I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
Les Mikesell wrote:
I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
mark, not being helpful but unable to control himself.... "Your cursor has moved. Please restart Windows (tm) to have this change take effect...."
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 2:05 PM, m.roth@5-cent.us wrote:
Les Mikesell wrote:
I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
mark, not being helpful but unable to control himself.... "Your cursor has moved. Please restart Windows (tm) to have this change take effect...."
Oh i've seen that one before. But it was followed by "Are you sure you want to move the mouse?"
On Wed, 2013-06-05 at 12:43 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
Use use Remmina as a client and freenx on most of my servers. Remmina supports NX, RDP, VNC, native X11 and others an can tunnel any over ssh. That being said, I've heard some people say some very good things about Spice (not to be confused with the electrical engineering Spice as in gnuspice), which is NOT support by Remmina.
Someone told me that Spice was only usable for host to VM remote desktops but, the last I heard, it looks like it's approaching a general purpose remote desktop that can outperform NX. But it's really hard to beat NX.
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
Regards, Mike
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 2:01 PM, Michael H. Warfield mhw@wittsend.com wrote:
On Wed, 2013-06-05 at 12:43 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
Use use Remmina as a client and freenx on most of my servers. Remmina supports NX, RDP, VNC, native X11 and others an can tunnel any over ssh. That being said, I've heard some people say some very good things about Spice (not to be confused with the electrical engineering Spice as in gnuspice), which is NOT support by Remmina.
Someone told me that Spice was only usable for host to VM remote desktops but, the last I heard, it looks like it's approaching a general purpose remote desktop that can outperform NX. But it's really hard to beat NX.
I don't really understand the details yet, but it looks like a vm can be configured to use vnc or spice for its console - but how do you get the connection established somewhere other than the virt-manager running at the host? What client would you use to do this and how do you know the connection details?
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
On Wed, Jun 05, 2013 at 02:23:50PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
the connection established somewhere other than the virt-manager running at the host? What client would you use to do this and how do you know the connection details?
Have you tried virt-viewer directly, without the manager wrapper?
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Stephen Harris lists@spuddy.org wrote:
On Wed, Jun 05, 2013 at 02:23:50PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
the connection established somewhere other than the virt-manager running at the host? What client would you use to do this and how do you know the connection details?
Have you tried virt-viewer directly, without the manager wrapper?
No, I'm just bumbling my way around at this point. Is there an overview of how things are supposed to work somewhere? I normally work at a windows box using the NX client to freenx as a starting point - or with ESXi I would run their console client. Can I get a remote freshly started vm console to appear on my windows desktop natively or in a freenx session on a host that is not the VM's host?
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
On Jun 5, 2013 1:49 PM, "Les Mikesell" lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Stephen Harris lists@spuddy.org wrote:
On Wed, Jun 05, 2013 at 02:23:50PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
the connection established somewhere other than the virt-manager running at the host? What client would you use to do this and how do you know the connection details?
Have you tried virt-viewer directly, without the manager wrapper?
No, I'm just bumbling my way around at this point. Is there an overview of how things are supposed to work somewhere? I normally work at a windows box using the NX client to freenx as a starting point - or with ESXi I would run their console client. Can I get a remote freshly started vm console to appear on my windows desktop natively or in a freenx session on a host that is not the VM's host?
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
You can run virt-manager locally and add an ssh connection to the remote host for admin and use, or use 'spicec' from spice-client (iirc) for standalone access. For windows guests, I'd install the spice tools and qxl driver from spice-space.org as well.
--Pete
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 11:13 PM, Pete Travis lists@petetravis.com wrote:
You can run virt-manager locally and add an ssh connection to the remote host for admin and use, or use 'spicec' from spice-client (iirc) for standalone access. For windows guests, I'd install the spice tools and qxl driver from spice-space.org as well.
+1. You can install virt-namanger on your management workstation and connect to the kvm hosts with ssh. You can then grab the windows console like you are used to. No need to run a gui on the server ;-)
On the server install the libvirt tools to start and stop the vm's if necessary.
If you have enough hardware you could try ovirt which wants to be like vsphere with (upstream for rhev).
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 4:55 PM, Natxo Asenjo natxo.asenjo@gmail.com wrote:
You can run virt-manager locally and add an ssh connection to the remote host for admin and use, or use 'spicec' from spice-client (iirc) for standalone access. For windows guests, I'd install the spice tools and qxl driver from spice-space.org as well.
+1. You can install virt-namanger on your management workstation and connect to the kvm hosts with ssh. You can then grab the windows console like you are used to. No need to run a gui on the server ;-)
On the server install the libvirt tools to start and stop the vm's if necessary.
Yes, that works, even starting from a freenx session. I just didn't understand what "File/add connection" meant in virt-manager. That's probably good enough for the scale of things at the moment.
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
On 06/05/2013 11:22 PM, Les Mikesell wrote:
Yes, that works, even starting from a freenx session. I just didn't understand what "File/add connection" meant in virt-manager. That's probably good enough for the scale of things at the moment.
this is much more secure than doing vnc directly to the remote machine ( for obvious reasons ) - since qemu will open a real vnc port on the host machine for every session you request it to.
If its a linux vm instance, why vnc at all, the emulated serial console should be enough (?)
On Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 9:11 AM, Karanbir Singh mail-lists@karan.org wrote:
On 06/05/2013 11:22 PM, Les Mikesell wrote:
Yes, that works, even starting from a freenx session. I just didn't understand what "File/add connection" meant in virt-manager. That's probably good enough for the scale of things at the moment.
this is much more secure than doing vnc directly to the remote machine ( for obvious reasons ) - since qemu will open a real vnc port on the host machine for every session you request it to.
If its a linux vm instance, why vnc at all, the emulated serial console should be enough (?)
We'll have a mix of linux and windows guests so there is the issue of how to do the initial guest network setup before you can connect directly even when cloning an existing image.
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 11:13 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
.........8<...........8<........
run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc..
ssh -X <someuser>@<remote_virt_host> 'sudo virt-manager'
where someuser has sudo rights to the virt-manager.
On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Arun Khan knura9@gmail.com wrote:
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 11:13 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
.........8<...........8<........
run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc..
ssh -X <someuser>@<remote_virt_host> 'sudo virt-manager'
where someuser has sudo rights to the virt-manager.
you can do achieve this without sudo using a unix group and policy kit like explained here:
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-kvm-and-libvirt-on-centos-6.2-with-...
(I am no fan of howtoforge, but this one is nice). Bonus points if you have an ipa/ldap environment for your groups/users.
On 06/05/2013 01:43 PM, Les Mikesell wrote:
I finally got access to some machines with more resources than the free VMware ESXi license allows which pushed me into trying kvm instead. Seems capable enough for what I need and can even import and run the existing vmdk images I already have. But, I have some questions about accessing the virt-manager console remotely for initial configuration, etc.. Normally I use freenx for remote GUI access and it seems to work except that on the Windows guest I tried the cursor position never stays in sync. Are there better ways to get remote access to the GUI or centralize access to a group of KVM servers? Or do most people automate the VM setup to the point where they don't need console access until it is up on the network where you can connect directly to the guest?
I would say that the best method is to convert your display to Spice (if this is running on CentOS 6), then use "spicy" or "spicec" to connect to the server and port.
On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Johnny Hughes johnny@centos.org wrote:
I would say that the best method is to convert your display to Spice (if this is running on CentOS 6), then use "spicy" or "spicec" to connect to the server and port.
Is there a reasonably 'safe' way to convert an existing eth? configuration that is being used for your remote access into the slave port for a bridge? Or do you just have to edit the config files and hope there are no typos so it will come back after you restart the network or reboot?
-- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com
On 06/11/2013 10:44 AM, Les Mikesell wrote:
On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Johnny Hughes johnny@centos.org wrote:
I would say that the best method is to convert your display to Spice (if this is running on CentOS 6), then use "spicy" or "spicec" to connect to the server and port.
Is there a reasonably 'safe' way to convert an existing eth? configuration that is being used for your remote access into the slave port for a bridge? Or do you just have to edit the config files and hope there are no typos so it will come back after you restart the network or reboot?
You do not connect to the "client" network for spice ... you connect to the host machine and a port.
So this means that if you have an internal network for the VMs and the host has an external IP, no bridge is required.
-
Arun Khan -
Johnny Hughes -
Justin Edmands -
Karanbir Singh -
Les Mikesell -
m.roth＠5-cent.us -
Michael H. Warfield -
Natxo Asenjo -
Pete Travis -
Stephen Harris