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A.10. Shutting down Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Guests on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Host

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest virtual machines with the Minimal installation option does not install the acpid (acpi daemon). Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 no longer requires this package, as it has been taken over by systemd. However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest virtual machines running on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 host still require it.
Without the acpid package, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest virtual machine does not shut down when the virsh shutdown command is executed. The virsh shutdown command is designed to gracefully shut down guest virtual machines.
Using the virsh shutdown command is easier and safer for system administration. Without graceful shut down with the virsh shutdown command a system administrator must log into a guest virtual machine manually or send the Ctrl-Alt-Del key combination to each guest virtual machine.

Note

Other virtualized operating systems may be affected by this issue. The virsh shutdown command requires that the guest virtual machine operating system is configured to handle ACPI shut down requests. Many operating systems require additional configurations on the guest virtual machine operating system to accept ACPI shut down requests.

Procedure A.4. Workaround for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guests

  1. Install the acpid package

    The acpid service listens and processes ACPI requests.
    Log into the guest virtual machine and install the acpid package on the guest virtual machine:
    # yum install acpid
  2. Enable the acpid service on the guest

    Set the acpid service to start during the guest virtual machine boot sequence and start the service:
    # chkconfig acpid on
    # service acpid start
  3. Prepare guest domain XML

    Edit the domain XML file to include the following element. Replace the virtio serial port with org.qemu.guest_agent.0 and use your guest's name instead of the one shown. In this example, the guest is guest1. Remember to save the file.
    
    <channel type='unix'>
       <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/guest1.agent'/>
       <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
    </channel>
        
    
    

    Figure A.1. Guest XML replacement

  4. Install the QEMU guest agent

    Install the QEMU guest agent (QEMU-GA) and start the service as directed in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide.
  5. Shut down the guest

    1. List the known guest virtual machines so you can retrieve the name of the one you want to shutdown.
      # virsh list --all
         Id Name              State
      ----------------------------------
        14 guest1             running
      
    2. Shut down the guest virtual machine.
      # virsh shutdown guest1
      
      guest virtual machine guest1 is being shutdown
      
    3. Wait a few seconds for the guest virtual machine to shut down. Verify it is shutdown.
      # virsh list --all
       Id Name                 State
      ----------------------------------
       14 guest1               shut off
      
    4. Start the guest virtual machine named guest1, with the XML file you edited.
      # virsh start guest1
    5. Shut down the acpi in the guest1 guest virtual machine.
      # virsh shutdown --mode acpi guest1
    6. List all the guest virtual machines again, guest1 should still be on the list, and it should indicate it is shut off.
      #  virsh list --all
         Id Name                 State
      ----------------------------------
         14 guest1               shut off
      
    7. Start the guest virtual machine named guest1, with the XML file you edited.
      # virsh start guest1
    8. Shut down the guest1 guest virtual machine guest agent.
      # virsh shutdown --mode agent guest1
    9. List the guest virtual machines. guest1 should still be on the list, and it should indicate it is shut off.
      # virsh list --all
         Id Name                 State
      ----------------------------------
         guest1                shut off
      
The guest virtual machine will shut down using the virsh shutdown command for the consecutive shutdowns, without using the workaround described above.
In addition to the method described above, a guest can be automatically shutdown, by stopping the libvirt-guests service. See Section A.11, “Optional Workaround to Allow for Graceful Shutdown” for more information on this method.