Minikube start issue on AWS EC2 ubuntu bionic

4/8/2020

I have got AWS EC2 instance started. Logged onto the instance using Putty client. Below all commands I tried on EC2 instance which is Ubuntu 18.04. Configuration details of EC2 are as follows

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic

I have installed docker and virtualbox

~$ docker --version
Docker version 19.03.8, build afacb8b7f0

$ dpkg -l | grep 'virtualbox'
ii  virtualbox-5.2                       5.2.30-130521~Ubuntu~bionic                 amd64        Oracle VM VirtualBox

$ lscpu | grep Virtualization
Virtualization type: full

I tried to start minikube.

$ minikube start
* minikube 1.9.2 is available! Download it: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/releases/tag/v1.9.2
* To disable this notice, run: 'minikube config set WantUpdateNotification false'

! minikube v1.9.0 on Ubuntu 18.04
* Using the virtualbox driver based on existing profile
* Creating virtualbox VM (CPUs=2, Memory=1993MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
! StartHost failed, but will try again: creating host: create: precreate: This computer doesn't have VT-X/AMD-v enabled. Enabling it in the BIOS is mandatory
* Creating virtualbox VM (CPUs=2, Memory=1993MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
* StartHost failed again: creating host: create: precreate: This computer doesn't have VT-X/AMD-v enabled. Enabling it in the BIOS is mandatory
  - Run: "minikube delete", then "minikube start --alsologtostderr -v=1" to try again with more logging
*
E0408 16:46:12.812503    5285 style.go:173] unable to parse "X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible\n": template: X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible
:1: malformed character constant: 'minikube delete' - returning raw string.
X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible
* Error: [VBOX_VTX_DISABLED] creating host: create: precreate: This computer doesn't have VT-X/AMD-v enabled. Enabling it in the BIOS is mandatory
* Suggestion: Virtualization support is disabled on your computer. If you are running minikube within a VM, try '--driver=none'. Otherwise, consult your systems BIOS manual for how to enable virtualization.
* Related issues:
  - https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/3900
  - https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/4730

Based on error message, I also tried below command:

$ minikube start --no-vtx-check
* minikube v1.9.0 on Ubuntu 18.04
* Automatically selected the virtualbox driver
* Creating virtualbox VM (CPUs=2, Memory=1993MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
! StartHost failed, but will try again: creating host: create: creating: Unable to start the VM: /usr/bin/VBoxManage startvm minikube --type headless failed:
VBoxManage: error: VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole

Details: 00:00:00.455234 Power up failed (vrc=VERR_VMX_NO_VMX, rc=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005))
* Deleting "minikube" in virtualbox ...
* Creating virtualbox VM (CPUs=2, Memory=1993MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
* StartHost failed again: creating host: create: creating: Unable to start the VM: /usr/bin/VBoxManage startvm minikube --type headless failed:
VBoxManage: error: VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole

Details: 00:00:00.270050 Power up failed (vrc=VERR_VMX_NO_VMX, rc=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005))
  - Run: "minikube delete", then "minikube start --alsologtostderr -v=1" to try again with more logging
*
E0408 16:52:12.324862    5411 style.go:173] unable to parse "X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible\n": template: X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible
:1: malformed character constant: 'minikube delete' - returning raw string.
X Unable to start VM after repeated tries. Please try {{'minikube delete' if possible
* Error: [VBOX_VERR_VMX_NO_VMX] creating host: create: creating: Unable to start the VM: /usr/bin/VBoxManage startvm minikube --type headless failed:
VBoxManage: error: VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole

Details: 00:00:00.270050 Power up failed (vrc=VERR_VMX_NO_VMX, rc=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005))
* Suggestion: Your host does not support virtualization. If you are running minikube within a VM, try '--driver=none'. Otherwise, enable virtualization in your BIOS
* Related issues:
  - https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/1994
  - https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/5326

I went to all those jira specified in error log but of no use. Most of those doesn't talk about issue within Amazon EC2 ubuntu 18.04 .

Questions: how do I enable VT-X/AMD-v in BIOS in logged in EC2 instance which is ubuntu 18.04? Is there any command I can try? note: I don't have access to go to AWS EC2 instance GUI.

is AWS EC2 Ubuntu 18 instance compatible with virtualbox 5 or 6 to start minikube ?

-- Shivraj
amazon-ec2
kubernetes
minikube
ubuntu-18.04
virtualbox

1 Answer

4/9/2020

Questions: how do I enable VT-X/AMD-v in BIOS in logged in EC2 instance which is ubuntu 18.04? Is there any command I can try? note: I don't have access to go to AWS EC2 instance GUI.

You don't, EC2 is a virtual server and You have no access to the BIOS.

To use Minikube on EC2 you need to start it without vm driver so just execute $ minikube start --vm-driver=none. This is described here if you insist on using Minikube.

Instead of installing Minikube I would recommend using kubeadm and setting single control-plane cluster with kubeadm.

-- Spook
Source: StackOverflow