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Virtual machine installation for Scientific Linux 5

This page describes installation of Scientific Linux 5 (SL5) on virtual machine

Manuals

http://www.scientificlinux.org

http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com

http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/410

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing

Connection

VNC is used for connecting to a remote machine.

Remote machine

Start vncserver on a remote machine

 vncserver

Check vnc running port

 ps -aux | grep vnc

If there are more than one instance of vnc running, kill others.

 vncserver -kill :instanceN

vnc password can be changed with the command

 vncpasswd

Local machine

Download and istall vncviewer. VNC uses insecure protocol and sends password in plain text format. We will use secure ssh tunnel for sending the vnc data to solve the security issue.

 ssh -L 5900:localhost:5901 root@remoteMachine

where port 5900 is the local machine port used by vncviewer and 5901 is the port on remote machine attached to vncserver.

Connect with vncviewer to localhost:5900

Virtual machine creation

The section describes creation of a virtual machine

Logical Volume creation

Virtual machine should be created in a logical volume. Type next for displaying current logical volumes:

 lvdisplay 

If you don't have any volume group, please create one using manual introduced before. Type next for creating tha logical volume "test" on the volume group "volumeGroup" with size 16gb:

 lvcreate -n test --size 16g volumeGroup

Byt typing again lvdisplay you will see the created logical volume.

SL5 download

Download an iso image of the SL5

 wget http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/55/iso/x86_64/dvd/SL.55.051810.DVD.x86_64.disc1.iso

Vitrtual machine install and management

The virtual machines are managed by virt-manager on RedHat and SL5. Typing next opens the manager:

 virt-manager

The manager will show currently running, paused or stopped machines. New virtual machine can be created by clicking new. Creation wizard will open. There specify

  • a name of the machine
  • x86_64 architecture
  • Hypervisor
  • kvm
  • iso image location
  • Block device (partition) - the created logical volume
  • RAM memory size ~ 2-4GB
  • CPU cores 2-4
  • ethernet adapter or switch (choose the one with external ip - ifconfig)

When finished start the created virtual machine and conitnue with SL5 instalation

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Page last modified on June 20, 2011, at 10:08 AM