problems with domain installation

problems with domain installation

[Tomas Macek]

Hi, I'm using redhat enterprise 5.4 with newest redhat kvm/qemu packages 
installed for testing purposes.
I'm trying to install debian lenny from ISO on the machine with only 
ssh access using virt-install python script and the output is like this

-------------------------
[root@localhost ~]# virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n debnet -f 
~/debnet.qcow2 -s 3 -r 128 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --hvm 
--location http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/ 
--nographics -x console=/dev/pts/3


Starting install...
Retrieving file MANIFEST... 
| 1.7 kB     00:00
Retrieving file linux... 
| 1.2 MB     00:09
Retrieving file initrd.gz... 
| 4.1 MB     00:32
Creating storage file... 
| 3.0 GB     00:00
Creating domain... 
|    0 B     00:00
Connected to domain debnet
Escape character is ^]

Domain installation still in progress. You can reconnect to
the console to complete the installation process.
--------------------------

The problem is, that the debnet is created (can be seen with "virsh 
list"), 
but I'm still unable to connect to the console using both "virsh console 
debnet" or with "minicom -op /dev/pts/3" (I got the /dev/pts/3 from 
"virsh ttyconsole debnet" command).
The same was the result when I tried to install Fedora 12.

I need to run the installation from the command line and not from the X 
window interface like virt-manager, but the only thing I see is always the 
"Escape character is ^]" as the output.
I've spent a lot of time googling what I'm doing wrong, but the only 
replies I've found was "... the vnc access is better, use it..." or that I 
should redirect the installation console to serial device - I think I'm 
doing it with the "-x console /dev/pts/3", so what's wrong?

Best regards, Tomas

Re: problems with domain installation

[Cole Robinson]

On 12/10/2009 08:31 AM, Tomas Macek wrote:
> Hi, I'm using redhat enterprise 5.4 with newest redhat kvm/qemu packages 
> installed for testing purposes.
> I'm trying to install debian lenny from ISO on the machine with only 
> ssh access using virt-install python script and the output is like this
> 
> -------------------------
> [root@localhost ~]# virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n debnet -f 
> ~/debnet.qcow2 -s 3 -r 128 --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --hvm 
> --location http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/ 
> --nographics -x console=/dev/pts/3
> 

That last piece should be similar to console=/dev/ttyS0 . You are
telling the guest to use the emulated serial device it sees, not a PTY
on the host (which it can't access directly anyways). Google 'linux
serial console' for more info

(FYI, virsh and virt-install questions are better directed to
libvirt-list@redhat.com or virt-tools-list@redhat.com respectively).

- Cole