Readme

Prepare the base image

Option 1: Download from other machine

Use rsync.

Option2: Build on current machine

PACKER_VER=1.8.6
wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/${PACKER_VER}/packer_${PACKER_VER}_linux_amd64.zip
unzip packer_${PACKER_VER}_linux_amd64.zip
mv packer /usr/local/bin/packer
rm packer_${PACKER_VER}_linux_amd64.zip

sudo apt install git -y
git clone https://github.com/fffonion/runner-images-kvm
git checkout main
# A docker user with any public repository pull access is preferred to overcome ratelimit.
DOCKERHUB_LOGIN=user DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD=pass ./build-new-image.sh    # build ubuntu 22.04
DOCKERHUB_LOGIN=user DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD=pass ./build-new-image.sh 24 # build ubuntu 24.04
# The output is saved under "output-custom_image/ubuntu-*.04"

Provision

git clone https://github.com/fffonion/kvm-github-actions-runner /root/self-hosted-kvm
cd /root/self-hosted-kvm

./provision/setup-new-host.sh

cat << EOF > /root/self-hosted-kvm.env
GITHUB_TOKEN=<token with repo scope for repo runner, or admin:org for org runner>
OWNER=<org; owner/repo; enterprises/xx-inc >
LABELS=ubuntu-24.04-kong,ubuntu-latest-kong
RUNNERGROUP=awesome group
RUNNER_VERSION=2.303.0
DOCKER_USER=<docker user that access to public registry, to increase pull rate limit only>
DOCKER_PASS=<the password>

CPU=2 # vCPU count, default to 2
MEMORY=7168 # memory in MB, default to 7168
EOF

# start the managing process as well the VMs
sudo systemctl start self-hosted-kvm@worker-{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

# enable start at boot
sudo systemctl enable self-hosted-kvm@worker-{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

Each VM has 2 vCPU and 7G RAM.

Drain a node

touch /tmp/self-hosted-kvm-draining

After maintainance is finished:

rm /tmp/self-hosted-kvm-draining

Useful debugging commands

systemd:

# restart all managing process (also restart running VMs)
sudo systemctl restart self-hosted-kvm@worker-*

# update terraform files (doesn't restart running VMs, affective on next boot)
# use conjunction of reload then restart to actually update VMs
sudo systemctl reload self-hosted-kvm@worker-*

# stop all managing process as well VMs
sudo systemctl stop self-hosted-kvm@worker-*

virsh:

# show running VMs
virsh -c qemu:///system list

# show all VMs
virsh -c qemu:///system list --all

# destroy (stop the qemu process)
virsh -c qemu:///system destroy $(hostname)-worker-1-runner

# undefine (remove from libvirt)
virsh -c qemu:///system undefine $(hostname)-worker-1-runner

# use the serial console; username and password both `ubuntu`
# might need to type Enter to show new shell prompt
virsh -c qemu:///system console $(hostname)-worker-1-runner

# display dhcp leases
virsh -c qemu:///system net-dhcp-leases kong