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Installing the QEMU guest agent and VirtIO drivers

Installing the QEMU guest agent

Installing the QEMU guest agent on a Linux VM

The qemu-guest-agent is widely available and available by default in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) virtual machines (VMs). Install the agent and start the service.

To create snapshots of an online (Running state) VM with the highest integrity, install the QEMU guest agent.

The QEMU guest agent takes a consistent snapshot by attempting to quiesce the VM file system as much as possible, depending on the system workload. This ensures that in-flight I/O is written to the disk before the snapshot is taken. If the guest agent is not present, quiescing is not possible and a best-effort snapshot is taken. The conditions under which the snapshot was taken are reflected in the snapshot indications that are displayed in the web console or CLI.
Procedure

  1. Log in to the VM by using a console or SSH.

  2. Install the QEMU guest agent by running the following command:

    $ yum install -y qemu-guest-agent

  3. Ensure the service is persistent and start it:

    $ systemctl enable --now qemu-guest-agent
Verification

  • Run the following command to verify that AgentConnected is listed in the VM spec:

    $ oc get vm <vm_name>

Installing the QEMU guest agent on a Windows VM

For Windows virtual machines (VMs), the QEMU guest agent is included in the VirtIO drivers. You can install the drivers during a Windows installation or on an existing Windows VM.

To create snapshots of an online (Running state) VM with the highest integrity, install the QEMU guest agent.

The QEMU guest agent takes a consistent snapshot by attempting to quiesce the VM file system as much as possible, depending on the system workload. This ensures that in-flight I/O is written to the disk before the snapshot is taken. If the guest agent is not present, quiescing is not possible and a best-effort snapshot is taken. The conditions under which the snapshot was taken are reflected in the snapshot indications that are displayed in the web console or CLI.
Procedure

  1. In the Windows guest operating system, use the File Explorer to navigate to the guest-agent directory in the virtio-win CD drive.

  2. Run the qemu-ga-x86_64.msi installer.

Verification

  1. Obtain a list of network services by running the following command:

    $ net start

  2. Verify that the output contains the QEMU Guest Agent.

Installing VirtIO drivers on Windows VMs

VirtIO drivers are paravirtualized device drivers required for Microsoft Windows virtual machines (VMs) to run in OpenShift Virtualization. The drivers are shipped with the rest of the images and do not require a separate download.

The container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk must be attached to the VM as a SATA CD drive to enable driver installation. You can install VirtIO drivers during Windows installation or added to an existing Windows installation.

After the drivers are installed, the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk can be removed from the VM.

Table 1. Supported drivers
Driver name Hardware ID Description

viostor

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1001
VEN_1AF4&DEV_1042

The block driver. Sometimes labeled as an SCSI Controller in the Other devices group.

viorng

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1005
VEN_1AF4&DEV_1044

The entropy source driver. Sometimes labeled as a PCI Device in the Other devices group.

NetKVM

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1000
VEN_1AF4&DEV_1041

The network driver. Sometimes labeled as an Ethernet Controller in the Other devices group. Available only if a VirtIO NIC is configured.

Attaching VirtIO container disk to Windows VMs during installation

You must attach the VirtIO container disk to the Windows VM to install the necessary Windows drivers. This can be done during creation of the VM.

Procedure

  1. When creating a Windows VM from a template, click Customize VirtualMachine.

  2. Select Mount Windows drivers disk.

  3. Click the Customize VirtualMachine parameters.

  4. Click Create VirtualMachine.

After the VM is created, the virtio-win SATA CD disk will be attached to the VM.

Attaching VirtIO container disk to an existing Windows VM

You must attach the VirtIO container disk to the Windows VM to install the necessary Windows drivers. This can be done to an existing VM.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the existing Windows VM, and click Actions → Stop.

  2. Go to VM Details → Configuration → Disks and click Add disk.

  3. Add windows-driver-disk from container source, set the Type to CD-ROM, and then set the Interface to SATA.

  4. Click Save.

  5. Start the VM, and connect to a graphical console.

Installing VirtIO drivers during Windows installation

You can install the VirtIO drivers while installing Windows on a virtual machine (VM).

This procedure uses a generic approach to the Windows installation and the installation method might differ between versions of Windows. See the documentation for the version of Windows that you are installing.
Prerequisites

  • A storage device containing the virtio drivers must be attached to the VM.

Procedure

  1. In the Windows operating system, use the File Explorer to navigate to the virtio-win CD drive.

  2. Double-click the drive to run the appropriate installer for your VM.

    For a 64-bit vCPU, select the virtio-win-gt-x64 installer. 32-bit vCPUs are no longer supported.

  3. Optional: During the Custom Setup step of the installer, select the device drivers you want to install. The recommended driver set is selected by default.

  4. After the installation is complete, select Finish.

  5. Reboot the VM.

Verification

  1. Open the system disk on the PC. This is typically C:.

  2. Navigate to Program Files → Virtio-Win.

If the Virtio-Win directory is present and contains a sub-directory for each driver, the installation was successful.

Installing VirtIO drivers from a SATA CD drive on an existing Windows VM

You can install the VirtIO drivers from a SATA CD drive on an existing Windows virtual machine (VM).

This procedure uses a generic approach to adding drivers to Windows. See the installation documentation for your version of Windows for specific installation steps.
Prerequisites

  • A storage device containing the virtio drivers must be attached to the VM as a SATA CD drive.

Procedure

  1. Start the VM and connect to a graphical console.

  2. Log in to a Windows user session.

  3. Open Device Manager and expand Other devices to list any Unknown device.

    1. Open the Device Properties to identify the unknown device.

    2. Right-click the device and select Properties.

    3. Click the Details tab and select Hardware Ids in the Property list.

    4. Compare the Value for the Hardware Ids with the supported VirtIO drivers.

  4. Right-click the device and select Update Driver Software.

  5. Click Browse my computer for driver software and browse to the attached SATA CD drive, where the VirtIO drivers are located. The drivers are arranged hierarchically according to their driver type, operating system, and CPU architecture.

  6. Click Next to install the driver.

  7. Repeat this process for all the necessary VirtIO drivers.

  8. After the driver installs, click Close to close the window.

  9. Reboot the VM to complete the driver installation.

Installing VirtIO drivers from a container disk added as a SATA CD drive

You can install VirtIO drivers from a container disk that you add to a Windows virtual machine (VM) as a SATA CD drive.

Downloading the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk from the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog is not mandatory, because the container disk is downloaded from the Red Hat registry if it not already present in the cluster. However, downloading reduces the installation time.
Prerequisites

  • You must have access to the Red Hat registry or to the downloaded container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk in a restricted environment.

Procedure

  1. Add the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk as a CD drive by editing the VirtualMachine manifest:

    # ...
spec:
  domain:
    devices:
      disks:
        - name: virtiocontainerdisk
          bootOrder: 2 (1)
          cdrom:
            bus: sata
volumes:
  - containerDisk:
      image: container-native-virtualization/virtio-win
    name: virtiocontainerdisk
    1 OpenShift Virtualization boots the VM disks in the order defined in the VirtualMachine manifest. You can either define other VM disks that boot before the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk or use the optional bootOrder parameter to ensure the VM boots from the correct disk. If you configure the boot order for a disk, you must configure the boot order for the other disks.

  2. Apply the changes:

    • If the VM is not running, run the following command:

      $ virtctl start <vm> -n <namespace>

    • If the VM is running, reboot the VM or run the following command:

      $ oc apply -f <vm.yaml>

  3. After the VM has started, install the VirtIO drivers from the SATA CD drive.

Updating VirtIO drivers

Updating VirtIO drivers on a Windows VM

Update the virtio drivers on a Windows virtual machine (VM) by using the Windows Update service.

Prerequisites

  • The cluster must be connected to the internet. Disconnected clusters cannot reach the Windows Update service.

Procedure

  1. In the Windows Guest operating system, click the Windows key and select Settings.

  2. Navigate to Windows Update → Advanced Options → Optional Updates.

  3. Install all updates from Red Hat, Inc..

  4. Reboot the VM.

Verification

  1. On the Windows VM, navigate to the Device Manager.

  2. Select a device.

  3. Select the Driver tab.

  4. Click Driver Details and confirm that the virtio driver details displays the correct version.