KVM Virtualization Packages: Recommended

WARNING:

Oracle Linux 7 is now in Extended Support. See Oracle Linux Extended Support and Oracle Open Source Support Policies for more information.

Migrate applications and data to Oracle Linux 8 or Oracle Linux 9 as soon as possible.

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 libvirtd daemon for managing guest VMs.

Note:

Note that the Cockpit web console also provides a graphical interface to interact with KVM and libvirtd to set up and configure VMs on a system. See Oracle Linux: Using the Cockpit Web Console for more information.
Install example: 
sudo dnf module install -y virt
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) --Linux man page.

Recommended Group Virtualization Packages

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

Group Package Description
virt The virt package group installs a collection of virtualization packages that include libvirt, quemu-kvm, and other dependencies.
virtualization client The virtualization client package group is available for install on GUI environment Oracle Linux systems.
virtualization host The virtualization host package group contains the minimum set of packages that are required for a virtualization host.
The command syntax to install a group package is as follows: 
sudo dnf module install group-package-name
The command syntax to display the details of what a group package installs is as follows: 
sudo dnf info group-package-name

For instructions on how to install virtualization on Oracle Linux 7, 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: