Defining KVM instances with Python

In this recipe we are going to define a new KVM instance using the Python libvirt module we installed in the previous recipe. We are going to use a virtual environment and the iPython development tool for the following examples.

Getting ready

For this recipe we are going to need the following:

• An Ubuntu host, with libvirt and QEMU installed and configured
• The debian.img raw image file we built in the Installing custom OS on the image with debootstrap recipe from Chapter 1, Getting Started with QEMU and KVM
• Python 2.7, the iPython tool, and the virtual environment we created in the Installing and using the Python libvirt library recipe in this chapter

How to do it...

To define a new KVM instance, using the Python libvirt module follow these instructions:

1. In the iPython interpreter, import the libvirt module:

In [1]: import libvirt

In [2]:

2. Create the instance definition string:

In [2]: xmlconfig = """
<domain type='kvm' id='1'>
 <name>kvm_python</name...