Architectures/AArch64/Install with QEMU

Installing Fedora aarch64 with QEMU and libvirt

These steps will work on both x86 and aarch64 hardware. If running on actual aarch64 hardware, the virt-install commands should automatically request KVM for maximum performance.

Get the necessary bits

• Grab the latest qemu-system-aarch64
  • Minimum required version: qemu-2.2.0-0.1.rc1.fc22
  • Also available in fedora-virt-preview for F21
• Grab libvirt-1.2.9.1-2.fc21 or later. Make sure to restart libvirtd after update
• Grab virt-manager from git
  • git clone git://git.fedorahosted.org/virt-manager.git
  • To use virt-install from git, just do: cd virt-manager; ./virt-install ...
• Grab UEFI builds for QEMU and AARCH64
  • Note: These bits are not part of fedora due to licensing issues. See Using_UEFI_with_QEMU#EDK2_Licensing_Issues for more info.
  • Install Gerd's nightly firmware repo, as described here: https://www.kraxel.org/repos/
  • Install the relevant bits: sudo yum install edk2.git-aarch64

Importing F21 aarch64 disk image

• Grab the disk image
  • Landing page is here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/AArch64/FoundationModelQuickStart
  • Latest bits end up here: https://dmarlin.fedorapeople.org/fedora-arm/aarch64/
  • This example uses: https://dmarlin.fedorapeople.org/fedora-arm/aarch64/F21-20141017-foundation-v8-RC1.tar.xz
  • Extract the image, move it to /var/lib/libvirt/images
• From virt-manager.git checkout, run:

 sudo ./virt-install \
   --name f21-aarch64-import --ram 2048 --arch aarch64 \
   --boot loader_ro=yes,loader_type=pflash,loader=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/vars-template-pflash.raw \
   --os-variant fedora21 --import \
   --disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/F21-20141017-foundation-v8.img

• The guest should start booting. Log in with user=root, password=fedora
• Note: Networking doesn't work automatically for this image, you'll need to change the config inside the VM to use DHCP

Installing F21 aarch64 from URL

This currently doesn't work
There's a backtrace from python-blivet when transitioning to anaconda. Originally reported under bug 1166876, python-blivet is not the culprit; it only exposes a missing feature between QEMU and the guest firmware. Refer to this patch and the dependencies it names.

• This example uses the F21 aarch64 beta install tree: http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/test/21_Beta/Server/aarch64/os/
• From the virt-manager.git checkout, run:

 sudo ./virt-install \
   --name f21-aarch64-urlinst --ram 2048 --arch aarch64 \
   --boot loader_ro=yes,loader_type=pflash,loader=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/vars-template-pflash.raw \
   --disk size=8 \
   --location http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/test/21_Beta/Server/aarch64/os/

Installing F21 aarch64 from CDROM

This currently doesn't work
The CDROM doesn't automatically boot. The reason is that the installer media was built with a too old version of lorax which didn't create an aarch64 ElTorito EFI boot image.

• Grab the ISO:
  • This example uses the F21 aarch64 beta DVD: https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/test/21_Beta/Server/aarch64/iso/Fedora-Server-DVD-aarch64-21_Beta.iso
  • Move it to /var/lib/libvirt/images
  • From the virt-manager.git checkout, run:

 sudo ./virt-install \
   --name f21-aarch64-cdrom --ram 2048 --arch aarch64 \
   --boot loader_ro=yes,loader_type=pflash,loader=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/vars-template-pflash.raw \
   --disk size=8 --os-variant fedora21 \
   --cdrom /var/lib/libvirt/images/Fedora-Server-DVD-aarch64-21_Beta.iso