Install Virtualization Packages

Oracle Linux 9: Install Virtualization Packages

The following information describes how to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 9 system.

What Do You Need?

User credentials with administrator privileges.
To install the Oracle KVM Stack, the following requirements must be met:
- Yum repository must be enabled or the ULN channel must be subscribed. See Enable Yum Repositories or Subscribe to ULN Channels for instructions.
  
  Note:
  To install the Default KVM Stack, you don't need to enable any repositories or subscribe to any other ULN channels.
- The host system must be running the latest UEK R7.

Steps

Follow these steps to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 9 system.

Log in to the Oracle Linux 9 system.
Ensure that the latest packages are installed on the system:
```
sudo dnf update
```
Install the latest available base virtualization packages and other utilities:
- To install the Default KVM Stack:
```
sudo dnf group install "Virtualization Host"
sudo dnf install qemu-kvm virt-install virt-viewer
```
- To install the Oracle KVM Stack, first remove any existing virtualization packages and then install the packages as usual:
```
sudo dnf remove libvirt qemu-kvm edk2
sudo dnf group install "Virtualization Host"
sudo dnf install qemu-kvm virt-install virt-viewer
```
(Recommended) Reboot the system to ensure that the virtualization packages and utilities were updated.

Note:
After performing a system update, reboot the system to ensure that the system restarts with the latest packages.
Start, enable, or check the service of the libvirtd service. See Libvirtd Service: Management Tasks for instructions.

Note:
Before you can create and manage KVM instances, the libvirtd service must be started and enabled.
Verify that the system can act as act as a virtual host. See Validate Host System
After verifying that the system can act as a virtual host, you can proceed to KVM Instances: Create and Manage.

Oracle Linux 8: Install Virtualization Packages

The following information describes how to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 8 system.

What Do You Need?

Administrator privileges.
To install the Oracle KVM Stack, the following requirements must be met:
- Yum repository must be enabled or the ULN channel must be subscribed. See Enable Yum Repositories or Subscribe to ULN Channels for instructions.
  
  Note:
  To install the Default KVM Stack, you don't need to enable any repositories or subscribe to any other ULN channels.
- The host system must be running the latest UEK R6 or UEK R7.

Steps

Follow these steps to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 8 system.

Log in to the Oracle Linux 8 system.
Ensure that the latest packages are installed on the system:
```
sudo dnf update
```
Install the KVM virtualization stack and other utilities:
- To install the Default KVM Stack:
```
sudo dnf module install virt
sudo dnf install virt-install virt-viewer
```
- To install the Oracle KVM Stack, install the module stream that you want to use. For example, to install the latest stream:
```
sudo dnf module install virt:kvm_utils3
sudo dnf install virt-install virt-viewer
```
(Recommended) Reboot the system to ensure that the virtualization packages and utilities were updated.

Note:
After performing a system update, reboot the system to ensure that the system restarts with the latest packages.
Start, enable, or check the service of the libvirtd service. See Libvirtd Service: Management Tasks for instructions.

Note:
Before you can create and manage KVM instances, the libvirtd service must be started and enabled.
Verify that the system can act as act as a virtual host. See Validate Host System for instructions.
After verifying that the system can act as a virtual host, proceed to KVM Instances: Create and Manage.

Oracle Linux 7: Install Virtualization Packages

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.

The following information describes how to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 7 system.

What Do You Need?

Administrator privileges.
To install the Oracle KVM Stack, the following requirements must be met:
- Yum repository must be enabled or the ULN channel must be subscribed. See Enable Yum Repositories or Subscribe to ULN Channels for instructions.
  
  Note:
  To install the Default KVM Stack, you don't need to enable any repositories or subscribe to any other ULN channels.
- The host system must be running the latest UEK R4, UEK R5, or UEK R6.

Steps

Follow these steps to install the virtualization packages on an Oracle Linux 7 system.

Log in to the Oracle Linux 7 system.
Ensure that the latest packages are installed on the system:
```
sudo yum update
```

Install the latest available base virtualization packages and other utilities:

sudo yum groupinstall "Virtualization Host"
sudo yum install qemu-kvm virt-install virt-viewer

(Recommended) Restart the system to ensure that the packages and utilities were updated.

Note:
After performing a system update, reboot the system to ensure that the system restarts with the latest packages.
Start, enable, or check the service of the libvirtd service. See Libvirtd Service: Management Tasks for instructions.

Note:
Before you can create and manage KVM instances, the libvirtd service must be started and enabled.
Verify that the system can act as act as a virtual host. See Validate Host System for instructions.
After verifying that the system can act as a virtual host, proceed to KVM Instances: Create and Manage.

Validate Host System

The libvirt package provides a validation utility that checks whether a system can function correctly as a virtualization host. The utility can check for several virtualization capabilities, but KVM functionality is covered by testing the qemu virtualization type.

Run the virt-host-validate qemu command to validate the host system:
```
sudo virt-host-validate qemu
```
If all checks return a PASS value, the system can host guest VMs. If any of the tests fail, a reason is provided and information is displayed on how to resolve the issue, if such an option is available.
Note:

If the following message is displayed, the system isn't capable of functioning as a KVM host:
```
QEMU: Checking for hardware virtualization: FAIL (Only emulated CPUs are
      available, performance will be significantly limited)
```
If you try to create or start a VM on a host where this message is displayed, the action is likely to fail.