15.4. Upgrading to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3

15.4.1. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3 Upgrade Overview

Upgrading Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager is a straightforward process that comprises three main steps:
  • Subscribing to entitlements.
  • Updating the required packages.
  • Performing the upgrade.
The command used to perform the upgrade itself is engine-setup, which provides an interactive interface. While the upgrade is in process, virtualization hosts and the virtual machines running on those virtualization hosts continue to operate independently. When the upgrade is complete, you can then upgrade your hosts to the latest versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor.

15.4.2. Features Requiring a Compatibility Upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3

Some of the features in Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization are only available if your data centers, clusters, and storage have a compatibility version of 3.3.

Table 15.3. Features Requiring a Compatibility Upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3

Feature Description
Libvirt-to-libvirt virtual machine migration
Perform virtual machine migration using libvirt-to-libvirt communication. This is safer, more secure, and has less host configuration requirements than native KVM migration, but has a higher overhead on the host CPU.
Isolated network to carry virtual machine migration traffic
Separates virtual machine migration traffic from other traffic types, like management and display traffic. Reduces chances of migrations causing a network flood that disrupts other important traffic types.
Define a gateway per logical network
Each logical network can have a gateway defined as separate from the management network gateway. This allows more customizable network topologies.
Snapshots including RAM
Snapshots now include the state of a virtual machine's memory as well as disk.
Optimized iSCSI device driver for virtual machines
Virtual machines can now consume iSCSI storage as virtual hard disks using an optimized device driver.
Host support for MOM management of memory overcommitment
MOM is a policy-driven tool that can be used to manage overcommitment on hosts. Currently MOM supports control of memory ballooning and KSM.
GlusterFS data domains.
Native support for the GlusterFS protocol was added as a way to create storage domains, allowing Gluster data centers to be created.
Custom device property support
In addition to defining custom properties of virtual machines, you can also define custom properties of virtual machine devices.
Multiple monitors using a single virtual PCI device
Drive multiple monitors using a single virtual PCI device, rather than one PCI device per monitor.
Updatable storage server connections
It is now possible to edit the storage server connection details of a storage domain.
Check virtual hard disk alignment
Check if a virtual disk, the filesystem installed on it, and its underlying storage are aligned. If it is not aligned, there may be a performance penalty.
Extendable virtual machine disk images
You can now grow your virtual machine disk image when it fills up.
OpenStack Image Service integration
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization supports the OpenStack Image Service. You can import images from and export images to an Image Service repository.
Gluster hook support
You can manage Gluster hooks, which extend volume life cycle events, from Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager.
Gluster host UUID support
This feature allows a Gluster host to be identified by the Gluster server UUID generated by Gluster in addition to identifying a Gluster host by IP address.
Network quality of service (QoS) support
Limit the inbound and outbound network traffic at the virtual NIC level.
Cloud-Init support
Cloud-Init allows you to automate early configuration tasks in your virtual machines, including setting hostnames, authorized keys, and more.

15.4.3. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3 Upgrade Considerations

The following is a list of key considerations that must be made when planning your upgrade.

Important

Upgrading to version 3.3 can only be performed from version 3.2
Users of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.1 must migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2 before attempting to upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3.
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager cannot be installed on the same machine as IPA
An error message displays if the ipa-server package is installed. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3 does not support installation on the same machine as Identity Management (IdM). To resolve this issue, you must migrate the IdM configuration to another system before re-attempting the upgrade. For further information, see https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/233143.
Error: IPA was found to be installed on this machine. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3 does not support installing IPA on the same machine. Please remove ipa packages before you continue.
Upgrading to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 is recommended
Although Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3 supports Enterprise Application Platform 6.0.1, upgrading to the latest supported version of JBoss is recommended. For more information on upgrading to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0, see Upgrade the JBoss EAP 6 RPM Installation.
The rhevm-upgrade command has been replaced by engine-setup
From Version 3.3, installation of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager supports otopi, a standalone, plug-in-based installation framework for setting up system components. Under this framework, the rhevm-upgrade command used during the installation process has been updated to engine-setup and is now obsolete.

15.4.4. Upgrading to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3

The following procedure outlines the process for upgrading Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.2 to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3. This procedure assumes that the system on which the Manager is hosted is subscribed to the entitlements for receiving Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2 packages.
If the upgrade fails, the engine-setup command will attempt to roll your Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager installation back to its previous state. For this reason, the repositories required by Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2 must not be removed until after the upgrade is complete as outlined below. If the upgrade fails, detailed instructions display that explain how to restore your installation.

Procedure 15.7. Upgrading to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3

  1. Subscribe the system to the required entitlements for receiving Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.3 packages.
    Subscription Manager
    Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3 packages are provided by the rhel-6-server-rhevm-3.3-rpms repository associated with the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization entitlement. Use the subscription-manager command to enable the repository in your yum configuration.
    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-6-server-rhevm-3.3-rpms
    Red Hat Network Classic
    The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3 packages are provided by the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager (v.3.3 x86_64) channel. Use the rhn-channel command or the Red Hat Network web interface to subscribe to the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager (v.3.3 x86_64) channel:
    # rhn-channel --add --channel=rhel-x86_64-server-6-rhevm-3.3
  2. Update the base operating system:
    # yum update
    In particular, if you are using the JBoss Application Server from JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.0.1, you must run the above command to upgrade to Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.
  3. Update the rhevm-setup package to ensure you have the most recent version of engine-setup.
    # yum update rhevm-setup
  4. Run the engine-setup command and follow the prompts to upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager.
    # engine-setup
    [ INFO  ] Stage: Initializing
              
              Welcome to the RHEV 3.3.0 upgrade.
              Please read the following knowledge article for known issues and
              updated instructions before proceeding with the upgrade.
              RHEV 3.3.0 Upgrade Guide: Tips, Considerations and Roll-back Issues
                  https://access.redhat.com/articles/408623
              Would you like to continue with the upgrade? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  5. Remove Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.2 repositories to ensure the system does not use any Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager 3.2 packages.
    Subscription Manager
    Use the subscription-manager command to disable the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2 repository in your yum configuration.
    # subscription-manager repos --disable=rhel-6-server-rhevm-3.2-rpms
    Red Hat Network Classic
    Use the rhn-channel command or the Red Hat Network web interface to remove the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager (v.3.2 x86_64) channels.
    # rhn-channel --remove --channel=rhel-x86_64-server-6-rhevm-3.2
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager has been upgraded. To take full advantage of all Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3 features you must also:
  • Ensure all of your virtualization hosts are up to date and running the most recent Red Hat Enterprise Linux packages or Hypervisor images.
  • Change all of your clusters to use compatibility version 3.3.
  • Change all of your data centers to use compatibility version 3.3.