboot?
--devname sounds promising but:

   virsh console --devname 'console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'
[my_domain]

only gets me

   internal error: cannot find character device console=tty0
console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial

(same with variations of the above)


> On September 1, 2016 at 1:31 PM Martin Kletzander
<mkletzan@redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Sep 01, 2016 at 10:11:38AM +0800, vrms@netcologne.de wrote:
> 
> > wanted to follow up on that part (thanks about all comment suggestion
regarding virt-viewer and vcn, etc. I will test them as well but would prefer
the 'console way' if possible
> > 
> > On August 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM Martin Kletzander
<mkletzan@redhat.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > *   When you are connected you don't see anything because the
VM doesn't
> > > have console properly set up, I'd guess.
> > 
> > the xml file of my machines (all of them actually) have the below in
the 'console' section.
> > 
> > ...
> >  
> >  
> >  
> >  ...
> > 
> > Is it this has to be adjusted in order to 'properly set up the
console' ?
> > any pointers what to put here? tried 'bash' for 'type'
but that didn't work
> > 
> > best ...Gunnar
> 
> This is fine, there is no need to do anything here. As I said, the only
> thing you need to do is convince the guest kernel to use that ttyS0 as a
> console (by appending console=ttyS0 as a kernel cmdline parameter).
> Details on how to do that are explained in my previous mail.
> 
> Also, there is no need to guess parts of the configuration, we have a
> documentation for the XML [1], as well as bunch of other things [2] and
> working man pages.
> 
> Martin
> 
> [1] https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html
> [2] https://libvirt.org/docs.html