Tux

KVM Virtual Machines’ Backup and Restoration

 in GNU/Linux  tagged bash / domblklist / dumpxml / GNU/Linux / libvirt / list / qemu / shutdown / undefine / virsh / vm by

Introduction

According to Redhat, KVM is an open-source virtualization technology that is incorporated into Linux. KVM stands for Kernel-based Virtual Machine. To be more specific, KVM enables the transformation of Linux into a hypervisor, which makes it possible for a single physical computer to operate simultaneously several distinct virtual environments, also known as guests or virtual machines (VMs). This post will focus mainly on backing up KVM virtual machines (VMs).

Backup your KVM VM

First, log in using the sudo user and list all of the KVM virtual machines available.

virsh list --all;
# virsh help list
#  NAME
#    list - list domains
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    list [--inactive] [--all] [--transient] [--persistent] [--with-snapshot] [--without-snapshot] [--state-running] [--state-paused] [--state-shutoff] [--state-other] [--autostart] [--no-autostart] [--with-managed-save] [--without-managed-save] [--uuid] [--name] [--table] [--managed-save] [--title]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Returns list of domains.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    --all            list inactive & active domains

Next, you will need to log out of the virtual machine (VM) you intend to back up.

virsh shutdown $VM_NAME;
# virsh help shutdown
#  NAME
#    shutdown - gracefully shutdown a domain
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    shutdown <domain> [--mode <string>]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Run shutdown in the target domain.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--domain] <string>  domain name, id or uuid
#    --mode <string>  shutdown mode: acpi|agent|initctl|signal|paravirt

Then it would be best if you executed the following to ensure that the command was executed successfully.

virsh list --all;

We can break down the process of backing up a KVM virtual machine into two essential parts:

The definition of the domain:

Specifying the physical components that make up the VM, such as its network interfaces, physical and virtual central processing units, RAM, and disk space. You will be able to see this information by executing the following command:

virsh dumpxml $VM_NAME;
# virsh help dumpxml
#  NAME
#    dumpxml - domain information in XML
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    dumpxml <domain> [--inactive] [--security-info] [--update-cpu] [--migratable]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Output the domain information as an XML dump to stdout.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--domain] <string>  domain name, id or uuid
#    --inactive       show inactive defined XML
#    --security-info  include security sensitive information in XML dump
#    --update-cpu     update guest CPU according to host CPU
#    --migratable     provide XML suitable for migrations

The data file:

The path to the source file includes the location of the data file that needs to be backed up by us. It is where the virtual machine’s hard drive is stored. This section contains the internal configuration, including services, databases, etc. We can use the domain definition to determine the location of this file, or we can use the following command, which will tell you the position of the hard drive. Either way, we can find the location of this file.

virsh domblklist $VM_NAME;
# virsh help domblklist
#  NAME
#    domblklist - list all domain blocks
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    domblklist <domain> [--inactive] [--details]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Get the summary of block devices for a domain.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--domain] <string>  domain name, id or uuid
#    --inactive       get inactive rather than running configuration
#    --details        additionally display the type and device value

Let’s assume that the following is the given location (which is usually the default location for virtual machines created with libvirt):

/var/lib/libvirt/images/

The above command will produce output similar to the following:

Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
hda        /var/lib/libvirt/images/nba.qcow2
hdb        -

The qcow2 images are the disk files that we need to back up.

First, we need to create a place to put the backups:

mkdir -p /opt/backup/kvm/;

The following command creates a backup of the domain definition:

virsh dumpxml $VM_NAME > "/opt/backup/kvm/$VM_NAME.xml";

The following is what we employ to create a backup of the hard drives based on the feedback of the domblklist command:

cp /var/lib/libvirt/images/nba.qcow2 /opt/backup/kvm/;

Restore your KVM virtual machine

We will begin by erasing the virtual machine’s hard disk and undefining the VM so that it does not exist any longer. Using the domblklist command, we need to identify the qcow2 files to be deleted. After we collect that information and make sure that the VM is stopped using the shutdown command, we need to delete the file(s) from the hard drive:

rm /var/lib/libvirt/images/nba.qcow2;

Remove the VM definition:

Then you need to remove the existing definition before restoring a backup.

virsh undefine $VM_NAME;
# virsh help undefine
#  NAME
#    undefine - undefine a domain
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    undefine <domain> [--managed-save] [--storage <string>] [--remove-all-storage] [--delete-snapshots] [--wipe-storage] [--snapshots-metadata] [--nvram] [--keep-nvram]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Undefine an inactive domain, or convert persistent to transient.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--domain] <string>  domain name, id or uuid
#    --managed-save   remove domain managed state file
#    --storage <string>  remove associated storage volumes (comma separated list of targets or source paths) (see domblklist)
#    --remove-all-storage  remove all associated storage volumes (use with caution)
#    --delete-snapshots  delete snapshots associated with volume(s), requires --remove-all-storage (must be supported by storage driver)
#    --wipe-storage   wipe data on the removed volumes
#    --snapshots-metadata  remove all domain snapshot metadata, if inactive
#    --nvram          remove nvram file, if inactive
#    --keep-nvram     keep nvram file, if inactive

Restore the virtual machine (VM).

Now, to bring back the virtual machine that was removed, we will first get back the hard drive:

cp /opt/backup/kvm/nba.qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/;

Then, bring back the original definition of the domain.

virsh define --file "/opt/backup/kvm/$VM_NAME.xml";
# virsh help define
#  NAME
#    define - define (but don't start) a domain from an XML file
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    define <file> [--validate]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Define a domain.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--file] <string>  file containing an XML domain description
#    --validate       validate the XML against the schema

If you’re moving it to a different physical host, you can check to see if the information included within the XML file needs to be updated appropriately. Check to see if the new physical host has network interfaces, for instance, and so forth.

Execute the following to check that the parameters of your virtual machine (VM) have been successfully defined:

virsh list --all;

After that, begin using the VM by:

virsh start $VM_NAME;
# virsh help start
#  NAME
#    start - start a (previously defined) inactive domain
#
#  SYNOPSIS
#    start <domain> [--console] [--paused] [--autodestroy] [--bypass-cache] [--force-boot] [--pass-fds <string>]
#
#  DESCRIPTION
#    Start a domain, either from the last managedsave
#    state, or via a fresh boot if no managedsave state
#    is present.
#
#  OPTIONS
#    [--domain] <string>  name of the inactive domain
#    --console        attach to console after creation
#    --paused         leave the guest paused after creation
#    --autodestroy    automatically destroy the guest when virsh disconnects
#    --bypass-cache   avoid file system cache when loading
#    --force-boot     force fresh boot by discarding any managed save
#    --pass-fds <string>  pass file descriptors N,M,... to the guest

Once your virtual machine (VM) is up and running, you may use SSH or other methods to log into it and check that everything was correctly restored.

Ubuntu Distribution Upgrade: Not enough free disk space

 in Bash / GNU/Linux  tagged apt / apt-get / bash / dpkg / GNU/Linux / purge / ubuntu / uname by

Recently, we tried to upgrade an Ubuntu 20.04 desktop to a 22.04. At some point in the update, we got the following error:

The upgrade has aborted. The upgrade needs a total of 10,6 G free space on disk '/'. Please free at least an additional 8201 M of disk space on '/'. Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'. The upgrade has aborted. The upgrade needs a total of 430 M free space on disk '/boot'. Please free at least an additional 38,4 M of disk space on '/boot'. You can remove old kernels using 'sudo apt autoremove' and you could also set COMPRESS=xz in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf to reduce the size of your initramfs.

First of all, we tried to use the command apt autoremove to clear up some space, which unfortunately was not enough.

sudo apt autoremove;

Then to clear up some space, we needed to find remnant memories of older versions of the Kernel. To do so, we used the following command. The following command finds the current version of the kernel and shows the user the remaining packages that do not reflect the active kernel.

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d;/^linux-\(headers\|image\)/!d';

Then we removed all the headers and the images that we did not need using the command apt-get purge.

$ dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d;/^linux-\(headers\|image\)/!d'
linux-headers-5.13.0-52-generic
linux-headers-5.15.0-46-generic
linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04
linux-image-5.15.0-46-generic
linux-image-generic-hwe-20.04

$ sudo apt-get -y purge linux-headers-5.13.0-52-generic linux-headers-5.15.0-46-generic linux-image-5.15.0-46-generic;

Doing so was enough to clear up the space that was needed for the upgrade to continue.

19th place for Cypriot Hackers in the European Cyber Security Competition. Cyprus won 19th place in the Pan-European Cyber Security Competition

 in Cyprus Computer Society / Cyprus Cyber Security Challenge  tagged CCS / CCSC / cyprus computer society / Cyprus Cyber Security Challenge / ECSC / European Cyber Security Challenge by

The Cypriot Cybersecurity Team took 19th place in the Pan-European Cybersecurity Competition held in Vienna from September 12th to September 16th.

The competition was attended by 28 countries from Europe and Canada, the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Serbia, with people aged 14-25 students, students, professionals, hackers, security researchers, and self-taught enthusiasts in the field of cyber security.

The Cypriot team was represented by Vassilis Charalambos (Team Leader), Andreas Tsouloupas, Odysseas Stavrou, Eleni Ioakeim, Christodoulos Sotiriou, Panagiotis Gabriel, Christos Falas, Joseph Modestou, Marios Kailis, and Evangelos Liudakis. The team was accompanied and trained by the coaches: Marios Nicolaidis, Christos Makridis, and Nikolas Markitanis. Simon Loizidis and George Michael represented Cyprus on behalf of the European Coordinating Committee.

The first three places were occupied by Denmark, Germany, and France.

The ECSC competition is an initiative of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) and aims to identify new talent in the field of cybersecurity, as well as encourage young people to pursue careers in the field.

The organization and the whole effort are supported by the Cyprus Computer Society, the Cypriot Cybersecurity Community CYberMouflons, and the organization is under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, the Cyprus Police, and the Digital Security Authority through the Office of the Communications Commissioner.

The participation of our National team would not be possible without the support of the sponsors: Adacom Cyber Security, Defense.com, Deloitte, European University Cyprus, Exness, Frederick University, Grant Thornton, KPMG, Odyssey Cybersecurity, Oracle Academy, Try Hack Me, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Cyprus and XM as well as supporters HostingB2B, MVPS.net, ICSI, Offensive Security, RedPoint, Robo Cy and SCP Academy, Silensec and Cyber Ranges.

More information on the websites, https://ecsc.eu/, https://www.ccsc.org.cy, and social networks.

Microsoft invented a new way to force users into using their online accounts

 in Windows  tagged Microsoft / S-Mode / windows by

It became apparent that new Microsoft installations are getting increasingly aggressive, forcing users to create an online Microsoft account on their machines.

Please note that we created a new online Microsoft account in the end… We do not have a working solution to this issue.

Backstory: we purchased a new laptop that had Microsoft Windows 10 pre-installed. The first time we booted it, we did not want to sign in using a Microsoft online account, so we did not give internet to the laptop. Doing so allowed us to create a local account on the computer without associating it with an online account.

After several updates, we tried to install Firefox, and besides the usual annoying Microsoft advertisements about Bing, we got the following messages for Microsoft Windows S Mode.

For security and performance, this mode of Windows only runs Microsoft-verified apps
Initial notification of Microsoft S Mode – For security and performance, Windows 10 in S mode runs Microsoft-verified apps

After clicking on the “Learn More” button, we got the following:

Microsoft S Mode – Switch out prompt

Clicking on the “Get” button got us to the Microsoft Online Account login form…

Microsoft sign-in form appears when you try to switch out of S mode.

We then closed all windows, disabled internet access, and tried installing Firefox again. This time, we got the following message:

After disabling the internet connection, we tried to bypass the SmartScreen and the S mode settings

After clicking on the “Run” button, we got stopped again by the Microsoft Windows S Mode settings.

As this post mentioned, we eventually created a new online Microsoft account and used it to log in and disable Microsoft S Mode.