[pve-devel] [PATCH v2 docs] qm: add guest agent section

[pve-devel] [PATCH v2 docs] qm: add guest agent section

[Aaron Lauterer]

Signed-off-by: Aaron Lauterer <a.lauterer@proxmox.com>
---
v1 -> v2: implemented suggested changes from Dylan. Thx for that.

Additionally to the previous series [0] which changes the phrasing, it
would be nice to have a dedicated Qemu Guest Agent section in the docs.

[0] https://lists.proxmox.com/pipermail/pve-devel/2020-December/046502.html

 qm.adoc | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 53 insertions(+)

diff --git a/qm.adoc b/qm.adoc
index 5e53e4a..2a2efc7 100644
--- a/qm.adoc
+++ b/qm.adoc
@@ -917,6 +917,59 @@ start after those where the parameter is set. Further, this parameter can only
 be enforced between virtual machines running on the same host, not
 cluster-wide.
 
+
+[[qm_qemu_agent]]
+Qemu Guest Agent
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The Qemu Guest Agent is a service which runs inside the VM, providing a
+communication channel between the host and the guest. It is used to exchange
+information and allows the host to issue commands to the guest.
+
+For example, the IP addresses in the VM summary panel are fetched via the guest
+agent. When starting a backup, the guest is told via the guest agent to sync
+outstanding writes via the 'fs-freeze' and 'fs-thaw' commands. It is possible
+to add custom hook scripts to react to these commands and tell software, for
+example a database server, to write current data to disk, so it is included in
+the backup.
+
+Install Guest Agent
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+For most Linux distributions, the guest agent is available. The package is
+usually named `qemu-guest-agent`.
+
+For Windows, it can be installed from the
+https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso[Fedora
+VirtIO driver ISO].
+
+Enable Guest Agent
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The guest agent can be enabled in the VM's *Options* panel.
+A fresh start of the VM is necessary for the changes to take effect.
+
+It is possible to enable the 'Run guest-trim' option. With this enabled,
+Proxmox VE will issue a trim command to the guest after the following
+operations that have the potential to write out zeros to the storage:
+
+* moving a disk to another storage
+* live migrating a VM to another node with local storage
+
+On a thin provisioned storage, this can help to free up unused space.
+
+Troubleshooting
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.VM does not shut down
+
+Make sure the guest agent is installed and running.
+
+Once the guest agent is enabled, Proxmox VE will send power commands like
+'shutdown' via the guest agent.  These commands will be ignored if the guest
+agent in the VM is not running.
+
+
 [[qm_spice_enhancements]]
 SPICE Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- 
2.20.1

[pve-devel] [PATCH v2 manager] gui: add help button to qm guest agent window

[Aaron Lauterer]

Signed-off-by: Aaron Lauterer <a.lauterer@proxmox.com>
---

v1 -> v2: nothing

 www/manager6/qemu/Options.js | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/www/manager6/qemu/Options.js b/www/manager6/qemu/Options.js
index 1f07d81a..3467a952 100644
--- a/www/manager6/qemu/Options.js
+++ b/www/manager6/qemu/Options.js
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ Ext.define('PVE.qemu.Options', {
 		    xtype: 'proxmoxWindowEdit',
 		    subject: gettext('Qemu Agent'),
 		    width: 350,
+		    onlineHelp: 'qm_qemu_agent',
 		    items: {
 			xtype: 'pveAgentFeatureSelector',
 			name: 'agent'
-- 
2.20.1

Re: [pve-devel] [PATCH v2 docs] qm: add guest agent section

[Oguz Bektas]

hi,

lgtm, except maybe you should also mention that one needs to
start/enable the qemu-ga service in the VM for it to work. (not all
distributions do this automatically)

On Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 01:13:35PM +0100, Aaron Lauterer wrote:
> Signed-off-by: Aaron Lauterer <a.lauterer@proxmox.com>
> ---
> v1 -> v2: implemented suggested changes from Dylan. Thx for that.
> 
> Additionally to the previous series [0] which changes the phrasing, it
> would be nice to have a dedicated Qemu Guest Agent section in the docs.
> 
> [0] https://lists.proxmox.com/pipermail/pve-devel/2020-December/046502.html
> 
>  qm.adoc | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 53 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/qm.adoc b/qm.adoc
> index 5e53e4a..2a2efc7 100644
> --- a/qm.adoc
> +++ b/qm.adoc
> @@ -917,6 +917,59 @@ start after those where the parameter is set. Further, this parameter can only
>  be enforced between virtual machines running on the same host, not
>  cluster-wide.
>  
> +
> +[[qm_qemu_agent]]
> +Qemu Guest Agent
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +
> +The Qemu Guest Agent is a service which runs inside the VM, providing a
> +communication channel between the host and the guest. It is used to exchange
> +information and allows the host to issue commands to the guest.
> +
> +For example, the IP addresses in the VM summary panel are fetched via the guest
> +agent. When starting a backup, the guest is told via the guest agent to sync
> +outstanding writes via the 'fs-freeze' and 'fs-thaw' commands. It is possible
> +to add custom hook scripts to react to these commands and tell software, for
> +example a database server, to write current data to disk, so it is included in
> +the backup.
> +
> +Install Guest Agent
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +For most Linux distributions, the guest agent is available. The package is
> +usually named `qemu-guest-agent`.
> +
> +For Windows, it can be installed from the
> +https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso[Fedora
> +VirtIO driver ISO].
> +
> +Enable Guest Agent
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +The guest agent can be enabled in the VM's *Options* panel.
> +A fresh start of the VM is necessary for the changes to take effect.
> +
> +It is possible to enable the 'Run guest-trim' option. With this enabled,
> +Proxmox VE will issue a trim command to the guest after the following
> +operations that have the potential to write out zeros to the storage:
> +
> +* moving a disk to another storage
> +* live migrating a VM to another node with local storage
> +
> +On a thin provisioned storage, this can help to free up unused space.
> +
> +Troubleshooting
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +.VM does not shut down
> +
> +Make sure the guest agent is installed and running.
> +
> +Once the guest agent is enabled, Proxmox VE will send power commands like
> +'shutdown' via the guest agent.  These commands will be ignored if the guest
> +agent in the VM is not running.
> +
> +
>  [[qm_spice_enhancements]]
>  SPICE Enhancements
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> -- 
> 2.20.1
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pve-devel mailing list
> pve-devel@lists.proxmox.com
> https://lists.proxmox.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pve-devel
> 
> 

Re: [pve-devel] [PATCH v2 docs] qm: add guest agent section

[Stoiko Ivanov]

Thanks for getting this documented!

LGTM as it currently is! (All comments are purely suggestions - feel free
to ignore them)

One thing I would emphasize a bit more (e.g. by adding it as list items in
the initial paragraph) is that getting all the guest agent goodness needs
2 prerequisites:
* installing the agent in the guest
* enabling the communication from the hypervisor (by enabling it in the
  guest's config)

Some (minor) comments inline:
On Thu, 17 Dec 2020 13:13:35 +0100
Aaron Lauterer <a.lauterer@proxmox.com> wrote:

> Signed-off-by: Aaron Lauterer <a.lauterer@proxmox.com>
> ---
> v1 -> v2: implemented suggested changes from Dylan. Thx for that.
> 
> Additionally to the previous series [0] which changes the phrasing, it
> would be nice to have a dedicated Qemu Guest Agent section in the docs.
> 
> [0] https://lists.proxmox.com/pipermail/pve-devel/2020-December/046502.html
> 
>  qm.adoc | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 53 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/qm.adoc b/qm.adoc
> index 5e53e4a..2a2efc7 100644
> --- a/qm.adoc
> +++ b/qm.adoc
> @@ -917,6 +917,59 @@ start after those where the parameter is set. Further, this parameter can only
>  be enforced between virtual machines running on the same host, not
>  cluster-wide.
>  
> +
> +[[qm_qemu_agent]]
> +Qemu Guest Agent
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +
> +The Qemu Guest Agent is a service which runs inside the VM, providing a
> +communication channel between the host and the guest. It is used to exchange
> +information and allows the host to issue commands to the guest.
> +
> +For example, the IP addresses in the VM summary panel are fetched via the guest
> +agent. When starting a backup, the guest is told via the guest agent to sync
I personally would probably separate the displaying IP-information and the
fs-freeze/thaw part into 2 paragraphs.

> +outstanding writes via the 'fs-freeze' and 'fs-thaw' commands. It is possible
> +to add custom hook scripts to react to these commands and tell software, for
When I read hook scripts in our documentation I always think first of the
various places where we allow to add custom (hook) scripts.
Not 100% sure we need to document qga-features here?

> +example a database server, to write current data to disk, so it is included in
> +the backup.
> +
> +Install Guest Agent
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +For most Linux distributions, the guest agent is available. The package is
> +usually named `qemu-guest-agent`.
> +
> +For Windows, it can be installed from the
> +https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso[Fedora
> +VirtIO driver ISO].
> +
> +Enable Guest Agent
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +The guest agent can be enabled in the VM's *Options* panel.
> +A fresh start of the VM is necessary for the changes to take effect.
maybe:
s/The guest agent can be/Communcation from PVE with the guest agent can be/
> +
> +It is possible to enable the 'Run guest-trim' option. With this enabled,
> +Proxmox VE will issue a trim command to the guest after the following
> +operations that have the potential to write out zeros to the storage:
> +
> +* moving a disk to another storage
> +* live migrating a VM to another node with local storage
> +
> +On a thin provisioned storage, this can help to free up unused space.
> +
> +Troubleshooting
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +.VM does not shut down
> +
> +Make sure the guest agent is installed and running.
> +
> +Once the guest agent is enabled, Proxmox VE will send power commands like
> +'shutdown' via the guest agent.  These commands will be ignored if the guest
> +agent in the VM is not running.
Maybe: If the guest agent is not running/listening for commands - they
cannot get executed properly and the shutdown command will run into a
timeout.

> +
> +
>  [[qm_spice_enhancements]]
>  SPICE Enhancements
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Re: [pve-devel] [PATCH v2 docs] qm: add guest agent section

[Thomas Lamprecht]

just a small comment on top of the other reviewers stuff.

On 17/12/2020 13:13, Aaron Lauterer wrote:
> +Proxmox VE will issue a trim command to the guest after the following

use {pve} for Proxmox VE

> +operations that have the potential to write out zeros to the storage:
> +
> +* moving a disk to another storage
> +* live migrating a VM to another node with local storage
> +
> +On a thin provisioned storage, this can help to free up unused space.
> +
> +Troubleshooting
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +.VM does not shut down
> +
> +Make sure the guest agent is installed and running.
> +
> +Once the guest agent is enabled, Proxmox VE will send power commands like

see above