KVM Virtualization Packages: Recommended

To use virtualization, Oracle Linux virtualization packages must be installed on the system. Several virtualization packages are available that enable you to work with Oracle Linux KVM.

For more details about Oracle Linux virtualization packages, see the following sections:
  • Recommended Virtualization Packages
  • Recommended Virtualization Package Groups
  • Download Virtualization Packages

Recommended Virtualization Packages

The following individual packages are recommended for installation on virtualization host systems.

Package Description
libvirt The libvirt package provides an interface to KVM, and the libvirt daemons for managing guest VMs.

Note:

The Cockpit web console also provides a graphical interface to interact with KVM and libvirt to set up and configure VMs on a system. See Oracle Linux: Using the Cockpit Web Console for more information.
Install example: 
sudo dnf install libvirt
qemu-kvm The qemu-kvm package installs the QEMU emulator that performs hardware virtualization so that guests can access host CPU and other resources.
Install example: 
sudo dnf install qemu-kvm
qemu-img The qemu-img package install provides functionality that lets you create, convert, and modify images offline. It supports all QEMU image formats.

Warning: Never use qemu-img to modify images in use by a running virtual machine or any other process. By doing so, the image might be destroyed.

Install example: 
sudo dnf install qemu-img
virt-install The virt-install package provides command line utilities for creating and provisioning guest VMs.

Install example:

sudo dnf install virt-install
virt-viewer The virt-viewer package provides a graphical utility that can be loaded into a desktop environment to access the graphical console of a guest VM.
Install example: 
sudo dnf install virt-viewer
For information about connecting to a KVM graphical interface by opening it in Virt Viewer, see the virt-viewer(1) manual page.

Recommended Virtualization Package Groups

Virtualization packages can also be installed from package groups. Group packages contain the minimum set of packages that are required for a virtualization host.

Package Group Description
"Virtualization Hypervisor" Contains the minimum set of packages that are required for a virtualization host.
"Virtualization Tools" Contains tools for managing virtual images offline.
"Virtualization Host"

Note:

Unavailable for the aarch64 platform.
Contains "Virtualization Hypervisor" and "Virtualization Tools"
"Virtualization Client" The "Virtualization Client" package group is available for install on GUI environment Oracle Linux systems.
The command syntax to install a group package is as follows: 
sudo dnf group install "Group Package Name"
The command syntax to display the details of what a group package installs is as follows: 
sudo dnf group info "Group Package Name"

For instructions on how to install virtualization on Oracle Linux, see Install Virtualization Packages.

Download Virtualization Packages

Virtualization packages are available for download from the Oracle Linux yum server or from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). The virtualization packages are available from various upstream projects, including: