README-VM.md

Starting an Ubuntu Virtual Machine (VM) on Sbnb Linux

1. Initialize the Development Environment

   SSH into the sbnb Linux machine and start the development environment by executing:

   sbnb-dev-env.sh
   
   

2. Prepare the Cloud-init Configuration

   Create a user-data file for cloud-init. Replace tskey-auth-KEY with your actual Tailscale key.

   cat > user-data << EOF
   #cloud-config
   runcmd:
     - ['sh', '-c', 'curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh']
     - ['tailscale', 'up', '--ssh', '--auth-key=tskey-auth-KEY']
   EOF
   

   Next, create an empty meta-data file:

   touch meta-data
   
   

3. Generate a Configuration ISO

   Use the following command to create a seed.iso file that will serve as the VM's configuration source:

   genisoimage -output seed.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
   
   

4. Download and Prepare the Ubuntu VM Image

   Download the Ubuntu 24.04 cloud image and create a working copy for the VM instance:

   wget "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/noble/current/noble-server-cloudimg-amd64.img"
   cp noble-server-cloudimg-amd64.img vm-instance.img
   
   

5. Launch the Virtual Machine

   Start the VM using the downloaded image and generated ISO:

   qemu-system-x86_64 \
       -accel kvm \
       -hda vm-instance.img \
       -cdrom seed.iso \
       -nographic \
       -m 4G \
       -smp 2 -cpu host
   
   

   You can adjust the memory (-m) and vCPU count (-smp) to suit your needs.

6. Verify VM in Tailscale

   Once the VM boots, it should appear as a new machine in your Tailscale device list. You can then SSH into it directly.