Administration panel for KVM

Administration panel for KVM

[Daniel Bareiro]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 529 bytes --]


Hi all!

With a group of college buddies, we are evaluating the possibility of
initiating a project to develop a management panel of KVM virtual
machines. The idea is to do something similar to OpenXenManager but for
KVM.

All opinions and recommendations are welcome as well as on how to
connect the application with the VMHost.


Thanks in advance for your replies.

Regards,
Daniel
-- 
Fingerprint: BFB3 08D6 B4D1 31B2 72B9  29CE 6696 BF1B 14E6 1D37
Powered by Debian GNU/Linux Lenny - Linux user #188.598

[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --]

Re: Administration panel for KVM

[Daniel Bareiro]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1547 bytes --]

On 09.04.2011 23:14:28, Udo Lembke wrote:

>> With a group of college buddies, we are evaluating the possibility of
>> initiating a project to develop a management panel of KVM virtual
>> machines. The idea is to do something similar to OpenXenManager but
>> for KVM.
>>
>> All opinions and recommendations are welcome as well as on how to
>> connect the application with the VMHost.

> Hi,

Hi Udo.

> do you know proxmox-ve? With this solution you can administrate kvm and  
> openvz vms.
>
> http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Main_Page
>
> fast and friendly forum:
> http://forum.proxmox.com/forums/12-Proxmox-VE-Installation-and-configuration
>
> Nice tool - i used it in production since more than two years and the  
> upcomming version 2 will bring a lot of new functions (user-management,  
> ha, ...).
>
> Perhaps you don't need to build such system new... If your project are  
> better, let me know ;-)

I was reading something about Proxmox but I get the feeling that this is
a package to install on the VMHost from scratch and the idea to develop
this application is to use an already prepared VMHost (with Debian
Squeeze with KVM) so that security updates are independently handled. In
addition, the management application does not necessarily have to
install in the same VMHost.


Thanks for your reply.

Regards,
Daniel
-- 
Daniel Bareiro - GNU/Linux registered user #188.598
Proudly running Debian GNU/Linux with uptime:
18:23:46 up 43 days, 23:18, 12 users,  load average: 0.03, 0.02, 0.00

[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --]

Re: Administration panel for KVM

[Matthias Hovestadt]

Hi!

> With a group of college buddies, we are evaluating the possibility of
> initiating a project to develop a management panel of KVM virtual
> machines. The idea is to do something similar to OpenXenManager but for
> KVM.

At out university we developed a Perl-based management tool named
"kvm-top". This tool is command-line only, not offering any GUI at
the moment. The initial idea of that tool was to make the start-up of
VMs easier than doing it manually. The tool analyzes a VM-specific
config file like

GUEST_ID=219
GUEST_NAME=attic
.
.

defining all parameters for starting up a VM. For actually starting
this VM, a single command now is sufficient:

asok01 ~ # kvm-top -start attic

This will not only start-up the VM "attic", but also check if this VM
is running on some other cluster node and connect to the iSCSI target
if required.

Meanwhile, the tool has evolved, not only consisting of the "kvm-top"
tool, but also a server component named "kvm-ctld" running on each
cluster node. The "kvm-top" tool connects to the "kvm-ctld" running
on the local host, executing the desired command. At this, the
command does not nessecarily have to be executed on the same cluster
node. For instance, it is easily possible to start/stop a VM running
on a different cluster node.


However, the main feature of "kvm-top" is giving information about
the current status of the running VMs:

asok01 ~ # kvm-top
VM           NODE   AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
=====================================================================
attic        asok02      4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
cbase        asok08      1   1 root 10222    1  1048 36142     -    1
cbase-spice  asok08      0   0 root  4269    1  1024 36143  5924    1
cloud-pj     asok02     14  18 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
.
.
.

where "5s" and "30s" contain the average system load over the last
5s resp. 30s. There are serveral ways of filtering or sorting the
output, e.g. sorting by cluster nodes:

asok01 ~ # kvm-top -s node
NODE   VM           AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
=====================================================================
asok01(ENABLED): 0(0) VMs, CPU=0%, MEM=2%, AGE 00:00
asok02(ENABLED): 7(8) VMs, CPU=13%, MEM=99%, AGE 00:05
       attic             4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
       cloud-pj         21  19 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
.
.


The "kvm-top" tool even allows migration of VMs between the cluster
nodes. The following command would migrate the VM "attic" from the
currently used cluster node "asok02" to cluster node "asok07" (note:
the command has been executed on a different cluster node "asok01"):

asok01 ~ # kvm-top -migrate attic asok07


As I mentioned, the tool is command line only at the moment, however it
shouldn't be too difficult to create a web-based interface, since the
kvm-ctld allows communication not only with kvm-top. Connecting to the
port of kvm-ctld, it's pretty easy to get information about all
currently running VMs or start/stop/migrate VMs.


If there's interest in that tool, please let me know. I'll gladly
publish it.


Regards,
Matthias

Re: Administration panel for KVM

[Daniel Bareiro]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 4045 bytes --]

On Sunday, 10 April 2011 14:00:41 +0200,
Matthias Hovestadt wrote:

> Hi!

Hi, Matthias!

> > With a group of college buddies, we are evaluating the possibility of
> > initiating a project to develop a management panel of KVM virtual
> > machines. The idea is to do something similar to OpenXenManager but for
> > KVM.

> At out university we developed a Perl-based management tool named
> "kvm-top". This tool is command-line only, not offering any GUI at
> the moment. The initial idea of that tool was to make the start-up of
> VMs easier than doing it manually. The tool analyzes a VM-specific
> config file like
> 
> GUEST_ID=219
> GUEST_NAME=attic
> .
> .
> 
> defining all parameters for starting up a VM. For actually starting
> this VM, a single command now is sufficient:
> 
> asok01 ~ # kvm-top -start attic
> 
> This will not only start-up the VM "attic", but also check if this VM
> is running on some other cluster node and connect to the iSCSI target
> if required.
> 
> Meanwhile, the tool has evolved, not only consisting of the "kvm-top"
> tool, but also a server component named "kvm-ctld" running on each
> cluster node. The "kvm-top" tool connects to the "kvm-ctld" running
> on the local host, executing the desired command. At this, the
> command does not nessecarily have to be executed on the same cluster
> node. For instance, it is easily possible to start/stop a VM running
> on a different cluster node.
> 
> 
> However, the main feature of "kvm-top" is giving information about
> the current status of the running VMs:
> 
> asok01 ~ # kvm-top
> VM           NODE   AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
> =====================================================================
> attic        asok02      4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
> cbase        asok08      1   1 root 10222    1  1048 36142     -    1
> cbase-spice  asok08      0   0 root  4269    1  1024 36143  5924    1
> cloud-pj     asok02     14  18 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
> .
> .
> .
> 
> where "5s" and "30s" contain the average system load over the last
> 5s resp. 30s. There are serveral ways of filtering or sorting the
> output, e.g. sorting by cluster nodes:
> 
> asok01 ~ # kvm-top -s node
> NODE   VM           AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
> =====================================================================
> asok01(ENABLED): 0(0) VMs, CPU=0%, MEM=2%, AGE 00:00
> asok02(ENABLED): 7(8) VMs, CPU=13%, MEM=99%, AGE 00:05
>        attic             4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
>        cloud-pj         21  19 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
> .
> .
> 
> 
> The "kvm-top" tool even allows migration of VMs between the cluster
> nodes. The following command would migrate the VM "attic" from the
> currently used cluster node "asok02" to cluster node "asok07" (note:
> the command has been executed on a different cluster node "asok01"):
> 
> asok01 ~ # kvm-top -migrate attic asok07
> 
> 
> As I mentioned, the tool is command line only at the moment, however it
> shouldn't be too difficult to create a web-based interface, since the
> kvm-ctld allows communication not only with kvm-top. Connecting to the
> port of kvm-ctld, it's pretty easy to get information about all
> currently running VMs or start/stop/migrate VMs.
> 
> 
> If there's interest in that tool, please let me know. I'll gladly
> publish it.

Sounds interesting. If you publish it, I'd take a look.

Researching on the Internet I found virt-manager [1], although I'm not
sure if it can interact with KVM. In any case, virt-manager uses libvirt
and my idea was not to use libvirt in the VMHost. I guess "kvm-ctld"
will supply some of the functions of libvirt at the remote end.

Thanks for your reply.

Regards,
Daniel

[1] http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/
-- 
Fingerprint: BFB3 08D6 B4D1 31B2 72B9  29CE 6696 BF1B 14E6 1D37
Powered by Debian GNU/Linux Lenny - Linux user #188.598

[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --]

RE: Administration panel for KVM

[Martin Maurer]

Hi Daniel,

Proxmox VE can be installed on existing Lenny installations (see http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Lenny), the upcoming 2.x series on Squeeze. But we still provide a bare-metal installer as this is the most user friendly way to install (the auto partitioning make sure that there is enough free space for the LVM snapshots, used for backups (see vzdump for OpenVZ and KVM)).

This means you just have an additional repo in your sources.list and you still get Debian security updates (expect some package which are provide by our repo, like KVM or Kernel).

We do not use libvirt, we have a web gui and also tools for the command line, e.g. qm for managing KVM guests.  http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Qm_manual

Here is the link to the roadmap for 2.0 - a major change a big step forward:
http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Roadmap#Roadmap_for_2.x

Best Regards,

Martin


> -----Original Message-----
> From: kvm-owner@vger.kernel.org [mailto:kvm-owner@vger.kernel.org]
> On Behalf Of Daniel Bareiro
> Sent: Sonntag, 10. April 2011 17:00
> To: KVM General
> Subject: Re: Administration panel for KVM
> 
> On Sunday, 10 April 2011 14:00:41 +0200, Matthias Hovestadt wrote:
> 
> > Hi!
> 
> Hi, Matthias!
> 
> > > With a group of college buddies, we are evaluating the possibility
> > > of initiating a project to develop a management panel of KVM virtual
> > > machines. The idea is to do something similar to OpenXenManager but
> > > for KVM.
> 
> > At out university we developed a Perl-based management tool named
> > "kvm-top". This tool is command-line only, not offering any GUI at the
> > moment. The initial idea of that tool was to make the start-up of VMs
> > easier than doing it manually. The tool analyzes a VM-specific config
> > file like
> >
> > GUEST_ID=219
> > GUEST_NAME=attic
> > .
> > .
> >
> > defining all parameters for starting up a VM. For actually starting
> > this VM, a single command now is sufficient:
> >
> > asok01 ~ # kvm-top -start attic
> >
> > This will not only start-up the VM "attic", but also check if this VM
> > is running on some other cluster node and connect to the iSCSI target
> > if required.
> >
> > Meanwhile, the tool has evolved, not only consisting of the "kvm-top"
> > tool, but also a server component named "kvm-ctld" running on each
> > cluster node. The "kvm-top" tool connects to the "kvm-ctld" running on
> > the local host, executing the desired command. At this, the command
> > does not nessecarily have to be executed on the same cluster node. For
> > instance, it is easily possible to start/stop a VM running on a
> > different cluster node.
> >
> >
> > However, the main feature of "kvm-top" is giving information about the
> > current status of the running VMs:
> >
> > asok01 ~ # kvm-top
> > VM           NODE   AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
> >
> ==========================================================
> ===========
> > attic        asok02      4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
> > cbase        asok08      1   1 root 10222    1  1048 36142     -    1
> > cbase-spice  asok08      0   0 root  4269    1  1024 36143  5924    1
> > cloud-pj     asok02     14  18 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
> > .
> > .
> > .
> >
> > where "5s" and "30s" contain the average system load over the last 5s
> > resp. 30s. There are serveral ways of filtering or sorting the output,
> > e.g. sorting by cluster nodes:
> >
> > asok01 ~ # kvm-top -s node
> > NODE   VM           AS 5s  30s USER PID   #CPU MEM   VNC   SPICE #LAN
> >
> ==========================================================
> ===========
> > asok01(ENABLED): 0(0) VMs, CPU=0%, MEM=2%, AGE 00:00
> > asok02(ENABLED): 7(8) VMs, CPU=13%, MEM=99%, AGE 00:05
> >        attic             4   4 root  6614    1  2048 36003     -    2
> >        cloud-pj         21  19 root 24071    1  1024 36001     -    2
> > .
> > .
> >
> >
> > The "kvm-top" tool even allows migration of VMs between the cluster
> > nodes. The following command would migrate the VM "attic" from the
> > currently used cluster node "asok02" to cluster node "asok07" (note:
> > the command has been executed on a different cluster node "asok01"):
> >
> > asok01 ~ # kvm-top -migrate attic asok07
> >
> >
> > As I mentioned, the tool is command line only at the moment, however
> > it shouldn't be too difficult to create a web-based interface, since
> > the kvm-ctld allows communication not only with kvm-top. Connecting to
> > the port of kvm-ctld, it's pretty easy to get information about all
> > currently running VMs or start/stop/migrate VMs.
> >
> >
> > If there's interest in that tool, please let me know. I'll gladly
> > publish it.
> 
> Sounds interesting. If you publish it, I'd take a look.
> 
> Researching on the Internet I found virt-manager [1], although I'm not sure if
> it can interact with KVM. In any case, virt-manager uses libvirt and my idea
> was not to use libvirt in the VMHost. I guess "kvm-ctld"
> will supply some of the functions of libvirt at the remote end.
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> Regards,
> Daniel
> 
> [1] http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/
> --
> Fingerprint: BFB3 08D6 B4D1 31B2 72B9  29CE 6696 BF1B 14E6 1D37 Powered
> by Debian GNU/Linux Lenny - Linux user #188.598