Virtual host environment for testing PR2 packages on different distros.
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**Setting up the Host machine: **
Before getting started, you'll probably be working on some Ubuntu Server, so you'll need a GUI for managing the virtual machines. This is done by enabling xforwarding in `/etc/ssh/sshd_config`, and ensuring that: `X11Forwarding yes` is in there. Then you can run `ssh -Y user@serverip` to have a GUI pop up when messing around with the Virtual Manager.
You'll also need an .iso image to use to install to the virtual machine. Easiest way to do so is to run the following command (for 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 Server): `wget cse.unr.edu/~ajaniburgos/ubuntu-server.iso`
**Setting up a Virtual Machine:**
On your big boi host machine, run: `sudo virt-manager`
Something like this will show up, this is the general virtual machine manager we'll be using for our network. Click on 'Create a new virtual machine' on the top-left corner, and then follow along like so:
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//Browse for the filepath of the .iso you're using for the VMs//
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//Specify the amount of memory and processor cores being used for the VM//
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//Specify the hard drive space allocated for the VM to use for storage//
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//Specify the name that you will refer to that VM as, and double-check that everything looks good//
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//Go through the installation process in the VM that pops up//
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Setting up one VM and then cloning is the best method to set up a virtual network, as you won't need to sit through the installation process on each VM, unless you want to use different operating systems on each VM. To clone a VM, simply right-click the VM in virt-manager and click 'Clone'. A window will pop up like this:
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//Specify the name of the VM. The machine itself will be an exact copy, so make sure to update the hostname and any other necessary information when you boot into the VM itself//
**Setting up Your Virtual Network**
First you need a bridge, we'll be using openvswitch to create our bridge: `sudo apt install openvswitch`
We'll be using virsh to manage our virtual network: `sudo apt install virsh`
//Creating our virtual bridge//
`sudo ovs-vsctl add-br br0`
//Making sure our bridge shows up//
`sudo ovs-vsctl show`
//Configuring VM network settings//
We'll be using virsh from here on out, use `sudo virsh list` to show all the VMs that are up and running.
As per the network configuration picture above, we see that //base// and //pi// VMs are connected to the external network, and //c1// and //c2// are internal. We use the bridge, //br0// to connect each machine to the internal network.
`sudo virsh edit <vm-name>`
//Look for a bridge interface section, and change your source bridge to 'br0', and add the section: <virtualport type='openvswitch' />(don't worry about the parameters, virsh will handle that for you), like so: //
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To get the external nodes online, we'll need to add the extra NICs (which has been physically plugged in to the host machine). HOWEVER, before we do so we need to
**NOTE: Make sure the VMs are turned off before modifying anything, else the changes won't take place afterwards**
Go back to virt-manager, and Open your external nodes, in this case, we'll use base:
//Click the 'i' icon on the top left corner, and in that menu click on "Add Hardware" at the bottom of the left column like so://
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//Click on "Network", change the Network source to "Host device <device_name & port number>"(make sure each VM is using a different port, in this case we have 2 extra ports in our NIC, so enp2s0f0 and enp2s0f1 in our case), change source mode to "Passthrough", and the Device model as "virtio"//
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Now for the internal network, we simply need to adjust the other NIC that's in there, go back to your VM information
//Click on the NIC that exists (for the external nodes, make sure it's not the one we made), change the Network source to "Specify shared device name", type in "br0" for the bridge name, and change the device model to "virtio", like so: //
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After that, restart the VM's and double-check that the network works: Can you ping the internal nodes, and can the external nodes ping outside of the network?