What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?

stacksofplates

I would recommend cli first and Virt-Manager second. I frequently use tools like libguestfs and it’s family of tools (virt-sysprep, virt-customize, guestmount, etc), virt-builder, virt-clone, and others.

I’ve used ProxMox before and it just slows everything down.

dafyre

I use Virt-Manager 99% of the time. I've heard that Kimichi is good as well, but haven't set it up yet.

coliver

@dafyre said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

I use Virt-Manager 99% of the time. I've heard that Kimichi is good as well, but haven't set it up yet.

It's ok. Not nearly as powerful as the CLI or Virt-manager. I'm curious if there is a cockpit console/manager out there.

scottalanmiller

@kuyaz said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

Im thinking to use Proxmox. Any thought?

That's one I'd totally avoid. Horrible company, want nothing to do with them.

black3dynamite

I like Proxmox web UI but everything else is just weird. You can't use any virsh commands to manage VMs because they not using any of the tools that libvirt provides.

Emad R

This post is deleted!

Emad R

@coliver said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

@dafyre said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

I use Virt-Manager 99% of the time. I've heard that Kimichi is good as well, but haven't set it up yet.

It's ok. Not nearly as powerful as the CLI or Virt-manager. I'm curious if there is a cockpit console/manager out there.

How To Install Cockpit Machines on CentOS 7

yum -y update
yum install cockpit
yum install cockpit-machines			# Optional for KVM Managing

systemctl start cockpit
systemctl enable cockpit.socket

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=cockpit
firewall-cmd --reload

https://server-ip:9090

olivier

Do you know any valid API that can be called remotely and doing also network and storage operations?

I can't figure why I can't find this.

hobbit666

Is there a Windows GUI to manage a KVM set-up?
As I was going to have a play when I get a spare server back in the "server room"

scottalanmiller

@hobbit666 said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

Is there a Windows GUI to manage a KVM set-up?
As I was going to have a play when I get a spare server back in the "server room"

You don't want that. A Windows GUI is the worst thing ever, even for Windows work. You want a web GUI, and that's what Cockpit is. A Windows GUI would be purely a negative.

hobbit666

@scottalanmiller Good to know

scottalanmiller

@hobbit666 said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

@scottalanmiller Good to know

Same would go for Linux, native GUIs are almost always a bad thing.

Obsolesce

I've found that the very best way to manage your KVM virtual machines is to SSH into the KVM hypervisor and use the virsh command. Nothing beats that.

If you need a GUI, I've found Virt-Manager to be the next best.

If you would like a whole management interface GUI that is similar to Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager, then you should look into oVirt. I'm currently doing some things with oVirt and I really like it.

As other's mentioned, the Kimchi-Project is an excellent way to manage your KVM server and VMs via HTML5 web interface. I've got a guide on my blog on how to set it up here: https://www.timothygruber.com/linux/fedora-26-kvm-html5-remote-access-with-web-console-via-kimchi-part-1/

There is also cockpit-machines, a part of Cockpit, a web interface, but that only allows you to reboot/shutdown/on/off your virtual machines, and also allows you to view your VMs through your browser.

olivier

I'm not sure to get Kimchi architecture. Do you need to install it on each node? There is no "pool" concept in KVM world?

FATeknollogee

@olivier Have you looked at oVirt + Gluster https://www.ovirt.org/blog/2017/04/up-and-running-with-ovirt-4.1-and-gluster-storage/

coliver

@olivier said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

I'm not sure to get Kimchi architecture. Do you need to install it on each node? There is no "pool" concept in KVM world?

Nope. It can manage several different KVM servers via a single VM.

FATeknollogee

@Tim_G I need to take 4.2 for a spin https://www.ovirt.org/blog/2017/11/introducing-ovirt-4.2.0-beta/

Obsolesce

@fateknollogee said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

@Tim_G I need to take 4.2 for a spin https://www.ovirt.org/blog/2017/11/introducing-ovirt-4.2.0-beta/

Let me know how it goes, I haven't tried 4.2 yet.

FATeknollogee

@Tim_G Will Kimchi display vm info from multiple hosts in a single pane? (I assume it's 1:1)

Obsolesce

@fateknollogee said in What is KVM Best Management Tools in 2017?:

@Tim_G Will Kimchi display vm info from multiple hosts in a single pane? (I assume it's 1:1)

No it's per server basis. If it can, I'm not aware of it and haven't even had the thought to look or try.