Virtual kvm switch
Author: r | 2025-04-24
The KVM switch is mainly used to monitor and manage multiple computers and multiple servers. They are very different by nature. The Difference between a KVM Switch and a KVM Virtual Machine A KVM switch is a hardware switching device and the KVM virtual machine is a virtual machine, commonly used under the Linux system. First of all that is not a KVM switch - it is a Nexus switch for KVM and in this case KVM is not Keyboard, Video, Mouse it is Kernel-based Virtual Machine - a virtualisation
KVM or Virtual KVM switch for keyboard and mouse across
VMware Workstation 10 comes with a handy utility which allows you to switch between active VMs (virtual machines) using a configurable hot key just like a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch. The benefit of using the VMware KVM utility is the VMs can be run in full-screen without launching the Workstation 10 interface (no tool bar) and manage their power state via CLI (command line interface). Another additional benefit from an IT perspective is running a virtual machine for the user when Windows is launched and the user can seamlessly switch between the operating systems by using the defined hotkey.Note: The VMware KVM mode is only available for Windows version of Workstation 10.x.Below is a brief example with screen shots and short video on how I setup and used VMware KVM mode with desktop shortcuts on my Win 8.1 computer. *** Not all steps are included in this blog post and the location of your files might be different so please reference Knowledge Base article KB2057914 and VMware KVM Guide (pdf) for detailed information on using the VMware KVM utility.The first step in configuring VMware KVM mode is setting the hotkeys and preferences. Open up a command prompt and change to the directory where Workstation is installed. Launch the VMware KVM executable with the “–preferences” after the command.Upon launching “vmware-kvm.exe –preferences” command you will see a small GUI window that allows you to change the default hot keys in addition to other features for launching and exiting the virtual machine.If you use multiple monitors like I am you can change the physical monitor on which the selected virtual machine runs in full screen mode as shown below. Click OK to exit the utility and save you KVM preferences.The second step is to execute the vmware-kvm.exe command with a pointer to. The KVM switch is mainly used to monitor and manage multiple computers and multiple servers. They are very different by nature. The Difference between a KVM Switch and a KVM Virtual Machine A KVM switch is a hardware switching device and the KVM virtual machine is a virtual machine, commonly used under the Linux system. First of all that is not a KVM switch - it is a Nexus switch for KVM and in this case KVM is not Keyboard, Video, Mouse it is Kernel-based Virtual Machine - a virtualisation What is Virtual KVM? KVM switches allow a single operator to control multiple computers and they have evolved from patch panels and mechanical switches to digital KVM switches and What is Virtual KVM? KVM switches allow a single operator to control multiple computers and they have evolved from patch panels and mechanical switches to digital KVM switches and Our KVM switch virtualization frees up your workspace, removing the cables. Multiplicity is a versatile, secure, and affordable wireless KVM software solution. Our KVM switch virtualization frees up your workspace, removing the cables On CentOS, therefore the show cdp command cannot be used for vWAAS on RHEL KVM on CentOS. For vWAAS with WAAS Version 6.2.3x and later, there is inline vWAAS support for the OVS switch, with additional settings in vWAAS. For example 1. Install CentOS 7.2 on UCS-C240. 2. Configure OVS switch on KVM host. 3. Deploy KVM vWAAS OVAs with OVS switch on KVM host. 4. Power off the vWAAS. 5. Add two additional interfaces. 6. Using the virt-manager, map the bridge ID in vWAAS: [root@localhost kvm]# virsh edit vwaas-name Domain vWAAS XML configuration changed. 7. Using the virt-manager, edit the virtual type: virtualport type=’openvswitch’/ 8. Sample output: Traffic Interception Methods for vWAAS on KVM For traffic interception for Cisco vWAAS on KVM, you can use WCCP (WCCP GRE or WCCP L2) or Appnav. Note When you use any of the traffic interception methods for vWAAS on KVM, you must disable Generic Receive Offload (GRO) on the Cisco UCS NIC. Use the command ethtool -K nic_interface_name gro off on KVM host to disable GRO. For example: ethtool -K enp3s0f2 gro off. If you do not disable GRO, traffic is not recognized, and packets are discarded.If you upgrade the UCS NIC firmware to the latest version, you do not need to disable the GRO parameter. For more information on configuring traffic interception methods, see the Cisco Wide Area Application Services Configuration Guide. Upgrade/Downgrade Guidelines for vWAAS on KVM Consider the following guidelines when upgrading or downgrading your WAAS system with vWAAS on KVM: Cisco vWAAS on KVM is used with WAAS Version 6.2.1 and later. You cannot downgrade Cisco vWAAS on KVM or vCM on KVM devices to a version earlier than WAAS Version 6.2.1. Note When upgrading vWAAS, do not upgrade more than five vWAAS nodes at the same timeComments
VMware Workstation 10 comes with a handy utility which allows you to switch between active VMs (virtual machines) using a configurable hot key just like a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch. The benefit of using the VMware KVM utility is the VMs can be run in full-screen without launching the Workstation 10 interface (no tool bar) and manage their power state via CLI (command line interface). Another additional benefit from an IT perspective is running a virtual machine for the user when Windows is launched and the user can seamlessly switch between the operating systems by using the defined hotkey.Note: The VMware KVM mode is only available for Windows version of Workstation 10.x.Below is a brief example with screen shots and short video on how I setup and used VMware KVM mode with desktop shortcuts on my Win 8.1 computer. *** Not all steps are included in this blog post and the location of your files might be different so please reference Knowledge Base article KB2057914 and VMware KVM Guide (pdf) for detailed information on using the VMware KVM utility.The first step in configuring VMware KVM mode is setting the hotkeys and preferences. Open up a command prompt and change to the directory where Workstation is installed. Launch the VMware KVM executable with the “–preferences” after the command.Upon launching “vmware-kvm.exe –preferences” command you will see a small GUI window that allows you to change the default hot keys in addition to other features for launching and exiting the virtual machine.If you use multiple monitors like I am you can change the physical monitor on which the selected virtual machine runs in full screen mode as shown below. Click OK to exit the utility and save you KVM preferences.The second step is to execute the vmware-kvm.exe command with a pointer to
2025-04-11On CentOS, therefore the show cdp command cannot be used for vWAAS on RHEL KVM on CentOS. For vWAAS with WAAS Version 6.2.3x and later, there is inline vWAAS support for the OVS switch, with additional settings in vWAAS. For example 1. Install CentOS 7.2 on UCS-C240. 2. Configure OVS switch on KVM host. 3. Deploy KVM vWAAS OVAs with OVS switch on KVM host. 4. Power off the vWAAS. 5. Add two additional interfaces. 6. Using the virt-manager, map the bridge ID in vWAAS: [root@localhost kvm]# virsh edit vwaas-name Domain vWAAS XML configuration changed. 7. Using the virt-manager, edit the virtual type: virtualport type=’openvswitch’/ 8. Sample output: Traffic Interception Methods for vWAAS on KVM For traffic interception for Cisco vWAAS on KVM, you can use WCCP (WCCP GRE or WCCP L2) or Appnav. Note When you use any of the traffic interception methods for vWAAS on KVM, you must disable Generic Receive Offload (GRO) on the Cisco UCS NIC. Use the command ethtool -K nic_interface_name gro off on KVM host to disable GRO. For example: ethtool -K enp3s0f2 gro off. If you do not disable GRO, traffic is not recognized, and packets are discarded.If you upgrade the UCS NIC firmware to the latest version, you do not need to disable the GRO parameter. For more information on configuring traffic interception methods, see the Cisco Wide Area Application Services Configuration Guide. Upgrade/Downgrade Guidelines for vWAAS on KVM Consider the following guidelines when upgrading or downgrading your WAAS system with vWAAS on KVM: Cisco vWAAS on KVM is used with WAAS Version 6.2.1 and later. You cannot downgrade Cisco vWAAS on KVM or vCM on KVM devices to a version earlier than WAAS Version 6.2.1. Note When upgrading vWAAS, do not upgrade more than five vWAAS nodes at the same time
2025-04-19Switch novnc KVM consoleI can't switch virtual consoles in Linux KVM guests with alt-F1, alt-F2...VNC viewer does not pass some key combinations or they may be intercepted by your operating system.To send custom key combinations to the guest, go to "Monitor" in Virtual Machine Configuration for a given guest and use "sendkey" command.For example, to switch to the third console (tty3) you would use:sendkey alt-f3How can I send sysrq to Linux KVM guests?Similarly to the above, go to "Monitor" in Virtual Machine Configuration for a given guest and use "sendkey" command.For example, to issue "Emergency Sync", you would use:sendkey alt-sysrq-sIn the VNC viewer for the given guest you should see:SysRq : Emergency SyncYou should also see this entry if you run "dmesg" on this guest.See also for a full reference of possible combinations.How can I access Linux guests through a serial terminalSee Serial TerminalHow can I assign a physical disk to a VM?You don't have to do anything at host level (i.e. not add to fstab or anything), just set is as available directly to the KVM guest:qm set -ide# /dev/sdbOr:qm set -ide# /dev/disk/by-id/[your disk ID]...since having the drive letter change (should you add a drive) might have unintended consequences.Also see /etc/qemu-server/.conf if you want to add it editing the conf file by hand (i.e. adding ide1: /dev/sdb2).After that you can run the VM as usual, and you will have the new storage device available inside it.Beware that you can't assign it to more than one running VM if the
2025-04-07