FWN/Beats/Virtualization

INCOMPLETE

Virtualization

In this section, we cover discussion on the @et-mgmnt-tools-list, @fedora-xen-list, @libvirt-list and @ovirt-devel-list of Fedora virtualization technologies.

Contributing Writer: Dale Bewley

Enterprise Management Tools List

This section contains the discussion happening on the et-mgmt-tools list

Virt-manager Support for Storage Pool API

Cole Robinson posted[1] three patches (not to mention screen shots) which add support for the storage pool API to the virt-manager GUI.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2008-August/msg00066.html

Virt-mem Tools 0.2.8 Released

Richard W.M. Jones announced[1] the release of virt-mem 0.2.8. Virt-mem provides a set of dom0 or host tools which leverage libvirt to facilitate the inspection of domU or guest kernel information. Commands include 'virt-uname', 'virt-ps', and 'virt-dmesg' for example.

This latest version has been reworked to have direct access to basically any kernel structure. This will allow a more rapid fullfillment of outstanding feature requests such as memory usage information, network interface listings, etc.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2008-August/msg00033.html

Fedora Xen List

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-xen list.

Installing Fedora 9 Guest on Centos 5 Fails

Kenneth Tanzer had trouble[1] installing a Fedora 9 paravirtualized guest on a CentOs 5 host. Eventually the install hung on installing openoffice.org-writer2latex. David Hláčik reported[2] a kernel panic during the same scenario. He stated it was due to the Fedora 9 kernel-xen having newer features which the CentOs dom0 did not support. However, Mark McLoughlin said[3] RHEL5/CentOS Xen is expected to be able to run pv_ops kernels, and a bug should be filed if this isn't the case.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2008-August/msg00011.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2008-August/msg00013.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2008-August/msg00018.html

Libvirt List

This section contains the discussion happening on the libvir-list.

Libvirt and Persistent Iptables Rules

Daniel Berrange responded[1] to a networking problem by pointing out that libvirt will automatically setup the correct iptables rules to allow outbound NAT based connectivity for guest VMs and that restarting the iptables service will erase these rules.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2008-July/msg00508.html

David Lutterkort hoped[2] this was a temporary situation due to the confusion it can cause. Mark McLoughlin confirmed[3] there is a RFE (bug 227011) to enable libvirt to persistently register iptables rules, but was depressed that a resulting fix would be Fedora specific.

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2008-August/msg00098.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2008-August/msg00193.html

Network XML Configuration Options

To support a complex virtual network with 3 DMZs, Didier Ayllon asked[1] if it is possible to specify options such as default gateway, static routes, DNS options in the network config.

Daniel Berrange pointed[2] out libvirt networking "is designed specifically to only provide 3 types of networking, an isolated network, a NAT based network, and a routed network" and the format is documented on libvirt.org.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2008-August/msg00062.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2008-August/msg00078.html

oVirt Devel List

This section contains the discussion happening on the ovirt-devel list.

Lighter-weight "Developer" Setup

Chris Lalancette proposed[1] some steps toward lowering the barrier to entry for oVirt users with limited hardware resources and growing the community. The proposal would remove the "fake managed nodes" concept and allow oVirt to manage the hardware on the host machine and enable installation of guests along side the oVirt appliance, and eventually remove the appliance completely and facilitate installing from a set of RPMs.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/ovirt-devel/2008-August/msg00080.html

Beginnings of an oVirt API

David Lutterkort posted[1] an RFC for implementing an oVirt API and 5 patches to begin the discussion. The patches covered handling hosts, storage pools, and hardware pools. The fifth patch provided sample[2] code for using the API. The exercise revealed some changes that could be made to the server code to accomodate such an API.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/ovirt-devel/2008-August/msg00045.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/ovirt-devel/2008-August/msg00050.html