Contents
Getting Help
List available commands
rnl-virt -h|--help
Information about disk commands
rnl-virt disk -h|--help
Information about switch commands
rnl-virt switch -h|--help
Information about virtual machine commands
rnl-virt vm -h|--help
Help about a specific command
rnl-virt <section> <command> -h|--help
Creating and managing a virtual switch
Create a virtual switch
Run the command
rnl-virt switch create <name of switch>
The name should be simple, with only letters or numbers.
Create a virtual hub
Run the command
rnl-virt switch create <name of switch> --hub
Enter the console of a virtual switch or hub
Run the command
rnl-virt switch manage <name of switch or hub>
This will open a command prompt where you can run commands for the virtual switch.
The commands can be found on the VDE documentation.
Shutdown a virtual switch or hub
Open a command promp for the virtual switch, and in it, run the command shutdown
.
$ rnl-virt switch manage <name of switch> VDE switch V2.3.2 (C) Virtual Square Team (coord. R. Davoli) 2005,2006,2007 - GPLv2 vde[/run/user/1234567/rnl-virt/net/name]: shutdown $
Creating and managing a virtual machine
Create the hard drive
Run the command
rnl-virt disk create <name of disk> <template>
The template should be any of the ones listed by the command rnl-virt disk list-templates
.
A new file called <name of disk>.qcow2
will be created in the current folder.
To change the folder, pass the --path <folder to use>
argument.
Create the virtual machine
Run the command
rnl-virt vm create <name of vm> <template> <path to disk>
The template should be any of the ones listed by the command rnl-virt vm list-templates
. If you’re in the same folder where you created the disk, the path to disk should be <name of disk>.qcow2
.
This creates a VM without networking. To create a network with basic connectivity to the outside, add the argument --nat
. To create the VM with a connection to the virtual switch or hub, add the argument --switch <name of switch or hub>
. To add multiple switches or hubs, list all the names, split by spaces.
To add to the VM an interface to network with other VMs running in other workstations, add the argument --tap
.
To mount an ISO as a CD inside the virtual machine, add the argument --cdrom <name of ISO>
. The ISO can be one from a list provided by the command rnl-virt vm list-cds
or a full path to an ISO file.
For example, to create a virtual machine with name example1
based on the SSof template, disk example1
in the current folder, connected only to the Internet, run the commands:
rnl-virt disk create example1 SSof rnl-virt vm create example1 SSof example1.qcow2 --nat
To create a virtual machine with name example2
based on the SIRS template, disk example2
in the current folder, connected to two switches switch1
and switch2
, a hub hub1
and the ISO cd.iso
, run the commands:
rnl-virt disk create example2 SIRS rnl-virt vm create example2 SIRS example2.qcow2 --cdrom cd.iso --switch switch1 switch2 hub1
Mount an ISO to a virtual machine without CDs inserted
To insert a virtual CD to the virtual machine, if it has no CDs yet, run the command
rnl-virt vm insert-cd <name of vm> <name of iso>
The ISO can be one from a list provided by the command rnl-virt vm list-cds
or a full path to an ISO file.
Eject an ISO mounted on a virtual machine
To eject a virtual CD on the virtual machine, run the command
rnl-virt vm eject <name of vm>
Start and open the virtual machine
To start the virtual machine, run the command
rnl-virt vm start <name>
To open its screen, run the command
rnl-virt vm open <name>
Shut down the virtual machine
To command a VM to close by itself, either do it from the VM itself, or run the command
rnl-virt vm close <name>
To force a VM to shutdown, run the command
rnl-virt vm close <name> --force
This might cause data in the VM to be lost. Run at your own risk.