FRONT MATTER
Preface
This Preface describes the purpose and scope of this documentation, the readers it is written for, the typographical and command-syntax conventions it uses, and where to find additional help.
About This Documentation
This documentation is the official technical reference for SimpleVM 10.1, a KVM-based hypervisor and virtualization solution.
SimpleVM 10.1 is distributed as a custom ISO installer based on Rocky Linux 10.1. The installer deploys a minimal Rocky Linux system with best practice security hardening pre-applied and all required virtualization components installed and configured. This delivers a ready-to-use KVM host environment without requiring administrators to manually research, select, install, and integrate the individual packages and settings that are necessary when building a KVM platform on a general-purpose Linux distribution.
This documentation describes the complete lifecycle of a SimpleVM deployment: bare-metal installation, initial configuration, virtual machine creation and management (using both the web console and libvirt command-line tools), storage and networking, security hardening, performance tuning, high-availability features, maintenance procedures, and troubleshooting.
Intended Audience
This documentation is intended for:
- System administrators and DevOps engineers responsible for deploying and maintaining virtualization infrastructure.
- IT professionals evaluating or migrating from traditional enterprise hypervisors to a KVM-based virtualization solution.
- IT teams in organizations of all sizes that require enterprise-class virtualization suitable for production environments ranging from small-to-medium deployments to large-scale enterprise data centers.
This documentation is written so that anyone can successfully deploy and manage SimpleVM. While a basic understanding of Linux system administration, networking concepts, and virtualization principles is helpful, the step-by-step instructions and web console guidance make it possible for readers with little or no prior Linux experience to implement a secure, high-performance, enterprise-grade virtualization solution.
Typographical Conventions and Command Syntax
This documentation uses the following typographical conventions:
| Convention | Used for |
|---|---|
| Bold | Graphical user interface elements (menu items, buttons, tabs), menu paths, key concepts, feature names, and callout headers (e.g., Important Note:). |
| Bold with brackets | Clickable buttons and major UI actions, such as Create VM. |
| Italic | New terms being introduced, emphasis, and references to other documentation sections. |
| Monospace | Commands, file names, directories, configuration parameters, and command-line output when shown inline. |
| Code blocks | Multi-line commands, scripts, configuration examples, and command output. |
Command syntax is presented in this general format:
```text
command options <required_argument> optional_argument
```
Example:
```text
sudo virsh migrate --live --persistent --undefinesource <vm-name> qemu+ssh://<your-admin-user>@<fqdn-or-ip-of-target-host>/system
```
Longer command examples and configuration snippets appear in dedicated code blocks.
Documentation Accessibility and Support
This documentation is designed to be clear, navigable, and usable by readers across a range of experience levels, with a consistent structure, predictable task layout, and plain-language explanations of what each procedure does and why.
For product documentation, downloads, and support, refer to the following SimpleVM resources:
| Resource | Location |
|---|---|
| Documentation portal | https://simplevm.com/documentation/ |
| Support | https://simplevm.com/support |
| Host clustering, live migration, and high availability reference | https://simplevm.com/documentation/configuring-host-clusters.html |