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tiCrypt 2.18.1

Libvirt Hosts

info

For backend configuration of Libvirt hosts, see Backend: Libvirt Configuration.

Prerequisites

User Role:

Sub-admin, Admin, Super-admin (Super-admin to shut down all VMs on a host)

Permission Requirements

  • Virtual Machines
    • View their VMs and VMs shared with them (to check utilization)
  • VM Administration
    • View VM host machines and their hardware in any realm
    • Add VM host machines to realms (to register a host)
    • Edit VM host machines in any realm (to edit a host or change its state)
    • Remove VM host machines from any realm (to delete a host)
    • View all VM hardware setups (to check utilization)

Access Libvirt Hosts​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.

The following table describes the columns of the Libvirt Hosts table.

ColumnContent
NameThe name of the host.
RealmThe realm the host belongs to.
StateDisabled, NoSchedule or Enabled.
ConnectedWhether the backend is connected to the host.
VMsThe number of tiCrypt VMs on the host.
DomainsThe number of Libvirt domains on the host.
CoresThe cores in use against the cores of the host's hardware profile.
Node MemoryThe memory used on the host against its total memory.
VM MemoryThe memory given to VMs against the memory of the host's hardware profile.
DevicesThe devices in use against the devices of the host's hardware profile.
Exclusive MACsWhether the host uses a strict MAC address limit.
MACsThe MAC addresses in use against the size of the host's MAC address list.
URIThe connection URI of the host.
Hardware ProfileThe hardware profile assigned to the host.
CreatedWhen the host was registered.
ModifiedWhen the host was last changed.

View Basic Information of a Libvirt Host​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host whose information you want to view.
  5. Click the View button in the top right panel.
  6. Review the Libvirt host panel.

The following table describes the content of the Libvirt host panel.

SectionContent
Basic infoStatus, Connection error (when the host is disconnected and the backend reports an error), State, URI, NAT address and NAT port base (when static address translation is set), Realm, Hardware profile, Created on and Last modified on.
UsageVMs, Domains, Cores, Node memory, VM memory, Devices, Exclusive MACs and MACs.
Node hardwareCPU model, CPU speed, Topology (processors, cores and threads) and CPUs.
Access whitelistThe teams, projects and users allowed to run VMs on the host, or Unrestricted.
Running N VMsShown when you can see all VMs. Lists the VMs running on the host.

View Cores, Node Memory, VM Memory, and Device Quotas of a Libvirt Host​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host to view quotas.
  5. In the bottom Charts section, view the cores, node memory, VM memory, devices and MACs quotas.

Register a New Libvirt Host Machine​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Click the Register new Libvirt host button in the top right panel.
  5. In the Register a Libvirt host machine pop-up, enter the host name, realm, URI, hardware profile and state.
  6. Under Authorization list, keep Unrestricted or select Restricted and choose the allowed teams, projects and users.
  7. Click Save.
Result:

The message "Registered <name>" appears and the host is added to the table. If its state is Enabled, tiCrypt connects to it and starts scheduling VMs to it.

The following table describes the fields of the Register a Libvirt host machine pop-up.

FieldDescription
NameRequired, up to 80 characters, without any of / \ | " : * ? < > { }. It must differ from the name of every other host.
RealmRequired. Only Libvirt realms are shown.
URIRequired, up to 120 characters. The connection string the backend uses to reach the host, typically qemu+ssh://ticrypt@hostname/system, where the backend must resolve hostname. The pop-up does not check the format.
Hardware ProfileRequired. The profile that describes the host's CPUs, memory and devices.
StateRequired. Disabled: "Do not connect to this host until told otherwise". No Scheduling: "Connect to this host, but do not schedule VMs to it". Enabled: "Connect to this host and schedule VMs to it".
Use static address translationOptional. Shows NAT Address, which must be a valid IPv4 address, and NAT Port Base, a whole number from 1 to 65535.
Use MAC address listOptional. Shows the MAC Address List and the Strict Limit or Flexible Limit choice. Flexible Limit is selected by default.
Authorization list"Control which teams, projects, and users can run VMs on this host." Unrestricted (the default) makes the host available for all teams, projects and users. Restricted shows Allowed Teams, Allowed Projects and Allowed Users.
note

A Restricted authorization list needs at least one team, project or user. With all three lists empty, a warning asks you to select one or to switch to Unrestricted, and Save stays disabled. The authorization list needs backend 3.13.10 or later.

Register a New Libvirt Host Machine with Static Address Translation​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Click the Register new Libvirt host button in the top right panel.
  5. In the pop-up, enter the host name, realm, URI, hardware profile and state.
  6. Tick Use static address translation.
  7. Enter the NAT address and NAT port base.
  8. Once done, click Save.
note

Use NAT settings via static address translation when the backend cannot reach VM traffic directly. The NAT address must be the IP address of the VM host as accessed by the backend. The NAT port base is the first number used for translation. The translation value is the difference between the VM's IP and the VM network IP.

For example: VM IP: 192.168.2.100 VM network IP: 192.168.2.0/24 then the translation value is: 100

Register a New Libvirt Host Machine with a Static MAC Address List​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Click the Register new Libvirt host button in the top right panel.
  5. In the pop-up, enter the host name, realm, URI, hardware profile and state.
  6. Tick Use MAC address list.
  7. In MAC Address List, type a MAC address in the form XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX and press Enter, or click Import to load the addresses from a file on your computer.
  8. Select a Strict Limit or Flexible Limit MAC address limit.
  9. Once done, click Save.

A typed address counts as soon as it is valid: it is added when you press Enter or leave the box, so you do not need to click Add. Text that is not a valid MAC address keeps Save disabled until you fix or clear it.

info
  • Strict limit: if the MAC address pool is exhausted, new VMs cannot launch on the host.
  • Flexible limit: if the MAC address pool is exhausted, the system automatically assigns a random MAC address to the VM.
caution

When importing MAC addresses, only NVIDIA license files are supported.

tip

You can use both static address translation via NAT settings and a static MAC address list in a Libvirt host.

Edit a Libvirt Host​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host to edit.
  5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
  6. In the Update <name> pop-up, edit the host name, the authorization list and, for a disabled host, the other parameters.
  7. Click Save.
Result:

The message "Updated <name>" appears. If nothing changed, "No changes made" appears instead.

note

A host in the Enabled or No Scheduling state counts as active. For an active host, the pop-up shows "No changes can be made to this host while its state is set to active. To update properties other than the name, disable the host first. Disabling may interrupt VM services on this specific host." The name and the Authorization list stay editable.

Change the State of a Libvirt Host​

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host to change its state.
  5. Click the Change state button in the top right panel. It works on one host at a time.
  6. In the Change <name>'s state pop-up, change state to Disabled, Do not schedule new VMs, or Enabled.
  7. Click Disable <name>, Do not schedule to <name>, or Enable <name> based on the selected option.
note
  • Disabled: the host is not connected.
  • Do not schedule new VMs: the host is connected, but VMs are not scheduled.
  • Enabled: the host is connected, and VMs are scheduled based on host capacity and usage.

Check the Utilization of VMs, Cores, Memory, and Devices on Libvirt Host(s)​

bulk-action

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host(s) to check utilization.
  5. Click the Open full menu button in the top right panel.
  6. Select Check utilization.
  7. In the Host utilization for <host | N hosts> pop-up, check the Name, Realm ID, VMs, Cores, Memory and Devices of each host.
  8. Click Close.

Each figure is shown as actual/declared. The actual value is counted in your browser from the running VMs it knows about; the declared value is the count the backend keeps for the host. A cell is red when the two differ.

Shut Down All VMs on Libvirt Host(s)​

bulk-action

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host(s) to shut down all VMs.
  5. Click the Open full menu button in the top right panel.
  6. Select Shutdown all VMs. Only a Super-admin sees this action.
  7. In the Shut down all VMs on <host | N hosts>? pop-up, click Shutdown.
warning

All VMs, service VMs, and data-in VMs running on the host will be shut down. All non-persistent data will be permanently lost.

Forcefully Shut Down All VMs on Libvirt Host(s)​

bulk-action

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host(s) to force shut down all VMs.
  5. Click the Open full menu button in the top right panel.
  6. Select Shutdown all VMs. Only a Super-admin sees this action.
  7. In the pop-up, tick I accept the risk. This is needed for Force shutdown only.
  8. Click Force shutdown.
warning

Force shutdown is a last resort as it can damage file systems on mounted drives, potentially rendering them unmountable.

Delete Libvirt Host(s)​

bulk-action

  1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
  2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
  3. Click Libvirt Hosts in the left panel.
  4. Select the host(s) to delete.
  5. Click the Delete button in the top right panel.
  6. In the Delete <host | N Libvirt hosts>? prompt, click Delete <host | N Libvirt hosts>.
Result:

The host is removed from the table. The prompt states: "Virtual machines will not be scheduled to this host until you re-register it in the system."

caution

To run VMs on this host again, re-register it in the system. If you lack the Add VM host machines to realms permission, the prompt warns: "You lack permission to register Libvirt hosts so you will not be able to undo this action!"