Procedure

1. Install the image builder and other necessary packages on the VM:

   • osbuild-composer - supported from RHEL 8.3 onward
   • composer-cli
   • cockpit-composer
   • bash-completion

   # yum install osbuild-composer composer-cli cockpit-composer bash-completion

   The web console is installed as a dependency of the cockpit-composer package.

2. Enable image builder to start after each reboot:

   # systemctl enable --now osbuild-composer.socket
   # systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

   The osbuild-composer and cockpit services start automatically on first access.

3. Load the shell configuration script so that the autocomplete feature for the composer-cli command starts working immediately without reboot:

   $ source /etc/bash_completion.d/composer-cli

Procedure

1. Remove the osbuild-composer backend.

   # yum remove osbuild-composer
   # yum remove weldr-client

2. In the /etc/yum.conf file, add an exclude entry for osbuild-composer package.

   # cat /etc/yum.conf
   [main]
   gpgcheck=1
   installonly_limit=3
   clean_requirements_on_remove=True
   best=True
   skip_if_unavailable=False
   exclude=osbuild-composer weldr-client

3. Install the lorax-composer package.

   # yum install lorax-composer composer-cli

4. Enable and start the lorax-composer service to start after each reboot.

   # systemctl enable --now lorax-composer.socket
   # systemctl start lorax-composer

Procedure

1. Create a directory where you want to store your repository overrides:

   $ sudo mkdir -p /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories

2. You can create your own JSON file structure.

3. Create a JSON file, using a name corresponding to your RHEL version. Alternatively, you can copy the file for your distribution from /usr/share/osbuild-composer/ and modify its content.

   For RHEL 8, use /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-87.json.

4. Add the following structure to your JSON file, for example:

   {
       "<ARCH>": [
           {
               "name": "baseos",
               "metalink": "",
               "baseurl": "http://mirror.example.com/composes/released/RHEL-8/8.0/BaseOS/x86_64/os/",
               "mirrorlist": "",
               "gpgkey": "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\n\n (…​)",
               "check_gpg": true,
               "metadata_expire": ""
           }
       ]
   }

   Specify only one of the following attributes:

   • metalink - offers increased availability and error correction on a repository link.
   • mirrorlist - a list of URLs that point to package repositories.

   • baseurl - a link to the repository that contains the packages required for the installation.

     The remaining fields are optional.

     1. Alternatively, you can copy the JSON file for your distribution.

        1. Copy the repository file to the directory you created. In the following command, replace rhel-version.json with your RHEL version, for example: rhel-8.json.

           $  cp /usr/share/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-version.json /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/

5. Using a text editor, edit the baseurl paths in the rhel-8.json file and save it. For example:

   $ vi /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-version.json

6. Restart the osbuild-composer.service:

   $ sudo systemctl restart osbuild-composer.service

Procedure

1. Obtain the baseurl from the /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo file:

   # cat /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo
   [AppStream]
   name = AppStream mirror example
   baseurl = https://mirror.example.com/RHEL-8/8.0/AppStream/x86_64/os/
   enabled = 1
   gpgcheck = 0
   sslverify = 1
   sslcacert = /etc/pki/ca1/ca.crt
   sslclientkey = /etc/pki/ca1/client.key
   sslclientcert = /etc/pki/ca1/client.crt
   metadata_expire = 86400
   enabled_metadata = 0

2. Configure the repository override to use the same baseurl and set rhsm to true:

   {
       "x86_64": [
           {
               "name": "AppStream mirror example",
               "baseurl": "https://mirror.example.com/RHEL-8/8.0/AppStream/x86_64/os/",
               "gpgkey": "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\n\n (…​)",
               "check_gpg": true,
               "rhsm": true
           }
       ]
   }

   Note

   osbuild-composer does not automatically use repositories defined in /etc/yum.repos.d/. You need to manually specify them either as a system repository override or as an additional source using composer-cli. System repository overrides are usually used for “BaseOS” and “AppStream” repositories, whereas composer-cli sources are used for all the other repositories.

1. Export (save) the blueprint definition to a plain text file
2. Edit this file in a text editor
3. Import (push) the blueprint text file back into Image Builder
4. Run a compose to build an image from the blueprint
5. Export the image file to download it

Procedure

1. Create a plain text file with the following contents:

   name = "BLUEPRINT-NAME"
   description = "LONG FORM DESCRIPTION TEXT"
   version = "0.0.1"
   modules = []
   groups = []

   Replace BLUEPRINT-NAME and LONG FORM DESCRIPTION TEXT with a name and description for your blueprint.

   Replace 0.0.1 with a version number according to the Semantic Versioning scheme.

2. For every package that you want to be included in the blueprint, add the following lines to the file:

   [[packages]]
   name = "package-name"
   version = "package-version"

   Replace package-name with the name of the package, such as httpd, gdb-doc, or coreutils.

   Replace package-version with the version to use. This field supports dnf version specifications:

   • For a specific version, use the exact version number such as 8.7.0.
   • For the latest available version, use the asterisk *.
   • For the latest minor version, use formats such as 8.*.

3. Customize your blueprints to suit your needs. For example, disable Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT), add the following lines to the blueprint file:

   [customizations.kernel]
   append = "nosmt=force"

   For additional customizations available, see Supported Image Customizations.

4. Save the file, for example, as BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml and close the text editor.

5. Push (import) the blueprint:

   # composer-cli blueprints push BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml

   Replace BLUEPRINT-NAME with the value you used in previous steps.

   Note

   To create images using composer-cli as non-root, add your user to the weldr or root groups.

   # usermod -a -G weldr user
   $ newgrp weldr

Procedure

1. Save (export) the blueprint to a local text file:

   # composer-cli blueprints save BLUEPRINT-NAME

2. Edit the BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml file with a text editor and make your changes.

3. Before finishing the edits, verify that the file is a valid blueprint:

   1. Remove this line, if present:

      packages = []

   2. Increase the version number, for example, fro 0.0.1 to 0.1.0. Remember that Image Builder blueprint versions must use the Semantic Versioning scheme. Note also that if you do not change the version, the patch version component increases automatically.

   3. Check if the contents are valid TOML specifications. See the TOML documentation for more information.

      Note

      TOML documentation is a community product and is not supported by Red Hat. You can report any issues with the tool at https://github.com/toml-lang/toml/issues

4. Save the file and close the text editor.

5. Push (import) the blueprint back into Image Builder:

   # composer-cli blueprints push BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml

   Note

   To import the blueprint back into Image Builder, supply the file name including the .toml extension, while in other commands use only the blueprint name.

6. To verify that the contents uploaded to Image Builder match your edits, list the contents of blueprint:

   # composer-cli blueprints show BLUEPRINT-NAME

7. Check whether the components and versions listed in the blueprint and their dependencies are valid:

   # composer-cli blueprints depsolve BLUEPRINT-NAME

Procedure

1. Start the compose:

   # composer-cli compose start BLUEPRINT-NAME IMAGE-TYPE

   Replace BLUEPRINT-NAME with name of the blueprint, and IMAGE-TYPE with the type of the image. For the available values, see the output of the composer-cli compose types command.

   The compose process starts in the background and shows the composer Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

2. Wait until the compose process is finished. The image creation can take up to ten minutes to complete.

   To check the status of the compose:

   # composer-cli compose status

   A finished compose shows the FINISHED status value. To identify your compose in the list, use its UUID.

3. After the compose process is finished, download the resulting image file:

   # composer-cli compose image UUID

   Replace UUID with the UUID value shown in the previous steps.

Procedure

1. Open https://localhost:9090/ in a web browser on the system where Image Builder is installed.

   For more information about how to remotely access Image Builder, see Managing systems using the RHEL web console document.

2. Log in to the web console as the root user.

3. To display the Image Builder controls, click the Image Builder icon, in the upper-left corner of the window.

   The Image Builder view opens, listing existing blueprints.

Procedure

1. Click Create Blueprint in the upper-right corner.

   A dialog wizard with fields for the blueprint name and description opens.

2. Enter the name of the blueprint and, optionally, its description.
3. Click Create.

Procedure

1. Click Back to blueprints to show the blueprints table.

2. On the blueprint table, find the blueprint you want to build an image.

   1. Optionally, you can find the blueprint using the search box. Enter the blueprint name.
3. On the right side of the chosen blueprint, click Create Image. The Create image dialog wizard opens.

4. On the Image output page, complete the following steps:

   1. From the Image output type list, select the image type you want.

      1. You can upload some images to their target cloud environment, such as Amazon Web Service and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. For that, check the Upload to Target cloud box .
      2. You are prompted to add credentials for the cloud environment on the next page.
5. From the Image Size field, enter the image size. The minimum size depends on the image type. Click Next.

6. On the Upload to Targeted_Cloud page, complete the following steps:

   NOTE:This page is not visible if you did not check the box to upload your image to the cloud environment.

   1. On the Authentication page, enter the information related to your target cloud account ID and click Next.
   2. On the Destination page, enter the information related to your target cloud account type and click Next.

7. On the Customizations page, complete the following steps:

   1. On the System page, enter the Hostname. If you do not enter a hostname, the operating system determines a hostname for your system.

   2. On the Users page, click Add user:

      1. Mandatory: Enter a Username.
      2. Enter a password.
      3. Enter an SSH key.
      4. Check the box if you want to make the user a Server administrator. Click Next.

8. On the Package page, complete the following steps:

   1. On the Available packages search field, enter the package name you want to add to your system image.

      Note

      Searching for the package can take some time to complete.

   2. Click the > arrow to add the selected package or packages. Click Next.

9. On the Review page, review the details about the image creation. Click Save blueprint to save the customizations you added to your blueprint. Click Create image.

   The image build starts and takes up to 20 minutes to complete.

Procedure

1. Create the ISO image:

   # composer-cli compose start BLUEPRINT-NAME image-installer

   • BLUEPRINT-NAME with name of the blueprint you created

   • image-installer is the image type

     The compose process starts in the background and the UUID of the compose is shown.

2. Wait until the compose is finished. Note that this may take several minutes.

   To check the status of the compose:

   # composer-cli compose status

   A finished compose shows a status value of FINISHED. Identify the compose in the list by its UUID.

3. After the compose is finished, download the created image file:

   # composer-cli compose image UUID

   Replace UUID with the UUID value obtained in the previous steps.

   As a result, Image Builder builds a .tar file that contains the ISO Installer image.

Verification

1. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the image file.
2. Locate the .tar image you downloaded.

3. Extract the .tar content.

   $ tar -xf content.tar

Procedure

1. Open the Image Builder interface of the RHEL web console in a browser. See Creating an image builder blueprint using the command-line interface.
2. Locate the blueprint that you want to use to build your image. To do so, enter the blueprint name or a part of it into the search box at top left, and click Enter.

3. On the right side of the blueprint, click the corresponding Create Image button.

   The Create image dialog wizard opens.

4. On the Create image dialog wizard:

   1. In the Image Type list, select "RHEL Installer (.iso)".
   2. Click Create.

1. Click Download to save the "RHEL Installer (.iso)" image to your system.
2. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the "RHEL Installer (.iso)" image.
3. Locate the .tar image you downloaded.

4. Extract the "RHEL Installer (.iso)" image content.

   $ tar -xf content.tar

Procedure

1. Write the bootable ISO image directly to the USB drive using the dd tool. For example:

   dd if=installer.iso of=/dev/sdX

   Where installer.iso is the ISO image file name and /dev/sdX is your USB flash drive device path.

2. Insert the flash drive into a USB port of the computer you want to boot.

3. Boot the ISO image from the USB flash drive.

   When the installation environment starts, you might need to complete the installation manually, similarly to the default Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.

Procedure

1. Create a blueprint in the TOML format, with the following content:

   name = "blueprint_name"
   description = "blueprint_description"
   version = "0.0.1"
   modules = []
   groups = []
    distro = ""
   
   [customizations]
   [[customizations.user]]
   name = "scap-security-guide"
   description = "Admin account"
   password = secure_pass
   key = ssh-key
   home = "home/user"
   group = ["wheel"]
   
   
   [[customizations.filesystem]]
   mountpoint = "/tmp"
   size = 13107200
   [customizations.openscap]
   datastream = "/usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-rhel8-ds.xml "
   profile_id = "cis"

2. Start the build of a OpenSCAP image:

   # composer-cli compose start blueprint_name qcow2

   Where blueprint_name is the blueprint name.

   After the image build is ready, you can use your pre-hardened image on your deployments. See Creating a virtual machine.

1. Connect to the image using SSH.

2. Run the oscap scanner.

   # scap-workbench

3. Select the version of the system you want to scan. Click Load content.
4. Select the profile you want to scan and click Scan. OpenSCAP checks all the requirements for the system.

5. After the scan finishes, click Show Report.

   You can see from the results that the system is secure.

Procedure

1. Click the blueprint name you created.
2. Select the tab Images.
3. Click Create Image to create your customized image. A pop-up window opens.
4. From the Type drop-down menu list, select QEMU Image(.qcow2).
5. Set the size that you want the image to be when instantiated and click Create.
6. A small pop-up on the upper right side of the window informs you that the image creation has been added to the queue. After the image creation process is complete, you can see the Image build complete status.

Verification

1. Click the breadcrumbs icon and select the Download option. Image Builder downloads the KVM guest image .qcow2 file at your default download location.

Procedure

1. Move the KVM Guest Image you created using image builder to the /var/lib/libvirt/images directory.

2. Create a directory, for example, cloudinitiso and navigate to this newly created directory:

   $ mkdir cloudinitiso
   $ cd cloudinitiso

3. Create a file named meta-data. Add the following information to this file:

   instance-id: citest
   local-hostname: vmname

4. Create a file named user-data. Add the following information to the file:

   #cloud-config
   user: admin
   password: password
   chpasswd: {expire: False}
   ssh_pwauth: True
   ssh_authorized_keys:
     - ssh-rsa AAA...fhHQ== your.email@example.com

   Where, ssh_authorized_keys is your SSH public key. You can find your SSH public key in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

5. Use the genisoimage command to create an ISO image that includes the user-data and meta-data files.

   # genisoimage -output cloud-init.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
   
   I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings)
   Total translation table size: 0
   Total rockridge attributes bytes: 331
   Total directory bytes: 0
   Path table size(bytes): 10
   Max brk space used 0
   183 extents written (0 MB)

6. Create a new VM from the KVM Guest Image using the virt-install command. Include the ISO image you created on step 4 as an attachment to the VM image.

   # virt-install \
       --memory 4096 \
       --vcpus 4 \
       --name myvm \
       --disk rhel-8-x86_64-kvm.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
       --disk cloud-init.iso,device=cdrom \
       --os-variant rhel 8 \
       --virt-type kvm \
       --graphics none \
       --import

   Where,

   • --graphics none - means it is a headless RHEL 8 VM.
   • --vcpus 4 - means that it uses 4 virtual CPUs.
   • --memory 4096 - means it uses 4096 MB RAM.

7. The VM installation starts:

   Starting install...
   Connected to domain mytestcivm
   ...
   [  OK  ] Started Execute cloud user/final scripts.
   [  OK  ] Reached target Cloud-init target.
   
   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (Ootpa)
   Kernel 4.18.0-221.el8.x86_64 on an x86_64

1. Enter admin as a username and press Enter.

2. Enter password as password and press Enter.

   After the login authentication is complete, you have access to the VM using the CLI.

Procedure

1. Set up a registry-config.toml file to select the container provider.

   provider = "container_provider"
   
   [settings]
   tls_verify = false
   username = "admin"
   password = "your_password"

2. Create a blueprint in the .toml format. This is a blueprint for the container in which you install an nginx package into the blueprint.

   name = "simple-container"
   description = "Simple RHEL container"
   version = "0.0.1"
   
   [[packages]]
   name = "nginx"
   version = "*"

3. Push the blueprint:

   # composer-cli blueprints push blueprint.toml

4. Build the container image:

   # composer-cli compose start simple-container container "quay.io:8080/osbuild/repository" registry-config.toml

   • simple-container - is the blueprint name.
   • container - is the image type.

   • "quay.io:8080/osbuild/repository" - quay.io is the target registry, osbuild is the organization and repository is the location to push the container when it finishes building. Optionally, you can set a tag. If you do not set a value for :tag, it uses :latest tag by default.

     Note

     Building the container image takes time because of depsolving the customized packages.

5. After the image build finishes, the container you created is available in quay.io.

6. Access quay.io. and click Repository Tags.

    You can see details about the container you created, such as:
   - last modified
   - image size
   - the `manifest ID`, that you can copy to the clipboard.

7. Copy the manifest ID value to build the image in which you want to embed a container.

Procedure

1. Create a blueprint to build a qcow2 image. The blueprint must contain the customization.

   name = "image"
   description = "A qcow2 image with a container"
   version = "0.0.1"
   distro = "rhel-90"
   
   [[packages]]
   name = "podman"
   version = "*"
   
   [[containers]]
   source = "registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9:8080/osbuild/container/container-image@sha256:manifest-ID-from-Repository-tag: tag-version"
   name =  "source-name"
   tls-verify = true

2. Push the blueprint:

   # composer-cli blueprints push blueprint-image.toml

3. Build the container image:

   # composer-cli start compose image qcow2

   Where:

   • image is the blueprint name.

   • qcow2 is the image type.

     Note

     Building the image takes time because it checks the container on quay.io registry.

     After the image build status is "FINISHED", you can use the qcow2 image you created in a VM.

Verification

1. Pull the .qcow2 image from the composer-cli to your local file system:

   # composer-cli compose image COMPOSE-UUID

2. Start the qcow2 image in a VM. See Creating a virtual machine from a KVM guest image.

3. The qemu wizard opens. Login in to the qcow2 image.

   1. Enter the username and password. These can be the username and password you set up in the .qcow2 blueprint in the "customizations.user" section, or created at boot time with cloud-init.

4. Run the container image and open a shell prompt inside the container:

   # podman run -it registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9:8080/osbuild/repository /bin/bash/

   Where:

   • registry.access.redhat.com is the target registry, osbuild is the organization and repository is the location to push the container when it finishes building.

5. Check that the packages you added to the blueprint are available:

   # type -a nginx

   The output shows you the nginx package path.

Procedure

1. Install Python 3 and the pip tool:

   # yum install python3
   # yum install python3-pip

2. Install the AWS command-line tools with pip:

   # pip3 install awscli

3. Run the following command to set your profile. The terminal prompts you to provide your credentials, region and output format:

   $ aws configure
   AWS Access Key ID [None]:
   AWS Secret Access Key [None]:
   Default region name [None]:
   Default output format [None]:

4. Define a name for your bucket and use the following command to create a bucket:

   $ BUCKET=bucketname
   $ aws s3 mb s3://$BUCKET

   Replace bucketname with the actual bucket name. It must be a globally unique name. As a result, your bucket is created.

5. To grant permission to access the S3 bucket, create a vmimport S3 Role in the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), if you have not already done so in the past:

   $ printf '{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": { "Service": "vmie.amazonaws.com" }, "Action": "sts:AssumeRole", "Condition": { "StringEquals":{ "sts:Externalid": "vmimport" } } } ] }' > trust-policy.json
   $ printf '{ "Version":"2012-10-17", "Statement":[ { "Effect":"Allow", "Action":[ "s3:GetBucketLocation", "s3:GetObject", "s3:ListBucket" ], "Resource":[ "arn:aws:s3:::%s", "arn:aws:s3:::%s/*" ] }, { "Effect":"Allow", "Action":[ "ec2:ModifySnapshotAttribute", "ec2:CopySnapshot", "ec2:RegisterImage", "ec2:Describe*" ], "Resource":"*" } ] }' $BUCKET $BUCKET > role-policy.json
   $ aws iam create-role --role-name vmimport --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json
   $ aws iam put-role-policy --role-name vmimport --policy-name vmimport --policy-document file://role-policy.json

Procedure

1. Using the text editor, create a configuration file with the following content:

   provider = "aws"
   
   [settings]
   accessKeyID = "AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"
   secretAccessKey = "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
   bucket = "AWS_BUCKET"
   region = "AWS_REGION"
   key = "IMAGE_KEY"

   Replace values in the fields with your credentials for accessKeyID, secretAccessKey, bucket, and region. The IMAGE_KEY value is the name of your VM Image to be uploaded to EC2.

2. Save the file as CONFIGURATION-FILE.toml and close the text editor.

3. Start the compose:

   # composer-cli compose start BLUEPRINT-NAME IMAGE-TYPE IMAGE_KEY CONFIGURATION-FILE.toml

   Replace:

   • BLUEPRINT-NAME with the name of the blueprint you created
   • IMAGE-TYPE with the ami image type.
   • IMAGE_KEY with the name of your VM Image to be uploaded to EC2.

   • CONFIGURATION-FILE.toml with the name of the configuration file of the cloud provider.

     Note

     You must have the correct IAM settings for the bucket you are going to send your customized image to. You have to set up a policy to your bucket before you are able to upload images to it.

4. Check the status of the image build and upload it to AWS:

   # composer-cli compose status

   After the image upload process is complete, you can see the "FINISHED" status.

1. Access EC2 on the menu and select the correct region in the AWS console. The image must have the available status, to indicate that it was successfully uploaded.
2. On the dashboard, select your image and click Launch.

Procedure

1. Click the blueprint name.
2. Select the tab Images.

3. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   A pop-up window opens.

   1. From the Type drop-down menu list, select Amazon Machine Image Disk (.ami).
   2. Check the Upload to AWS check box to upload your image to the AWS Cloud and click Next.

   3. To authenticate your access to AWS, type your AWS access key ID and AWS secret access key in the corresponding fields. Click Next.

      Note

      You can view your AWS secret access key only when you create a new Access Key ID. If you do not know your Secret Key, generate a new Access Key ID.

   4. Type the name of the image in the Image name field, type the Amazon bucket name in the Amazon S3 bucket name field and type the AWS region field for the bucket you are going to add your customized image to. Click Next.

   5. Review the information and click Finish.

      Optionally, you can click Back to modify any incorrect detail.

      Note

      You must have the correct IAM settings for the bucket you are going to send your customized image. This procedure uses the IAM Import and Export, so you have to set up a policy to your bucket before you are able to upload images to it. For more information, see Required Permissions for IAM Users.

4. A small pop-up on the top right informs you of the saving progress. It also informs that the image creation has been initiated, the progress of this image creation and the subsequent upload to the AWS Cloud.

   After the process is complete, you can see the Image build complete status.

5. Click Service→EC2 on the menu and choose the correct region in the AWS console. The image must have the Available status, to indicate that it is uploaded.
6. On the dashboard, select your image and click Launch.
7. A new window opens. Choose an instance type according to the resources you need to start your image. Click Review and Launch.
8. Review your instance start details. You can edit each section if you need to make any changes. Click Launch

9. Before you start the instance, select a public key to access it.

   You can either use the key pair you already have or you can create a new key pair. Alternatively, you can use Image Builder to add a user to the image with a preset public key. See Creating a user account with an SSH key for more details.

   Follow the next steps to create a new key pair in EC2 and attach it to the new instance.

   1. From the drop-down menu list, select Create a new key pair.
   2. Enter the name to the new key pair. It generates a new key pair.
   3. Click Download Key Pair to save the new key pair on your local system.

10. Then, you can click Launch Instance to start your instance.

    You can check the status of the instance, which displays as Initializing.

11. After the instance status is running, the Connect button becomes available.

12. Click Connect. A pop-up window appears with instructions on how to connect using SSH.

    1. Select A standalone SSH client as the preferred connection method to and open a terminal.

    2. In the location you store your private key, ensure that your key is publicly viewable for SSH to work. To do so, run the command:

       $ chmod 400 <your-instance-name.pem>_

    3. Connect to your instance using its Public DNS:

       $ ssh -i "<_your-instance-name.pem_"> ec2-user@<_your-instance-IP-address_>

    4. Type yes to confirm that you want to continue connecting.

       As a result, you are connected to your instance using SSH.

Verification

1. Check if you are able to perform any action while connected to your instance using SSH.

Procedure

1. Import the Microsoft repository key:

   # rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

2. Create a local azure-cli repository information:

   # sh -c 'echo -e "[azure-cli]\nname=Azure CLI\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/azure-cli\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/yum.repos.d/azure-cli.repo'

3. Install the Azure CLI:

   # yumdownloader azure-cli
   # rpm -ivh --nodeps azure-cli-2.0.64-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

   Note

   The downloaded version of the Azure CLI package may vary depending on the current available version.

4. Run the Azure CLI:

   $ az login

   The terminal shows the following message Note, we have launched a browser for you to login. For old experience with device code, use "az login --use-device-code. Then, the terminal opens a browser with a link to https://microsoft.com/devicelogin from where you can login.

   Note

   If you are running a remote (SSH) session, the https://microsoft.com/devicelogin link will not open in the browser. In this case, you can copy the link to a browser and login to authenticate your remote session. To sign in, use a web browser to open the page https://microsoft.com/devicelogin and enter the device code to authenticate.

5. List the keys for the storage account in Azure:

   $ GROUP=resource-group-name
   $ ACCOUNT=storage-account-name
   $ az storage account keys list --resource-group $GROUP --account-name $ACCOUNT

   Replace resource-group-name with name of your Azure resource group and storage-account-name with name of your Azure storage account.

   Note

   You can list the available resources using the following command:

   $ az resource list

6. Make note of value key1 in the output of the previous command, and assign it to an environment variable:

   $ KEY1=value

7. Create a storage container:

   $ CONTAINER=storage-account-name
   $ az storage container create --account-name $ACCOUNT \
   --account-key $KEY1 --name $CONTAINER

   Replace storage-account-name with name of the storage account.

Verification

1. Create an instance either with the Microsoft Azure portal, or a command similar to the following:

   $ az vm create --resource-group $GROUP --location eastus --name $VHD --image $VHD --admin-username azure-user --generate-ssh-keys
    - Running ...

2. Use your private key via SSH to access the resulting instance. Log in as azure-user.

Procedure

1. Upload the image into vSphere via HTTP. Click Upload Files in the vCenter:

   

2. When creating a virtual machine (VM), in the Device Configuration step, delete the default New Hard Disk and use the drop-down to select an Existing Hard Disk disk image:

   

3. Ensure that you use an IDE device as the Virtual Device Node for the disk you create. The default value SCSI results in an unbootable VM.

   

Procedure

1. For the blueprint you created, click the Images tab .

2. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   The Image type window opens.

3. In the Image type window:

   1. From the dropdown menu, select the Type: VMware VSphere (.vmdk).
   2. Check the Upload to VMware checkbox to upload your image to the vSphere.
   3. Optional: Set the size of the image you want to instantiate. The minimal default size is 2GB.
   4. Click Next.

4. In the Upload to VMware window, under Authentication, enter the following details:

   1. Username: username of the vSphere account.
   2. Password: pasword of the vSphere account.

5. In the Upload to VMware window, under Destination, enter the following details:

   1. Image name: a name for the image to be uploaded.
   2. Host: The URL of your VMware vSphere where the image will be uploaded.
   3. Cluster: The name of the cluster where the image will be uploaded.
   4. Data center: The name of the data center where the image will be uploaded.
   5. Data store:The name of the Data store where the image will be uploaded.
   6. Click Next.

6. In the Review window, review the details of the image creation and click Finish.

   You can click Back to modify any incorrect detail.

   Image Builder adds the compose of a RHEL vSphere image to the queue, and creates and uploads the image to the Cluster on the vSphere instance you specified.

   Note

   The image build and upload processes take a few minutes to complete.

   After the process is complete, you can see the Image build complete status.

1. Access VMware vSphere Client.
2. Search for the image in the Cluster on the vSphere instance you specified.

3. You can create a new VM from the image you uploaded:

   1. Select the image you uploaded.
   2. Right-click the selected image.

   3. Click New Virtual Machine.

      A New Virtual Machine window opens.

      In the New Virtual Machine window, provide the following details:

      1. Select New Virtual Machine.
      2. Select a name and a folder for your VM.
      3. Select a computer resource: choose a destination computer resource for this operation.
      4. Select storage: For example, select NFS-Node1
      5. Select compatibility: The image should be BIOS only.
      6. Select a guest operating system: For example, select Linux and Red Hat Fedora (64-bit).
      7. Customize hardware: When creating a VM, on the Device Configuration button on the upper right, delete the default New Hard Disk and use the drop-down to select an Existing Hard Disk disk image:
      8. Ready to complete: Review the details and click Finish to create the image.

   4. Navigate to the VMs tab.

      1. From the list, select the VM you created.
      2. Click the Start button from the panel. A new window appears, showing the VM image loading.
      3. Log in with the credentials you created for the blueprint.

      4. You can verify if the packages you added to the blueprint are installed. For example:

         $ rpm -qa | grep firefox

Procedure

1. For the blueprint name, click the Images tab .

2. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   A pop-up window opens.

   1. From the "Type drop-down menu list, select the Azure Disk Image (.vhd) image.
   2. Check the Upload to Azure check box to upload your image to the Microsoft Azure Cloud and click Next.

   3. To authenticate your access to Azure, type your "Storage account" and "Storage access key" in the corresponding fields. Click Next.

      You can find your Microsoft Storage account details in the Settings→Access Key menu list.

   4. Type a "Image name" to be used for the image file that will be uploaded and the Blob "Storage container" in which the image file you want to push the image into. Click Next.

   5. Review the information you provided and click Finish.

      Optionally, you can click Back to modify any incorrect detail.

3. When the image creation process starts, a small pop-up on the upper right side displays with the message: Image creation has been added to the queue.

   After the image process creation is complete, click the blueprint you created the image from. In the Images tab, you can see the Image build complete status for the image you created.

4. To access the image you pushed into Microsoft Azure Cloud, access the Microsoft Azure Portal.
5. On the search bar, type Images and select the first entry under Services. You are redirected to the Image dashboard.

6. Click +Add. You are redirected to the Create an Image dashboard.

   Insert the below details:

   1. Name: Choose a name for your new image.
   2. Resource Group: Select a resource group.
   3. Location: Select the location that matches the regions assigned to your storage account. Otherwise you will not be able to select a blob.
   4. OS Type: Set the operating system type to Linux.
   5. VM Generation: Keep the VM generation set on Gen 1.

   6. Storage Blob: Click Browse on the right of Storage blob input. Use the dialog to find the image you uploaded earlier.

      Keep the remaining fields as in the default choice.

7. Click Create to create the image. After the image is created, you can see the message Successfully created image in the upper right corner.
8. Click Refresh to see your newly created image and open it.
9. Click + Create VM. You are redirected to the Create a virtual machine dashboard.

10. In the Basic tab, under Project Details, your Subscription and the Resource Group are already pre-set.

    If you want to create a new Resource Group:

    1. Click Create new.

       A pop-up prompts you to create the Resource Group Name container.

    2. Insert a name and click OK.

       If you want to keep the already pre-set Resource Group:

11. Under Instance Details, enter:

    1. Virtual machine name
    2. Region
    3. Image: The image you created is pre-selected by default.

    4. Size: Choose a VM size that better suits your needs.

       Keep the remaining fields default.

12. Under Administrator account, enter the below details:

    1. Username: the name of the account administrator.

    2. SSH public key source: from the drop-down menu, select Generate new key pair.

       You can either use the key pair you already have or you can create a new key pair. Alternatively, you can use Image Builder to add a user to the image with a preset public key. See Creating a user account with SSH key for more details.

    3. Key pair name: insert a name for the key pair.

13. Under Inbound port rules, select values for each of the fields:

    1. Public inbound ports: Allow selected ports.
    2. Select inbound ports: Use the default set SSH (22).
14. Click Review + Create. You are redirected to the Review + create tab and receive a confirmation that the validation passed.

15. Review the details and click Create.

    Optionally, you can click Previous to fix previous options selected.

16. A generates new key pair window opens. Click Download private key and create resources.

    Save the key file as "yourKey.pem".

17. After the deployment is complete, click Go to resource.
18. You are redirected to a new window with your VM details. Select the public IP address on the top right side of the page and copy it to your clipboard.

1. Open a terminal.

2. At your prompt, open an SSH connection to your VM. Replace the IP address with the one from your VM, and replace the path to the .pem with the path to where the key file was downloaded.

   # ssh -i ./Downloads/yourKey.pem azureuser@10.111.12.123

3. You are required to confirm if you want to continue to connect. Type yes to continue.

Procedure

1. Start the compose of a QCOW2 image.

   # composer-cli compose start blueprint_name openstack

2. Check the status of the building.

   # composer-cli compose status

   After the image build finishes, you can download the image.

3. Download the QCOW2 image:

   # composer-cli compose image UUID

4. Access the OpenStack dashboard and click +Create Image.

5. On the left menu, select the Admin tab.

   1. From the System Panel, click Image.

      The Create An Image wizard opens.

6. In the Create An Image wizard:

   1. Enter a name for the image
   2. Click Browse to upload the QCOW2 image.
   3. From the Format dropdown list, select the QCOW2 - QEMU Emulator.

   4. Click Create Image.

      

7. On the left menu, select the Project tab.

   1. From the Compute menu, select Instances.

   2. Click the Launch Instance button.

      The Launch Instance wizard opens.

   3. On the Details page, enter a name for the instance. Click Next.
   4. On the Source page, select the name of the image you uploaded. Click Next.

   5. On the Flavor page, select the machine resources that best fit your needs. Click Launch.

      

8. You can run the image instance using any mechanism (CLI or OpenStack web UI) from the image. Use your private key via SSH to access the resulting instance. Log in as cloud-user.

Procedure

1. Connect to the system containing the image that you want to check by using the Alibaba image_check tool.

2. Download the image_check tool:

   $ curl -O http://docs-aliyun.cn-hangzhou.oss.aliyun-inc.com/assets/attach/73848/cn_zh/1557459863884/image_check

3. Change the file permission of the image compliance tool:

   # chmod +x image_check

4. Run the command to start the image compliance tool checkup:

   # ./image_check

   The tool verifies the system configuration and generates a report that is displayed on your screen. The image_check tool saves this report in the same folder where the image compliance tool is running.

Procedure

1. Log in to the OSS console.
2. In Bucket menu on the left, select the bucket to which you want to upload an image.
3. In the upper right menu, click the Files tab.

4. Click Upload. A dialog window opens on the right side. Configure the following:

   • Upload To: Choose to upload the file to the Current directory or to a Specified directory.
   • File ACL: Choose the type of permission of the uploaded file.
5. Click Upload.
6. Select the image you want to upload.
7. Click Open.

Procedure

1. Log in to the ECS console.

   1. On the left-side menu, click Images.
   2. On the upper right side, click Import Image. A dialog window opens.

   3. Confirm that you have set up the correct region where the image is located. Enter the following information:

      1. OSS Object Address: See how to obtain OSS Object Address.
      2. Image Name
      3. Operating System
      4. System Disk Size
      5. System Architecture
      6. Platform: Red Hat

   4. Optionally, provide the following details:

      7. Image Format: qcow2 or ami, depending on the uploaded image format.
      8. Image Description

      9. Add Images of Data Disks

         The address can be determined in the OSS management console. After selecting the required bucket in the left menu:

2. Select Files section.

3. Click the Details link on the right for the appropriate image.

   A window appears on the right side of the screen, showing image details. The OSS object address is in the URL box.

4. Click OK.

   Note

   The importing process time can vary depending on the image size.

Procedure

1. Log in to the ECS console.
2. On the left-side menu, select Instances.
3. In the upper-right corner, click Create Instance. You are redirected to a new window.
4. Complete all the required information. See Creating an instance by using the wizard for more details.

5. Click Create Instance and confirm the order.

   Note

   You can see the option Create Order instead of Create Instance, depending on your subscription.