Intelligent Desktop Virtualization (IDV) for Education
Configure IDV Host
Configuration on the IDV Host must be done only once, as this config will be synced to all IDV Hosts in your network. Set up the hardware devices in the same way and with the same sequence (USB port to plug-in mouse and keyboard, display port for monitor to plug-in) for all IDV Hosts.
Launch the IDV Host and wait for the Ubuntu Desktop. Verify that the hostname is idvguest, meaning that your VM has been launched. Press Shift+F1 to shut down the VM and follow the steps below.
- Press Alt+a to enter admin mode and Alt+Enter to launch terminal.
- Use the command below to get the bus and port of the USB.
- Example #1 – to passthrough the red highlighted USB device, the USB configuration will be, “03-2”.
- Example #2 – To passthrough the red highlighted USB device, the USB configuration will be, “01-1.3”.
- Use the command below to get the connected display port.
- Use the command below to get your network card info.
- Go to the IDV Server, and run this command to modify the config file for IDV:
- Leave the other configurations as default but modify these configurations based on your environment:
lsusb -t
xrandr
ip addr
sudo nano /home/idvuser/idv-client/idv-vm.conf
General Configuration: These configurations will be applied if the host-specific configuration is not enabled or configured.
Table 10. IDV VM General Configuration Options
Config file options | GUI option | Function |
vcpu | VM vCPU | The number of virtual CPU for each IDV Guest. The default vcpu is 2. |
memory | VM Memory | The amount of RAM in GB allocated for each IDV Guest. The default memory is 6GB. |
start_onboot | VM start on boot | To launch IDV Guest when booting up IDV Host. |
start_oncrash | VM start on crash | To restart IDV Guest when the guest crashes. |
guest | VM Count | The number of IDV Guest enabled. |
persist | VM Mode: persist or non-persist | To enable or disable persistence mode. If enabled, then files will remain in the IDV Guest until removed. If disabled, then the IDV Guest will run on a snapshot based on the golden image on every boot. |
auto_check_update | N/A | Prompt user when there is update available. If the user responds yes, the IDV Host software will be updated, if user responds no, IDV Host software will not be updated. |
auto_install_update | N/A | Will update IDV Host software automatically without prompting user. |
sync_on_start | Image Sync on Start | If selected, image sync will be enabled and VM can launch. If not selected, image sync will be disabled. VM will not launch in this process regardless of whether start on boot is enabled or not. Remark: Purpose is to setup host faster without golden image sync and launching vm. |
vmX_os (X=1,2,3,4) | VM X OS (X=1,2,3,4) | Guest OS to be launched, the name needs to follow the qcow2 file name. The guest qcow2 file should be ready on the NFS path with the same name. |
vmX_monitor (X=1,2,3,4) | VM X Display (X=1,2,3,4) | Display port of VM (e.g. HDMI-1) |
vmX_usb (X=1,2,3,4) | VM X USB (X=1,2,3,4) | USB device to passthrough using bus:port, it can be multiple separated by a comma (,). (eg. 01-1.3)
Remark: USB Passthrough needs to be unique for each VM. Multiple VMs cannot share the same USB port configuration even if the VM is not turned on. |
Host Specific Configuration: These configurations will only be applied to the specific IDV Host with the exact MAC Address. All host-specific configurations will have a “hostX_” prefix. These configurations are similar to the general configuration, except the host specific configuration require specific host mac address and host name.
Table 11. IDV VM Host Specific Configuration Options
Config file option | GUI option | Function |
hostX | IDV Host | To indicate which host ID is point to which MAC Address. |
hostX_name | Host Name | A friendly name to easily identify IDV Host, which can be seen in Veyon Master and IDV VM Configurator GUI. |
- Now, in the i3 terminal on your idvhost, modify this line on the i3 configuration, change ‘HDMI-x’ / ‘DP-x’ to your display port (HDMI-x or DP-x), and note that the VM will be assigned the display output by sequence (ex: vm1 will output to workspace 1):
- Comment out the workspace if you have less than four displays connected to prevent conflict; for example, comment out the line as shown below if you only have one display:
- Reboot IDV Host.
sudo nano /home/idvuser/.config/i3/config