Installing Red Hat CloudForms on Microsoft SCVMM
How to install and configure Red Hat CloudForms on a Microsoft SCVMM environment
Abstract
Chapter 1. Installing Red Hat CloudForms
Installing Red Hat CloudForms consists of the following steps:
- Downloading the VHD image to your SCVMM Library.
- Creating a blank VHD to be used for the database disk.
- Running a PowerShell script to create a deployable template for the CloudForms appliance.
- Configuring the CloudForms appliance.
After you have completed all the procedures in this guide, you will have a working environment on which you can perform additional customizations and configurations.
Requirements
Uploading the CloudForms appliance file to SCVMM requires:
- A Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager environment with at least one Hyper-V node.
- 44 GB of storage space.
- 12 GB RAM.
- 4 vCPUs.
- An Admin privileged account for the SCVMM environment
1.1. Obtaining the Appliance
Download the VHD appliance image from the Red Hat Customer Portal to your SCVMM library:
- Log in to your SCVMM environment and open a web browser.
- Navigate to the Red Hat Customer Portal Downloads page at access.redhat.com.
- Click A-Z to sort the product downloads alphabetically.
- Click Red Hat CloudForms to access the product download page.
- Log in using your customer account details when prompted.
- From the list of installers and images, click the Download Now link for CFME SCVMM Virtual Appliance and download to your SCVMM Library.
When the image finishes downloading, open a PowerShell terminal and run
'Refresh-LibraryShare':PS C:\Users\Administrator.MS01> 'Refresh-LibraryShare'
1.2. Deploying the Appliance
Create a blank VHD to be used for the database disk and add it to your SCVMM Library, create a template for the CloudForms appliance, then deploy a virtual machine to run the appliance.
Create a blank VHD to be used for the database disk and add it to your SCVMM Library. Run this command on a node containing Hyper-V.
For example, on a node with Hyper-V installed you can create a 20GB blank VHD with the following PowerShell command:
PS C:\Users\Administrator.MS01> New-VHD -Path 'C:\path\to\my\newvdisk.vhdx' -SizeBytes 20gb -Dynamic
- Copy the blank VHD disk to the SCVMM Library.
In a PowerShell terminal, run
'Refresh-LibraryShare'to refresh the library:PS C:\Users\Administrator.MS01> 'Refresh-LibraryShare'
Run the following PowerShell script to create a deployable template for the CloudForms appliance, substituting values for your environment:
$networkName = "yourNetwork" $templateName = "myNewCFMETemplate" $templateOwner = "ownerUsername" $memorySizeMb = 12288 $cpuCount = 4 $srcPath = "C:\path\to\vhd\in\Library" $dbDiskSrcPath = "C:\path\to\db\vhd\in\Library" $templateOsType = "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64 bit)" $scvmmFqdn = "fqdn.of.scvmm.com" $JobGroupId01 = [Guid]::NewGuid().ToString() $LogicalNet = Get-SCLogicalNetwork -Name $networkName New-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter -JobGroup $JobGroupID01 -MACAddressType Dynamic -LogicalNetwork $LogicalNet -Synthetic New-SCVirtualSCSIAdapter -JobGroup $JobGroupID01 -AdapterID 6 -Shared $False New-SCHardwareProfile -Name $templateName -Owner $templateOwner -Description 'Temp profile used to create a VM Template' -MemoryMB $memorySize -CPUCount $cpuCount -JobGroup $JobGroupID01 $JobGroupId02 = [Guid]::NewGuid().ToString() $VHD = Get-SCVirtualHardDisk | where {{ $_.Location -eq $srcPath }} | where {{ $_.HostName -eq $scvmmFqdn }} New-SCVirtualDiskDrive -IDE -Bus 0 -LUN 0 -JobGroup $JobGroupID02 -VirtualHardDisk $VHD $DBVHD = Get-SCVirtualHardDisk | where {{ $_.Location -eq $dbDiskSrcPath }} New-SCVirtualDiskDrive -IDE -Bus 1 -LUN 0 -JobGroup $JobGroupID02 -VirtualHardDisk $DBVHD $HWProfile = Get-SCHardwareProfile | where {{ $_.Name -eq $templateName }} $OS = Get-SCOperatingSystem | where {{ $_.Name -eq $templateOsType }} New-SCVMTemplate -Name $templateName -Owner $templateOwner -HardwareProfile $HWProfile ` -JobGroup $JobGroupID02 -RunAsynchronously -Generation 1 -NoCustomization Remove-HardwareProfile -HardwareProfile $templateNameDeploy a virtual machine to a host group from the created template.
Run the following PowerShell script, substituting values for your environment:
$tpl = Get-SCVMTemplate -Name $templateName -VMMServer $scvmmServer $vm_hg = Get-SCVMHostGroup -Name $hostGroup -VMMServer $scvmmServer $vmc = New-SCVMConfiguration -VMTemplate $tpl -Name $vmName -VMHostGroup $vm_hg Update-SCVMConfiguration -VMConfiguration $vmc New-SCVirtualMachine -Name $vmName -VMConfiguration $vmc
NoteSubstitute these values in your PowerShell script:
- $hostGroup = "NAME_OF_HOST_GROUP_TO_DEPLOY_TO"
- $scvmmServer = "NAME_OF_YOUR_SCVMM_SERVER"
- $templateName = "NAME_OF_CFME_TEMPLATE"
- $vmName = "NAME_OF_YOUR_NEW_VM"
Your SCVMM environment now contains a running CloudForms appliance which you can configure.
Chapter 2. Configuring Red Hat CloudForms
After installing CloudForms and running it for the first time, you must perform some basic configuration. To configure CloudForms, you must at a minimum:
- Add a disk to the infrastructure hosting your appliance.
- Configure the database.
Configure the CloudForms appliance using the internal appliance console.
2.1. Accessing the Appliance Console
- Start the appliance and open a terminal console.
-
After starting the appliance, log in with a user name of
rootand the default password ofsmartvm. This displays the Bash prompt for therootuser. -
Enter the
appliance_consolecommand. The Red Hat CloudForms appliance summary screen displays. -
Press
Enterto manually configure settings. -
Press the number for the item you want to change, and press
Enter. The options for your selection are displayed. - Follow the prompts to make the changes.
-
Press
Enterto accept a setting where applicable.
The CloudForms appliance console automatically logs out after five minutes of inactivity.
2.2. Configuring a Database
CloudForms uses a database to store information about the environment. Before using CloudForms, configure the database options for it; CloudForms provides the following two options for database configuration:
- Install an internal PostgreSQL database to the appliance
- Configure the appliance to use an external PostgreSQL database
2.2.1. Configuring an Internal Database
Before installing an internal database, add a disk to the infrastructure hosting your appliance. See the documentation specific to your infrastructure for instructions for adding a disk. As a storage disk usually cannot be added while a virtual machine is running, Red Hat recommends adding the disk before starting the appliance. Red Hat CloudForms only supports installing of an internal VMDB on blank disks; installation will fail if the disks are not blank.
- Start the appliance and open a terminal console.
-
After starting the appliance, log in with a user name of
rootand the default password ofsmartvm. This displays the Bash prompt for therootuser. -
Enter the
appliance_consolecommand. The Red Hat CloudForms appliance summary screen displays. - Press Enter to manually configure settings.
- Select 5) Configure Database from the menu.
You are prompted to create or fetch an encryption key.
- If this is the first Red Hat CloudForms appliance, choose 1) Create key.
If this is not the first Red Hat CloudForms appliance, choose 2) Fetch key from remote machine to fetch the key from the first appliance. For worker and multi-region setups, use this option to copy key from another appliance.
NoteAll CloudForms appliances in a multi-region deployment must use the same key.
- Choose 1) Create Internal Database for the database location.
Choose a disk for the database. This can be either a disk you attached previously, or a partition on the current disk.
ImportantRed Hat recommends using a separate disk for the database.
If there is an unpartitioned disk attached to the virtual machine, the dialog will show options similar to the following:
1) /dev/vdb: 20480 2) Don't partition the disk
-
Enter 1 to choose
/dev/vdbfor the database location. This option creates a logical volume using this device and mounts the volume to the appliance in a location appropriate for storing the database. The default location is/var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql95/lib/pgsql, which can be found in the environment variable$APPLIANCE_PG_MOUNT_POINT. - Enter 2 to continue without partitioning the disk. A second prompt will confirm this choice. Selecting this option results in using the root filesystem for the data directory (not advised in most cases).
-
Enter 1 to choose
Enter Y or N for Should this appliance run as a standalone database server?
- Select Y to configure the appliance as a database-only appliance. As a result, the appliance is configured as a basic PostgreSQL server, without a user interface.
- Select N to configure the appliance with the full administrative user interface.
When prompted, enter a unique number to create a new region.
ImportantCreating a new region destroys any existing data on the chosen database.
- Create and confirm a password for the database.
Red Hat CloudForms then configures the internal database. This takes a few minutes. After the database is created and initialized, you can log in to CloudForms.
2.2.2. Configuring an External Database
Based on your setup, you will choose to configure the appliance to use an external PostgreSQL database. For example, we can only have one database in a single region. However, a region can be segmented into multiple zones, such as database zone, user interface zone, and reporting zone, where each zone provides a specific function. The appliances in these zones must be configured to use an external database.
The postgresql.conf file used with Red Hat CloudForms databases requires specific settings for correct operation. For example, it must correctly reclaim table space, control session timeouts, and format the PostgreSQL server log for improved system support. Due to these requirements, Red Hat recommends that external Red Hat CloudForms databases use a postgresql.conf file based on the standard file used by the Red Hat CloudForms appliance.
Ensure you configure the settings in the postgresql.conf to suit your system. For example, customize the shared_buffers setting according to the amount of real storage available in the external system hosting the PostgreSQL instance. In addition, depending on the aggregate number of appliances expected to connect to the PostgreSQL instance, it may be necessary to alter the max_connections setting.
- Red Hat CloudForms 4.x requires PostgreSQL version 9.4.
-
Because the
postgresql.conffile controls the operation of all databases managed by a single instance of PostgreSQL, do not mix Red Hat CloudForms databases with other types of databases in a single PostgreSQL instance.
- Start the appliance and open a terminal console.
-
After starting the appliance, log in with a user name of
rootand the default password ofsmartvm. This displays the Bash prompt for therootuser. -
Enter the
appliance_consolecommand. The Red Hat CloudForms appliance summary screen displays. - Press Enter to manually configure settings.
- Select 5) Configure Database from the menu.
You are prompted to create or fetch a security key.
- If this is the first Red Hat CloudForms appliance, choose 1) Create key.
If this is not the first Red Hat CloudForms appliance, choose 2) Fetch key from remote machine to fetch the key from the first appliance.
NoteAll CloudForms appliances in a multi-region deployment must use the same key.
- Choose 2) Create Region in External Database for the database location.
- Enter the database hostname or IP address when prompted.
-
Enter the database name or leave blank for the default (
vmdb_production). -
Enter the database username or leave blank for the default (
root). - Enter the chosen database user’s password.
- Confirm the configuration if prompted.
Red Hat CloudForms will then configure the external database.
2.3. Configuring a Worker Appliance
You can use multiple appliances to facilitate horizontal scaling, as well as for dividing up work by roles. Accordingly, configure an appliance to handle work for one or many roles, with workers within the appliance carrying out the duties for which they are configured. You can configure a worker appliance through the terminal. The following steps demonstrate how to join a worker appliance to an appliance that already has a region configured with a database.
- Start the appliance and open a terminal console.
-
After starting the appliance, log in with a user name of
rootand the default password ofsmartvm. This displays the Bash prompt for therootuser. -
Enter the
appliance_consolecommand. The Red Hat CloudForms appliance summary screen displays. - Press Enter to manually configure settings.
- Select 5) Configure Database from the menu.
You are prompted to create or fetch a security key. Since this is not the first Red Hat CloudForms appliance, choose 2) Fetch key from remote machine. For worker and multi-region setups, use this option to copy the security key from another appliance.
NoteAll CloudForms appliances in a multi-region deployment must use the same key.
- Choose 3) Join Region in External Database for the database location.
- Enter the database hostname or IP address when prompted.
-
Enter the port number or leave blank for the default (
5432). -
Enter the database name or leave blank for the default (
vmdb_production). -
Enter the database username or leave blank for the default (
root). - Enter the chosen database user’s password.
- Confirm the configuration if prompted.
Chapter 3. Logging In After Installing Red Hat CloudForms
Once Red Hat CloudForms is installed, you can log in and perform administration tasks.
Log in to Red Hat CloudForms for the first time after installing by:
- Navigate to the URL for the login screen. (https://xx.xx.xx.xx on the virtual machine instance)
- Enter the default credentials (Username: admin | Password: smartvm) for the initial login.
- Click Login.
3.1. Changing the Default Login Password
Change your password to ensure more private and secure access to Red Hat CloudForms.
- Navigate to the URL for the login screen. (https://xx.xx.xx.xx on the virtual machine instance)
- Click Update Password beneath the Username and Password text fields.
- Enter your current Username and Password in the text fields.
- Input a new password in the New Password field.
- Repeat your new password in the Verify Password field.
- Click Login.
Appendix A. Appendix
A.1. Appliance Console Command-Line Interface (CLI)
Currently, the appliance_console_cli feature is a subset of the full functionality of the appliance_console itself, and covers functions most likely to be scripted using the command-line interface (CLI).
-
After starting the Red Hat CloudForms appliance, log in with a user name of
rootand the default password ofsmartvm. This displays the Bash prompt for the root user. -
Enter the
appliance_console_cliorappliance_console_cli --helpcommand to see a list of options available with the command, or simply enterappliance_console_cli --option <argument>directly to use a specific option.
Table A.1. Database Configuration Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --region (-r) | region number (create a new region in the database - requires database credentials passed) |
| --internal (-i) | internal database (create a database on the current appliance) |
| --dbdisk | database disk device path (for configuring an internal database) |
| --hostname (-h) | database hostname |
| --port |
database port (defaults to |
| --username (-U) |
database username (defaults to |
| --password (-p) | database password |
| --dbname (-d) |
database name (defaults to |
Table A.2. v2_key Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --key (-k) | create a new v2_key |
| --fetch-key (-K) | fetch the v2_key from the given host |
| --force-key (-f) | create or fetch the key even if one exists |
| --sshlogin |
ssh username for fetching the v2_key (defaults to |
| --sshpassword | ssh password for fetching the v2_key |
Table A.3. IPA Server Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --host (-H) | set the appliance hostname to the given name |
| --ipaserver (-e) | IPA server FQDN |
| --ipaprincipal (-n) |
IPA server principal (default: |
| --ipapassword (-w) | IPA server password |
| --ipadomain (-o) | IPA server domain (optional). Will be based on the appliance domain name if not specified. |
| --iparealm (-l) | IPA server realm (optional). Will be based on the domain name of the ipaserver if not specified. |
| --uninstall-ipa (-u) | uninstall IPA client |
-
In order to configure authentication through an IPA server, in addition to using Configure External Authentication (httpd) in the
appliance_console, external authentication can be optionally configured via theappliance_console_cli(command-line interface). -
Specifying --host will update the hostname of the appliance. If this step was already performed via the
appliance_consoleand the necessary updates made to/etc/hostsif DNS is not properly configured, the --host option can be omitted.
Table A.4. Certificate Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --ca (-c) |
CA name used for certmonger (default: |
| --postgres-client-cert (-g) | install certs for postgres client |
| --postgres-server-cert | install certs for postgres server |
| --http-cert | install certs for http server (to create certs/httpd* values for a unique key) |
| --extauth-opts (-x) | external authentication options |
The certificate options augment the functionality of the certmonger tool and enable creating a certificate signing request (CSR), and specifying certmonger the directories to store the keys.
Table A.5. Other Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --logdisk (-l) | log disk path |
| --tmpdisk |
initialize the given device for temp storage (volume mounted at |
| --verbose (-v) | print more debugging info |
Example Usage
$ ssh root@appliance.test.company.com
To create a new database locally on the server using /dev/sdb:
# appliance_console_cli --internal --dbdisk /dev/sdb --region 0 --password smartvm
To copy the v2_key from a host some.example.com to local machine:
# appliance_console_cli --fetch-key some.example.com --sshlogin root --sshpassword smartvm
You could combine the two to join a region where db.example.com is the appliance hosting the database:
# appliance_console_cli --fetch-key db.example.com --sshlogin root --sshpassword smartvm --hostname db.example.com --password mydatabasepassword
To configure external authentication:
# appliance_console_cli --host appliance.test.company.com
--ipaserver ipaserver.test.company.com
--ipadomain test.company.com
--iparealm TEST.COMPANY.COM
--ipaprincipal admin
--ipapassword smartvm1To uninstall external authentication:
# appliance_console_cli --uninstall-ipa
