Particle-OS VM Management Setup

This guide helps you set up remote VM management for your headless Particle-OS development server.

Quick Start

Test the connection:
```
just -f vm-justfile test-connection
```
List existing VMs:
```
just -f vm-justfile list
```

Create a test VM:

just -f vm-justfile create particle-test 20G

Configuration

The system uses these environment variables (set in .vm-config):

VM_SERVER: Your headless server (e.g., joe@192.168.122.76)
VM_DIR: VM storage directory (/var/lib/libvirt/images)
ISO_DIR: ISO storage directory (/var/lib/libvirt/isos)
VM_SSH_KEY: SSH key path (optional)
VM_SSH_PORT: SSH port (default: 22)

Setting Up Environment Variables

Option 1: Export in your shell

export VM_SERVER=joe@192.168.122.76
export VM_DIR=/var/lib/libvirt/images
export ISO_DIR=/var/lib/libvirt/isos

Option 2: Use .env file

# Copy .vm-config to .env
cp .vm-config .env
# Then source it
source .env

Connecting from virt-manager

On your other PC with virt-manager:

Add Connection:
- File → Add Connection
- Hypervisor: QEMU/KVM
- Connection: qemu+ssh://joe@192.168.122.76/system
VNC Access:
- VMs will be accessible via VNC on port 5900
- Connect to: 192.168.122.76:5900

Common Commands

# VM Management
just -f vm-justfile create <name> <size> [iso] [ram] [vcpus]
just -f vm-justfile start <name>
just -f vm-justfile stop <name>
just -f vm-justfile status <name>
just -f vm-justfile remove <name>

# Monitoring
just -f vm-justfile info <name>
just -f vm-justfile console <name>
just -f vm-justfile get-ip <name>

# Storage
just -f vm-justfile storage-pool-list
just -f vm-justfile list-storage-files
just -f vm-justfile list-isos

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

Check SSH access: ssh joe@192.168.122.76
Verify libvirt is running: virsh version --short
Check firewall settings

VM Creation Issues

Ensure sufficient disk space
Check libvirt permissions
Verify network configuration

VNC Issues

Check if port 5900 is open
Verify VNC is enabled in VM config
Try different VNC viewer

Security Notes

VNC is unencrypted - use SSH tunnel for production
Consider setting up SSH key authentication
Restrict network access to VNC port
Use firewall rules to limit access

Next Steps

Test basic connectivity
Create a simple test VM
Connect via virt-manager
Test VNC access
Create Particle-OS test VMs

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