I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
On Tue, 2012-08-28 at 10:23 -0400, James B. Byrne wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
CentOS 6 Manuals are not yet available but the upstream docs are here:
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/
You probably want to start here: (watch for line-wrap)
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/ht...
To open a graphical console on your virtual desktop from the KVM host: (you'll probably do this when you create your VM anyway) ========================================================= [Applications]->[System Tools]->[Virtual Machine Manager]
Authenticate dialog opens
Password for root: [your_root_password]
Button: [Authenticate]
VM Manager window opens First connection is highlighted (default is localhost (QEMU)) Virtual machines under connection are displayed
Double-click desired VM
Native console of VM opens
From here you can login, get info, pause, stop, start, go full-screen,
etc. =========================================================
KVM uses VNC to connect to the guest machines' consoles and by default will automatically assign the next available VNC port, beginning with 5900. I would highly recommend manually configuring your first guest's display (Display VNC) with VNC port 5901 and let subsequent VM's get assigned automatically. Otherwise, there will be a conflict with "tigervnc-server-module" if you later wish to connect remotely to the physical server (KVM host). If auto-configured the first VM will get port 5900 which the Xorg VNC module expects to be reserved for the (physical) host's console port. The port on which the Xorg module listens cannot be changed easily.
./Cal
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, James B. Byrne byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
I like to use freenx to host the desktop and the NX client to display it. That should work regardless of whether the desktop is a VM or not and regardless of the OS or location of the display - and it wouldn't surprise me if it performs better than whatever the built-in KVM mechanism uses. Even if you normally work locally, you may find it handy to be able to pick up the display from elsewhere with everything still running and have good performance.
On 8/28/2012 11:12 AM, Les Mikesell wrote:
I like to use freenx to host the desktop and the NX client to display it. That should work regardless of whether the desktop is a VM or not and regardless of the OS or location of the display - and it wouldn't surprise me if it performs better than whatever the built-in KVM mechanism uses. Even if you normally work locally, you may find it handy to be able to pick up the display from elsewhere with everything still running and have good performance.
Seconded. I use freenx, too. For me, it provides a better experience than VNC, Radmin, RDP, PCoIP (even on a zero client device), and whatever VMware uses when you open a console in vSphere Client. That goes for speed and smoothness of display updates and even just copying and pasting text into the remote machine.
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 8:12 AM, Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, James B. Byrne byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
I like to use freenx to host the desktop and the NX client to display it. That should work regardless of whether the desktop is a VM or not and regardless of the OS or location of the display - and it wouldn't surprise me if it performs better than whatever the built-in KVM mechanism uses. Even if you normally work locally, you may find it handy to be able to pick up the display from elsewhere with everything still running and have good performance.
The wiki is here:
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/FreeNX
Also look into spice:
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Spice-libvirt
Akemi
On 08/28/2012 10:37 AM, Akemi Yagi wrote:
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 8:12 AM, Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, James B. Byrne byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
I like to use freenx to host the desktop and the NX client to display it. That should work regardless of whether the desktop is a VM or not and regardless of the OS or location of the display - and it wouldn't surprise me if it performs better than whatever the built-in KVM mechanism uses. Even if you normally work locally, you may find it handy to be able to pick up the display from elsewhere with everything still running and have good performance.
The wiki is here:
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/FreeNX
Also look into spice:
I do several Windows desktops with spice
I think I would use freenx for a linux desktop .. unless sound is important, then spice would be my choice.
On 29-08-12 15:22, Johnny Hughes wrote:
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/FreeNX
Also look into spice:
I do several Windows desktops with spice
Yesterday I tried both spice and FreeRDP connecting to a Win7 x64 VM on an F17 laptop. FreeRDP feels much more responsive and even the Big Buck Bunny video (h.264 854x480) played smooth with video & sound in sync. On F17 you will need to rebuild FreeRDP with alsa and ffmpeg support enabled.
Regards, Patrick
On 28.08.2012 15:23, James B. Byrne wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
Hi,
You could use virt-manager/virt-viewer + SPICE, it shows a lot of promise and it works reasonably well, especially over low latency links, but ATM you could be better off with using NX or FreeRDP (for Windows) from within the guest.
On 08/28/2012 04:23 PM, James B. Byrne wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
I'm not sure what your benefit is to not use your host but a VM running on it. You could consider to use XDMP. You still need a (local) X server (gdm), but then choose remote logon usign XDMCP. On the virtual machine use gdmsetup to allow remote access or use this link:
http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.1/Installation_Guide/s2-trouble-remotex....
On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Theo Band theo.band@greenpeak.com wrote:
On 08/28/2012 04:23 PM, James B. Byrne wrote:
I am nearing the end of a project that moved our disparate services and hosts onto kvm virtualized servers. What I am now contemplating is setting up my desktop as a virtual host and using one of the guests as my primary workstation.
However, I am not sure how this would work in practice. I am accustomed to working with virtual instances via ssh (a terminal window) and with my desktop system in a Gnome window manager. Is there a reference somewhere that outlines the mechanics of logging into a virtual guest's graphical desktop directly from the physical console of the kvm host system?
I'm not sure what your benefit is to not use your host but a VM running on it.
One nice thing is that when you update/change/switch distros, etc., you can run old/new in parallel. Another is that you can easily move the VM elsewhere if resources are available and it is mostly transparent to your use as a desktop.
You could consider to use XDMP. You still need a (local) X server (gdm), but then choose remote logon usign XDMCP. On the virtual machine use gdmsetup to allow remote access or use this link:
http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.1/Installation_Guide/s2-trouble-remotex....
Freenx/NX does all the same things as native remote X, but with better remote performance and the ability to disconnect and reconnect (even from a different display) with everything still running. There is probably some memory overhead for the proxy/cache buffers, though.
-
Akemi Yagi -
Cal Webster -
Chris Beattie -
James B. Byrne -
Johnny Hughes -
Les Mikesell -
Nux! -
Patrick Lists -
Theo Band