Deploy RC-Scanner with KVM/QEMU

^{Last Updated: 2026-08-11}

Purpose

This article describes how to deploy RC-Scanner as a virtual appliance using KVM on Linux. It covers system prerequisites, virtualization support, and installation and management using virt-manager or the command line.

Introduction

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) provides a virtualization platform built into the Linux kernel for deploying RC-Scanner as a virtual appliance. RC-Scanner can be installed and managed using the virt-manager graphical interface or command-line tools.

It allows you to run multiple isolated virtual machines on a single physical host, each with its own virtualized CPU, memory, storage, and network interfaces. This provides a flexible deployment option for environments that use Linux virtualization infrastructure.

Prerequisites

System requirements

Please make sure that your Hardware meet the system requirements. For more information, refer to Deploy/Install RC-Scanner Appliance

Verify hardware support

Your CPU must support hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V). Check with:

egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

A result greater than 0 means virtualization is supported. If the result is 0, enable virtualization in your BIOS/UEFI settings.

Downloading the RC-Scanner ISO

Refer to Installation Overview for how to download the RC-Scanner ISO image.

Option 1: Installation using virt-manager (GUI)

Assuming that you’re using Ubuntu, download virt-manager

sudo apt update
sudo apt install virt-manager

For other Linux distribution, please refer to https://virt-manager.org/download.html

This installs virt-manager along with all required dependencies including QEMU, KVM, and libvirt.

Add your user to the libvirt group to manage VMs without root:

sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER

Log out and log back in for the group change to take effect.

Verify the libvirt service is running:

sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd

Create Virtual Machine

1. Launch virt-manager

2. Click Create a new virtual machine

3. Select Local install media (ISO image or CDROM) → Forward

4. Click Browse → Browse Local → select the RC-Scanner ISO file

5. Uncheck "Automatically detect from the installation media" and manually set OS variant to Debian 13 (or latest Debian) → Forward

6. Set memory and CPU allocation according to system requirements → Forward

7. Set disk size according to system requirements → Forward

8. Name your VM (e.g., rc-scanner) → Finish

The VM console opens and boots from the ISO. Follow the on-screen installer to complete the installation.

Managing the VM

Right-click the VM in virt-manager for power options (Start, Shutdown, Reboot, Force Off). Double-click to open the console.

Option 2: Installation using Command Line

Install the packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients virtinst

Add your user to the libvirt group to manage VMs without root:

sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER

Log out and log back in for the group change to take effect.

Verify the libvirt service is running:

sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd

Create disk image

sudo qemu-img create -f qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/rc-scanner.qcow2 100G

Adjust the disk size according to system requirements.

Create and start VM

sudo virt-install \
  --name rc-scanner \
  --ram 16000 \
  --vcpus 8 \
  --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/rc-scanner.qcow2,format=qcow2 \
  --cdrom /path/to/rc-scanner.iso \
  --os-variant debian13 \
  --network network=default \
  --graphics vnc

Managing the VM