[CentOS-virt] create a guest

Mattias,

----- Original Message -----
> can i create a guest with libvirt and use an existing disc with
> freebsd?

libvirt is a library.  Programs are written to use the functions it provides.

libvirtd is a service that does things like provide a DHCP server to VMs that are using NAT.

virtsh is a command line tool to manage virtual machines.  It uses libvirt.

virt-manager is a GUI tool to manage virtual machines.  It uses libvirt.

There are a number of other tools that are named virt-{whatever}.  One of those is virt-install.

The most direct, but perhaps more complicated way to do everything is to simply run qemu-kvm from the command line and pass to it all of the arguments needed to create a virtual machine from which you can boot from install media.  Installing an OS from installation media is a graphical thing.  There is a virtual video card that shows the output of the booting media.  You will need a GUI of some sort to do a raw install.  Once you have created a virtual machine, you can use the existing VMs storage (disk image file, partition, etc) as a cookie cutter to make other VMs from in a less GUI way.

As others have said, you should probably install enough GUI stuff on your VM host machine so you can start with virt-manager.  You don't have to run a complete desktop to use virt-manager.  In fact you can ssh -X to your VM host from another machine that has X running and have virt-manager appear on your local display without running X11 on the VM host.

So the answer to the question you keep repeating... is yes... you can install FreeBSD from a disc... if you'll start figuring out the system, how it works, and the tools that are available to do what you want.

Having said that, I've not installed FreeBSD and I've not done an install from a physical CD/DVD.  I've always done Linux or Windows from an .iso file... and I primarily use virt-manager.  The non-GUI ways are mostly for advanced users.

TYL,
-- 
Scott Dowdle
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