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Virtualization Guide › Introduction › Installation of virtualization components
ContentsContents
Virtualization Guide
  1. Preface
  2. I Introduction
    1. 1 Virtualization technology
    2. 2 Virtualization scenarios
    3. 3 Introduction to Xen virtualization
    4. 4 Introduction to KVM virtualization
    5. 5 Virtualization tools
    6. 6 Installation of virtualization components
  3. II Managing virtual machines with libvirt
    1. 7 libvirt daemons
    2. 8 Preparing the VM Host Server
    3. 9 Guest installation
    4. 10 Basic VM Guest management
    5. 11 Connecting and authorizing
    6. 12 Advanced storage topics
    7. 13 Configuring virtual machines with Virtual Machine Manager
    8. 14 Configuring virtual machines with virsh
    9. 15 Enhancing virtual machine security with AMD SEV-SNP
    10. 16 Migrating VM Guests
    11. 17 Xen to KVM migration guide
  4. III Hypervisor-independent features
    1. 18 Disk cache modes
    2. 19 VM Guest clock settings
    3. 20 libguestfs
    4. 21 QEMU guest agent
    5. 22 Software TPM emulator
    6. 23 Creating crash dumps of a VM Guest
  5. IV Managing virtual machines with Xen
    1. 24 Setting up a virtual machine host
    2. 25 Virtual networking
    3. 26 Managing a virtualization environment
    4. 27 Block devices in Xen
    5. 28 Virtualization: configuration options and settings
    6. 29 Administrative tasks
    7. 30 XenStore: configuration database shared between domains
    8. 31 Xen as a high-availability virtualization host
    9. 32 Xen: converting a paravirtual (PV) guest into a fully virtual (FV/HVM) guest
  6. V Managing virtual machines with QEMU
    1. 33 QEMU overview
    2. 34 Setting up a KVM VM Host Server
    3. 35 Guest installation
    4. 36 Running virtual machines with qemu-system-ARCH
    5. 37 Virtual machine administration using QEMU monitor
  7. VI Troubleshooting
    1. 38 Integrated help and package documentation
    2. 39 Gathering system information and logs
  8. Glossary
  9. A Configuring GPU Pass-Through for NVIDIA cards
  10. B GNU licenses
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Virtualization Guide › Introduction › Installation of virtualization components
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Applies to openSUSE Leap 15.7

6 Installation of virtualization components Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: cha-vt-installation
Revision History
2024-06-27
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Installing virtualization components
6.3 Enable nested virtualization in KVM

6.1 Introduction Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: introduction-install-virtualization-components

To run a virtualization server (VM Host Server) that can host one or more guest systems (VM Guests), you need to install required virtualization components on the server. These components vary depending on which virtualization technology you want to use.

6.2 Installing virtualization components Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: install-virtualization-components

You can install the virtualization tools required to run a VM Host Server in one of the following ways:

  • By selecting a specific system role during openSUSE Leap installation on the VM Host Server

  • By running the YaST Virtualization module on an already installed and running openSUSE Leap.

  • By installing specific installation patterns on an already installed and running openSUSE Leap.

6.2.1 Specifying a system role Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: install-virtualization-components-system-role

You can install all the tools required for virtualization during the installation of openSUSE Leap on the VM Host Server. During the installation, you are presented with the System Role screen.

System Role screen
Figure 6.1: System Role screen

Here you can select either the KVM Virtualization Host or the Xen Virtualization Host roles. The appropriate software selection and setup is automatically performed during openSUSE Leap installation.

Tip
Tip

Both virtualization system roles create a dedicated /var/lib/libvirt partition, and enable the firewalld and Kdump services.

6.2.2 Running the YaST Virtualization module Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: install-virtualization-components-yast

Depending on the scope of openSUSE Leap installation on the VM Host Server, none of the virtualization tools may be installed on your system. They are automatically installed when configuring the hypervisor with the YaST Virtualization module.

Tip
Tip

The YaST Virtualization module is included in the yast2-vm package. Verify it is installed on the VM Host Server before installing virtualization components.

Procedure 6.1: Installing the KVM environment

To install the KVM virtualization environment and related tools, proceed as follows:

  1. Start YaST and select Virtualization › Install Hypervisor and Tools.

  2. Select KVM server for a minimal installation of QEMU and KVM environment. Select KVM tools to use the libvirt-based management stack as well. Confirm with Accept.

  3. YaST offers to automatically configure a network bridge on the VM Host Server. It ensures proper networking capabilities of the VM Guest. Agree to do so by selecting Yes, otherwise choose No.

  4. After the setup has been finished, you can start creating and configuring VM Guests. Rebooting the VM Host Server is not required.

Procedure 6.2: Installing the Xen environment

To install the Xen virtualization environment, proceed as follows:

  1. Start YaST and selectVirtualization › Install Hypervisor and Tools.

  2. Select Xen server for a minimal installation of Xen environment. Select Xen tools to use the libvirt-based management stack as well. Confirm with Accept.

  3. YaST offers to automatically configure a network bridge on the VM Host Server. It ensures proper networking capabilities of the VM Guest. Agree to do so by selecting Yes, otherwise choose No.

  4. After the setup has been finished, you need to reboot the machine with the Xen kernel.

    Tip
    Tip: Default boot kernel

    If everything works as expected, change the default boot kernel with YaST and make the Xen-enabled kernel the default. For more information about changing the default kernel, see Book “Reference”, Chapter 12 “The boot loader GRUB 2”, Section 12.3 “Configuring the boot loader with YaST”.

6.2.3 Installing specific installation patterns Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: install-virtualization-components-pattern

Related software packages from openSUSE Leap software repositories are organized into installation patterns. You can use these patterns to install specific virtualization components on an already running openSUSE Leap. Use zypper to install them: 

zypper install -t pattern PATTERN_NAME

To install the KVM environment, consider the following patterns:

kvm_server

Installs basic VM Host Server with the KVM and QEMU environments.

kvm_tools

Installs libvirt tools for managing and monitoring VM Guests in KVM environment.

To install the Xen environment, consider the following patterns:

xen_server

Installs a basic Xen VM Host Server.

xen_tools

Installs libvirt tools for managing and monitoring VM Guests in Xen environment.

6.3 Enable nested virtualization in KVM Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: sec-vt-installation-nested-vms
Important
Important: Technology preview

KVM's nested virtualization is still a technology preview. It is provided for testing purposes and is not supported.

Nested guests are KVM guests run in a KVM guest. When describing nested guests, we use the following virtualization layers:

L0

A bare metal host running KVM.

L1

A virtual machine running on L0. Because it can run another KVM, it is called a guest hypervisor.

L2

A virtual machine running on L1. It is called a nested guest.

Nested virtualization has many advantages. You can benefit from it in the following scenarios:

  • Manage your own virtual machines directly with your hypervisor of choice in cloud environments.

  • Enable the live migration of hypervisors and their guest virtual machines as a single entity.

    Note
    Note

    Live migration of a nested VM Guest is not supported.

  • Use it for software development and testing.

To enable nesting temporarily, remove the module and reload it with the nested KVM module parameter:

  • For Intel CPUs, run: 

    > sudo modprobe -r kvm_intel && modprobe kvm_intel nested=1

  • For AMD CPUs, run: 

    > sudo modprobe -r kvm_amd && modprobe kvm_amd nested=1

To enable nesting permanently, enable the nested KVM module parameter in the /etc/modprobe.d/kvm_*.conf file, depending on your CPU:

  • For Intel CPUs, edit /etc/modprobe.d/kvm_intel.conf and add the following line: 

    options kvm_intel nested=1

  • For AMD CPUs, edit /etc/modprobe.d/kvm_amd.conf and add the following line: 

    options kvm_amd nested=1

When your L0 host is capable of nesting, you can start an L1 guest in one of the following ways:

  • Use the -cpu host QEMU command line option.

  • Add the vmx (for Intel CPUs) or the svm (for AMD CPUs) CPU feature to the -cpu QEMU command line option, which enables virtualization for the virtual CPU.

6.3.1 VMware ESX as a guest hypervisor Edit source

  • File Name: vt_installation.xml
  • ID: sec-vt-installation-nested-vms-esxi

If you use VMware ESX as a guest hypervisor on top of a KVM bare metal hypervisor, you may experience unstable network communication. This problem occurs especially between nested KVM guests and the KVM bare metal hypervisor or external network. The following default CPU configuration of the nested KVM guest is causing the problem: 

<cpu mode='host-model' check='partial'/>

To fix it, modify the CPU configuration as follow: 

[...]
<cpu mode='host-passthrough' check='none'>
 <cache mode='passthrough'/>
</cpu>
[...]
→Part II Managing virtual machines with libvirt←Chapter 5 Virtualization tools
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