Chapter 3: Creating Virtual Machines

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This chapter describes creating a virtual machine by importing a disk image distribution of cOS Core for an x86 based platform. It is assumed that KVM software with QEMU has been installed and is running in the appropriate environment and the relevant software tools have also been installed. This initial tools setup has been previously described in Chapter 1, Overview.

	Note: Refer to the Knowledge Base for ARM Setup
This chapter describes virtual machine setup for x86 platforms. For creating virtual machines on ARM based platforms, see the article in the Clavister Knowledge Base at the following link: https://kb.clavister.com/327648497

Note: Refer to the Knowledge Base for ARM Setup

This chapter describes virtual machine setup for x86 platforms. For creating virtual machines on ARM based platforms, see the article in the Clavister Knowledge Base at the following link:

https://kb.clavister.com/327648497

Memory Requirements

All cOS Core image files for virtual environments have a predefined memory allocation. This is the minimum amount of memory required for cOS Core to run and it should never be reduced. This default allocation may need to be increased depending on the cOS Core license purchased and the number of connections/tunnels that will be open simultaneously. The minimum memory recommended memory allocation is:

32 bit x86: 512 MBytes.
64 bit x86: 1 GByte.
ARMv8: 1 GByte.

The highest possible memory allocation for cOS Core is:

32 bit x86: 4 GBytes.
64 bit x86: 16 GBytes.
ARMv8: 16 GBytes.

Any available memory above these limits will not be used by cOS Core.

If the allocated memory is insufficient during operation, cOS Core will output console messages indicating this while trying to reduce the number of open connections/tunnels. Eventually, cOS Core will enter safe mode where only management access is possible.

Creating Virtual Machines on x86 Platforms

Virtual machine creation for the x86 platforms can be done in one of the following ways:

Manually using virtual machine manager. This is described next in Section 3.1, Manual x86 Setup.
Automatically using a script. An example script is supplied by Clavister and this is described next in Section 3.2, Script Based x86 Setup.

3.1. Manual x86 Setup

This section describes using Virtual Machine Manager to manually create a virtual machine for cOS Core.

Start Virtual Machine Manager and select the menu options File > Add Connection.

Double click on the new host to open it. You will be prompted for the password.

Select Create new virtual machine to start the new VM wizard. Give the new virtual machine a name and select Import existing disk image then Forward.

Select the cOS Core image file and select Choose Volume. For this general description, it is assumed that the image file has the name cOS_Core.raw but the actual filename will include a version number.

In the next step, leave the OS type and Version as Generic and select Forward.

Set the amount of RAM and the number of CPUs that are required. Only one CPU is required. cOS Core on an x86 platform requires 128 MBytes of memory as an absolute minimum. However, some memory demanding cOS Core features such as Anti-Virus scanning, IDP and Application Control will not be able to function in 128 MBytes. For this reason, 512 MBytes is recommended. The maximum possible useful memory for cOS Core on an x86 platform is 4096 MBytes. such as

Check the option Customize configuration before install and then select Finish to exit the wizard.

Under CPUs, make sure the Model property is set to the relevant value. The option Copy host CPU configuration can be used if this is unknown.

Select the disk from the navigation menu and make sure the following values are entered for the disk driver:
- Disk bus: VirtIO
- Cach mode: none
- IO mode: Hypervisor default

Set the Source device to the defined WAN bridge and set the Device model to virtio. Select Apply, then select Add Hardware.

Select Network in the navigation menu and then set Host device to the defined LAN bridge and Device model to virtio.

Repeat this process for the third interface.

There are now three network interfaces attached to the virtual machine so the option Begin installation can now be selected. This will also boot up the virtual machine.