Virtualization / KVM

This is an overview of setting up a KVM virtualization environment and creating virtual machines using automated installation with Kickstart. Additionally, it covers creating virtual machines via the internet or from local ISO files.

First, install the necessary packages for KVM operation (qemu-kvm, libvirt, virt-install) and enable and start the libvirtd service.

dnf -y install qemu-kvm libvirt virt-install
systemctl enable --now libvirtd

You can stop or delete virtual machines using the following commands.

virsh shutdown guest1-rhx
virsh destroy guest1-rhx
virsh undefine guest1-rhx --remove-all-storage

Kickstart

The Kickstart file saved at /tmp/ks.cfg predefines settings such as keyboard layout, language, network, partitioning, timezone, and root password.
The virtual disk is specified as vda to match the characteristics of the KVM environment.

cat << 'KICKSTART' > /tmp/ks.cfg
text
reboot
cdrom

keyboard --vckeymap=jp106 --xlayouts='jp','us'
# keyboard --vckeymap=us --xlayouts='us','jp'
lang en_US.UTF-8

network --bootproto=dhcp --ipv6=auto --activate --hostname=localhost
zerombr

%packages
@core
%end

ignoredisk --only-use=vda
autopart
clearpart --all --initlabel

timezone Asia/Tokyo --utc

rootpw --iscrypted --allow-ssh $6$EkGHWaJKwbybILqx$DwIwbw5NOGm2LpNlaCIRCeckcOlHACxMMfsyYijZ0uEKmGTHmDSqQhs4ndUGpme5uZl7zg/aJyam8j9N6wWRG.
KICKSTART

From the Internet

The AlmaLinux installation image is retrieved from a repository specified by a URL, and the installation is automated using Kickstart.

virt-install \
  --name guest1-rhx \
  --memory 4096 \
  --vcpus 4 \
  --network default \
  --disk size=20 \
  --location http://ftp.riken.jp/Linux/almalinux/10.0/BaseOS/x86_64/os/ \
  --os-variant rhel9.4 \
  --graphics none \
  --accelerate \
  --initrd-inject /tmp/ks.cfg \
  --extra-args "console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 inst.ks=file:/ks.cfg"

From a Local File

This method creates a virtual machine by specifying a local ISO file that has been downloaded in advance.

isouri='https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/isos/x86_64/AlmaLinux-10.0-x86_64-minimal.iso'
curl -O "${isouri}"
isofile=$(basename ${isouri})

virt-install \
  --name guest1-rhx \
  --memory 4096 \
  --vcpus 4 \
  --network default \
  --disk size=20 \
  --location "${isofile}" \
  --os-variant rhel9.4 \
  --graphics none \
  --accelerate \
  --initrd-inject /tmp/ks.cfg \
  --extra-args "console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 inst.ks=file:/ks.cfg"

Vagrant

As of May 31, 2025, there is no official Vagrant repository for AlmaLinux 10, so it is currently not possible to easily set up an environment using Vagrant.

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