The following packages and their dependancies will be required in order to use uvtool:

Installation of uvtool is done the same as for any other application by using apt-get:

$ apt-get -y install uvtool

This will install uvtool's main commands:

This is one of the major simplifications that uvtool brings. It is aware of where to find the cloud images so only one command is required to get a new cloud image. For instance, if you want to synchronize all cloud images for the amd64 architecture, the uvtool command would be:

$ uvt-simplestreams-libvirt sync arch=amd64

After an amount of time required to download all the images from the internet, you will have a complete set of cloud images stored locally. To see what has been downloaded use the following command:

$ uvt-simplestreams-libvirt query
release=oneiric arch=amd64 label=release (20130509)
release=precise arch=amd64 label=release (20140227)
release=quantal arch=amd64 label=release (20140302)
release=saucy arch=amd64 label=release (20140226)
release=trusty arch=amd64 label=beta1 (20140226.1)

In the case where you want to synchronize only one specific cloud-image, you need to use the release= and arch= filters to identify which image needs to be synchronized.

$ uvt-simplestreams-libvirt sync release=precise arch=amd64

In order to be able to connect to the virtual machine once it has been created, it is necessary to have a valid SSH key available for the ubuntu user. If your environment does not have a ssh key, you can easily create one using the following command:

$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa): 
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
Your identification has been saved in /home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
4d:ba:5d:57:c9:49:ef:b5:ab:71:14:56:6e:2b:ad:9b ubuntu@TrustyS
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|               ..|
|              o.=|
|          .    **|
|         +    o+=|
|        S . ...=.|
|         o . .+ .|
|        . .  o o |
|              *  |
|             E   |
+-----------------+

The creation of a new virtual machine using uvtool is easy. In its simplest form, you only need to do:

$ uvt-kvm create firsttest

This will create a VM named firsttest using the current LTS cloud image available locally. If you want to specify a release to be used to create the VM, you need to use the release= filter

$ uvt-kvm create secondtest release=trusty

The uvt-kvm wait {name} can be used to wait until the creation of the VM has completed

$ uvt-kvm wait secondttest --insecure
Warning: secure wait for boot-finished not yet implemented; use --insecure.

Once the virtual machine creation is completed, you can connect to it using ssh:

$ uvt-kvm ssh secondtest --insecure

For the time being, the --insecure is required so you should be using this mechanism to connect to your VM only if you completely trust your network infrastructure

You can also connect to your VM using a regular ssh session using the IP address of the VM. The address can be queried using the following command:

$ uvt-kvm ip secondtest
192.168.123.242
$ ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa ubuntu@192.168.123.242
The authenticity of host '192.168.123.242 (192.168.123.242)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is 3a:12:08:37:79:24:2f:58:aa:62:d3:9d:c0:99:66:8a.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.123.242' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Welcome to Ubuntu Trusty Tahr (development branch) (GNU/Linux 3.13.0-12-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com/

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Last login: Fri Mar 21 13:25:56 2014 from 192.168.123.1

You can get the list of VM running on your system with this command:

$ uvt-kvm list
secondtest

Once you are done with your VM, you can proceed to destroy it with:

$ uvt-kvm destroy secondtest

The following options can be used to change some of the characteristics of the virtual memory that you are creating

Some other parameters will have an impact on the cloud-init configuration

A complete description of all available modifiers is available in the manpage of uvt-kvm