This turned out to be easier than I thought it would, especially after struggling with Ubuntu.
Both procedures use a common debian.env file to hold environment variables applied in the script.
When installing Debian always be sure to select an apt mirror when prompted, if you don't you'll regret it.
In a file, debian.env:
export VM_NAME="testsrv02"
export VM_ISO="/data/install/debian/debian-live-10.7.0-amd64-standard.iso"
export VM_URL="http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/"
export VM_OS="debian10"
export VM_IMG="/data/libvirt/images/${VM_NAME}.qcow2"
export VM_CORES=1
export VM_DISKSIZE=10
export VM_RAMSIZE=2048
export VM_NET="default"
Bash script to keep things straight, inst-debian.sh:
#!/bin/bash
source debian.env
sudo virt-install \
--name ${VM_NAME} \
--memory ${VM_RAMSIZE} \
--vcpus ${VM_CORES} \
--os-variant=${VM_OS} \
--virt-type=kvm \
--network network=${VM_NET},model=virtio \
--graphics vnc \
--disk path=${VM_IMG},size=${VM_DISKSIZE},bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
--cdrom ${VM_ISO}
Another bash script, this time allowing you to do the install using a serial console:
#!/bin/bash
source debian.env
sudo virt-install \
--name ${VM_NAME} \
--memory ${VM_RAMSIZE} \
--vcpus ${VM_CORES} \
--os-variant=${VM_OS} \
--virt-type=kvm \
--network network=${VM_NET},model=virtio \
--graphics none \
--disk path=${VM_IMG},size=${VM_DISKSIZE},bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
--location ${VM_URL} \
--extra-args="console=ttyS0"
The following packages should always get installed:
- openssh-server
- vim
- sudo
- spice-vdagent
After installing vim, as root run update-alternatives --config editor. This will allow you to select
vim.basic as the default system editor. Unless you can actually stand nano.
The spice-vdagent will make it unnecessary to hit Ctl-Alt every time you want to move the mouse away from the VMM console.
If you ignored by advice above and didn't select an apt mirror when asked you'll just have to edit or add an /etc/apt/sources.list file containing your preferred mirrors. Here's mine from a recent Debian 10 (Buster) install:
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main
# buster-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main
Next steps are to try to automate this a bit more by answering key questions raised by the installer, and doing things like injecting "net.ifnames=0" into /etc/default/grub. Both require using the "--location" and "--extra-args" options invoked in the non-graphical install procedure above (which, by the way, can also be used with "--graphics vnc" as well).