Create a secondary virtual machine

This section provides the steps for creating virtual machine (VM) images using the Qualcomm Linux build system. The Guest VM rootfs and Guest VM kernel are same as that of the host. Qualcomm Linux supports virtual machine monitors, with or without KVM. Currently, Qualcomm Linux supports only QEMU as VM monitor. The procedure provides the following:

• Command to setup KVM.
• Commands to launch the Guest VM using QEMU.

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Set up the development machine

To set up the development machine, follow the steps:

1. To set up the build, see Build Qualcomm Linux.
   kvm is enabled by default in DISTRO_FEATURES for all Qualcomm Linux distributions. No separate KVM distro configuration is required. KVM hardware acceleration is available on machines that include kvm in MACHINE_FEATURES, currently: iq-9075-evk and iq-8275-evk. On other machines, QEMU runs without KVM acceleration.
2. Append virtualization to DISTRO_FEATURES in build directory: conf/local.conf.
   DISTRO_FEATURES:append = " virtualization"
   
3. Build qcom-console-image or qcom-multimedia-image:
   bitbake qcom-console-image
   

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Launch Guest VM

This section describes how to launch a Guest VM on a Qualcomm Linux machine using QEMU, with and without Kernel‑based virtual machine (KVM) acceleration. Prerequisites

• QEMU is available on the machine.
• The Guest VM uses the host root file system image.
• The Guest VM kernel image is available at /boot/Image.

1. Copy the host root file system image to the device and use it as the root file system for the Guest VM. Note If qcom-console-image is built for the qcs9100-ride-sx platform, the root file system image for the Guest VM is available at: <build dir>/tmp/deploy/images/qcs9100-ride-sx/qcom-console-image-qcs9100-ride-sx.rootfs.qcomflash/rootfs.img.
2. Launch the Guest VM.
   • Launching the Guest VM without KVM acceleration: Run the following command to launch the Guest VM using QEMU without KVM acceleration:

     qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt  \
                         -cpu cortex-a76  \
                         -m 4G \
                         -kernel /boot/Image \
                         -drive file=rootfs.img,if=virtio,format=raw \
                         -append "root=/dev/vda" \
                         -accel tcg \
                         -smp 4 \
                         -nographic
     

   • Launching the Guest VM with KVM:
     • KVM is enabled by default in DISTRO_FEATURES. The machine must include kvm in MACHINE_FEATURES (e.g., iq-9075-evk, iq-8275-evk).
     • The /dev/kvm device node must be present on the machine.
     • Verify that KVM is available:
       ls /dev/kvm
       
     • Run the following command to launch Guest VM in QEMU with KVM acceleration.
       qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt \
                           -m 4G \
                           -kernel /boot/Image \
                           -drive file=rootfs.img,if=virtio,format=raw \
                           -append "root=/dev/vda" \
                           -enable-kvm \
                           -cpu host \
                           --enable-kvm \
                           -smp 4 \
                           -nographic
       
   Note
   • The rootfs.img file is located in the current working directory. To use a different location, update the -drive option accordingly. For example: -drivefile=/mydir/rootfs.img,if=virtio,format=raw
   • The Guest VM kernel is provided using the -kernel /boot/Image option.

For more information, see Enable virtualization.

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Next steps

• For Docker container support, see Run Docker containers.
• For Kubernetes enablement, see Set up Kubernetes with Qualcomm Linux. kvm is enabled by default in DISTRO_FEATURES for all Qualcomm Linux distributions. No separate KVM distro configuration is required. KVM hardware acceleration is available on machines that include kvm in MACHINE_FEATURES, currently: iq-9075-evk and iq-8275-evk. On other machines, QEMU runs without KVM acceleration.