[clue] VM test lab [was question, Nagios [talk]]

[Dan Kulinski]

I use KVM for the hypervisor.  The XML files are the libvirt storage XML
files.  Using libvirt I should theoretically be able to migrate between
hypervisors with relative ease.  Unfortunately not all backends support all
features so this is not as easy as it sounds.  As for URL I do mean an RPM
repository, something like:
http://mirrors.loosefoot.com/centos/6.2/os/x86_64/

I also specify the kickstart file at the same time.  I have a very long
history of kickstart files I use in various situations.  RedHat really went
in whole hog with libvirt and KVM and their efforts paid off if you learn
the tools.  I won't say it is easy to start out with, there is a bit of a
learning curve (setting up defaults in libvirt isn't really documented well
and took me a day of tinkering to get right).  We have local repository
mirrors at work so the initial base VM takes about 10 minutes to install.
At this point I dump two XML files from the virsh command line (the storage
XML and the domain XML), make quick modifications, make the previously
mentioned network edits and I am on my way.

You have asked which VM platforms I use and it is mostly libvirt on top of
KVM.  However I have experience with Xen, VMWare Workstation, MS VirtualPC
and Oracle VirtualBox.  The tight integration of KVM and libvirt and the
plethora of command line tools makes it very simple for me to script almost
everything I need to get these things setup quickly.  I can even use
libvirt tools across the network (and do so at work as I don't have a beefy
workstation to run these VMs in my office) to do everything I have
described here.  Heck, we use some Dell Equalogics as an iSCSI backing
store.  libvirt will actually take that, slice it up and give a whole
partition to your VM image.

Dan

On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:51 PM, David L. Anselmi <anselmi at anselmi.us>wrote:

> Dan Kulinski wrote:
> >
> > I use libvirt. I simply run virt-install, point it at a fedora or centos
> > URL and instant VM.
>
> By URL I assume you mean an rpm repository with a kickstart file?
>
> > With a little bit of XML editing I can create another image that uses
> that new image as a backing
> > store.
>
> What's in the XML file?  Config for ...
>
> I appreciate the description.  I've read others that are similar with
> different tools (Debian has
> had image builders longer than there have been VMs, they built them around
> chroots instead).
>
> You didn't say what kind of VM you use.  Any?  All?
>
> Thanks!
> Dave
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