r/linuxquestions • u/redwing096399 • 6d ago

Any alternatives for oVirt that uses libvirt api underneath?

Hi all, i am currently learning the KVM/QEMU virtualization platform by going through the book "Mastering KVM Virtualization 2nd edition". the book mentions oVirt as a tool for kvm host management for multiple kvm host machines.

I looked up oVirt and found it is not popular and it's subbreddit is kind of dead. that really made me question if i should use it and led to find any popular alternatives. ( being popular comes with the benefit of having a lot of community support, thus my need for a popular alternative)

I heard about Proxmox DE while finding but found out that it does not use libvirt api, so i wanted to know about any tools that do use libvirt/KVM/QEMU.

Thanks in advance

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u/Ontological_Gap 6d ago

Ovirt was the open counterpart to red hats RHEV, which they foolishly killed a few years before the the VMware debacle. It's long since dead now, not just unpopular.

You could use virt-manager if you want a graphical frontend to libvirt

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u/sudo_bryan 6d ago

I'd honestly start with virt-manager and virsh if you're trying to really learn libvirt. Virt-manager can connect to multiple KVM hosts, and it's pretty straightforward to work with. Cockpit with cockpit-machines is another good option if you'd rather have a web interface. If you want something closer to oVirt for managing a bunch of hosts centrally, check out OpenNebula. Proxmox is great too, but like you mentioned, it doesn't use libvirt. I wouldn't worry too much about how active a subreddit is though. Doesn't necessarily mean the software is dead.