Introduction

This guide explains how to set up an instance of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization so that you can evaluate its merits as a virtualization solution in your enterprise.
This guide explains how you can set up Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization using nothing more than the resources at your disposal.
The labs in this guide are designed to reflect a range of typical virtualization deployments, from a small office requiring only a few hosts to a large enterprise comprising multiple data centers. We also include a lab explaining how to deploy a single-host virtualization environment that you can use at home.
The tracks and labs in this guide are color-coded to provide clear, step-by-step paths while you are setting up your evaluation environments.
Once you have completed the labs in this guide, you will have the understanding you need to arrange your own tracks for further evaluation and training. Once you understand the how Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization works, contact our Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization solution architects to collaborate in building virtualization environments that meet the unique challenges facing your enterprise.
Determine which of these two tracks more closely fits your organization's needs:

Evaluation Tracks

For each of the tracks you need:
  • an evaluation license
  • a valid Red Hat Network subscription, granting access to
    • the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization channel
    • the Red Hat Enterprise Linux channel
Contact your sales representative if you do not have both of the above.

1. Track A: Standard Setup

Track A describes the installation and configuration of a basic Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment. Track A requires you to have more than one host and shared storage.
Track A consists of:
  • four basic labs
  • four advanced labs (optional)
The basic labs describe how to create virtual machines and assign them to users.
The advanced labs describe how to apply Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to real-life enterprise operations. This includes:
  • protecting against hardware failure by using high-availability
  • assigning different levels of user permissions to virtual machines, storage, and servers to reflect the needs of your organization
  • reconfiguring Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers so that they function as virtual machine hosts
  • provisioning virtual desktops for users
If you have three to four physical servers and one shared storage resource, set up a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment by following the labs in Track A - Standard Setup. The labs in this track are color coded red, so to determine if a lab is part of Track A, look for a red square in the diagram at the start of each lab.
Evaluation Track A

Figure 1. Evaluation Track A


After you complete Track A, you will have an environment that includes the following:
  • two virtual machine hosts
  • shared storage
  • a network
  • two portals (User Portal and Web Administration Portal)
  • User clients
  • a host running the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Standard Setup

Figure 2. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Standard Setup


Track A - Standard Setup Labs

While the basic labs allow you to evaluate how Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization can be deployed in your environment, the advanced labs show you how to optimize your Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization setup. Note that the advanced labs have additional hardware requirements, which are listed at the start of each advanced lab.

Track A - Advanced Labs (optional)

1.1. Track A Requirements

To work through the labs in Track A, you must have:
  • an evaluation license
  • a valid Red Hat Network subscription to
    • the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization channel
    • the Red Hat Enterprise Linux channel
Contact your sales representative if you do not have both of the above.
Before you begin Track A, ensure that you have the following:

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager Requirements

  • Minimum - Dual core server with 4 GB RAM, 25 GB free disk space and 1 Gbps network interface.
  • Recommended - Dual Sockets/Quad core server with 16 GB RAM, 50 GB free disk space on multiple disk spindles and 1 Gbps network interface.
    The breakdown of the server requirements is:
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating system: 1 GB RAM and 5 GB local disk space
    • Manager: 3 GB RAM, 3 GB local disk space and 1 Gbps network controller bandwidth
    • Local ISO domain: 15 GB disk space
  • A valid Red Hat Network subscription to the following channels:
    • The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager (v.3.1 x86_64) channel, also referred to as rhel-x86_64-server-6-rhevm-3.1, which provides Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager.
    • The JBoss Application Platform (v 6) for 6Server x86_64 channel, also referred to as jbappplatform-6-x86_64-server-6-rpm, which provides the supported release of the application platform on which the manager runs.
    • The RHEL Server Supplementary (v. 6 64-bit x86_64) channel, also referred to as rhel-x86_64-server-supplementary-6, which provides the supported version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
  • A client that you will use to connect to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager.

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hosts Requirements

  • Minimum - Dual Core server, 2 GB RAM and 10 GB Storage, 1 Gbps network interface
  • Recommended - Dual socket server, 16 GB RAM and 50 GB storage, two 1 Gbps network interfaces
    Server requirements:
    • For each host: AMD-V or Intel VT enabled, AMD64 or Intel 64 extensions, minimum 1 GB RAM, 3 GB free storage and 1 Gbps network interface.
    • For virtual machines running on each host: 8 GB RAM to run four virtual machines.
  • A valid Red Hat Network subscription to the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor (v.6 x86-64) channel, also referred to as rhel-x86_64-server-6-rhevh.

Storage and Networking Requirements

  • At least one of the supported storage types (NFS, iSCSI or FCP).
  • At least three static IP addresses: One for the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager server and one for each server running Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor.
  • DNS service which can resolve (forward and reverse) all the IP addresses.
  • An existing DHCP server which can allocate network addresses for the virtual machines.
  • Display subnet (extra Network Interface Card on both servers) to create a new display network in addition to the default existing management network.

Virtual Machines Requirements

  • Installation images for creating virtual machines. These installation images will be installed on the virtual machines you create.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, 5 or 6.
    • Microsoft Windows XP, 7, 2003 or 2008.
  • Valid licenses or subscription entitlements for each operating system.
  • At least one valid user account in the IPA directory or Active Directory.