[CentOS] KVM as a desktop

Tue Aug 28 15:12:01 UTC 2012
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, James B. Byrne <byrnejb at 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.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
     lesmikesell at gmail.com