KVM on Ubuntu: console connection displays nothing

I've created a KVM virtual machine using the following command:

sudo ubuntu-vm-builder kvm oneiric \
                  --domain xpstage \
                  --dest xpstage \
                  --arch i386 \
                  --hostname xpstage \
                  --mem 1024 \
                  --user myuser --pass mypassword \
                  --bridge virbr0 \
                  --ip 192.168.1.50 --dns 8.8.8.8 \
                  --components main,universe,restricted \
                  --addpkg acpid --addpkg vim --addpkg openssh-server --addpkg avahi-daemon \
                  --libvirt qemu:///system ;

I'm able to start the VM, but I can't connect to it using networking (ssh) nor console.

To enable console access, I added a console section to the VM definition file:

<domain type='kvm' id='10'>
  <name>xpstage</name>
  <uuid>1fbe45ca-655f-9de2-b552-6ed44b2fe4c2</uuid>
  <memory>1048576</memory>
  <currentMemory>1048576</currentMemory>
  <vcpu>1</vcpu>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-0.14'>hvm</type>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
  </features>
  <clock offset='utc'/>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/kvm</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>
      <source file='/home/darugar/VMs/xpstage/tmpB1Hu5k.qcow2'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
      <alias name='ide0-0-0'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
      <alias name='ide0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:d1:6d:b8'/>
      <source bridge='virbr0'/>
      <target dev='vnet0'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/3'/>
      <target port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/3'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/3'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
    <graphics type='vnc' port='5900' autoport='yes' listen='127.0.0.1'/>
    <video>
      <model type='cirrus' vram='9216' heads='1'/>
      <alias name='video0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </video>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <alias name='balloon0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
  <seclabel type='dynamic' model='apparmor'>
    <label>libvirt-1fbe45ca-655f-9de2-b552-6ed44b2fe4c2</label>
    <imagelabel>libvirt-1fbe45ca-655f-9de2-b552-6ed44b2fe4c2</imagelabel>
  </seclabel>
</domain>

However, when I attempt to connect via the console nothing displays at all:

$ virsh console xpstage
Connected to domain xpstage
Escape character is ^]

$ virsh ttyconsole xpstage
/dev/pts/3

The "virsh console" command appears to connect, but nothing is displayed besides the "Escape character is ^]".

Note that I'm not looking for VNC or graphical access; I want simple console based access.

Ideas on how to make this work would be appreciated.

Solution 1:

You definitely need to enable the serial console in the guest machine before being able to connect. The correct way is described here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto

Recent Ubuntu versions use Upstart tasks and services so you should add an Upstart task as /etc/init/ttyS0.conf, containing the following:

# ttyS0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on ttyS0 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on stopped rc or RUNLEVEL=[2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]

respawn
exec /sbin/getty -L 115200 ttyS0 vt102

Start it this way:

$ sudo start ttyS0

After that you should be able to connect to the serial console from the host. Don't forget to press Enter once connected.