Ubuntu/Debian 11 install Libvirt – Vagrant For use instead of Virtualbox

Last updated on April 12th, 2023 at 07:35 am.

Step 1 : Update the repo for Ubuntu / Debian system.

sudo apt update

Step 2 : Install Libvirt and relevant packages: If you have not installed vagrant yet, add it in the following line. (vagrant)

sudo apt install -y libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-dev libvirt-clients virt-manager qemu-kvm ebtables libguestfs-tools  ruby-fog-libvirt

Step 3 : Start the Libvirt service

sudo systemctl start libvirtd

Enable it so that it starts at boot time with your system:

sudo systemctl enable libvirtd

Verify all is well using the following. Aim for no errors or warnings:

sudo virsh list  --all

Step 4 : Install vagrant plugin for Vagrant:

vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt

Step 5: Add your user to the libvirt group so that you won’t have to use sudo with vagrant, i.e sudo vagrant up, sudo vagrant ssh and so on.

sudo usermod -aG libvirt $(whoami)

Step 6 : Test it. Initialize a vagrantfile for Debian 11 box with libvirt as the provider. Do this in the directory where you want your machine.

# Go to your working directory
cd  /my/working/directory

#Create a vagrant file
vagrant init debian/bullseye64 

#Bring up the machine
vagrant up --provider=libvirt

Source :- Docs

Bonus : NFS server for syncing vagrant files

Problem : It appears your machine doesn’t support NFS, or there is not an
adapter to enable NFS on this machine for Vagrant. Please verify
that nfsd is installed on your machine, and try again. If you’re
on Windows, NFS isn’t supported. If the problem persists, please
contact Vagrant support.

Fix:

Enable NFS on supported machines. To do this you will need to install nfsd, an implementation of NFS , which will enable you to run an NFS server in Debian.

Install nfsd on Debian, start it and enable it to start up on boot.

sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server && sudo systemctl start nfs-kernel-server && sudo systemctl enable nfs-kernel-server

To stop the server you can do:

sudo systemctl stop nfs-kernel-server

Job for nfs-server.service canceled

If you encounter the error, Job for nfs-server.service canceled, fix it using the steps below:

sudo apt purge  nfs-kernel-server

# Then reinstall and enable it again:

sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server && sudo systemctl enable nfs-kernel-server

If your nfs server issues are due to old missing machines, recreate the /etc/exports file:

#backup the old file by renaming it

sudo mv /etc/exports /etc/exportsold

#Recreate an empty one:

sudo touch /etc/exports

# Then restart nfs-server

sudo systemctl start  nfs-kernel-server