A hands-on Apache CloudStack lab built on KVM/libvirt, focused on architecture, networking, storage planning, system VM behavior, and real troubleshooting.
This repository is not just an installation guide. It documents the design decisions, operational notes, and issues encountered while building a private cloud lab with CloudStack on a Linux host.
The installation flow used here follows the Apache CloudStack 4.22 Quick Installation Guide and then adds real lab notes from deployment/troubleshooting.
This lab was built to simulate real VPS/cloud infrastructure.
- CPU: AMD EPYC 7713
- RAM: 512GB
- Storage: NVMe
- Hypervisor: KVM / libvirt
- Deployment model: single-node CloudStack
- Network approach: bridge-based networking
- Host OS: AlmaLinux 9
- CloudStack: 4.22.x LTS (management + agent)
- Zone Type: Basic Zone
- Physical NIC:
enp1s0 - Management bridge:
cloudbr0 - Guest bridge:
cloudbr1(optional) - Management subnet:
10.40.10.0/24 - Guest subnet:
10.40.20.0/24 - Primary storage path:
/export/primary - Secondary storage path:
/export/secondary
- Build a working CloudStack lab on KVM/libvirt
- Understand CloudStack architecture and component interaction
- Design bridge-based networking for a simple cloud environment
- Document primary and secondary storage choices
- Record troubleshooting steps for real issues
- Create a foundation for future automation and multi-node expansion
- Apache CloudStack
- KVM / libvirt
- Linux host
- Bridge networking
- Primary and secondary storage
- CloudStack system VMs
- IPv4 / IPv6 aware design
This lab uses a single-node architecture:
- CloudStack Management Server
- CloudStack Agent
- KVM Hypervisor
- Primary Storage
- Secondary Storage
- Virtual Router / System VMs
- Guest VM workloads
The goal of this design is to understand CloudStack fundamentals and infrastructure behavior before moving to a larger multi-node deployment.
- private cloud fundamentals
- KVM/libvirt host preparation
- CloudStack installation and component layout
- bridge networking design
- storage planning for lab environments
- system VM and guest VM behavior
- practical debugging and troubleshooting
- Overview
- Architecture
- Host Preparation
- Installation Notes
- Network Design
- Storage Design
- Template Notes
- Deployment Checklist
- Troubleshooting
- Future Improvements
Follow this order if you want to reproduce the lab:
- Start with Host Preparation.
- Continue with Installation Notes.
- Apply Network Design and Storage Design.
- Execute Deployment Checklist.
- Use Troubleshooting when host, system VM, or guest networking issues appear.
This project demonstrates infrastructure-level skills:
- virtualization
- cloud orchestration
- networking
- storage planning
- debugging production-like issues
This is a lab environment, not a production deployment.
Current limitations:
- single-node design
- no high availability
- simplified storage model
- simplified network topology