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Catalogue / Infrastructure & systems

Virtualization: KVM, libvirt and Proxmox VE

Build and run Linux hypervisors the way production teams do — KVM, QEMU and libvirt on the command line, then Proxmox VE clusters with backups, high availability and troubleshooting of real outages.

  • Intermediate to advanced
  • 12 lessons
  • 12 h 15 min
  • Versions Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04, Rocky 9 / RHEL 10, libvirt 9 à 11, QEMU 8 à 10, virt-install 4.x / 5.x, cloud-init 23 à 25, Rocky 9 / 10, noyau 6.x, Proxmox VE 8 (Debian 12), Proxmox VE 9 (Debian 13), Proxmox VE 8, Proxmox VE 9, Proxmox VE 8 / 9

A MasterLinux course · Original text

What you will learn

  • Tell type 1 from type 2 hypervisors, and check that a server can run KVM
  • Start QEMU by hand, then describe a complete virtual machine in libvirt XML and drive it with virsh
  • Choose between raw and qcow2, handle disks with qemu-img and organize storage in pools
  • Connect VMs through NAT, an isolated network or a bridge attached to the company network
  • Create VMs in one command with virt-install and cloud-init (NoCloud)
  • Take external snapshots, clone cleanly and live-migrate a VM between two hosts
  • Get maximum performance with virtio, CPU pinning, NUMA and hugepages
  • Run Proxmox VE (storage, VMs, LXC containers, vzdump backups) and build a highly available cluster
  • Harden the hypervisor and troubleshoot classic outages (full disk, broken bridge, paused VM, split-brain)

Course content

12 lessons · 12 h 15 min
Section 1 — KVM and libvirt5 lessons · 4 h 15 min
  1. Type 1 and type 2 hypervisors, KVM and QEMU Preview40 min
  2. libvirt and virsh — the virtual machine described in XML 50 min
  3. Virtual disks and storage pools — raw, qcow2, qemu-img 55 min
  4. Virtual networks — NAT, isolated, routed and bridge 55 min
  5. virt-install and cloud-init — a VM ready in one command 55 min
Section 2 — Advanced operations2 lessons · 2 h
  1. Snapshots, clones and live migration 1 h
  2. Performance — virtio, CPU pinning, NUMA and hugepages 1 h
Section 3 — Proxmox VE2 lessons · 2 h
  1. Proxmox VE — storage, VMs, LXC containers and vzdump backups 1 h
  2. Proxmox VE cluster and high availability 1 h
Section 4 — Security, incidents and project3 lessons · 4 h
  1. Hypervisor security 55 min
  2. Real incidents — full disk, broken bridge, paused VM, split-brain 1 h 5 min
  3. Final project — the hypervisor of the Fès branch 2 h

Requirements

  • Solid hands-on experience with the Linux command line (“Fundamentals” course or equivalent)
  • IP networking basics (address, mask, gateway, DHCP)
  • A PC or server with an Intel VT-x or AMD-V processor to reproduce the exercises at home

Who is this course for?

  • System administrators who run, or will run, hypervisors in a company
  • IT services technicians working at customer sites equipped with Proxmox VE or KVM
  • Students preparing for an operations, infrastructure or private cloud job