Setting Up a KVM Virtual Machine

This guide walks you through installing KVM and Libvirt tools on your Linux desktop, and creating a virtual machine.

Step 1: Install KVM, Libvirt, and Virt-Manager

  1. Check that your hardware supports virtualization:

grep -E -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

  • The output of that command should reflect the total number of logical CPU cores available.

  • This command is taking a count of the number of CPU cores that support hardware virtualization:

    • vmx=Intel VT-x support (for Intel CPUs)

    • svm=AMD-V support (for AMD CPUs)

  1. Install the necessary packages to enable virtualization and manage VMs:

sudo yum install virt-manager libvirt libvirt-daemon-kvm qemu-kvm

  • virt-manager is a desktop user interface for managing virtual machines through libvirt

  • libvirt is an open-source API, daemon, and management tool for managing platform virtualization across different hypervisors like KVMs

  • libvirt-daemon-kvm refers to the libvirtd daemon, which is part of the libvirt virtualization management system, and is specifically configured to manage KVMs (Kernel-based Virtual Machine).

  • qemu-kvm is a package that integrates QEMU (Quick Emulator) and KVM to enable efficient virtualization on Linux systems.

  1. Enable libvirtd by running:

sudo systemctl enable libvirtd

Step 2: Verify Installation

  1. Check if KVM is available:

lsmod | grep kvm

  1. Check if libvirtd is running:

sudo systemctl status libvirtd

Step 3: Create a Virtual Machine

  1. Open the virt-manager GUI by running:

virt-manager

  • By default, virt-manager is connected directly to localhost. By right clicking on the localhost (QEMU/KVM), selecting “details”, and then the “storage” tab, you can add a new storage volume and allocate space for files stored on your virtual machine.

  • Once you have created a new storage volume, you can begin creating a new virtual machine from the main window.

  • Follow the steps prompted by the wizard window and specify which local install media you will use. For this project you can use the same ISO image as what is installed on your laptop, or choose a different image.

Step 4: Enable Networking Between Host and VM

To allow SSH access, configure virtual networking:

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