Gns3-gui: Newer QEMU versions

[bolbie]

Dear GNS3 Dev Team!

I'm contacting You because I would like to submit a new feature request for GNS3. I have done a quick check and find similar old unanswered questions.

Would it be possible to install/upgrade a newer QEMU version to be used?
The GNS3 default install contains only QEMU versions: 3.1.0 & 2.11.0, which are relatively an old version. For example, in my case with Juniper vSRX 15.0 and higher version, works correctly (i.e. boot takes only 5-10 min < not 1-1,5 hour) only with QEMU 4.0.0 or higher.
I've tried patch QEMU by myself following that: https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/issues/2720 and https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-server/issues/1655. But without result.

VMware WS 15.5.6: GNS3 VM: v2.2.13

Kind Regards,
Bolbie

[rpcsp]

Hi Dev team,

If possible, could we have these versions available in parallel, so we can choose the most appropriate for each device?

This is already supported by the GNS3 GUI following the instructions below:
https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/issues/2720#issuecomment-466390317

And then updating the variable Environment with the new paths in /lib/systemd/system/gns3.service

I usually keep versions 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x in my GNS3VM, but the last step has to be repeated every time GNS3VM is updated.

[grossmj]

I usually keep versions 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x in my GNS3VM, but the last step has to be repeated every time GNS3VM is updated.

I am going to try to fix this for the next release.

[rpcsp]

That will be great. Thanks!

[grossmj]

@rpcsp I would recommend to update /etc/environment to add your paths. This file shouldn't be overwritten after an upgrade.

Please let me know if this works for you.

Thanks.

[rpcsp]

Ok, I just tried that, but this caused another issue. Even though I can see the additional paths in $PATH when I connect to the server via ssh, the GNS3 GUI only finds the pre-installed qemu in /usr/bin. It seems GNS3 running as a service does not read /etc/environment by default.

But I found a possible solution. After adding the line below to /lib/systemd/system/gns3.service, GNS3 recognizes the additional qemu versions correctly:
EnvironmentFile=/etc/environment

If this line could be added permanently to gns3.service, then the issue with upgrades would be fixed.

[grossmj]

Good point. Do you know what is the default behavior if both the Environment and EnvironmentFile variables are configured?

[grossmj]

I have added EnvironmentFile only.

[rpcsp]

Just saw your messages. I upgraded to 2.2.16 and all previously installed Qemu versions are available from the GUI without additional file modifications. Thanks!

[SashaMe]

Hi :)
Did the same, and it works thanks!
I did find that after compiling the additional qemu versions the permissions and owner for /dev/kvm change to root:root and 600 instead of root:kvm and 660. it made a permission denied
I can fix it manually but it won't survive a reboot
any suggestions?

[grossmj]

Hi,

To change the permissions, you must edit /lib/udev/rules.d/60-qemu-system-common.rules

Otherwise, best is to make sure your username is part of the KVM group: sudo usermod -aG kvm <username>

[SashaMe]

I don't have that file for some reason,
I guess it was removed compiling QEMU 5.0.1, not sure why.
anyway, recreating the file with the original content resolved the issue.
thanks