KVM : CentOS6 : set up a serial console when using upstart ( virsh console )

KVM host : CentOS6

Guest : CentOS6

KVM host

# /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm –version QEMU PC emulator version 0.12.1 (qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2), Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Fabrice Bellard # libvirtd --version libvirtd (libvirt) 0.9.10 # uname -ri 2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64 x86_64 # cat /etc/centos-release CentOS release 6.3 (Final)

Guest

# uname -ri 2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64 x86_64 # cat /etc/redhat-release CentOS release 6.3 (Final)

CentOS6 is using upstart and the configuration for serial ports settings is different from previous ver.

install upstart on your VM if you have not installed it

VM # yum install upstart –y VM # rpm -qa | grep upstart upstart-0.6.5-12.el6.x86_64

upstart configuration files are under /etc/init directory.

VM # ls /etc/init/ control-alt-delete.conf  quit-plymouth.conf       serial.conf init-system-dbus.conf    rc.conf                  splash-manager.conf kexec-disable.conf       rcS-emergency.conf       start-ttys.conf plymouth-shutdown.conf   rcS-sulogin.conf         tty.conf prefdm.conf              rcS.conf

edit /etc/securetty

VM # echo "ttyS0" >> /etc/securetty

create a serial-ttyS0.conf file under /etc/init directory.

VM# vi /etc/init/serial-ttyS0.conf

add the following lines.

VM# cat /etc/init/serial-ttyS0.conf stop on runlevel [016] start on runlevel [345] respawn instance /dev/ttyS0 exec /sbin/mingetty /dev/ttyS0

VM# initctl start serial-ttyS0 serial-ttyS0 (/dev/ttyS0) start/running, process 1418

“initctl list” output the lists which are controlled by upstart.

VM # initctl list rc stop/waiting tty (/dev/tty3) start/running, process 1321 tty (/dev/tty2) start/running, process 1319 tty (/dev/tty1) start/running, process 1317 tty (/dev/tty6) start/running, process 1331 tty (/dev/tty5) start/running, process 1325 tty (/dev/tty4) start/running, process 1323 plymouth-shutdown stop/waiting control-alt-delete stop/waiting rcS-emergency stop/waiting kexec-disable stop/waiting quit-plymouth stop/waiting rcS stop/waiting prefdm stop/waiting init-system-dbus stop/waiting serial-ttyS0 (/dev/ttyS0) start/running, process 1418 splash-manager stop/waiting start-ttys stop/waiting rcS-sulogin stop/waiting serial stop/waiting

connect to the VM from the KVM host with virsh console

virsh # console centos6-64-1 Connected to domain centos6-64-1 Escape character is ^] CentOS release 6.3 (Final) Kernel 2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64 on an x86_64 centos6-64-1 login: