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4.3. Preparing a RHEV Hypervisor USB storage device

RHEV Hypervisors can install from USB storage devices. They can also be installed to USB storage devices or solid state disks. However, the initial boot/install USB device must be a separate device from the installation target. Network booting with PXE and tftp provides the greatest flexibility and scalability. For environments where network restrictions prevent network booting, or for systems without PXE capable network interface cards, a local media installation such as CD-ROM or USB is necessary. Booting from USB storage devices is a useful alternative to booting from CD, for systems without CD-ROM drives.

Note

Not all systems support booting from a USB storage device. Ensure that your system's BIOS supports booting from USB storage devices before proceeding.

4.3.1. Making a bootable RHEV Hypervisor USB storage device

This section covers making bootable RHEV Hypervisors on USB storage devices.
The livecd-iso-to-disk command can install a RHEV Hypervisor onto a USB storage device. The livecd-iso-to-disk command is part of the rhev-hypervisor package. Devices created with this command can boot the RHEV Hypervisors on systems which support booting via USB.
The basic livecd-iso-to-disk command usage follows this structure: 
# /usr/share/rhev-hypervisor/livecd-iso-to-disk image device
Where the device parameter is the partition name of the USB storage device to install to. The image parameter is a ISO image of the RHEV Hypervisor. The default RHEV Hypervisor image location is /usr/share/rhev-hypervisor/rhev-hypervisor.iso. The livecd-iso-to-disk command requires devices to be formatted with the FAT or EXT3 file system.

Note

livecd-iso-to-disk uses a FAT or EXT3 formatted partition or block device.
USB storage devices are sometimes formatted without a partition table, use /dev/sdb or similar device name.
When a USB storage device is formatted with a partition table, use /dev/sdb1 or similar device name.
  1. Install the rhev-hypervisor package and extract the livecd-iso-to-disk script. Refer to Procedure 4.1, “Downloading and Installing the Package”.
  2. Use the livecd-iso-to-disk command to copy the .iso file to the disk. The --format parameter formats the disk. The --reset-mbr initializes the Master Boot Record (MBR). The example uses a USB storage device named /dev/sdc. 
    # /usr/share/rhev-hypervisor/livecd-iso-to-disk --format --reset-mbr /usr/share/rhev-hypervisor/rhev-hypervisor.iso /dev/sdc
Verifying image...
/usr/share/rhev-hypervisor/rhev-hypervisor.iso:   eccc12a0530b9f22e5ba62b848922309
Fragment sums: 8688f5473e9c176a73f7a37499358557e6c397c9ce2dafb5eca5498fb586
Fragment count: 20
Checking: 100.0%

The media check is complete, the result is: PASS.

It is OK to use this media.
Copying live image to USB stick
Updating boot config file
Installing boot loader
syslinux: only 512-byte sectors are supported
USB stick set up as live image!
The USB storage device (/dev/sdc1) is ready to boot a RHEV Hypervisor.

4.3.2. Booting a RHEV Hypervisor USB storage device

Booting a RHEV Hypervisor from a USB storage device is similar to booting other live USB operating systems. To boot from a USB storage device:
  1. Enter the system's BIOS menu to enable USB storage device booting if not already enabled.
    1. Enable USB booting if this feature is disabled.
    2. Set booting USB storage devices to be first boot device.
    3. Shut down the system.
  2. Insert the RHEV Hypervisor bootable USB storage device.
  3. Restart the system
  4. The RHEV Hypervisor should boot automatically.
If the Hypervisor is running, you must now initialize the local storage device. Refer to Section 5.1.1, “Booting the Hypervisor for installation” for details.