Enter running machine as systemd service

[MrFoxPro]

Is it possible to connect terminal stdin/stdout to deployed machine, to inspect what's going on there?

[luochen1990]

Having same issue, maybe a sshd service might work, but is there any easier way ( like a tty directly ) ?

[astro]

If you look into git history, this existed as bin/microvm-console before, using a pty instance, just for qemu and cloud-hypervisor. I dropped it because I wasn't too happy with it.

I am happy to have consoles/serials configurable but with sensible defaults. I cannot give an ETA when I'll have time for that.

Also, I am delighted that @Mic92 has updated https://github.com/Mic92/vmsh -- please play with that!

[luochen1990]

Thanks, but vmsh seems not working for me , not sure why :(

[Mic92]

I think I would need more time to fix some issues with VMSH.
But here are some thoughts about serial/console support in microvm.nix itself:

• Serial devices do not set TERM or terminal size correctly. Here is an serial nixos module that works around that: https://github.com/numtide/srvos/blob/main/nixos/common/serial.nix
• virtio console would be ideal because it knows about the terminal size and can also update it dynamically. At least on the protocol level, I don't know what the state of the art hypervisors are doing.
• Another option some vsock based daemon that works like ssh but doesn't require any special network configuration.
• Or simply use ssh, this is what I am doing just now:

I allocate an tap interface called "management" to each vm (on the host I use mgt-$name). And allow ssh traffic from it:

{
    # Only allow ssh on internal tap devices
    networking.firewall.interfaces.management.allowedTCPPorts = [ 22 ];
    services.openssh.openFirewall = false;
}

Than I set the link-local ipv6 address to "fe80::1" on the host and "fe80::2" in the VM.

I can than use this ssh wrapper to access my machine:

{
  
  environment.systemPackages = [
    (pkgs.writeScriptBin "ssh-vm" ''
      #!/usr/bin/env bash
      if [[ "$#" -ne 1 ]]; then
        echo "Usage: $0 <vm-name>"
        exit 1
      fi
      vm=$1
      shift
      # we can disable host key checking because we use ipv6 link local addresses and no other vm can spoof them on this interface
      ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no "$@" root@fe80::2%mgt-$vm
    '')
  ];
}

This allows me to login by using the VM name:

$ ssh-vm foo

[Mic92]

Systemd also now parses terminal name and size from the kernel command line, but this would be mainly useful for the initial terminal at boot time and not for ad-hoc ones: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/6ac299e3cedb1d9eb8df88010c4994a90aa12a9a/NEWS#L144

[bouk]

A future version of systemd will make it easy to connect to a running VM over VSOCK: systemd/systemd#30777 which this project can use!

[jim3692]

I just came across this issue on my configuration. For me, @Mic92's solution, with SSH over IPv6, did not work. I instead changed the Qemu parameters to forward /dev/ttyS0 to a unix sock. This allows me to at least access my VMs using socat.

I have these changes in this branch: https://github.com/jim3692/microvm.nix/tree/console-in-unix-sock

I have also implemented the microvm -s <name> command, which runs socat in raw mode, inside screen. I could not find an easier way to be able to leave the socat session.

EDIT: My VM's IPv6 is fe80::ff:fe00:1 and not fe80::2. I am not sure how link local works, but the VM's MAC is 02:00:00:00:00:01. I managed to successfully SSH using the correct IP.

[astro]

I prefer waiting for ssh over vsock rather than bringing back what we had before with microvm-console for only a few hypervisors.

BTW, find your machine's link-local addresses by pinging ff02::1%$interface (that's my favourite IPv6 address).

[tomfitzhenry]

I prefer waiting for ssh over vsock

This is doable today.

In your host:

microvm.my-vm.vsock.cid = 1337;

In your guest:

services.openssh = {
  enable = true;
  startWhenNeeded = true;
};
systemd.sockets.sshd = {
  socketConfig = {
    ListenStream = [
      "vsock:1337:22"
    ];
  };
};

Then, to connect to your guest from your host:

$ ssh -o "ProxyCommand socat - VSOCK-CONNECT:1337:22" root@localhost

[sydneymeyer]

I prefer waiting for ssh over vsock

This is doable today.

In your host:

microvm.my-vm.vsock.cid = 1337;

In your guest:

services.openssh = {
  enable = true;
  startWhenNeeded = true;
};
systemd.sockets.sshd = {
  socketConfig = {
    ListenStream = [
      "vsock:1337:22"
    ];
  };
};

Then, to connect to your guest from your host:

$ ssh -o "ProxyCommand socat - VSOCK-CONNECT:1337:22" root@localhost

This approach works with the default qemu VMM, but not with e.g. cloud-hypervisor, as it's terminating the vsock connection differently [1].

Is there a way to use an approach like this with cloud-hypervisor's implementation of vsock?

[Alfablos]

Hi everyone,
I'm pretty interested in this. I'm using macvtap interfaces and I'd like to ssh into the microvm (qemu) from another client host in the LAN.

For example:

• The host machine (hosting the microvm) has ip 10.0.10.15
• The microvm has ip 10.0.10.32
• The client host in the lan I'm trying to connect from has ip 10.0.10.20

I'm trying to stick to examples and provided snippets where possible at first.

As expected, ssh from the host machine (10.0.10.15) doesn't work, but what I get when 10.0.10.20 tries to ssh into 10.0.10.32 (hosted on 10.0.10.15) is:

(user@10.0.100.32) Password:
Read from remote host 10.0.100.32: Connection reset by peer
Connection to 10.0.100.32 closed.
client_loop: send disconnect: Broken pipe

However, if I curl the microvm it works.

➜  ~ curl 10.0.100.32
<html><body>It works</body></html>%

I've already tried playing with TCPKeepAlive and SSH options but I'm pretty sure this is something else.

This is an excerpt from my flake.nix file (unstable nixpkgs):

nixosConfigurations.myhost = lib.nixosSystem {
      specialArgs = { inherit inputs pkgs-stable microvm; };
      modules = [
	microvm.nixosModules.host
        ./hosts/myhost/configuration.nix
	sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
	{ nixpkgs.overlays = [ nur.overlays.default ]; }
	(import ./overlays)

My host configuration.nix looks like this:

  microvm.vms = {
    myvm = import ../../vms/myvm.nix {
      inherit config pkgs;
      stateVersion = config.system.stateVersion;
    };
  };
  # ...
  networking.networkmanager.enable = true;  # Easiest to use and most distros use this by default.
  networking.networkmanager.dns = "systemd-resolved";
  networking.networkmanager.unmanaged = [ "eth0" "docker0" "vmnet*" ];
  networking.networkmanager.logLevel = "INFO";
  networking.useDHCP = false;
  networking.useNetworkd = false;

  systemd.network.enable = true;
  systemd.network.wait-online.enable = false;

  networking.usePredictableInterfaceNames = false;

  systemd.network.links = {
    "10-eth0" = {
      matchConfig.PermanentMACAddress = "...";
      linkConfig.Name = "eth0";
    };
    "10-wlan0" = {
      matchConfig.PermanentMACAddress = "...";
      linkConfig.Name = "wlan0";
    };
  };

  systemd.network.networks = {
    "10-eth0" = {
      matchConfig.Name = "eth0";
      networkConfig = {
        DHCP = "yes";
      };
      linkConfig = {
        RequiredForOnline = false;
      };
    };
    # "10-wlan0" = {
    #   matchConfig.Name = "wlan0";
    #   networkConfig = {
    #     DHCP = "ipv4";
    #   };
    #   linkConfig = {
    #     RequiredForOnline = false;
    #   };
    # };
  };

  networking.networkmanager.ensureProfiles = {
    environmentFiles = [ config.sops.secrets."network/networkmanagerEnv".path ];
    profiles = {
      wifi1 = nmWifiConnectionBuilder { ssid = "wifi1"; authProtocol = "sae"; passOrVar = "$wifi1_pass"; };
      wifi2 = nmWifiConnectionBuilder { ssid = "wifi2"; authProtocol = "wpa-psk"; passOrVar = "somepass"; };
      wifi3 = nmWifiConnectionBuilder { ssid = "wifi3"; authProtocol = "sae"; passOrVar = "$wifi3_pass"; };
    };
  };

My vms/myvm.nix looks like this:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:
{
  config = {
    microvm = {
      hypervisor = "qemu";
      graphics.enable = false;
      interfaces = [
        {
          type = "macvtap";
          macvtap.link = "eth0";
          macvtap.mode = "bridge";
          id = "myvm";
          mac = "10:02:03:04:05:06";
        }
      ];
      shares = [
	{
	  source = "/nix/store";
          mountPoint = "/nix/.ro-store";
          tag = "ro-store";
          proto = "virtiofs";
	}
      ];

    };
    microvm.qemu.extraArgs = [
      # "-vga" "qxl"
      # "-device" "virtio-keyboard"
      "-usb"
      "-device"
      "usb-tablet,bus=usb-bus.0"
    ];

    networking.hostName = "myvm";
    networking.firewall.enable = false;
    networking.networkmanager.enable = true;
    system.stateVersion = config.system.nixos.version;

    services.openssh = {
      enable = true;
      settings.PermitEmptyPasswords = "yes";
      settings.PermitRootLogin = "yes";
    };
    
    users.users.root.password = "test";
    services.getty.autologinUser = "root";
    users.users.user = {
      uid = 1000;
      password = "test";
      shell = pkgs.bash;
      group = "user";
      isNormalUser = true;
      extraGroups = [ "wheel" ];
    };
    users.groups.user = { };

    security.sudo = {
      enable = true;
      wheelNeedsPassword = false;
    };
    environment.systemPackages = [ ];

    services.nginx = {
      enable = true;
      virtualHosts.localhost = {
	locations."/" = {
	  return = "200 '<html><body>It works</body></html>'";
	  extraConfig = ''
	    default_type text/html;
	  '';
	};
      };
    };

  };

}

I hope someone can help me diagnose this because this project is amazing and I want to use it! :D

[astro]

@Alfablos I have had the exact same issues with macvtap. I wonder how others like @megheaiulian @pinkisemils @PatrickDaG @pks-t (the macvtap contributors) get the host to communicate with the VMs? I'd like to document that.

Until then, I mostly use tap attached to a host bridge like documented in the handbook. Except for where the NIC can do SR-IOV which should really be documented, too!

Let's not forget the actual subject of this issue: SSH over Vsock would still be really nice to have!

[PatrickDaG]

To be able to connect from the host you will need to also give it its own macvtap and use that as the interface, you can't use the physical interface directly. Something like this:

  # To be able to ping containers from the host, it is necessary
  # to create a macvlan on the host on the VLAN 1 network.
  networking.macvlans.lan = {
    interface = "lan01";
    mode = "bridge";
  };
  systemd.network.networks = {
    "10-lan01" = {
      #matchConfig.MACAddress = "...";
      matchConfig.Name = "lan";
}

I'm not quite sure why you can't ssh into the host from remote, but maybe some kind of firewall problem, or port conflict since your host uses the physical interface, which the macvtap also tries to do?