I have just started to play around with KVM and wanted to thank you for all of the work you have done in putting the VM Manager together. I have followed your instructions and put together a Win8.1Pro VM. It boots and I can view and control it via VNC. I am able to compete updates and use Win8.1 programs inside the VM. I am however having some issues.

 

1. Initially I started out with a .qcow2 disk that was 16GB now when I check it shows as slightly over 24GB. Is this because it is able to automatically resize?

 

2. Stability - I find that the Win8.1 VM seems to crash fairly regularly and when it does it seems to effect the operation of the rest of the unRaid server. There have been a number of errors showing up regarding memory allocation in the dashboard window (see attachment). I am also attaching the syslog which shows similar errors. These errors only occur when the VM is operating or being suspended or shutdown. If I don't start the VM then the server runs error free.

 

Most of the time once the VM crashes I cannot restart it without rebooting the entire system. The server itself generally regains full operability without a reboot but this takes some time.

 

I have also noticed that SABnzbd threw out an error code while this was occuring

Error [Errno 12] Cannot allocate memory while running par2_repair on set 222982

 

This is not something that I have seen before and it definitely seems to be related.

 

3. I am unable to modify the xml file using the plugin. Once I click on save it goes back to being the original document as created by the template. Not sure if this is related.

 

XML file as created by the template beta 12 version

 

Thanks in advance for any advice regarding these issues.

 

I've only seen the allocated size be larger with snapshots.  You might want to expand your qcow2 and then expand it in windows.  I would go to at least 30GB for windows.  The size of the qcow2 will only be what you use. See this post http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=35858.msg338236.msg#338236 . How much free space does it say inside windows? 

 

You may want to post an issue under the unRAID version 6/defects section about the memory problem.  I haven't seen that before.  It may be when it's crashing the resources aren't being returned to the system or not returned right away. So if you can figure out the vm crashing part then the memory problem may go away. Restarting libvirt when it crashes may help so you don't have to restart the server.

 

What area are you trying to modify in the xml?

 

Just tried restarting Libvirt from the plugin settings. Took about 5 minutes, during which time the unRaid GUI was unavailable. After Libvirt restarted all operability of the GUI came back. When I try restarting the VM it just comes up with error on the bottom of the page. Looks like it will need a full server restart.

 

Thinking back I may have  clicked on add snapshot so this might account for the increase in size. After checking Windows states 1.11 GB free of 15.6GB.

 

In XML I was trying to change the first line to this

 

<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>

 

Then I was going to start looking at modifying the XML to do some Graphics and USB hub pass through.

 

 

I will post the memory errors to the defects section and see in anyone has any insights.

 

Wondering if I should just start over .... remove plugins and delete Win8 VM and then reinstall everything.

 

I would try expanding your vm image first. Make sure you install all the virtio drivers in windows. I think your problem is your vm crashing but could be your hardware causing it too.

 

For editing the vm, you needed a corresponding qemu commandline argument or libvirt will remove the xmlns line.

Make sure if on the cache drive it's cache only for vm images.

Can you clarify this?  Does this mean that the cache drive should only be used for VMs if it is chosen?  My cache drive is a rather nice SSD and I'd love to use it for VMs, but it is also being used for general UnRaid cache stuff.

Make sure if on the cache drive it's cache only for vm images.

Can you clarify this?  Does this mean that the cache drive should only be used for VMs if it is chosen?  My cache drive is a rather nice SSD and I'd love to use it for VMs, but it is also being used for general UnRaid cache stuff.

 

Make sure your VM Share is set as "Cache Only".

Make sure if on the cache drive it's cache only for vm images.

Can you clarify this?  Does this mean that the cache drive should only be used for VMs if it is chosen?  My cache drive is a rather nice SSD and I'd love to use it for VMs, but it is also being used for general UnRaid cache stuff.

 

You can use the cache drive for both, but whatever folder/share you have setup for your VM's, make sure that share is set for "cache only", which means it will not try to move anything from that folder/share to the array.

 

 

6. In the devices tab a have an usb device which I want to pass through to the VM. But it seems to be the only device that doesn't show up in the 'create VM' USB passthrough list.

6. Justin mentioned a usb problem also. His was undefined usb while the Tools devices page shows it right. I'll look into that too.

 

Hey! If I install the vm normally and later just ad the corresponding xml code (from the devices page) to the VM-xml will it work like this:

 

<devices>
[...]
<device>
  <name>usb_1_3</name>
  <path>/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-3</path>
  <parent>usb_usb1</parent>
  <driver>
    <name>usb</name>
  </driver>
  <capability type='usb_device'>
    <bus>1</bus>
    <device>3</device>
    <product id='0x0500' />
    <vendor id='0x14f7' />
  </capability>
</device>
</devices>

 

 

 

 

6. In the devices tab a have an usb device which I want to pass through to the VM. But it seems to be the only device that doesn't show up in the 'create VM' USB passthrough list.

6. Justin mentioned a usb problem also. His was undefined usb while the Tools devices page shows it right. I'll look into that too.

 

Hey! If I install the vm normally and later just ad the corresponding xml code (from the devices page) to the VM-xml will it work like this:

 

<devices>
[...]
<device>
  <name>usb_1_3</name>
  <path>/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-3</path>
  <parent>usb_usb1</parent>
  <driver>
    <name>usb</name>
  </driver>
  <capability type='usb_device'>
    <bus>1</bus>
    <device>3</device>
    <product id='0x0500' />
    <vendor id='0x14f7' />
  </capability>
</device>
</devices>

 

This is all I use for adding usb devices

<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
                          <source>
                             <vendor id='0x0500'/>
                             <product id='0x14f7/>
                          </source>
                       </hostdev>

 

Possibly stupid n00b question here:  I keep getting an error that says "No domains defined. Create from template or add XML description" whenever I try to create a new VM.  Is there something other than what I have below that I'm supposed to fill out somewhere?

 

 

I have a storage pool set up, and I don't quite know what else I'm supposed to do to get started.

:-D probably the same thing I had just 3 posts ago. You have to setup a network bridge in the unraid setup

Hm.  So in the Network Settings screen I have 'Bridge Setup' set to 'Yes' and the bridge name is br0.  Then in the KVM machine creation screen I have:

 

Which seems correct.  But I'm still getting the same error.  I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Hm.  So in the Network Settings screen I have 'Bridge Setup' set to 'Yes' and the bridge name is br0.  Then in the KVM machine creation screen I have:

 

Which seems correct.  But I'm still getting the same error.  I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

 

Everything looks fine.  What does it say when you click Create VM?  It should say test vm created sucessfully in green text at the bottom.

It doesn't say anything.  When I click the button at the bottom the screen refreshes quickly and the whole form is blank again; it's hard to troubleshoot since there isn't really any indication of what is going wrong.

It doesn't say anything.  When I click the button at the bottom the screen refreshes quickly and the whole form is blank again; it's hard to troubleshoot since there isn't really any indication of what is going wrong.

I just figured out error reporting for vm creation aren't getting passed through while working on new version but it will report success but not error.  You should be able to enter just the name test, nothing else and hit create.  Let me know if that works at least.

Still no luck, even with only the name field filled in.  I double-checked to make sure that I followed all of the installation instructions, and everything looks like it is set up correctly.

Still no luck, even with only the name field filled in.  I double-checked to make sure that I followed all of the installation instructions, and everything looks like it is set up correctly.

I made a quick update to the plugin to turn on error reporting.  update and let me know when you do so I can delete it from github.  Then test again with a name only vm.

Here is the error with only the name field populated

 

Warning: libvirt_domain_create_xml(): Cannot check QEMU binary a2f96846-3af1-4b41-b1b9-181e17918bc2x86_64WestmereInteltcp7858940none0dac0+0:+100+0:+100hvm32/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64pcpc-1.3pc-0.12pc-q35-1.6pc-q35-1.5xenpvpc-i440fx-1.7pc-i440fx-1.6q35pc-0.11pc-0.10pc-1.2isapcpc-q35-1.4xenfvpc-0.15pc-i440fx-1.5pc-q35-2.0pc-i440fx-1.4pc-0.14pc-1.1pc-q35-1.7pc-1.0pc-i440fx-2.0pc-0.13 hvm64/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64pcpc-1.3pc-0.12pc-q35-1.6pc-q35-1.5xenpvpc-i440fx-1.7pc-i440fx-1.6q35pc-0.11pc-0.10pc-1.2isapcpc-q35-1.4xenfvpc-0.15pc-i440fx-1.5pc-q35-2.0pc-i440fx-1.4pc-0.14pc-1.1pc-q35-1.7pc-1.0pc-i440fx-2.0pc-0.13 : No such file or directory in /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.kvm.manager/classes/libvirt.php on line 159

 

Also: Thanks for working on this!

 

Here is the error with only the name field populated

 

Warning: libvirt_domain_create_xml(): Cannot check QEMU binary a2f96846-3af1-4b41-b1b9-181e17918bc2x86_64WestmereInteltcp7858940none0dac0+0:+100+0:+100hvm32/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64pcpc-1.3pc-0.12pc-q35-1.6pc-q35-1.5xenpvpc-i440fx-1.7pc-i440fx-1.6q35pc-0.11pc-0.10pc-1.2isapcpc-q35-1.4xenfvpc-0.15pc-i440fx-1.5pc-q35-2.0pc-i440fx-1.4pc-0.14pc-1.1pc-q35-1.7pc-1.0pc-i440fx-2.0pc-0.13 hvm64/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64pcpc-1.3pc-0.12pc-q35-1.6pc-q35-1.5xenpvpc-i440fx-1.7pc-i440fx-1.6q35pc-0.11pc-0.10pc-1.2isapcpc-q35-1.4xenfvpc-0.15pc-i440fx-1.5pc-q35-2.0pc-i440fx-1.4pc-0.14pc-1.1pc-q35-1.7pc-1.0pc-i440fx-2.0pc-0.13 : No such file or directory in /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.kvm.manager/classes/libvirt.php on line 159

 

Also: Thanks for working on this!

Do you happen to be running the Xen version of unRAID? It only works with plain unRAID (which has KVM enabled by default). This plugin will only work in a limited function with Xen.  You definitely can't create vm's with it in Xen.  I am working on that though.

No, this is just plain-old UnRaid without Xen.

No, this is just plain-old UnRaid without Xen.

You could check and make sure your system/cpu supports visualization or it's not off in the bios.

 

Try from the unraid command line and see if there's any kvm messages

dmesg|grep kvm

 

And that the modules are loaded correctly

lsmod|grep kvm

Aha!  I think you found the issue, which I should have checked a long time ago.  'dmesg|grep kvm' revealed that virtualization is disabled in the BIOS.  I'll go in and figure out how to enable it and I'll report back in the morning.

Aha!  I think you found the issue, which I should have checked a long time ago.  'dmesg|grep kvm' revealed that virtualization is disabled in the BIOS.  I'll go in and figure out how to enable it and I'll report back in the morning.

Good to hear.

And what do you know-- it works now, and I feel like an idiot.  Thanks for all of your help, and sorry for the runaround. 

I tried to update the plugin today, but it failed with this message:

plugin: wget: "https://github.com/dmacias72/dynamix.kvm.manager/archive/2014.12.19.tar.gz" retval: 8

 

Then I tried to remove and install the plugin again, but got the same error.

I checked the link in the browser and I get a "not found" message.

I tried to update the plugin today, but it failed with this message:

plugin: wget: "https://github.com/dmacias72/dynamix.kvm.manager/archive/2014.12.19.tar.gz" retval: 8

 

Then I tried to remove and install the plugin again, but got the same error.

I checked the link in the browser and I get a "not found" message.

Whoops I'll fix. No update yet.  Let me know if that fixed it.

I fixed it by installing the old plugin from the removed folder. But I removed it and tried to install it again to see if it works, and it does 

I know this will be asked since storage pools functions have been removed to simplify the plugin.  You can remove storage pool definitions by entering this in the command line and then restarting virtMan/libvirt (don't forget restarting libvirt will restart vm's cause I always forget). 

rm -rf /etc/libvirt/storage

 

You could also delete the pools in the old version before installing the new version.

 

Also new vm images will be created in a subfolder and image name based on the name of the vm to bring the plugin closer in compliance with how Xen unRAID works