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    PfSense VM on ProxMox : Qemu-agent installation

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    • J
      janebond
      last edited by

      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. 👍

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • C
        colinstu
        last edited by

        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.

        weehooeyW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • weehooeyW
          weehooey @colinstu
          last edited by

          @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

          C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • C
            colinstu @weehooey
            last edited by

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

            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • T
              tlex @colinstu
              last edited by

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

              weehooeyW C 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • weehooeyW
                weehooey @tlex
                last edited by

                @tlex what steps do you use?

                T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • C
                  colinstu @tlex
                  last edited by

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

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                  • T
                    tlex @weehooey
                    last edited by

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

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                    • C
                      Carsonix
                      last edited by

                      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.

                      P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • P
                        Patch @Carsonix
                        last edited by

                        @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
                        
                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • NollipfSenseN NollipfSense referenced this topic on
                        • S
                          shadeless @Patch
                          last edited by 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?

                          weehooeyW P 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • weehooeyW
                            weehooey @shadeless
                            last edited by

                            @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

                            S Bob.DigB T 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • S
                              shadeless @weehooey
                              last edited by

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

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Bob.DigB
                                Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @weehooey
                                last edited by

                                @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.

                                weehooeyW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • weehooeyW
                                  weehooey @Bob.Dig
                                  last edited by

                                  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.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • Bob.DigB
                                    Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @weehooey
                                    last edited by

                                    @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.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • P
                                      Patch @shadeless
                                      last edited by 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

                                      1. Create file /etc/rc.conf.local with above contents
                                      2. Create file /usr/local/etc/rc.d/qemu-agent.sh with above contents and change it's properties to enable execute permission
                                      3. Install the package qemu-guest-agent in the VM
                                      4. Enable Qemu agent in Proxmox, stop the VM then restart it.
                                      weehooeyW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • weehooeyW
                                        weehooey @Patch
                                        last edited by

                                        @Patch you do not need to stop and restart the VM.

                                        Check out the script for the commands: https://github.com/Weehooey/pfSense-scripts

                                        C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                        • C
                                          chigz @weehooey
                                          last edited by

                                          @weehooey

                                          Neat, this works for 23.05.1 too.
                                          Thanks

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • Bob.DigB
                                            Bob.Dig LAYER 8
                                            last edited by

                                            I am now a proxmox user too and your script is awesome, thanks.

                                            P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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