{"id":11911,"date":"2021-11-15T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T09:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/?p=11911"},"modified":"2021-11-16T13:14:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T13:14:51","slug":"how-to-install-kvm-on-rocky-linux-almalinux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/red-hat\/how-to-install-kvm-on-rocky-linux-almalinux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to install KVM on Rocky Linux \/ AlmaLinux"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtualization is a popular technology used in cloud-based services and even in modern day datacenters to host applications. So what exactly is virtulization? This is a process of creating a virtual machine(s) from the hardware components of a PC using a hypervisor. Virtual machines, also known as guests, are isolated environments that run their own operating system independently of the host system which is th ephysical hardware. The hypervisor provides an additional layer on top of the physical system that enables the abstraction of hardware components such as CPU, RAM, disk space, USB controllers, keyboard, mouse, NICs and so much more.<\/p>\n

You can create multiple virtual machines from a single PC hardware provided it has the right amount of resources required to run the virtual machines. Benefits of virtulization include reduced operational costs, increased efficiency and productivity, and faster provisioning of services and applications.<\/p>\n

KVM<\/a> ( Kernel Virtualization Manager ) is an opensource virtualization technology built specifically for Linux operating system. It converts your system into a type 1 hypervisor and allows users to create virtual machine instances using either the GUI or on command-line.<\/p>\n

In this guide, we will seek to install KVM on Rocky Linux \/ AlmaLinux<\/p>\n

<\/a>Step 1: Check if virtualization is supported<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first step is to check if Virtualization is enabled on your system. Modern systems typically come with the virtualization feature enabled in the BIOS. To confirm that the virtualization feature is enabled, run the command:<\/p>\n

\r\n$ cat \/proc\/cpuinfo | egrep \"vmx|svm\"<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
If you are running an Intel CPU, you should get the “vmx\u201d <\/strong>keyword in the output. This is proof that Virtualization is enabled.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If the output does not contain the “vmx\u201d <\/strong>keyword , then you need to go back to the BIOS settings and turn on virtualization.<\/p>\n
Additionally, you can check if KVM modules are enabled using the command:<\/p>\n
\r\n$ lsmod | grep kvm<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Perfect! At this point, we are ready to proceed with the installation of KVM.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Step 2: Install KVM on Rocky Linux \/ AlmaLinux<\/strong><\/h2>\n
First, upgrade the existing software packages as follows.<\/p>\n
\r\n$ sudo dnf update <\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
When the upgrade is complete, install KVM along with other KVM management tools for managing the virtual machines.<\/p>\n
\r\n$ sudo dnf install qemu-kvm qemu-img libvirt virt-manager virt-install virt-viewer libvirt-client<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Once installed, start and enable the libvirtd<\/strong> service which is a virtualization daemon and a toolkit for managing virtualization platforms such as KVM, Xen, and ESXi.<\/p>\n
\r\n$ sudo systemctl start libvirtd<\/strong>\r\n\r\n$ sudo systemctl enable libvirtd<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Then confirm the running status of the daemon.<\/p>\n
\r\n$ sudo systemctl status libvirtd<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Step 3: Launch a Virtual machine with Virt-manager<\/strong><\/h2>\n
At this point, KVM and all of its associated packages required fot the installation and management of virtual machines is installed. The virt-manager <\/strong>utility is a graphical tool that is used for graphically creating and launching virtual machines using the libvirt <\/strong>service.<\/p>\n
There are two ways you can use to launch virt-manager. <\/strong>You can use the application manager to search for it as follows:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On command-line, simply run the command:<\/p>\n
\r\n$ sudo virt-manager<\/strong>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
This will pop open the Virt manager desktop interface as shown.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Click on the top-left icon as shown to start creating a virtual machine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The next step presents you with a list of options on how you would like to install your virtual machine. In my case, I\u2019m installing Debian 10 from an ISO image. So I selected the first option \u2018Local Install Media<\/strong>\u2019. Your scenario may be different from mine. Other options include<\/p>\n