Procedure 8.1. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux

1. Download and Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux

   Download and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6, 6.7, or 7 Server on the target virtualization host. See Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Installation Guide or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide for detailed instructions. Only the Base package group is required to use the virtualization host in a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment, though the host must be registered and subscribed to a number of entitlements before it can be added to the Manager.

   Important

   If you intend to use directory services for authentication on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux host then you must ensure that the authentication files required by the useradd command are locally accessible. The vdsm package, which provides software that is required for successful connection to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager, will not install correctly if these files are not locally accessible.

   Important

   By default, SELinux is in enforcing mode upon installation. To verify, run getenforce. While it is highly recommended to have SELinux in enforcing mode, it is not required for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to host virtual machines. Disabling SELinux eliminates a core security feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Problems also occur when migrating virtual machines between hypervisors that have different SELinux modes. For more information, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Security Guide or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Virtualization Security Guide.

   If you need to live migrate virtual machines from a hypervisor that has SELinux disabled to a hypervisor that has SELinux enabled, see the workaround in https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1982023.

2. Ensure Network Connectivity

   Following successful installation, ensure that there is network connectivity between your new Red Hat Enterprise Linux host and the system on which your Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager is installed.
   1. Attempt to ping the Manager:

      # ping address of manager

   2. • If the Manager can successfully be contacted, this displays:

        ping manager.example.com
        PING manager.example.redhat.com (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.415 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.419 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.41 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.487 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.409 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.372 ms
        64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.464 ms
        
        --- manager.example.com ping statistics ---
        7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 6267ms

      • If the Manager cannot be contacted, this displays:

        ping: unknown host manager.example.com

        You must configure the network so that the host can contact the Manager. First, disable NetworkManager. Then configure the networking scripts so that the host will acquire an ip address on boot.
        1. Disable NetworkManager.
           • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:

             # service NetworkManager stop
             # chkconfig NetworkManager off

           • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

             # systemctl stop NetworkManager
             # systemctl disable NetworkManager

        2. Edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0. Find this line:

           ONBOOT=no

           Change that line to this:

           ONBOOT=yes

        3. Reboot the host machine.
        4. Ping the Manager again:

           # ping address of manager

           If the host still cannot contact the Manager, it is possible that your host machine is not acquiring an IP address from DHCP. Confirm that DHCP is properly configured and that your host machine is properly configured to acquire an IP address from DHCP.
           If the Manager can successfully be contacted, this displays:

           ping manager.example.com
           PING manager.example.com (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.415 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.419 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.41 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.487 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.409 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.372 ms
           64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.464 ms
           
           --- manager.example.com ping statistics ---
           7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 6267ms