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 the latest libvirt
  • Minimum required version: libvirt-1.2.10-3.fc22
  • Also available in fedora-virt-preview for F21
  • 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 Testing_secureboot_with_KVM#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
  • As of 2014-11-21, we need to add one small bit after first install: sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI_VARS.fd bs=1M count=64

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.img,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI_VARS.fd \
   --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. See bug 1166876

• 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.img,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI_VARS.fd \
   --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. May be able to make it work by messing with UEFI boot settings. Could be related to bug 1163481

• 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.img,nvram_template=/usr/share/edk2.git/aarch64/QEMU_EFI_VARS.fd \
   --disk size=8 --os-variant fedora21 \
   --cdrom /var/lib/libvirt/images/Fedora-Server-DVD-aarch64-21_Beta.iso