KVM is a free opensource virtualization software and is included in Linux Kernel version 2.6.20 and above. Using KVM, one can run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux or Windows images. Each virtual machine has private virtualized hardware: a network card, disk, graphics adapter, etc.

Install & use KVM in openSUSE

The following procedure will take you through install and setup of KVM and creating/running a Virtual Machine on openSUSE.

Hardware Requirements

KVM depends on the X86 virtualization extensions on your Intel or AMD processor. To check the processor support for KVM,

On an Intel based hardware,

opensuse11:~ # grep vmx /proc/cpuinfo
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm ida
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm ida

On an AMD based hardware,

opensuse11:~ # grep svm /proc/cpuinfo

Install KVM

Add the following repositories for KVM and QEMU on your openSUSE 11.0

opensuse11:~ # zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Virtualization:/KVM/openSUSE_11.0/ “KVM Virtualization”

opensuse11:~ # zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Virtualization:/Qemu/openSUSE_11.0/ “QEMU Virtualization”

Now, we are ready to install KVM. Click “Computer – Install Software“, enter the password for root when prompted (if you are not a root user).

In the filter select search, and search for “kvm” and click search. Select “kvm” and “kvm-kmp-default” and click Accept. Here it is important to ensure that the kernel version of your openSUSE 11.0 matches that of the “kvm-kmp-default” package version to get it work properly.

To find the installed version of Linux Kernel on your openSUSE:

saibaba@opensuse11:~> uname -r
2.6.25.16-0.1-default

Now, your “kvm-kmp-default” version (as on my install) should be 75_2.6.25.16_0.1-7.1 where “75″ denotes the KVM version and the rest shows the kernel version.

Similary, from YaST search for qemu and select “kqemu-kmp-default” and “qemu” and click Accept. “QEMU” is a CPU emulator and “KQEMU” is the QEMU Accelerator Module increases the speed of QEMU when a PC is emulated on a PC.

This should complete the installation.

Insert KVM Modules

Insert the kvm modules as follows (as root)

For Intel processors

opensuse11:~ # modprobe kvm
opensuse11:~ # modprobe kvm-intel

For AMD processors

opensuse11:~ # modprobe kvm
opensuse11:~ # modprobe kvm-amd

To confirm the modules OK,

opensuse11:~ # lsmod | grep kvm
kvm_intel              67824  0
kvm                   182936  1 kvm_intel

However, this setting lost on a reboot.

To insert this module at boot time, Click Computer – YaST – System – “/etc/sysconfig editor”. This launches the sysconfig editor.

Click “+” next to “system” and then “+” next to Kernel. Click “MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT“, in the right-pane, enter “kvm kvm-intel kqemu” without quotes (“kvm kvm-amd kqemu” for AMD) in the setting box and click finish. Click OK on the confirmation window.

Now, we are all set to configure and run a guest OS on your openSUSE.

Create Guest OS Disk image

Create a disk image file on which the guest OS will be installed.

opensuse11:~ # qemu-img create -f qcow /vms/deb_disk.img 10G

In the above “10G” indicates the Virtual Disk Size to be 10GB in size. The /vms/vdisk.img is the disk image name and “qcow” is the file type.

Install Guest OS

opensuse11:~ # qemu-system-x86_64 -hda /vms/deb_disk.img -cdrom /media.iso -boot d  -m 512

where “-m 512″ sets the memory allocation to 512M

“-cdrom /media.iso” is the CD image used to install the guest os
and defaults to the “user” network type which is a simple way for your virtual machine to access to the host, to the internet or to resources available on your local network.

This should start the QEMU console to start the installation. Install the Guest OS as you normally would. Once the installation is complete. Close the console window.

Start guest OS

Start the  Guest OS as follows:

opensuse11:~ # qemu-system-x86_64 -hda /vms/deb_disk.img

This starts the guest OS installed on /vms/deb_disk.img with the default user network settings which is a simple way for your virtual machine to access to the host, to the internet or to resources available on your local network. The above command is equivalent to

opensuse11:~ # qemu-system-x86_64 -hda /vms/deb_disk.img -net nic -net user

There you go, you have your Guest OS up and running. Multiple Guest OSs can be installed as above and run simultaneously based on the system performance level.

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The following procedure will take you through the process of install, configure, create and use virtual machines using VMware server.

The latest stable version of VMware Server 1.0.6 Build: 91981. You need to register and accept EULA with VMware to download the VMware server software and to obtain the activation key.

To register and download VMware server (RPM) , click here

Once registered, download as follows:

opensuse11:~ # wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.i386.rpm

Once downloaded, change directory to the path where you downloaded the file and install as follows:

opensuse11:~ # yast2 -i VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.i386.rpm

This should start YaST package manager and install VMware server for you.

To confirm the installation,

opensuse11:~ # rpm -qa | grep -i vmware
VMware-server-1.0.6-91891

Before starting the VMware server for the first time, we need to run the vmware-config.pl script to accept the EULA for VMware and then configure the required parameters for VMware as follows:

opensuse11:/home/saibaba/Desktop # /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
Making sure services for VMware Server are stopped.

Stopping VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor                                             done

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons?
[/usr/share/icons]

What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a
.desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications]

In which directory do you want to install the application’s icon?
[/usr/share/pixmaps]

/usr/share/applications/vmware-server.desktop: warning: value “vmware-server.png” for key “Icon” in group “Desktop Entry” is an icon name with an extension, but there should be no extension as described in the Icon Theme Specification if the value is not an absolute path
/usr/share/applications/vmware-console-uri-handler.desktop: warning: value “vmware-server.png” for key “Icon” in group “Desktop Entry” is an icon name with an extension, but there should be no extension as described in the Icon Theme Specification if the value is not an absolute path
Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Server is suitable for your
running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Using compiler “/usr/bin/gcc”. Use environment variable CC to override.

Your kernel was built with “gcc” version “4.3.1″, while you are trying to use
“/usr/bin/gcc” version “4.3″. This configuration is not recommended and VMware
Server may crash if you’ll continue. Please try to use exactly same compiler as
one used for building your kernel. Do you want to go with compiler
“/usr/bin/gcc” version “4.3″ anyway? [no] yes

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.25.11-0.1-default/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only’
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.25.11-0.1-default/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default’
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default/. modules
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/hash.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
CC      /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default’
cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only’
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]

Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.

The following bridged networks have been defined:

All your ethernet interfaces are already bridged.

Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)
[yes]

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes]

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)…

The subnet 172.16.56.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following NAT networks have been defined:

Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no]

Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?
[yes]

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes]

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)…

The subnet 172.16.63.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following host-only networks have been defined:

Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no]

Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

Building the vmnet module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only’
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.25.11-0.1-default/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default’
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default/. modules
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/driver.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/hub.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/userif.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/netif.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/bridge.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/procfs.o
CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x86_64.o
LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: could not find /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/.smac_linux.x86_64.o.cmd for /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x86_64.o
CC      /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.11-0.1-obj/x86_64/default’
cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only’
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

The default port : 902 is not free. We have selected a suitable alternative
port for VMware Server use. You may override this value now.
Remember to use this port when connecting to this server.
Please specify a port for remote console connections to use [904]

WARNING: VMware Server has been configured to run on a port different from the
default port. Remember to use this port when connecting to this server.
Shutting down xinetd:                                                 done
Starting INET services. (xinetd)                                      done
Configuring the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

Building the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

Using compiler “/usr/bin/gcc”. Use environment variable CC to override.

Installing the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

The installation of the VMware VmPerl Scripting API succeeded.

Generating SSL Server Certificate

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

The path “/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines” does not exist currently. This
program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this
what you want? [yes]

Please enter your 20-character serial number.

Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or ‘Enter’ to cancel:  XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Starting VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor                                             done
Virtual ethernet                                                    done
Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                   done
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)                    done
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background)                    done
NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                          done

The configuration of VMware Server 1.0.6 build-91891 for Linux for this running
kernel completed successfully.

This should complete the installation process and add VMware server console menu item under

Applications – System – More Programs – VMware Server Console

Start VMware console from above or from command line as follows:

opensuse11:~ # vmware &

Select “Localhost” and click Connect.

When you start VMWare console, most of the settings accepted during the conifguration can be altered. For instance, to change the Virtual Machines location from /var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines to a new location say /home. Click “Edit host settings” and change from General tab.

Create Virtual Machine

To create a new Virtual machine, click “Create a new virtual machine“. This starts a new Virtual Machine wizard to help you configure and add a Virtual Machine.

Select “Typical” and click Next

Enter the name of the Virtual machine and set the location of the Virtual machine (if you wish to change from the default location, else accept the defaults shown)

Set the Disk Size and based on the disk space on your hard disk select or leave the option “Allocate all disk space now“. Enabling this allocates the set disk space as an Virtual Disk image file. This can improve performance once the VM is up and running however, this can cause delay in starting the Virtual Machine because of the file size. Not enabling creates a dynamic disk that grows as the guest operating system claims. I would recommended not enabling this feature. Once disk space is set, click Finish

To start the Virtual machine, select the Guest OS and click the play button. Here we are installing SUSE Linux 10 SP2 as aguest operating system. Once installed fully and when the guest OS is up and running, we can install the VMware Tools by clicking “Install VMware Tools” from console VM menu. Click here for more information on installing VMware Tools for guest OS.

To edit the Virtual machine and make changes like changin memory size, setting the Networking type (change from Bridged to NAT etc), select the Virtual machine and click “Edit Virtual machine settings”.

64-bit Guest OS support

If you have a 64-bit hardware then you can run 64-bit guest operating systems. To verify download the Processor Check Utility for 64-Bit Compatibility utility from VMware and run to check if your hardware allows you to run 64-bit guest operating systems.

opensuse11~ # wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-guest64check-5.5.0-18463

opensuse11:~ # ./VMware-guest64check-5.5.0-18463
This host is capable of running a 64-bit guest operating system under this
VMware product.

Hope this helps with getting you up and running with VMWare virtualization software!

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VirtualBox was recently taken over by Sun Microsystems and is available as Sun xVM VirtualBox. The latest stable version of VirtualBox is Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6.

Install virtualBox in openSUSE

Installation of VirtualBox in openSUSE is made easy through the 1-click installation.

To install VirtualBox

click  for openSUSE 11.0

click for openSUSE 10.3

click for openSUSE 10.2

[NOTE: Click here to enable 1-click install support in openSUSE 10.2]

This will download the YMP file and open it automatically with YaST Package Manager. The fist screen will prompt you to add the VirtualBox Repositories & openSUSE update repositories. Click Next.

In the next Sofwtare installation window, click Next. And, again click next on the Summary window which informs of you of the addition of repositories and the installation of VirtualBox software. This will download and the repositories, then install VirtualBox software and required dependencies including the kernel module for VirtualBox (virtualbox-ose-kmp-default). Click “Finish” in the final installtion window.

Add Additional Packages

You may also install the additional packages virtualbox-ose-guest-tools xorg-x11-driver-virtualbox-ose for video and mouse drivers for Xorg X11

To install additional packages,

From Computer, click Install Software and search for virtualbox. This should showup the above packages, select the packages and click Accept to install the packages. That should install all the required packages.

Add user to vboxusers group

If you want to run Virtualbox as a non-root user then you need to add the required users to the group “vboxusers”. The ownership info can be found in

/etc/udev/rules.d/60-vboxdrv.rules file

opensuse11:/etc # cat /etc/udev/rules.d/60-vboxdrv.rules
KERNEL==”vboxdrv”, NAME=”vboxdrv”, OWNER=”root”, GROUP=”vboxusers”, MODE=”0660″

To add user to the group, click Computer -  YaST – Security and Users – User and Group Management.

Select the user and click Edit and select the “Details” tab, under additional groups, select “vboxuser” and click OK and click Finish.

Failing to add the user to the group may result in the following error

The VirtualBox kernel driver is not accessible to the current user. Make sure that the user has write permissions for /dev/vboxdrv by adding them to the vboxusers groups. You will need to logout for the change to take effect..
VBox status code: -1909 (VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE).

Start VirtualBox

VirtualBox should be available under Applications – System  as VirtualBox OSE.

Starting VirtualBox for the first time will request you to register using Name and email address. Once registered, will lead you to the default VirtualBox Console window. From here you can control the Virtual machines, Virtual Disks, Edit settings of Virtual machines including adding/removing CDROM/images, changing network settings like NAT, memory Hard disk etc.

Creating New Virtual machine

To create a new Virtual Machine, click New. This will start the wizard, click Next.

Enter the name for the Virtual machine and select the OS type. Support operating System types include windows, Linux 32/64/intel/amd, popular Linux distributions, Solaris, openSUSE and BSDs. here we choose openSUSE as the type of OS.

Set the memory size for the Virtual machine and click Next.

In the next window, click New to create a new Hard Disk (if you copied or already created a Virtual Disk then you may choose to select the disk rather than creating a new one) and click Add. This will start the Virtual Disk wizard. Select the disk type. The type is purely based on your Disk space availability. If you have lots of space then can choose “Fixed-Size image”. This will create a Disk image file with a set size and can improve performance. Alternatively, choosing a Dynamic Expaning image” holds a small amount of local disk space and expands as more space is claimed by the guest OS. We choose a “Dynamic” image here. Enter the image name and set the size of the disk, click Next and Finish. This adds the new disk image.

Click Next and Finish on the Virtual machine Wizard to complete adding the Virtual Machine.

To change any of the settings of the VM, click settings and select the relevant option to change it accordingly. For instance, if you wish to change from NAT interface (NATs its IP address to the host IP) to Host interface (connects to the local subnet of the host using the host interface).

When you start the Virtual Machine, again comes a one time wizard to install and OS on your VM. This is optional. Click Next, Choose between CDROM/Floopy addition option and then CDROM or ISO image if CDROM is selected and click Next and click Finish.

Off you go, your Virtual Machine is up and running.

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If you are running openSUSE as a guest OS and want to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions then follow the procedure below:

Install GNU C Compiler, Make and Kernel Source

The VirtualBox Guest Additions require the GNU C compiler, make utility and the Kernel-Source packages to be installed if not previously installed.

Switch user to Root and install the packages

saibaba@opensuse:~> su -
password:

opensuse:~# yast2 –install gcc gcc-c++ make kernel-source

This installs the GNU C, C++ compilers, Kernel-Source package and the make utility.

Now, from the host OS, on the Guest OS Virtualbox Devices menu, click “Install Guest Additions…” this mounts a virtual CD volume  on the openSUSE guest OS under

/media/cdrom/VBOXADDITIONS_<version>

here it is

/media/cdrom/VBOXADDITIONS_1.6.2_31466

Change directory to that window and run the install script

opensuse:~# cd /media/cdrom/VBOXADDITIONS_1.6.2_31466/

opensuse:~# ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run all

This should install the VirtualBox Guest Additions. Now restart the openSUSE guest OS for the additions to take effect. The Guest Additions improve guest performance and user experience including display settings etc.

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