[libvirt-users] Doc/web site problems
Hi all -- I have one meta-question, and two real questions. 1) What's the best place to report bugs in the docs, FAQ, web site, or wiki? I have found two -- see next points. (I'm happy to make the fixes myself if I can, but I'm pretty ignorant about libvirt. Can't fix the docs without knowing the truth.) 2) In the FAQ, under "networking is unavailable in virt-manager / virsh - libvirt's default network fails to start", it says "Here is a list of the networking-related packages that need to be installed for libvirt networking to work properly:". But it does not say if those packages are supposed to be installed on the host or the guest! It might be obvious to you, but it isn't to me. 3) In http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking#Guest_configuration, it says "the following XML would be used in the guest:" ... but it doesn't say WHERE to put that configuration! Is it a snippet to add to an existing file? A new file I have to create? Something else? Very frustrating! ;-( Thanks -- Greg
On 11/11/2013 05:04 PM, Greg Ward wrote:
Hi all --
I have one meta-question, and two real questions.
1) What's the best place to report bugs in the docs, FAQ, web site, or wiki? I have found two -- see next points. (I'm happy to make the fixes myself if I can, but I'm pretty ignorant about libvirt. Can't fix the docs without knowing the truth.)
Here is as good as any. If the bug is in the wiki, feel free to fix it yourself. For all remaining docs, both the online version (including FAQ) and docs included in a tarball are generated from the same sources, under the libvirt.git/docs directory. Easiest is submitting actual patches to those files to libvir-list@redhat.com (see http://libvirt.org/hacking.html for getting started on submitting a patch); but it is also permissible to just propose wording changes and rely on the generosity of other list readers to turn it into a formal patch (that approach doesn't scale as well, but docs are important enough that it will generally get done faster than comparable requests for features that have no accompanying patch). In fact, doc patches initiated by non-developers are often the best, because developers are often too close to the code to know what the average user will want to know. So please, keep up the suggestions!
2) In the FAQ, under "networking is unavailable in virt-manager / virsh - libvirt's default network fails to start", it says "Here is a list of the networking-related packages that need to be installed for libvirt networking to work properly:". But it does not say if those packages are supposed to be installed on the host or the guest! It might be obvious to you, but it isn't to me.
URL of the FAQ page with the missing information? Offhand, I suspect this is in reference to the host (particularly since the guest need not run Linux in the first place); but seeing the actual list might help me know for sure.
3) In http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking#Guest_configuration, it says "the following XML would be used in the guest:" ... but it doesn't say WHERE to put that configuration! Is it a snippet to add to an existing file? A new file I have to create? Something else? Very frustrating! ;-(
A snippet to add to the existing <domain> XML that you would see using 'virsh edit' (or with the virDomainDefineXML() API). Yes, I can see how additional wording, or even a pointer to http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html, might make the page easier to follow. -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
On Mon, Nov 11, 2013, at 07:17 PM, Eric Blake wrote:
On 11/11/2013 05:04 PM, Greg Ward wrote:
2) In the FAQ, under "networking is unavailable in virt-manager / virsh - libvirt's default network fails to start", it says "Here is a list of the networking-related packages that need to be installed for libvirt networking to work properly:". But it does not say if those packages are supposed to be installed on the host or the guest! It might be obvious to you, but it isn't to me.
URL of the FAQ page with the missing information?
Oops! It's question 1.3.11, at http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/FAQ#networking_is_unavailable_in_virt-manager_....
Offhand, I suspect this is in reference to the host (particularly since the guest need not run Linux in the first place);
Good point. I *knew* someone on this list would have a better understanding than me!
3) In http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking#Guest_configuration, it says "the following XML would be used in the guest:" ... but it doesn't say WHERE to put that configuration! Is it a snippet to add to an existing file? A new file I have to create? Something else? Very frustrating! ;-(
A snippet to add to the existing <domain> XML that you would see using 'virsh edit' (or with the virDomainDefineXML() API).
OK. What's <domain>? "virsh list" doesn't list anything, despite the fact that I still have one VM visible in the virt-manager GUI. (FWIW, consider me a libvirt novice, despite trying out virt-manager every year or so for the last 3 years or so. I've just never had much luck with it. I finally got annoyed enough to dig into the docs a little bit, which just got me more annoyed, so here I am.) Thanks -- Greg
On 11/13/2013 08:44 AM, Greg Ward wrote:
On Mon, Nov 11, 2013, at 07:17 PM, Eric Blake wrote:
On 11/11/2013 05:04 PM, Greg Ward wrote:
2) In the FAQ, under "networking is unavailable in virt-manager / virsh - libvirt's default network fails to start", it says "Here is a list of the networking-related packages that need to be installed for libvirt networking to work properly:". But it does not say if those packages are supposed to be installed on the host or the guest! It might be obvious to you, but it isn't to me.
URL of the FAQ page with the missing information?
Oops! It's question 1.3.11, at http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/FAQ#networking_is_unavailable_in_virt-manager_....
Edited now to add "on the host" in the appropriate location.
A snippet to add to the existing <domain> XML that you would see using 'virsh edit' (or with the virDomainDefineXML() API).
OK. What's <domain>? "virsh list" doesn't list anything, despite the fact that I still have one VM visible in the virt-manager GUI.
Ah. First step then is to make sure you are connecting to the same libvirtd instance as virt-manager is (by default, virsh run as yourself tries to connect to qemu:///session, while virt-manager tries to connect to qemu:///system). Double-check what 'virsh uri' outputs to see if you are connecting to the session instance (which would explain not seeing anything); and if so, use 'virsh -c qemu:///system list --all' to see the difference (the virsh man page also documents some environment variables you can set to avoid having to type -c ... all the time). The <domain> I'm referring to is the top-level element in the XML that you would get by 'virsh -c qemu:///system dumpxml $dom', or which pulls up in the editor for 'virsh -c qemu:///system edit $dom'.
(FWIW, consider me a libvirt novice, despite trying out virt-manager every year or so for the last 3 years or so. I've just never had much luck with it. I finally got annoyed enough to dig into the docs a little bit, which just got me more annoyed, so here I am.)
Please keep at it, and please keep giving us feedback - it's insights like these that will make it easier to improve the docs for other first-time users. -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
On Wed, Nov 13, 2013, at 10:52 AM, Eric Blake wrote:
OK. What's <domain>? "virsh list" doesn't list anything, despite the fact that I still have one VM visible in the virt-manager GUI.
Ah. First step then is to make sure you are connecting to the same libvirtd instance as virt-manager is (by default, virsh run as yourself tries to connect to qemu:///session, while virt-manager tries to connect to qemu:///system).
That seems to have been fixed: virsh 1.1.1 (on Ubuntu 13.10) connects to qemu:///system by default. (So, it appears, does virt-manager.) I only have one libvirtd instance, and it's running as root: I presume that is the 'system' instance? Turns out that "virsh list" does not list powered-off VMs. I either have to boot it up or use "virsh list --all". That tells me what I already know: that the *name* of my single VM is "sl6". If I run "virsh edit sl6", then indeed I get an editor full of XML. Progress! Does this mean that "domain" and "name" are the same thing? Anyways, I've updated the wiki page: please check http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking#Guest_configuration to see if I got it right. Thanks for your help! Greg
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Greg Ward