How to enable QEMU guest agent in KVM

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • KVM
  • libvirt guest-agent

Issue

  • How to enable QEMU guest agent for KVM guests?
  • How to connect KVM libvirtd guests using the channel?

Resolution

RHEL host modifications:

1. Edit the guest configuration:

Raw
# virsh edit <guest-name>

2. Find the <devices> section in the xml file and add the following new device.

RHEL 6 Host

Raw
<channel type='unix'>
   <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/<guest-name>.agent'/>
   <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
</channel>

RHEL 7 Host

Raw
<channel type='unix'>
   <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
</channel>

3. Save the modified guest description.

Guest side modifications:

4. Install the guest-agent:

Raw
# yum install qemu-guest-agent

5. Enable the agent

RHEL 6 Guest

Raw
# chkconfig qemu-ga on
# service qemu-ga start

RHEL 7 Guest

Raw
# systemctl start qemu-guest-agent
# systemctl enable qemu-guest-agent

Test the communication

6. Test the communication from the KVM Host:

Raw
# virsh qemu-agent-command <guest-name> '{"execute":"guest-info"}'

It should return something like this:

Raw
{"return":{"version":"1.5.3","supported_commands":[{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-set-vcpus"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-get-vcpus"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-network-get-interfaces"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-suspend-hybrid"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-suspend-ram"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-suspend-disk"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-fstrim"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-fsfreeze-thaw"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-fsfreeze-freeze"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-fsfreeze-status"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-flush"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-seek"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-write"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-read"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-close"},{"enabled":false,"name":"guest-file-open"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-shutdown"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-info"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-set-time"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-get-time"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-ping"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-sync"},{"enabled":true,"name":"guest-sync-delimited"}]}}

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