PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation

weehooey

We have created an install script based on this post and instructions on use. Sharing it here to make setting up the QEMU guest agent a little easier :-)

Thank you to everyone in this post who worked out the details for the installation.

GitHub repo

stevenderycke244

regarding a proxmox install: after enabling qemu-guest-agent in the vm options, a simple reboot doesn't suffice! You really have to stop and start the vm to apply this change.

weehooey

@stevenderycke244 That is correct. Powering it off is one of the steps we listed. There are a few things in Proxmox which require the VM to be powered off to apply a change.

I have added a note to the instructions in the repo to hopefully be clearer.

janebond

Hi all!
On my machine the service is installed as qemu_guest_agent not qemu-guest-agent.
It's just a minor thing but nonetheless confusing.
The rest works as described.

colinstu

No idea what I am doing wrong but finally found a solution.
https://codingpackets.com/blog/pfsense-qemu-guest-agent/
The section about /usr/local/etc/rc.d/qemu-agent.sh being created had to be done.
I'm kinda confused by your instructions as to how the service is supposed to autostart without this? I did the full shutdown of the guest and ran a command to ensure the virtio thing is started yet the qemu service never comes up by itself.
I was confused by this other site's instructions (how does adding a file to that directory help) but later discovered that any executable .sh in there will be executed upon boot.

weehooey

@colinstu We are not sure which instructions you are referring to. The website you linked to, the posts here or our GitHub repo.

However, we took the opportunity to look closer at our code. We did not find any issues, but we did improve the script it:

We are now starting the agent from the script. No need to do that manually.
We suppressed the confusing output.
Updated the documentation to reflect the changes (e.g. do not need to power off/on if the guest agent was already enabled in Proxmox).

Our GitHub repo:

https://github.com/Weehooey/pfSense-scripts

colinstu

@weehooey was referring to OP's post: https://forum.netgate.com/post/972378

tlex

Guys, these steps are so old... this post should be closed and disabled !

weehooey

@tlex what steps do you use?

colinstu

@tlex what should be used? it's not in the pfsense docs (or hell, even proxmox or qemu docs either)

tlex

@weehooey the one from my original post ;)
If you made anything new or better, create a new post and let this one die chief ;)

Carsonix

Proxmox 7.3-3 and pfSense 2.6.0

/etc/rc.conf.local doesn't exit. I created it and added

qemu_guest_agent_enable="YES"
qemu_guest_agent_flags="-d -v -l /var/log/qemu-ga.log"

but qemu-guest-agent doesn't startup on boot.

Is there another way of doing this.

Patch

@carsonix said in PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation:

Is there another way of doing this.

2. Manual installation
    (a) Create the following 2 files
        i. Navigate to pfsense → Diagnostic → Edit file. 
            A. Enter text file path & browse → confirm doesn’t exist. 
            B. Enter text file content & full name including path then click Save to create file. 
            C. Leave only path & click Browse to confirm file created as expected. 
        ii. File name: /etc/rc.conf.local 
           qemu_guest_agent_enable="YES"
           qemu_guest_agent_flags="-d -v -l /var/log/qemu-ga.log"
           #virtio_console_load="YES"
        iii. File name: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/qemu-agent.sh
           #!/bin/sh
           sleep 3
           service qemu-guest-agent start
    (b) Login to console as root (VM console in Proxmox)
        i. pkg install -y qemu-guest-agent
        ii. cd /usr/local/etc/rc.d/
        iii. chmod +x qemu-agent.sh
    (c) Change Proxmox settins
        i. Shutdown pfsense
        ii. Proxmox VM → Options → QEMU Guest Agent → Enable
        iii. Restart VM

shadeless

@Patch said in PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation:

@carsonix said in PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation:

Is there another way of doing this.

2. Manual installation
    (a) Create the following 2 files
        i. Navigate to pfsense → Diagnostic → Edit file. 
            A. Enter text file path & browse → confirm doesn’t exist. 
            B. Enter text file content & full name including path then click Save to create file. 
            C. Leave only path & click Browse to confirm file created as expected. 
        ii. File name: /etc/rc.conf.local 
           qemu_guest_agent_enable="YES"
           qemu_guest_agent_flags="-d -v -l /var/log/qemu-ga.log"
           #virtio_console_load="YES"
        iii. File name: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/qemu-agent.sh
           #!/bin/sh
           sleep 3
           service qemu-guest-agent start
    (b) Login to console as root (VM console in Proxmox)
        i. pkg install -y qemu-guest-agent
        ii. cd /usr/local/etc/rc.d/
        iii. chmod +x qemu-agent.sh
    (c) Change Proxmox settins
        i. Shutdown pfsense
        ii. Proxmox VM → Options → QEMU Guest Agent → Enable
        iii. Restart VM

does this work on 2.7.0?
Just tried it and when trying to start the service, i get the message that i have to set qemu_guest_agent_enable to YES in rc.conf.
Seems like rc.conf.local isnt read properly?

weehooey

@shadeless We have confirmed that this script works on 2.7.0 and have updated the notes to reflect this.

https://github.com/Weehooey/pfSense-scripts

shadeless

@weehooey thanks for checking - found the error on my side, there was a whitespace at the end of the rc.conf.local filename....

Bob.Dig

@weehooey I have a VPS with runs on KVM. Will I profit from using this even if it is not Proxmox? Any hint what it actually is, it doesn't say, other than being KVM.

weehooey

Hey @Bob-Dig I think it should. Of course, you will want to test to confirm.

Proxmox is KVM/QEMU under the hood. We have used this successfully with OpenStack (in OVHcloud), which is also KVM.

Although, if you have a VPS that is hosted by a third party, there may be things which prevent it from working correctly.

The QEMU guest agent gives insight into the VM and provides some communication. In Proxmox, with the guest agent, you get an accurate reading of the RAM the VM is actually using and the VM responds to the power off/reboot commands.

I would not want to run a VM without a guest agent for the platform it is running on.

Bob.Dig

@weehooey If I connect via VNC to it, it says QEMU, so I think I am good. But can't see any differences in their web-GUI nor in pfSense after installing.

Patch

@shadeless said in PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation:

does this work on 2.7.0?

It works the same on pfsense v2.6 and v2.7
You have to do all of

Create file /etc/rc.conf.local with above contents
Create file /usr/local/etc/rc.d/qemu-agent.sh with above contents and change it's properties to enable execute permission
Install the package qemu-guest-agent in the VM
Enable Qemu agent in Proxmox, stop the VM then restart it.