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Chapter 6. QEMU

One of the use cases for Ceph Block Devices involves providing block device images to virtual machines. For example, a user may create a "golden" image with an operating system and any relevant software in an ideal configuration. Then, the user takes a snapshot of the image. Finally, the user clones the snapshot, typically many times. The ability to make copy-on-write clones of a snapshot means that Ceph can provision block device images to virtual machines quickly, because the client doesn’t have to download an entire image each time it spins up a new virtual machine. See Chapter 3, Snapshots for more details. Ceph Block Devices can integrate with the QEMU virtual machine.

Diagram
Important

To use Ceph Block Devices with QEMU, you must have access to a running Ceph storage cluster.

6.1. Quick Start

A storage pool, a RBD image and a client key will need to be created to host the virtual machines images. Perform the following commands from a Ceph Monitor or a Ceph client node.

  1. Create a storage pool:

    Syntax

    # ceph osd pool create <pool_name> <pg_num> [<pgp_num>]

    Example

    # ceph osd pool create libvirt-pool 128 128

  2. Create a RBD image for the virtual machine:

    Syntax

    # rbd create <image_name> --size <megabytes> --pool <pool-name> --image-format 2

    Example

    # rbd create librbd --size 13240 --pool libvirt-pool --image-format 2

  3. Create a Ceph user and add capabilities:

    Syntax

    # ceph auth get-or-create client.<user_name> <daemon_type> 'allow <capability>' [<daemon_type> 'allow <capability> pool=<pool_name>']

    Example

    # ceph auth get-or-create client.libvirt mon 'allow r' osd 'allow class-read object_prefix rbd_children, allow rwx pool=libvirt-pool'

  4. Verify the user’s authentication key and capabilities:

    Exmaple

    # ceph auth list client.libvirt

client.libvirt
       key: AQC/+EhVmQ+NOxAA0OZAEXBSR0pD3gDPwxrFDA==
       caps: [mon] allow r
       caps: [osd] allow class-read object_prefix rbd_children, allow rwx pool=libvirt-pool

    Note

    Make note of the client.libvirt key.

On the client node, verify that KVM/QEMU packages are installed and the libvirtd service is running. See the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization Deployment and Administration Guide for more details. Also, verify that the latest ceph-common package is installed. See the Red Hat Ceph Storage Installation Guide for more details. Then create a virtual machine, but do not add any storage devices to the virtual machine. If the virtual machine powers on after creation, then power off the virtual machine before editing.

  1. Edit the virtual machine configuration:

    Syntax

    # virsh edit <VM_name>

    Exmaple

    # virsh edit example-vm

  2. Add the new RBD image to the virtual machine configuration. Append the following code block to the end of the virtual machine configuration. Substitute the Ceph Monitor for the <monitor_host_name> variable:

    Example

    <disk type='network' device='disk'>
      <source protocol='rbd' name='libvirt-pool/librbd'>
            <host name='<monitor_host_name>' port='6789'/>
      </source>
      <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
</disk>

  3. Create a secret.xml file using the client.libvirt user:

    Example

    # cat > secret.xml <<EOF
<secret ephemeral='no' private='no'>
      <usage type='ceph'>
            <name>client.libvirt secret</name>
      </usage>
</secret>
EOF

  4. Define the secret:

    Example

    # virsh secret-define --file secret.xml

    Note

    Make note of the generated UUID that is returned. This will be used to set the secret.

  5. Set the UUID:

    Syntax

    # virsh secret-set-value --secret <uuid_from_previous_step> --base64 <ceph_user_key>

    Example

    # virsh secret-set-value --secret 727c2e12-a6ac-4f57-a553-8b6fd13a1da9 --base64 AQC/+EhVmQ+NOxAA0OZAEXBSR0pD3gDPwxrFDA==

  6. Edit the virtual machine configuration and add authentication block to the disk block:

    Authentication Block Example

    <auth username='libvirt'>
      <secret type='ceph' uuid='727c2e12-a6ac-4f57-a553-8b6fd13a1da9'/>
</auth>

    Full Disk Block Example

    <disk type='network' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
          <auth username='libvirt'>
              <secret type='ceph' uuid='727c2e12-a6ac-4f57-a553-8b6fd13a1da9'/>
          </auth>
      <source protocol='rbd' name='libvirt-pool/librbd'>
          <host name='MON1' port='6789'/>
      </source>
      <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
</disk>

  7. Start the virtual machine and install an operating system.
Important

Configuring the authentication is required for each KVM/QEMU client.