Creating a Debian KVM machine using virt-manager
To-do: Create a Debian 9 KVM machine on a server
Install virt-manager to your system
STEP I
Connect to the host machine which will host KVM machines using its IP adrress in virt-manager
Start virt-managerFile –> Add connection select Connect to remote hostMethod: SSH username: username of the remote server hostname: ip of the remote server
Now the remote machine could be seen as connected in your virt-manager
STEP II
Creating the Debian KVM machine
- Click on the button for
Create a new virtual machine
You can give path of a local install media. I prefer using the Network Install option
- Select the
Network Install(HTTP, FTP, or NFS)option Forward
Give the URL for debian network install repositories. Do not give the link for a net install iso images. They didn’t worked for me. The URL should contain the installer tree the files required for a system to boot and begin installation like initrd and related files.
Some of the URLS which will work
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/
or
http://cdn-fastly.deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-amd64/
- On the further screens customise the server configurations for CPU or or RAM as required for your setup.
When you click begin installation wait for your host to pull in the installation files from the remote operating system URL.
- Complete the installation as required.
Further Notes:
To create the machine using command line by using virt-install command
To create a debian stretch machine using command line.
virt-install --virt-type kvm --name devel-repo-server --location http://cdn-fastly.deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-amd64/ --extra-args "console=ttyS0" -v --os-variant debianstretch --disk size=50 --memory 2048
you can sheck description of the individual flags by looking at the man page of virt-install man virt-install
And you should have a debian KVM machine setup.
Note; This blog post is typed in a hurry & written to be used as a reference for my self and others if I need to revisit the instructions for it.