CentOS 5.5 - vm installation guide

Preliminary

you need the script vm-create in your path and its system config file /etc/vm-create.conf.

To perform a net install of CentOS 5.5 in a virtual machine called "cendrillon" - with 8 GB disk, bridge, sound support and virtio - to a remote host called "bareil", use the following syntax:

# vm-create -c bareil -s 8 -S -b br0 -V -u centos cendrillon

Pool install refreshed

Starting install...
Allocating 'cendrillon.img'                         | 8.0 GB     00:00     
Creating domain...                                  |   0  B     00:00

You can use the option -t to print the whole command to be passed to virt-install to standard output before executing it:

# vm-create -t -c bareil -s 8 -S -b br0 -V -u centos cendrillon

virt-install 
--connect=qemu+ssh://bareil/system 
--ram=512 
--arch=i386 
--vcpus=1 
--video=vga 
--soundhw=default 
--description="cendrillon (centos 5) - vm guest on host bareil" 
--os-variant=virtio26 
--disk vol=install/CentOS-5.5-i386-netinstall.iso,device=cdrom 
--boot=cdrom,hd,network 
--disk pool=default,size=8 
--network bridge=br0 
--vnc 
--vnclisten=0.0.0.0 
--name=cendrillon

iso URL: ftp://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/centos/5/isos/i386/CentOS-5.5-i386-netinstall
.iso

A detailled description of the vm-create script has been posted in the openSUSE forum: vm-create : create kvm virtual machines.

* Notice that the option --boot=cdrom,hd,network is not available on virt-install version prior to 5003.

Booting Centos

you can press F4 at the boot menu to specify a higher resolution by adding the option vga at the boot prompt. The numbers 771 and 773 respectively provide 800x600 and 1024x768 framebuffer. We'll use 771 in this tutorial.

You can use the mousewheel to navigate in the slideshow

Select your language, keyboard layout, installation source (FTP) and set up the network connection to use DHCP.

You can use the mousewheel to navigate in the slideshow

To install the 64 bits version, use /pub/centos/5.5/os/x86_64 as the CentOS directory.
You might find a FTP site closer to you in the list of available CentOS mirrors.

Be patient. The download can take a while.

CentOS GUI setup

Performing post install configuration...

You can use the mousewheel to navigate in the slideshow

When the installation is complete, press Reboot. If you see the CD boot screen, turn off the vm in virt-manager, diconnect netinstall.iso from the CDROM device and change the boot device order in Boot Options. Then restart the vm and proceed with setup.