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Attention! Current pages describe CBSD version 13.0.x. If you are using an older version, please update first.
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CBSD QEMU quick start
CBSD and QEMU
| Platform | QEMU supported | NVMM supported | DragonflyBSD | Y | Y | FreeBSD | Y | N | NetBSD | Y | Y |
CBSD version 13.0.18 added support for QEMU and NVMM accelerator. Similar to the commands for jail, bhyve and XEN, you can create and manage QEMU-based virtual machines through similar commands and dialog forms, while the commands are prefixed with 'q': qstart, qdestroy ..
Currently NVMM acceleration is only available on the DragonFlyBSD/NetBSD platform. However, if you are using CBSD and QEMU on FreeBSD, you can take advantage of the lightweight image of the alternate architectures as a full virtual machine if the QEMU-usermode jail is not for you. So, on a FreeBSD amd64 host, you can easily get up and running with an OS for ARMv8/aarch64 or RISCv64.
When using NVMM, make sure the module is loaded:
kldload nvmm
Don't forget to add nvmm into auto-load via /boot/loader.conf:
nvmm_load="YES"
You can check the status of NVMM through the command:
nvmmctl identify
If the module is missing or does not work correctly, you can create VMs, but they will work without acceleration.
Also, acceleration will not be available if you are running non-native architectures.
You need to install QEMU package named 'qemu' (or 'qemu-devel' in some cases):
pkg install qemu
Detailed description of working with NVMM/QEMU on the: DragonflyBSD project page, NetBSD project guide
When working with emulation of non-native architectures, you may need firmware and bios to boot systems:
For example:
- u-boot-qemu-arm64 - Cross-build das u-boot for model qemu-arm64
- u-boot-qemu-riscv64 - Cross-build das u-boot for model qemu-riscv64
- opensbi - RISC-V SBI bootloader and firmware
TODO/Limitation
At the moment, qemu is started from the 'root' user;
On the DragonFlyBSD platform, support for HammerFS2 in CBSD is under development: automatic work with PFS / snapshot / COW using HammerFS is currently not possible;
On FreeBSD platform, QEMU does not support the QXL/Spice protocol;
Creating a QEMU VM
You can work with QEMU-based virtual machines through the usual CBSD methods: TUI interface, CLI interface, or CBSDfile.
cbsd qconstruct-tui --help cbsd qcreate --help cbsd qstart --help cbsd qdestroy --help
Demo of working with QEMU via CBSD
Demo of NVMM/QEMU via CBSD on DragonflyBSD 6.1-dev, Demo of running ARMv8 / AARCH64 and RISCv64 virtual machines on FreeBSD amd64 / x86_64: