qemu guest agent?

[Green Dragon]

Hiya!

 

I'm configuring vm backups using the vm backup plugin and I want to enable snapshots.  When I do I find the following recommendation:

 

"IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that you install the qemu guest agent on your VMs before using snapshots to ensure the integrity of your backups."

 

As Im unfamiliar with vm backups I have no idea what this is suggesting.  I looked in the configuration for the vm and see nothing related to qemu and the only installable community app i find is qemubackup which does not clearly indicate that its what I'm looking for.

 

Any assistance, education, or clarification would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JonathanM]

4 hours ago, Green Dragon said:

install the qemu guest agent on your VMs

This is the important bit. The agent is installed in the VM itself, not in Unraid.

[Green Dragon]

40 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

This is the important bit. The agent is installed in the VM itself, not in Unraid.

Aaaah, Thanks!  So, for a windows server 2003 vm I need to install a qemu client from within the vm desktop?

[SimonF]

4 minutes ago, Green Dragon said:

Aaaah, Thanks!  So, for a windows server 2003 vm I need to install a qemu client from within the vm desktop?

Yes it is on the virtio cd image.

 

Go to the mounted ISO in explorer

The guest agent installer is in the directory guest-agent

Execute the installer with double click (either qemu-ga-x86_64.msi (64-bit) or qemu-ga-i386.msi (32-bit)

Edited November 10, 2022 by SimonF

[Green Dragon]

16 minutes ago, SimonF said:

Yes it is on the virtio cd image.

 

Go to the mounted ISO in explorer

The guest agent installer is in the directory guest-agent

Execute the installer with double click (either qemu-ga-x86_64.msi (64-bit) or qemu-ga-i386.msi (32-bit)

Well, unfortunately thats a bust.  Im getting a fatal error trying to install the msi. 'A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected'...

 

<sigh>...

[SimonF]

1 minute ago, Green Dragon said:

Well, unfortunately thats a bust.  Im getting a fatal error trying to install the msi. 'A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected'...

 

<sigh>...

Which  version of the virtio cd are you using?

[Green Dragon]

4 hours ago, SimonF said:

Which  version of the virtio cd are you using?

virtio-win-0.1.225-2.iso

[SimonF]

4 hours ago, Green Dragon said:

virtio-win-0.1.225-2.iso

Have you installed the serial driver?

 

Windows
Screen-vioserial-device-manager.png
Screen-vioserial-driver.png
First you have to download the virtio-win driver iso (see Windows VirtIO Drivers).

Then install the virtio-serial driver:

Attach the ISO to your windows VM (virtio-*.iso)
Go to the windows Device Manager
Look for "PCI Simple Communications Controller"
Right Click -> Update Driver and select on the mounted iso in DRIVE:\vioserial\<OSVERSION>\ where <OSVERSION> is your Windows Version (e.g. 2k12R2 for Windows 2012 R2)

 

[Green Dragon]

4 hours ago, SimonF said:

Have you installed the serial driver?

 

Windows
Screen-vioserial-device-manager.png
Screen-vioserial-driver.png
First you have to download the virtio-win driver iso (see Windows VirtIO Drivers).

Then install the virtio-serial driver:

Attach the ISO to your windows VM (virtio-*.iso)
Go to the windows Device Manager
Look for "PCI Simple Communications Controller"
Right Click -> Update Driver and select on the mounted iso in DRIVE:\vioserial\<OSVERSION>\ where <OSVERSION> is your Windows Version (e.g. 2k12R2 for Windows 2012 R2)

 

Same error after installing the serial driver.  It should be noted that I changed the default COM port to 12.  This vm hosts a bulletin board system (bbs) so the default COM port is remapped in order that the netserial adapter (IP to COM) can operate over COM ports 3 and 4.  I'll disable the driver, reset the COM port and see if this works.

[Green Dragon]

Well, I disabled my serial adapter, reset the default windows COM port to 1 and tried to install the qemu guest agent.  Same error, 'A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected'...

Realized I didn't have SP2 installed so I did that.  No joy...  Still getting the error.

 

[Stan464]

You may need to try an Older version of the QEMU Guest Tools / Installers. 2003 is getting very very old and good portion of things do not support it anymore.

[Green Dragon]

14 minutes ago, Stan464 said:

You may need to try an Older version of the QEMU Guest Tools / Installers. 2003 is getting very very old and good portion of things do not support it anymore.

Seems reasonable.  Believe me when I say that I wish this software would run on a newer OS.

Where can I find older versions of the tools?