Step 1: Prepare the Cloud Image

First, you should rename the downloaded cloud image to a .qcow2 extension to avoid confusion, as this is the format expected by QEMU/KVM 

mv ubuntu-22.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img ubuntu-22.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.qcow2

Step 2: Install Required Packages

Before proceeding, ensure that your system has the necessary packages installed. On Fedora, you can install cloud-utils and qemu-img which are required for working with cloud images

sudo dnf update

sudo dnf install cloud-utils qemu-img

Step 3: Set Up the VM Configuration

Create a configuration for your VM, including the name, username, and password. Replace the placeholders with your desired values

VM_NAME="ubuntu-22-cloud-image"

USERNAME="your_username"

PASSWORD="your_password"

Step 4: Convert and Resize the Image

Convert the cloud image to a QCOW2 format and resize it to the desired capacity. For example, to resize to 20GB

sudo mkdir /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME

sudo qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O qcow2 ubuntu-22.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/root-disk.qcow2

sudo qemu-img resize /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/root-disk.qcow2 20G

Step 5: Create Cloud-Init Configuration Files

Create a cloud-init configuration file to set up the initial settings of the VM, such as default user and password

echo "#cloud-config

system_info:

  default_user:

    name: $USERNAME

    home: /home/$USERNAME

    password: $PASSWORD

    chpasswd: { expire: False }

    hostname: $VM_NAME

ssh_pwauth: True" | sudo tee /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.cfg

Generate an ISO with this configuration using cloud-localds

sudo cloud-localds /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.iso /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.cfg

Step 6: Create the Virtual Machine

Use virt-install to create the VM with the cloud image and cloud-init configuration

sudo virt-install \

--name $VM_NAME \

--memory 1024 \

--disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/root-disk.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio \

--disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.iso,device=cdrom \

--os-type linux \

--os-variant ubuntu19.04 \

--virt-type kvm \

--graphics none \

--network network=default,model=virtio \

--import

Step 7: Clean Up

After the VM is successfully created, you can remove the temporary cloud-init configuration files

sudo rm /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.iso

sudo rm /var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM_NAME/cloud-init.cfg

Step 8: Access the Virtual Machine

Once the VM is up and running, you can access it using SSH. The IP address can be obtained using virsh commands

virsh net-dhcp-leases default

ssh $USERNAME@

Replace with the actual IP address of your VM.

Step 9: Additional Configuration (Optional)

If you need to make further changes to the VM's configuration, you can use virsh edit to modify its XML definition

sudo virsh edit $VM_NAME

Conclusion

You have now successfully created an Ubuntu 22.04 VM using a cloud image on your Fedora host. This VM can be used for development, testing, or any other purpose that requires an isolated Ubuntu environment. Remember to replace placeholders with your actual configuration values throughout the process.