Setting up a QEMU/KVM Virtual Machine with Libvirt using Terraform

This guide will help you set up a virtual machine using QEMU/KVM with libvirt through Terraform.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 24.10 with QEMU, KVM, and libvirt installed
• Terraform v1.10.5 installed
• terraform-provider-libvirt (dmacvicar/libvirt) plugin installed

Configuration Steps

1. Enable Libvirt and Adjust Permissions

To avoid permission denied errors when using Terraform with libvirt, modify the /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf file:

sudo nano /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf

Find the following line:

# security_driver = "selinux"

Change it to:

security_driver = "none"

Then restart libvirt:

sudo systemctl restart libvirtd

2. Clone Terraform Configuration Repository

If you have a predefined Terraform configuration, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ArmanTaheriGhaleTaki/terraform-libvirt-sample.git
cd terraform-libvirt-sample

3. Initialize Terraform

Run the following command to initialize the Terraform working directory:

terraform init

4. Validate and Plan

Before applying the configuration, validate and check the execution plan:

terraform validate
terraform plan

5. Apply the Terraform Configuration

Once validated, apply the configuration to create the virtual machine:

terraform apply -auto-approve

6. Modify Cloud-Init Configuration

To customize your VM’s initialization process, update the Cloud-Init configuration according to your needs. Modify user-data and meta-data files accordingly.

⚠️⚠️ Static IP Issue ⚠️⚠️

If you configure a static IP for the VM, Terraform will not terminate successfully and will keep retrying endlessly. However, this is expected behavior, and you can safely interrupt the process and SSH into the server manually without issues.

Destroy the VM

If you need to remove the VM, use:

terraform destroy -auto-approve

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Molla Salehi (GitHub: mm3906078) for contributions and guidance.