To use the #virsh console command on a RHEL6 Virtual Server you need to configure the guests. If you do not configure them, this
Escape character is ^] Is all you get.
For RHEL6 virtual server you have to configure following files:
#virt-edit vm /boot/grub/grub.conf
or
enter into the virtual machine through SSH
#vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
add the modification in bold:
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
serial –unit=0 –speed=115200
terminal –timeout=10 console serial
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux (2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_server1-lg_server1 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_server1/lg_srver1 rd_LVM_LV=vg_server100 /lvswap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us crashkernel=auto rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64.img
#vi /etc/inittab
S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty ttyS0 115200 linux
Additionally, in order to have shell access, connect to your VM using ssh or vnc and create the following upstart script.
#vi /etc/init/ttyS0.conf
start on runlevel=[345]
stop on runlevel [016]
respawn
instance /dev/ttyS0
exec /sbin/mingetty /dev/ttyS0
and then add ttyS0 in securetty conf file
#vi /etc/securetty
ttyS0
You can reboot the guest VM or you can do a initctl start ttyS0 to start the ttyS0 service.
#initctl start ttyS0
#virsh shutdown vm
#virsh start vm
#virsh console vm
