Chapter 1. Installing Red Hat CloudForms

Installing Red Hat CloudForms consists of the following steps:

  1. Downloading the VHD image to your SCVMM Library.
  2. Creating a blank VHD to be used for the database disk.
  3. Running a PowerShell script to create a deployable template for the CloudForms appliance.
  4. 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:

  1. Log in to your SCVMM environment and open a web browser.
  2. Navigate to the Red Hat Customer Portal Downloads page at access.redhat.com.
  3. Click A-Z to sort the product downloads alphabetically.
  4. Click Red Hat CloudForms to access the product download page.
  5. Log in using your customer account details when prompted.
  6. From the list of installers and images, click the Download Now link for CFME SCVMM Virtual Appliance and download to your SCVMM Library.

  7. 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.

  1. 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
  2. Copy the blank VHD disk to the SCVMM Library.

  3. In a PowerShell terminal, run 'Refresh-LibraryShare' to refresh the library: 

    PS C:\Users\Administrator.MS01> 'Refresh-LibraryShare'

  4. 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 $templateName

  5. Deploy 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
    Note

    Substitute 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.