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{{Anchor|Virtualization}}
{{Anchor|Virtualization}}


== Virtualization ==
== Virtualization ==
In this section, we cover discussion on the @et-mgmnt-tools-list, @fedora-xen-list, @libvirt-list and @ovirt-devel-list of Fedora virtualization technologies.  
In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the
@fedora-virt list.


Contributing Writer: [[User:Dale | Dale Bewley]]
Contributing Writer: [[User:Dale | Dale Bewley]]
=== Enterprise Management Tools List ===
This section contains the discussion happening on the
[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/et-mgmt-tools et-mgmt-tools list]
==== Managing Guest OS Types ====
Cole Robinson created<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00023.html</ref> a patch to provide a <code>--list-os-options</code> option to <code>virt-install</code> and <code>virt-convert</code>. Output from this option would be used to help users determine the appropriate argument for <code>--os-type</code>.
The <code>--os-type</code> option is used to
"Optimize the guest configuration for a type of operating system. This will
attempt to pick the most suitable ACPI & APIC settings, optimally supported
mouse drivers and generally accommodate other operating system quirks."
This touched off a discussion<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00028.html</ref> of how such information is managed.
Daniel P. Berrange pointed out shortcomings in the current approach and
perscribed the following fixes, and supplied an example XML file.
 
* An XML schema for defining all the information wrt to guest OS distros that is relevant to virt management tools.
* A C library for querying the information in the XML file(s).
* Bindings of the C library into Python/Ruby etc as needed
* Ability for local admins to extend / override the information either by editing the XML files directly, or a pretty GUI
Cole later dropped<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00034.html</ref> his patch and automated<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00033.html</ref> the creation of the OS list in the <code>virt-install</code> man page instead.
<references />
==== virt-manager Storage Removal ====
A patch<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00042.html</ref> from Cole Robinson "adds a storage aware delete dialog to virt-manager.
When deleting a VM, we are presented with a list of storage attached to
it, with an option to remove individual disks as part of the delete process."
<references />
==== virt-install Host Device Assignment Support ====
Cole Robinson added<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00003.html</ref> "support for host device assignment to <code>virtinst</code> and <code>virt-install</code>.
This adds a <code>--host-device</code><ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00006.html</ref> command to
"Attach a physical host device to the guest. HOSTDEV is a node device name
as used by libvirt (as shown by 'virsh nodedev-list')."
Daniel P. Berrange described<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-March/msg00007.html</ref> the management options for host devices.
* "If 'managed=yes' then libvirt will automatically detach the device from the host driver."
* "If 'managed=no' then libvirt expects that the caller has already ensured the device is detached from the host before *ALL* attempts to start the guest, now & in the future."
This change supports the KVM PCI Device Assignment feature<ref>http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/KVM_PCI_Device_Assignment</ref> in Fedora 11.
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=== Fedora Virtualization List ===
=== Fedora Virtualization List ===
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[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-virt fedora-virt list].
[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-virt fedora-virt list].


==== User Interface Makeover for virt-manager ====
==== Virt Status Report ====
Daniel P. Berrange pointed<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-March/msg00001.html</ref> out
[[JustinForbes|Justin Forbes]]
"there's a significant redesign of {{package|virt-manager}} in progress" and brought
posted<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-December/msg00056.html</ref> a Fedora virtualization status report.
attention to Cole Robinson's 'New VM' wizard makeover<ref>http://blog.wikichoon.com/2009/02/virt-manager-in-fedora-11-new-vm-wizard.html</ref>.  
Justin pointed out F13 bugs<ref>http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Virtualization_bugs</ref> now include Important and Pony classifications in addition to Blocker and Target.
Daniel added
"Many more design improvements are targetted for the next few virt-manager
releases, impacting nearly every area of the UI, so keep an eye out for
more UI review postings during F12 timeframe too."


<references />
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==== New Release virtinst 0.4.2 ====
==== RHEL and Fedora Virtualization Feature Parity ====
[[ColeRobinson|Cole Robinson]] announced<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-March/msg00002.html</ref> a new <code>virtinst</code> release, version 0.400.2.
Robert Day wondered how the virtualization features<ref>http://www.redhat.com/virtualization/rhev/</ref> of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4
 
compared to Fedora 12.
{{package|python-virtinst}} is a module that helps build and install <code>libvirt</code> based virtual
machines. It currently supports <code>KVM</code>, <code>QEmu</code> and <code>Xen</code> virtual machines. Package
includes several command line utilities, including <code>virt-install</code> (build
and install new VMs) and <code>virt-clone</code> (clone an existing virtual machine).


'''New features:'''
[[DanielBerrange|Daniel Berrange]]
* New <code>virt-clone</code> option <code>--original-xml</code>, allows cloning a guest from an xml file, rather than require an existing, defined guest.
explained<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-December/msg00040.html</ref>
* New <code>virt-install</code> option <code>--import</code>, allows creating a guest from an existing disk image, bypassing any OS install phase.
"The KVM based virtualization in RHEL-5.4 is not nearly so far behind
* New <code>virt-install</code> option <code>--host-device</code>, for connecting a physical host device to the guest.
Fedora as you might think. The {{package|libvirt}} mgmt stack in RHEL-5.4 was
* Allow specifying 'cache' value via <code>virt-install</code>'s <code>--disk</code> options (Ben Kochie)
rebased to be near parity with [[Releases/11|Fedora 11]], and KVM in RHEL-5.4 is
* New <code>virt-install</code> option <code>--nonetworks</code> (John Levon)
also pretty close to that using what's best described as a hybrid of
* Lots of backend cleanups and documentation improvements.
kvm-83 and kvm-84."


<references />
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=== Fedora Xen List ===
This section contains the discussion happening on the
[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-xen fedora-xen list].
==== dom0 Kernel Inches Closer ====
Pasi Kärkkäinen walked<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-March/msg00017.html</ref> the bleeding edge while testing Xen dom0 host support. Using Fedora 10 with Xen 3.3.1-9 from [[Releases/Rawhide|Rawhide]] and a custom built 2.6.29-rc7 pv_ops dom0 kernel the system boots, but <code>virt-install</code> and <code>virt-manager</code> fail with the error "<code>Unsupported virtualization type 'xen'</code>".
It seems<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-March/msg00023.html</ref> that <code>/sys/hypervisor/properties/capabilities</code> is not present for some unknown reason.


====  ====
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=== Libvirt List ===
==== ====
This section contains the discussion happening on the
[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libvir-list libvir-list].
 
==== New Release libvirt 0.6.1 ====
[[DanielVeillard|Daniel Veillard]] announced<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2009-March/msg00144.html</ref> a new {{package|libvirt}} release, version 0.6.1.
 
<code>Libvirt</code> is a <code>C</code> toolkit to interact with the virtualization capabilities of recent versions of Linux (and other OSes).
 
'''New features:'''
* new APIs for Node device detach reattach and reset (Mark McLoughlin)
* <code>sVirt</code><ref>http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SVirt_Mandatory_Access_Control</ref> mandatory access control support (James Morris and Dan Walsh)
 
'''Improvements:'''
* don't hardcode ssh port (Guido Gunther)
* new test cases and testing infrastructure (Jim Meyering)
* improve the SExpr parser (John Levon)
* proper error reporting on <code>xend</code> shutdown command (John Levon)
* proper handling of errors when saving <code>QEmu</code> domains state (Guido Gunther)
* revamp of the internal error memory APIs (John Levon)
* better <code>virsh</code> error reporting (John Levon)
* more daemon options to allow running multiple daemons (Jim Meyering)
* error handling when creating a <code>QEmu</code> domain (Guido Gunther)
* fix timeouts in <code>QEmu</code> log reading (Guido Gunther)
* migration with <code>xend</code> 3.3 fixes (John Levon)
* <code>virsh</code> XML dump flags cleanup (Cole Robinson)
* fix build with loadable drivers (Maximilian Wilhelm)
* internal XML APIs to read long long and hexa values (Mark McLoughlin)
* function to parse node device XML descriptions and associated test (Mark McLoughlin)
* generate network bridge names if not provided (Cole Robinson)
* recognize ejectable media in hostdev hal driver (Cole Robinson)
* integration of <code>sVirt</code> (Daniel Berrange)
 
There were also dozens of cleanups, documentation enhancements, portability and bug fixes.
 
With about five weeks since the release of 0.6.0<ref>http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue161#New_Release_libvirt_0.6.0</ref>, Daniel added
"So quite a bit of changes happened in one month of development,
so it's getting clear we aren't really slowing down and keeping a
relatively fast release cycle is needed. So expect 0.6.2 in a month
or so."
 
<references />
<references />

Latest revision as of 18:09, 18 December 2009



Virtualization

In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the @fedora-virt list.

Contributing Writer: Dale Bewley

Fedora Virtualization List

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-virt list.

Virt Status Report

Justin Forbes posted[1] a Fedora virtualization status report. Justin pointed out F13 bugs[2] now include Important and Pony classifications in addition to Blocker and Target.

RHEL and Fedora Virtualization Feature Parity

Robert Day wondered how the virtualization features[1] of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 compared to Fedora 12.

Daniel Berrange explained[2] "The KVM based virtualization in RHEL-5.4 is not nearly so far behind Fedora as you might think. The Package-x-generic-16.pnglibvirt mgmt stack in RHEL-5.4 was rebased to be near parity with Fedora 11, and KVM in RHEL-5.4 is also pretty close to that using what's best described as a hybrid of kvm-83 and kvm-84."