Training Loop

OpenShift Virtualization Demo

This guide walks through the process of creating a virtual machine using OpenShift Virtualization.

OpenShift Virtualization allows teams to run traditional virtual machines directly inside a Kubernetes platform, alongside containers and cloud-native workloads.

This demo is designed for learning and training purposes and shows the basic workflow used by engineers to create and run a VM inside OpenShift.

It is part of the Turtini Training Loop, a series of short operational guides focused on building practical infrastructure skills.

Overview

In this demo we will:

  1. Log into the OpenShift console

  2. Navigate to the Virtualization section

  3. Create a new virtual machine

  4. Configure storage and networking

  5. Launch the VM

  6. Connect to the virtual machine console

Estimated time: 10–15 minutes

Architecture Overview

The virtual machine will run inside the Kubernetes cluster using OpenShift Virtualization.

User
│
▼
OpenShift Web Console
│
▼
OpenShift Virtualization
│
▼
Virtual Machine
│
▼
Persistent Storage + Networking

Step 1 — Log into OpenShift

  1. Access today’s Lab Environment:

https://console-openshift-console.apps.cluster-wmjhg.dynamic.redhatworkshops.io/

Your username and password will be provided to you.

ocpv-login

  1. Switch to the Virtualization perspective

ocpv-virtualization-perspective

You should now see the OpenShift dashboard along with a popup to Create a VirtualMachine unless the popup has been disabled.

ocpv-create-virtualmachine

Note: The Virtualization persona is available only when Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization is installed and properly configured. In this lab environment the installation and configuration has already been performed for us.

Step 2 — Navigate to Virtualization (Skip if you were able to click on Create a VirtualMachine from the popup)

From the left navigation menu:

  1. Select VirtualMachines

This section allows you to create and manage virtual machines within the cluster.

  1. Click + Create Project

ocpv-create-project

Name the project ocpv-demo

ocpv-create-project-ocpv-demo

Step 3 — Create a Virtual Machine

Click Create VirtualMachine.

ocpv-virtualmachines-create-virtualmachine

Choose From InstanceType

ocpv-virtualmachines-from-instancetype

Under 1 Select volume to boot from choose rhel9

ocpv-virtualmachines-rhel9

Choose under 2 Select Instance Type General Purpose U Series and keep the default configuration - medium, 1 CPUs, 4 GiB Memory.

ocpv-virtualmachines-useries

Under 3 VirtualMachine details, provide a name for the VM.

rhel-9-ocpv-demo-vm

ocpv-virtualmachines-name

Keep all the other settings the same.

CPU: 1 Memory: 4 GiB Disk size: 30 GiB Storage class: ocs-external-storagecluster-ceph-rbd

OpenShift will automatically provision storage for the VM disk.

Typical configuration:

  • Persistent Volume Claim (PVC)

  • Container-native storage

  • Cluster storage class

The template will create a Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) using the defaults. You do not have to change the Storage Class for our demo.

Example size:

30 GiB

Storage Class example:

ocs-external-storagecluster-ceph-rbd

By default, the VM will attach to the pod network. This allows the VM to communicate with other workloads inside the cluster. For this demo, use the default cluster network configuration.

Advanced configurations include:

  • Multus networks

  • VLAN attachment

  • SR-IOV

The VM will receive a network interface connected to the OpenShift cluster network.

Step 4 — Launch the VM

Click Create Virtual Machine.

The platform will begin provisioning the VM and attaching storage and networking.

Provisioning typically takes 30–90 seconds depending on the cluster.

ocpv-virtualmachines-create-virtualmachine

ocpv-virtualmachines-virtualmachine

Step 5 — Access the Console

Click Open web console

OpenShift has already created:

  • A Virtual Machine Instance

  • A launcher pod

  • Attached storage

  • Booted the OS

The console provides direct access to the operating system running inside the VM.

ocpv-virtualmachines-open-web-console

Step 6 — Verify the VM

Log into the virtual machine using the credentials configured in the template. To login, you will need to first copy the User name which will be rhel, then click Paste to console. Then, click to copy Password then click Paste to console

ocpv-virtualmachines-web-console

Once logged in, manually type commands and run:

uname -a

ocpv-virtualmachines-web-console-uname-a

This confirms the VM is running successfully inside the Kubernetes cluster.

Inside the console, also run:

hostnamectl

ocpv-virtualmachines-web-console-hostnamectl

OpenShift Virtualization runs VMs using KubeVirt, QEMU, & KVM. The VM runs inside a Kubernetes pod called a virt-launcher. This allows VMs and containers to share the same cluster infrastructure.

Demo Complete

You have successfully:

  • Created a virtual machine inside OpenShift

  • Provisioned storage and networking

  • Accessed the VM console

AWSvKubernetes