Installing General LIMS server on KVM
Before deployment of General LIMS server, install and configure the Linux KVM host server, capable of launching a new virtual machine. Also, configure the network to allow the guest VM to communicate with the workstations. This instruction will use Virtual Machine Manager to manage the KVM platform, so you will need a desktop environment to manage KVM platform.
The General LIMS server image is a QCOW2 format file. You man import this image using other tools to your KVM platform.
1Download the server image file from General LIMS. Log in to the General LIMS service. Select the qcow2.gz file on the KVM platform, and download.
2Transfer this compressed image file to your KVM host server. Unzip this file to the location /var/lib/libvirt/images with the command gzip. You may need a root permission to do so, as the default image location is only written by root user.
3Launch Virtual Machine Manager.
4Click Create a new virtual machine on the tool bar. A New VM wizard will be launched.
5Choose Import existing disk image, and click Forward.
6Provide the existing storage path by browsing the location, where you extracted the compressed image file.
7Choose the operating system by entering debian, then select debian 11 or debian 10. Click Forward to move to next step.
8Set the memory size and the number of CPUs.
9To get ready to begin the installation, enter the VM name, and check Customize configuration before install. You may also select the network by click Network selection. Click Finish to move to next step.
10On this new VM detail page, click CPUs, check Copy host CPU configuration.
11On the same page, click Add Hardware -> Storage, and create a disk image for the virtual machine. This disk will serve as a file system for database and user file.
12Click Begin installation to create the VM and start the VM
13To get the IP address of the newly launched VM, click Edit -> Virtual Machine Details. On the Detail page, click the NIC, you will see the Mac address and IP address. Use this IP address to access General LIMS server to initialize the system