How to run Amazon Linux 2023 KVM qcow2 image with libvirt

It can be really useful to run Amazon Linux 2023 as a VM locally to test and develop without using (and paying for) an EC2 instance.

Download Amazon Linux 2023 image

Visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/outside-ec2-download.html and follow link to cdn.amazonlinux.com. Download the correct KVM image for your architecture.

cd /var/lib/libvirt/images/
sudo wget https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/al2023/os-images/2023.4.20240401.1/kvm/al2023-kvm-2023.4.20240401.1-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2

virt-install --name delta --memory 2000 --vcpus 2 --disk=size=25,backing_store=/var/lib/libvirt/images/al2023-kvm-2023.4.20240401.1-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2 --osinfo=fedora38 --cloud-init --autostart

Running this command will create the VM, generate a root password and allow you to login via console.

This is the example output.

[root@carbon ~]# virt-install --name delta --memory 2000 --vcpus 2 --disk=size=25,backing_store=/var/lib/libvirt/images/al2023-kvm-2023.4.20240401.1-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2 --osinfo=fedora38 --cloud-init --autostart
WARNING  Defaulting to --cloud-init root-password-generate=yes,disable=yes

Starting install...
Password for first root login is: FO7RUDwoixceupDD
Allocating 'delta.qcow2'                                                                                                                                                                      |    0 B  00:00:00 ... 
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                                            |    0 B  00:00:00     
Running text console command: virsh --connect qemu:///system console delta
Connected to domain 'delta'

To disconnect Ctrl + ]

To reconnect to the VM

# virsh console delta

Delete the VM

virsh has rather cryptic termanology

# virsh destroy delta ; virsh undefine --domain delta --remove-all-storage

Example output

[root@carbon ~]# virsh destroy delta ; virsh undefine --domain delta --remove-all-storage
Domain 'delta' destroyed

Domain 'delta' has been undefined
Volume 'vda'(/var/lib/libvirt/images/delta.qcow2) removed.

You are more likely to want to setup Amazon Linux 2023 VM with SSH public key and access via SSH, in similar way to you would an ec2 instance.

Create VM with clouduser option

Creates the VM and uses SSH public key specified for Amazon Linux admin user ec2-user

# virt-install --name delta --memory 2000 --vcpus 2 --disk=size=25,backing_store=/var/lib/libvirt/images/al2023-kvm-2023.4.20240401.1-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2 --osinfo=fedora38 --cloud-init clouduser-ssh-key=/home/laurence/.ssh/id_rsa.pub --autostart --noautoconsole

Find the IP address assigned

# virsh domifaddr  delta

In this example the IP address is 192.168.124.123

# virsh domifaddr  delta
 Name       MAC address          Protocol     Address
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 vnet1      52:54:00:1e:22:9a    ipv4         192.168.124.123/24

Connect using SSH

Make sure you are logged in to the user with the SSH key that you used for clouduser-ssh-key.

$ ssh [email protected]
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.124.123' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
[ec2-user@localhost ~]$