5.2. Installing KVM packages on an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux system
The section describes the steps for installing the KVM hypervisor on a working Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or newer system.
This section describes how to enable Red Hat Network (RHN) entitlements for the virtualization packages. You need these entitlements enabled to install and update the virtualization packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You require a valid Red Hat Network account in order to install virtualization packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
In addition, your machines must be registered with RHN. To register an unregistered installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, run the rhn_register command and follow the prompts.
Procedure 5.1. Adding the Virtualization entitlement with RHN
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Log in to
RHN using your RHN username and password.
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Select the systems you want to install virtualization on.
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In the System Properties section the present systems entitlements are listed next to the Entitlements header. Use the link to change your entitlements.
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Select the checkbox.
Your system is now entitled to receive the virtualization packages. The next section covers installing these packages.
To use virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux you require the kvm package. The kvm package contains the KVM kernel module providing the KVM hypervisor on the default Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel.
To install the
kvm package, run:
# yum install kvm
Now, install additional virtualization management packages.
Recommended virtualization packages:
- python-virtinst
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Provides the virt-install command for creating virtual machines.
- libvirt
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The libvirt package provides the server and host side libraries for interacting with hypervisors and host systems. The libvirt package provides the libvirtd daemon that handles the library calls, manages virtualizes guests and controls the hypervisor.
- libvirt-python
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The libvirt-python package contains a module that permits applications written in the Python programming language to use the interface supplied by the libvirt API.
- virt-manager
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virt-manager, also known as Virtual Machine Manager, provides a graphical tool for administering virtual machines. It uses libvirt-client library as the management API.
- libvirt-client
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The libvirt-client package provides the client-side APIs and libraries for accessing libvirt servers. The libvirt-client package includes the virsh command line tool to manage and control virtualized guests and hypervisors from the command line or a special virtualization shell.
Install the other recommended virtualization packages:
# yum install virt-manager libvirt libvirt-python python-virtinst libvirt-client
