Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On
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Now don't get me wrong, I'm still working with Fedora 29 and cockpit to create and manage Virtual Machines.
But in order to create a complete automated system, I've needed to setup a backup system, install agents and then monitor it.
Not only that, but I'm sure there is some means of automating the monitoring portion of KVM, but I've yet to get there and figure it out. I'm sure it's not just a few clicks or even a solidified "we recommend this method" type of conversation. Being Linux is the land of options and there are so many options to pick and choose from.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
KVM with Cockpit is fully integrated and is all included in one system. No deploying something additional,
This is not true. Cockpit is lacking quite a few features that require either cli or something like Virt-Manager.
That's why I pointed out for more advanced installs you need that. But for the most basic, you do not. You can get up and running with nothing but Cockpit.
It's lacking basic features like cloning and snapshots. That's not advanced.
Okay, that makes sense, but for a basic "up and running" those are a later feature. Not part of the initial setup, which is all that I was saying.
I wouldn't qualify that as advanced. Backups out of the box is pretty high on my list of "OK I have this VM, how do I back it up" list.
Backups are simply out of scope completely, those are not part of any hypervisor. Clones and other under the hood features required to be handled by the hypervisor, while a grey area still, are way more "part of a running system."
But backups are definitely out of bounds for comparison, especially as for the SMB market, most shops come to virtualization with backups already in place that are unaffected by the virtualization.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
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@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
KVM with Cockpit is fully integrated and is all included in one system. No deploying something additional,
This is not true. Cockpit is lacking quite a few features that require either cli or something like Virt-Manager.
That's why I pointed out for more advanced installs you need that. But for the most basic, you do not. You can get up and running with nothing but Cockpit.
It's lacking basic features like cloning and snapshots. That's not advanced.
Okay, that makes sense, but for a basic "up and running" those are a later feature. Not part of the initial setup, which is all that I was saying.
I wouldn't qualify that as advanced. Backups out of the box is pretty high on my list of "OK I have this VM, how do I back it up" list.
Backups are simply out of scope completely, those are not part of any hypervisor. Clones and other under the hood features required to be handled by the hypervisor, while a grey area still, are way more "part of a running system."
But backups are definitely out of bounds for comparison, especially as for the SMB market, most shops come to virtualization with backups already in place that are unaffected by the virtualization.
This is complete bullcrap. Have you ever virtualized a client and the last thought they've ever had as you were walking out the door is "how do we backup and protect our new system?"
Of course not, the conversation is we need to virtualize and get to a better position then where we are today. What do you recommend?
You then provide an solution, be it KVM, Hyper-V or whatever else, with something that covers backing up and protecting whatever you're implementing.
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@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
XAPI has this option.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
XAPI has this option.
But the point is, almost no one is using the CLI in this way.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
XAPI has this option.
That's pretty handy. I've not used that with XAPI.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
KVM with Cockpit is fully integrated and is all included in one system. No deploying something additional,
This is not true. Cockpit is lacking quite a few features that require either cli or something like Virt-Manager.
That's why I pointed out for more advanced installs you need that. But for the most basic, you do not. You can get up and running with nothing but Cockpit.
It's lacking basic features like cloning and snapshots. That's not advanced.
Okay, that makes sense, but for a basic "up and running" those are a later feature. Not part of the initial setup, which is all that I was saying.
I wouldn't qualify that as advanced. Backups out of the box is pretty high on my list of "OK I have this VM, how do I back it up" list.
Backups are simply out of scope completely, those are not part of any hypervisor. Clones and other under the hood features required to be handled by the hypervisor, while a grey area still, are way more "part of a running system."
But backups are definitely out of bounds for comparison, especially as for the SMB market, most shops come to virtualization with backups already in place that are unaffected by the virtualization.
This is complete bullcrap. Have you ever virtualized a client and the last thought they've ever had as you were walking out the door is "how do we backup and protect our new system?"
Not the slightest BS. It only seems that way if you believe that all backups must be agentless. Outside of that niche, but vocal world, to the rest of us backups have no direct connection to the virtualization process. We have a backup process, but it isn't affected by the virtualization unless we decide to switch and move to agentless.
You only have to think about "how do we back up this new system" because either you are forgetting the world of traditional backups, or you are confusing the platform (virtualization) with the operating system. You have to think about backups when you deploy OSes, not when you deploy platforms.
Same with physical servers. It's not the bench guys in the datacenter saying "now, how will we back this up?" No, it's the system admins with the operating systems who ask this.
While it's nice if everyone involved anywhere remembers to think about backups, there is nothing special about deploying new virtualization to trigger this.
We are doing multiple company migrations from Hyper-V to KVM recently, not one has to consider this, as they aren't agentless before, so the rollout of KVM (or anything else) has zero bearing.
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@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
KVM with Cockpit is fully integrated and is all included in one system. No deploying something additional,
This is not true. Cockpit is lacking quite a few features that require either cli or something like Virt-Manager.
That's why I pointed out for more advanced installs you need that. But for the most basic, you do not. You can get up and running with nothing but Cockpit.
It's lacking basic features like cloning and snapshots. That's not advanced.
Okay, that makes sense, but for a basic "up and running" those are a later feature. Not part of the initial setup, which is all that I was saying.
I wouldn't qualify that as advanced. Backups out of the box is pretty high on my list of "OK I have this VM, how do I back it up" list.
Backups are simply out of scope completely, those are not part of any hypervisor. Clones and other under the hood features required to be handled by the hypervisor, while a grey area still, are way more "part of a running system."
But backups are definitely out of bounds for comparison, especially as for the SMB market, most shops come to virtualization with backups already in place that are unaffected by the virtualization.
This is complete bullcrap. Have you ever virtualized a client and the last thought they've ever had as you were walking out the door is "how do we backup and protect our new system?"
Not the slightest BS. It only seems that way if you believe that all backups must be agentless. Outside of that niche, but vocal world, to the rest of us backups have no direct connection to the virtualization process. We have a backup process, but it isn't affected by the virtualization unless we decide to switch and move to agentless.
Of course this is bullcrap, if the client isn't asking "do we need to do something different" with any hypervisor then they aren't thinking about the entire picture.
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@stacksofplates said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
KVM with Cockpit is fully integrated and is all included in one system. No deploying something additional,
This is not true. Cockpit is lacking quite a few features that require either cli or something like Virt-Manager.
That's why I pointed out for more advanced installs you need that. But for the most basic, you do not. You can get up and running with nothing but Cockpit.
It's lacking basic features like cloning and snapshots. That's not advanced.
Okay, that makes sense, but for a basic "up and running" those are a later feature. Not part of the initial setup, which is all that I was saying.
I wouldn't qualify that as advanced. Backups out of the box is pretty high on my list of "OK I have this VM, how do I back it up" list.
Backups are simply out of scope completely, those are not part of any hypervisor. Clones and other under the hood features required to be handled by the hypervisor, while a grey area still, are way more "part of a running system."
But backups are definitely out of bounds for comparison, especially as for the SMB market, most shops come to virtualization with backups already in place that are unaffected by the virtualization.
This is complete bullcrap. Have you ever virtualized a client and the last thought they've ever had as you were walking out the door is "how do we backup and protect our new system?"
Not the slightest BS. It only seems that way if you believe that all backups must be agentless. Outside of that niche, but vocal world, to the rest of us backups have no direct connection to the virtualization process. We have a backup process, but it isn't affected by the virtualization unless we decide to switch and move to agentless.
Of course this is bullcrap, if the client isn't asking "do we need to do something different" with any hypervisor then they aren't thinking about the entire picture.
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
It is. None of those things need to be thought about unless you are making changes outside of the discussion. Any pre-existing system from the physical world, anything handled by the system, is still handled and not part of the virtualization. You are simply stuck on an association that doesn't really exist.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
Complete system includes everything. SO many things that aren't virtualization. There is no end to what we'd have to consider under that scope.
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@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
Hyper-V Server does have WSB semi built in, it's an additional feature you need to enable. After that it's simple commands or remotely via the GUI.
But why export backup? Backups should already be off the host...
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@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
Complete system includes everything. SO many things that aren't virtualization. There is no end to what we'd have to consider under that scope.
You are now mixing the guest OS and the virtual hardware it runs on. I'm specifically discussing a complete hypervisor stack.
What is the:
- Hypervisor?
- Backup method
- Restoration procedure
Among about a million other talking points, that while small things, still need to be understood.
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@Obsolesce said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
But why export backup? Backups should already be off the host...
That is a separate conversation entirely.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
Complete system includes everything. SO many things that aren't virtualization. There is no end to what we'd have to consider under that scope.
You are now mixing the guest OS and the virtual hardware it runs on. I'm specifically discussing a complete hypervisor stack.
What is the:
- Hypervisor?
- Backup method
- Restoration procedure
Among about a million other talking points, that while small things, still need to be understood.
Because to @scottalanmiller backups have nothing to do with the hypervisor.
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@JaredBusch said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
Complete system includes everything. SO many things that aren't virtualization. There is no end to what we'd have to consider under that scope.
You are now mixing the guest OS and the virtual hardware it runs on. I'm specifically discussing a complete hypervisor stack.
What is the:
- Hypervisor?
- Backup method
- Restoration procedure
Among about a million other talking points, that while small things, still need to be understood.
Because to @scottalanmiller backups have nothing to do with the hypervisor.
Correct, they are their own thing. Just like the operating systems you run on top of the hypervisor are their own thing. Like everything in IT, they work together, but the switches, routers, backups,, are their own things, not "parts of the hypervisors."
Unless you have Scale that includes it.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
Agentless isn't the factor I'm sticking on. It's how do I create a complete system, agentless, agent based (some new magic), management interface scaling, migration etc.
Complete system includes everything. SO many things that aren't virtualization. There is no end to what we'd have to consider under that scope.
You are now mixing the guest OS and the virtual hardware it runs on. I'm specifically discussing a complete hypervisor stack.
What is the:
- Hypervisor?
- Backup method
- Restoration procedure
Among about a million other talking points, that while small things, still need to be understood.
I backup and restore workloads, not platforms. I think confusing the infrastructure to run workloads on with the workloads themselves actually undermines that planning process.
Especially in a world where you might not be all on one hypervisor. What happens if you have to include cloud, physical, colo, and on premises hypervisors all in a single strategy?
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@Obsolesce said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@scottalanmiller said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
If Cockpit had functionality "export a backup to <insert remote>" right there I wouldn't be as I have been. Because, you need something additional.
Who else has that command?
Hyper-V Server does have WSB semi built in, it's an additional feature you need to enable. After that it's simple commands or remotely via the GUI.
But why export backup? Backups should already be off the host...
Well, the exporting is what turns a snapshot into a backup, in a sense.
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What does backing up a workload mean to you?
I backup everything so I can restore to whatever, whenever. That is my workload. Whatever gets me back to operational, hypervisor excluded.
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@DustinB3403 said in Why I Feel KVM Is the Easiest HyperVisor to Learn the Basics On:
What does backing up a workload mean to you?
I backup everything so I can restore to whatever, whenever. That is my workload. Whatever gets me back to operational, hypervisor excluded.
Workload is "what is presented to the end user."
With your strategy, let's say your hardware fails, your hypervisor is gone, company decides to restore to a cloud location. What's your restore strategy?
When using agents, this is normally really easy. It's the same as any other restore. For those doing agentless, there are options, but it becomes less obvious.
