Using virtctl to access virtual machine in Kubernetes

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Install the virtctl client tool

Basic VirtualMachineInstance operations can be performed with the stock kubectl utility. However, the virtctl binary utility is required to use advanced features such as:

  • Serial and graphical console access

It also provides convenience commands for:

  • Starting and stopping VirtualMachineInstances
  • Live migrating VirtualMachineInstances
  • Uploading virtual machine disk images

There are two ways to get it:

  • the most recent version of the tool can be retrieved from the official release page
  • it can be installed as a kubectl plugin using krew

Example:

$ export VERSION=v0.48.1
$ wget https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/releases/download/${VERSION}/virtctl-${VERSION}-linux-amd64
$ ln -s virtctl-v0.48.1-linux-amd64 virtctl
$ chmod +x virtctl-v0.48.1-linux-amd64
$ ./virtctl version
Client Version: version.Info{GitVersion:"v0.48.1", ...}

Access the virtual machine console

$ ./virtctl -h
virtctl controls virtual machine related operations on your kubernetes cluster.

Available Commands:
  addvolume         add a volume to a running VM
  console           Connect to a console of a virtual machine instance.
  expose            Expose a virtual machine instance, virtual machine, or virtual machine instance replica set as a new service.
  fslist            Return full list of filesystems available on the guest machine.
  guestfs           Start a shell into the libguestfs pod
  guestosinfo       Return guest agent info about operating system.
  help              Help about any command
  image-upload      Upload a VM image to a DataVolume/PersistentVolumeClaim.
  migrate           Migrate a virtual machine.
  pause             Pause a virtual machine
  permitted-devices List the permitted devices for vmis.
  port-forward      Forward local ports to a virtualmachine or virtualmachineinstance.
  removevolume      remove a volume from a running VM
  restart           Restart a virtual machine.
  soft-reboot       Soft reboot a virtual machine instance
  ssh               Open a SSH connection to a virtual machine instance.
  start             Start a virtual machine.
  stop              Stop a virtual machine.
  unpause           Unpause a virtual machine
  usbredir          Redirect a usb device to a virtual machine instance.
  userlist          Return full list of logged in users on the guest machine.
  version           Print the client and server version information.
  vnc               Open a vnc connection to a virtual machine instance.

Use "virtctl <command> --help" for more information about a given command.
Use "virtctl options" for a list of global command-line options (applies to all commands).

$ ./virtctl console vm1
[root@vm1 output]# hostname
vm1

Reference