You can boot the operating system in a KVM virtual server from a network boot server.
Before you begin
A network boot server and a connection from your KVM host to that server must be in place.
Procedure
-
Configure an interface to a virtual network, to an Open vSwitch, or for a direct MacVTap
connection.
| interface type attribute: |
network | bridge | direct |
-
Use the source element as a child of the interface element, to specify the network or bridge
that provides the connection to the network boot server (see <source> as child element of <interface>).
- For a virtual network:
| source network attribute: |
<network-name> |
- For an Open vSwitch or a direct MacVTap connection:
| source dev attribute: |
<bridge-interface-name> |
| source mode attribute: |
bridge |
-
Specify
virtio as the interface type with model element, which is a child of
the interface element (see <model> as a child element of <interface>).
| model type attribute: |
virtio |
-
Specify the boot device with the boot element, which is a child of the interface
element.
| boot order attribute: |
<number> |
The guest is booted from the device with the
lowest specified boot order value.
-
Specify the device type as CCW and a device bus-ID with the address element as a child of the
interface element (see <address> as child element of <interface>).
| address type attribute: |
CCW |
| address cssid attribute: |
0xfe |
| address ssid attribute: |
<ssid> |
| address devno attribute: |
<devno> |
- For guests that are to
run in IBM® Secure Execution
mode
and cannot use the launchSecurity element in the virtual server configuration, ensure that the device uses the
guest's bounce buffer, see Preparing the virtual server.
Example
<domain name="vs003n">
...
<interface type="network">
<source network="boot-net"/>
<model type="virtio"/>
<boot order="1"/>
<address type="ccw" cssid="0xfe" ssid="0x0" devno="0xb001"/>
</interface>
...
</domain>
In the example, the first boot device in the boot order of the KVM virtual server
vs003n is the CCW network device with bus ID 0.0.b001.