Installing RHEV-H using PXE
Since my servers do not have a cd/dvd reader, I tried
doing a PXE boot of the ISO image. This involves using
a special version of memdisk which loads the ISO image
into ram and the boots from the image. It works well
for almost every bootable ISO image, but not for RHEV-H.
I get a kernel panic every time.
So I'd like to try the documented method of PXE booting.
Does anyone know the link to that document?
Responses
Hi Carl,
The deployment guide is available at http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Hypervisor_Deployment_Guide/index.html
As for the kernel panic, RHEV-H is a special distribution, and lots of components there are removed, for the sake of lowering the footprint. Please keep us posted on your progress, so we can make sure the guide provided the information required to get your setup up and running.
EDIT: Just checked it - In RHEV 3.0, the landing page also contains all the links to the relevant documentation. So if you simply go to http://your.rhevm.machine.fqdn:8080 or https://your.rhevm.machine.fqdn:8443 and scroll down to documentation list, you'll be able to locally see all the relevant docs
Hope this helps
Dan
OK, so you are missing channel entitlements, I did verify the channel exists.
Looking here ( https://access.redhat.com/discussion/who-able-access-beta-releases-and-where-are-they-located ) at the RHEV Hypervisor channel link ( https://rhn.redhat.com/network/software/channels/details.pxt?cid=12059 ) are you able to browse over there?
If you're missing access to the channel, we will have to check why - that is check your RHN sunscriptions and permissions, and find out why this one is missing
As Dan mentioned previously the RHEL 6 Hypervisor Deployment guide (specifically section 3.2) is quite helpful. I too assumed you could simply boot off the ISO image, or the files from the ISO, but that was an incorrect assumption. This is still a work in progress, so let me know if something could be improved. This is my current process that I use for my lab:
# mkdir /media/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0
# mount -o loop /export/isos/RHEVH/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0.iso /media/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0
# mkdir /tftpboot/RHEVH
# chcon --reference /var/lib/tftpboot/ /tftpboot/
# cd /var/tmp
# /media/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0/LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-pxeboot /export/isos/RHEVH/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0.iso
# cp tftpboot/vmlinuz0 tftpboot/initrd0.img /tftpboot/RHEVH/ # umount /media/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0
# restorecon -RFvv /tftpboot/
/* excerpt from my /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default */
# RHEVH02
# eth0 = 00:1b:21:d4:7f:1e Intel
# eth1 = 50:e5:49:9f:31:f3 Realtek Onboard * USE THIS ONE
label RHEVH02
kernel RHEVH/vmlinuz0
IPAPPEND 2
APPEND initrd=RHEVH/initrd0.img rootflags=loop root=live:/rhevh-6.2-20111108.0.iso rootfstype=auto ro liveimg nomodeset check rootflags=ro crashkernel=512M-2G:64M,2G-:128M elevator=deadline processor.max_cstate=1 install quiet rd_NO_LVM rhgb rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM ip=10.10.31.211 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=10.10.31.1 dns=10.10.31.200:10.10.31.201:8.8.8.8 hostname=rhevh02.area51.private ntp=10.10.31.200:10.10.31.201 local_boot storage_init=/dev/sda storage_vol=::::: nocheck management_server=rhevm.area51.private:8443 rhevh_admin_passwd=EncryptedPasswdHere adminpw=EncryptedPasswdHere ssh_pwauth=1 rhn_activationkey=YourKeyGoesHere rhn_profile=RHEVH02.area51.private
# storage_vol=SWAP::CONFIG:LOGGING:DATA - root "/" is omitted, as is /boot
# IPAPPEND 2 - Basically equates BOOTIF=MAC Address
# ksdevice appears to be useless with RHEVH
Hi James,
I think a lot of what you put in your comment can be seen in the formal documentation here. It covers using the rhevh-iso-to-pxeboot command as well as how to set up the pxelinux config file.
Also, please review the steps here on installing the rhev-hypervisor6 and rhev-hypervisor6-tools RPMs. Note the section on the rhev-hypervisor6-tools subpackage, which contains the tools rhevh-iso-to-pxeboot and rhev-iso-to-disk. So you can omit the steps you posted about loopback mounting the ISO to get those tools if you install the right RPMs.
Otherwise, your steps look good but the do duplicate what is in the formal docs.
Thanks,
Perry