install, to provision new virtual machines; and virt-clone, to clone
existing virtual machines.
You can do similar things with virt-install as with vmbuilder,
shown earlier in this chapter. The major differences are the options available
and that virt-install can also make desktop images that include a GUI,
which is accessible using VNC. See Chapter 19, “Remote Access with SSH,
Telnet, and VNC,” for a discussion of VNC.
Here is an example:
Click here to view code image
matthew@seymour:~$ sudo virt-install -n hopper -r 512 --disk
path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/hopper.img,size=20 -c /dev/cdrom --
accelerate --
connect=qemu:///system --vnc --noautoconsole –v
This example includes the following options:
-n hopper—Defines the name of the new VM
-r 512—Specifies the amount of memory the virtual machine will be
allotted, in megabytes
—disk path=...—Specifies the path to the virtual disk, which can be a
file, a partition, or a logical volume (in this case, a 20GB file named
hopper.img in /var/lib/libvirt/images)
-c /dev/cdrom—Specifies the path to the host’s CD-ROM device
(though you can also use an ISO file)
—accelerate—Enables the use of the kernel’s acceleration
—connect—Defines the hypervisor to use
—vnc—Exports the guest using a VNC virtual console
—noautoconsole—Prevents automatic connection to the virtual
machine’s console
-v—Creates a fully virtualized guest
To copy a virtual machine, use virt-clone:
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matthew@seymour:~$ sudo virt-clone -o hopper -n knuth -f
/var/lib/libvirt/images/
knuth.img –connect=qemu:///system
This example includes the following options: