Modifying VMs

Attaching ISO

  • ISO images can be attached to the cdrom drive of a VM whilst booting the VM

  • Use the MCVirt utility to start the VM, using the ‘–iso’ parameter to define the ISO image to be attached to the VM:

    mcvirt start <VM Name> --iso <Name of ISO file>
    

ISO Management

ISOs are stored on a per-node basis.

The ISOs present on the local node can be determined by:

mcvirt iso list

ISOs can be added using either of the following:

mcvirt iso add --from-url http://example.com/example.iso
mcvirt iso add --from-path ./local.iso

Increase Disk Size

  • Power off the VM

  • Use MCVirt to increase the size of the disk - you will need to find the disk ID, which can be found by looking at the VM configuration (in most cases where a VM has one disk attached to it, it should be 1):

    mcvirt update --increase-disk <Amount to increase (MB)> --disk-id <Disk Id> <VM Name>
    

Change Memory/CPU Allocation

  • Update the VM memory allocation and virtual CPU count using the following:

    mcvirt update --memory <New Memory Allocation (MB)> <VM Name>
    mcvirt update --cpu-count <New CPU count> <VM Name>
    
  • The changes will take affect the next time the VM is booted. If the VM is running, it will need to be powered off and started again.

Add Additional Disk

  • Use the following MCVirt command to add an additional disk to a VM:

    mcvirt update --add-disk <Size of disk (MB)> <VM Name>
    
  • The device will be attached to the VM the next time it’s booted. If the VM is running, it will need to be powered off and started again.

Add/Remove Network Adapter

  • Use the following MCVirt command to add/remove network adapters to/from a VM

  • Add an adapter:

    mcvirt update --add-network <Network Name> <VM Name>
    
  • Remove an adapter:

    mcvirt update --remove-network '<NIC MAC Address>' <VM Name>
    
  • Use the formatting ‘00:11:22:33:44:55’ for the MAC address

  • The device will altered the next time the VM is booted. If the VM is running, it will need to be powered off and started again.

VM Locking

VMs can be locked by superusers, which stops them from being started, stopped or migrated

  • To lock a VM:

    mcvirt lock --lock <VM Name>
    
  • To unlock a VM:

    mcvirt lock --unlock <VM Name>
    
  • Users can check the lock status of a VM by running:

    mcvirt lock --check-lock <VM Name>