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Creating a Virtual Machine Using qemu and libvirt

The leadership team at your company has initiated a new project to reduce hardware expenses and reduce the total cost of ownership. Your manager has assigned you to a team focused on reducing the need of physical hardware for development and evaluation projects. You have been assigned the task of creating a minimal virtualization environment for testing the viability of virtualizing servers for the development team.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Beginner
Duration
Clock icon 30m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 26, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Install qemu and libvirt from the Command Line

    Use apt to install the following packages

    • qemu
    • qemu-kvm
    • libvirt-bin
    • bridge-utils
    • virtinst

  2. Challenge

    Confirm libvirtd Service Status and Add the User Account to the libvirt Group

    • Use systemctl to confirm the libvirtd service started.
    • Add the cloud_user account to the libvirt group.
    • Use the su command to open a new session for the cloud_user, to pick up the group changes.

  3. Challenge

    Create a Virtual Machine Using the Available CirrOS Image

    • Use elevated privileges to copy the Cirros image from the home directory to the /var/lib/libvirt/images directory.
    • Use the virt-install command to create a virtual machine using the appropriate parameters.

  4. Challenge

    Log into the Virtual Machine and Confirm Its Status

    • Log into the virtual machine.
    • Execute a few basic commands to confirm system functionality.
    • Log out of the virtual machine.
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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Follow along with the author’s guided walkthrough and build something new in your provided environment!

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