Difference between revisions of "Creating Your Own ProxCP KVM Templates"

Revision as of 00:25, 26 July 2020

This tutorial covers how to create a custom KVM template for use with ProxCP and Proxmox.

Required: at least 1 Proxmox node

Assumption: The desired operating system ISO is already downloaded onto your Proxmox node.

The commands covered here are relevant to Debian and RHEL-based operating systems however the process can be applied to any other operating system.

Create VM

Create a new VM in Proxmox with the following settings:
- VMID: anything
- Name: operating system description (i.e. centos-8-amd64)
- OS: your chosen ISO image
- Hard Disk: use VirtIO SCSI (scsi0) with 10GB storage and no caching
- CPU & Memory: 1 kvm64 CPU core, 1GB memory
- Network: VirtIO (virtio0), vmbr0 bridge, no firewall
After creation, go to the Hardware tab and delete the CDROM ISO. Add a cloud-init drive on ide2. Add the CDROM ISO back as ide0.

Base OS

Boot the new VM and complete the base operating system installation. Generally, templates should use most default settings and minimal packages. There are a few things to keep in mind during installation:
- Partitions: create 1 ext4 root "/" partition (no LVM, no SWAP)
- Networking: use a generic hostname (i.e. localhost or centos-8-amd64)
- Packages: use minimal packages, however the OpenSSH server is required

OS Setup Stage 1

Once the base OS installation is complete, shutdown the VM
In Proxmox, go to Options and set the boot order to scsi0 only (1 option)
Go to the Hardware tab and remove the ide0 CDROM. Verify the network device is net0 using vmbr0 bridge
Power on the VM
Login as root
If you created a user during installation, remove that user with deluser [username] && rm -rf /home/[username]
Complete updates apt update && apt upgrade && apt install setserial or yum update && yum install setserial

Serial Console Setup

KVM templates have to be configured to use a serial console for noVNC access.

Edit the /etc/default/grub file:
- Add or replace

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX='quiet console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200'
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"

- Save the file
Run update-grub (debian/ubuntu) or grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg (centos/rhel)
Run cat /etc/securetty | grep ttyS0 and ensure ttyS0 is in /etc/securetty. This file may not exist which is okay.

If you are creating a template for a newer operating system using "systemd":

Run systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service && systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS0.service

Shutdown the VM shutdown -h now

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 * If you created a user during installation, remove that user with <code>deluser [username] && rm -rf /home/[username]</code>
 * Complete updates <code>apt update && apt upgrade && apt install setserial</code> or <code>yum update && yum install setserial</code>
+== Serial Console Setup ==
+KVM templates have to be configured to use a serial console for noVNC access.
+* Edit the <code>/etc/default/grub</code> file:
+** Add or replace
+ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX='quiet console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200'
+ GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
+ GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"
+** Save the file
+* Run <code>update-grub</code> (debian/ubuntu) or <code>grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg</code> (centos/rhel)
+* Run <code>cat /etc/securetty | grep ttyS0</code> and ensure ttyS0 is in /etc/securetty. This file may not exist which is okay.
+If you are creating a template for a newer operating system using "systemd":
+* Run <code>systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service && systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS0.service</code>
+* Shutdown the VM <code>shutdown -h now</code>