7.3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 hosts

⁠7.3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 hosts

In your current environment, you should have Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager and at least two hosts configured in the default data center. In this section, you will learn how to configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers as hosts to run virtual machines. You have to perform the installation on each physical server you wish to use as a host.

However, if you do not wish to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts, you can still create an additional data center and add Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor hosts to it.

Important

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor is a closed appliance, and does not allow the installation of custom RPMs.

If you require custom RPMs, you must use Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts. Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts are not closed appliances, and they allow the installation of custom RPMs.

⁠

To install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 host

On the machine designated as your Red Hat Enterprise Linux host, install the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Select only the Base package group during installation. For more comprehensive instructions, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.
If your server has not been registered with the Red Hat Network, run the rhn_register command as root to register it. To complete registration successfully you will need to supply your Red Hat Network user name and password. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete registration of the system.
```
# rhn_register
```
Subscribe the server to the required channels using the Red Hat Network web interface.
1. Log on to Red Hat Network (http://rhn.redhat.com/).
2. Click Systems at the top of the page.
3. Select the system to which you are adding channels from the list presented on the screen, by clicking the name of the system.
4. Click Alter Channel Subscriptions in the Subscribed Channels section of the screen.
5. Select the Red Hat Enterprise Virt Management Agent (v 6 x86_64) channel from the list presented on the screen, then click the Change Subscription button to finalize the change.
Ensure the kernel and all the packages are up to date. This may take some time. Run:
```
# yum -y update
```

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization platform uses a number of network ports for management and other virtualization features. Adjust your Red Hat Enterprise Linux host's firewall settings to allow access to the required ports by configuring iptables rules. Modify the /etc/sysconfig/iptables file so it resembles the following example:

:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [10765:598664]
-A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 16514 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 54321 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 5634:6166 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 49152:49216 -j ACCEPT  
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW 
-A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited 
-A FORWARD -m physdev ! --physdev-is-bridged -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited 
COMMIT

Ensure that the iptables service is configured to start on boot and has been restarted, or started for the first time if it was not already running. Run the following commands:
```
# chkconfig iptables on
# service iptables restart
```

You have now successfully installed your Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Linux hosts. The following sections will provide instructions on how to attach the hosts to the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager.

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