Prerequisites

1. Create a kickstart file or use an existing one.

Procedure

1. Extract the downloaded image tar file:

   # tar xvf <UUID>-commit.tar

2. Navigate to the directory where you have extracted the .tar file.

   It contains a compose.json file and an OSTree directory. The compose.json file contains the commit number and the OSTree directory contains the rpm packages.

3. Open the compose.json file and note the commit ID number. You need this number handy when you proceed to set up a web server.

   If you have the jq JSON processor installed, you can also retrieve the commit hash ID using the jq tool:

   # jq '.["ostree-commit"]' < compose.json

4. List the rpm packages in the commit.

   # rpm-ostree db list rhel/8/x86_64/edge --repo=repo

5. Use a Kickstart file to run the RHEL installer. You can either use any existing file or can create one using the Kickstart Generator tool.

   In the Kickstart file, ensure that you include the details about how to provision the file system, create a user, and how to fetch and deploy the RHEL for Edge image. The RHEL installer uses this information during the installation process.

   The following is a Kickstart file example:

   lang en_US.UTF-8
   keyboard us
   timezone Etc/UTC --isUtc
   text
   zerombr
   clearpart --all --initlabel
   autopart
   reboot
   user --name=core --group=wheel
   sshkey --username=core "ssh-rsa AAAA3Nza...."
   
   ostreesetup --nogpg --osname=rhel --remote=edge
   --url=https://mirror.example.com/repo/
   --ref=rhel/8/x86_64/edge

   The following describes the parameters of the ostreesetup command,

   • --url=https://mirror.example.com/repo/ is the address of the host system where you extracted the edge commit and served over httpd. You can use the address to reach the host system from the guest machine.

     For example, if you extract the commit image in the /var/www/html directory and serve the commit over httpd on a machine whose hostname is www.example.com, the value of the --url parameter is http://www.example.com/repo.

     Note

     Use the http protocol to start a service to serve the commit, because https is not enabled on the Apache HTTP Server.

Procedure

1. Create a dockerfile with the following instructions:

   FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi
   RUN yum -y install httpd && yum clean all
   COPY kickstart.ks /var/www/html/
   COPY repo /var/www/html/repo/
   EXPOSE 80
   CMD ["/usr/sbin/httpd", "-D", "FOREGROUND"]

   Where,

   • kickstart.ks is the name of the Kickstart file from the RHEL for Edge image. The kickstart file includes directive information. To help you manage the images later, it is advisable to include the checks and settings for Greenboot checks. To do so, you can update the Kickstart file to include the following settings:

     lang en_US.UTF-8
     keyboard us
     timezone Etc/UTC --isUtc
     text
     zerombr
     clearpart --all --initlabel
     autopart
     reboot
     user --name=core --group=wheel
     sshkey --username=core "ssh-rsa AAAA3Nza...."
     
     ostreesetup --nogpg --osname=rhel --remote=edge
     --url=https://mirror.example.com/repo/
     --ref=rhel/8/x86_64/edge
     
     %post
     cat << EOF > /etc/greenboot/check/required.d/check-dns.sh
     #!/bin/bash
     
     DNS_SERVER=$(grep nameserver /etc/resolv.conf | cut -f2 -d" ")
     COUNT=0
     
     # check DNS server is available
     ping -c1 $DNS_SERVER
     while [ $? != '0' ] && [ $COUNT -lt 10 ]; do
     ((COUNT++))
     echo "Checking for DNS: Attempt $COUNT ."
     sleep 10
     ping -c 1 $DNS_SERVER
     done
     EOF
     %end
     ```

   • The ARG commit=commit.tar line is the default value used for the commit argument during a container build. You can specify different tar files as a build argument during the container build.

   • The ADD $commit /var/www/html command copies the commit.tar file and automatically extracts it to the chosen location. You can choose a different location to extract and save the commit.

     The OSTree repository can be hosted from any HTTP service, and that the example, using a container, is just an option for how to do this. The docker file performs the following tasks:

     1. Uses the latest Universal Base Image (ubi)
     2. Installs the web server (httpd)
     3. Adds the kickstart file to the server

     4. Adds the RHEL for Edge image commit to the server

        The line ARG commit=commit.tar allows you to specify future commits using the command-line.

2. Build a docker container

   #  podman build -t name-of-container-image --build-arg commit=uuid-commit.tar .

3. Run the container

   #  podman run --rm -d -p port:80 localhost/name-of-container-image

   As a result, the server is set up and ready to launch the RHEL installer using the commit.tar repository and the kickstart file.

Procedure

1. Open a browser and access https://access.redhat.com/downloads.
2. Click the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
3. CLick the button Download Now for the option "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Boot ISO"

Procedure

1. Run the Anaconda Installer using the libvirt virt-install:

   virt-install --name rhel-edge-test-1 --memory 2048 --vcpus 2 --disk path=prepared_disk_image.qcow2,format=qcow2 --os-variant rhel8.0 --cdrom /home/username/Downloads/rhel8-edge.iso

2. On the installation screen, press TAB to specify an additional kernel parameter:

   inst.ks=http://edge_device_ip:port/kickstart.ks

   The kernel parameter specifies that you want to install RHEL using the Kickstart file and not the RHEL image contained in the RHEL Installer.

   The RHEL Installer starts, fetches the Kickstart file from the server (HTTP) endpoint and executes the commands, including the command to install the RHEL for Edge image commit from the HTTP endpoint. Once the installation is complete, the installer prompts for login details.

3. On the Login screen, specify your user account credentials and click Enter.

4. Verify whether the RHEL for Edge image is successfully installed.

   $ rpm-ostree status

   The command output provides the image commit ID and shows that the installation is successful.

   Following is a sample output:

   State: idle
   Deployments:
   * ostree://edge:rhel/8/x86_64/edge
   		  Timestamp: 2020-09-18T20:06:54Z
   			Commit: 836e637095554e0b634a0a48ea05c75280519dd6576a392635e6fa7d4d5e96

Procedure

1. Navigate to the directory where you have downloaded the RHEL for Edge Container image.

2. Load the RHEL for Edge Container image into Podman.

   $ cat ./commit_ID-container.tar | sudo podman load

   The command output provides the image ID, for example: @8e0d51f061ff1a51d157804362bc875b649b27f2ae1e66566a15e7e6530cec63

3. Tag the new RHEL for Edge Container image, using the image ID generated by the previous step.

   $ sudo podman tag image-ID localhost/edge-container

   The podman tag command assigns an additional name to the local image.

4. Run the container named edge-container.

   $ sudo podman run --name=edge-container -p 8080:80 localhost/edge-container

   The podman run --name=edge-container command assigns a name to your container based on the localhost/edge-container image.

5. List containers:

   $  $ podman ps -a
   CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                               	COMMAND	CREATED    	STATUS                	PORTS   NAMES
   2988198c4c4b  …./localhost/edge-container   /bin/bash  3 seconds ago  Up 2 seconds ago      	edge-container

Procedure

1. On the Image Builder dashboard, for the empty blueprint that you have created for RHEL for Edge image, click Create Image.

2. On the Create Image window, perform the following steps:

   1. In the Repository textbox, specify the URL to the OSTree repository of the commit to embed in the image. For example, http://10.0.2.2:8080/repository/
   2. In the Ref textbox, specify the same reference as you provided during the creation of the RHEL for Edge Container commit to embed in the image. For example, rhel/edge/test.

   3. Click Create.

      Image Builder pulls the commit that is being served by the running container during the image build. Once the image build is complete, you can download the resulting image. See Downloading a RHEL for Edge image.

      You can use the same workflow for the CLI. See Creating a RHEL for Edge Installer image using command-line interface for non-network-based deployments.

Procedure

1. Create an empty qcow image to install the (.iso). That is an image of a hard drive for the virtual machine (VM). For example:

   $  qemu-img create -f qcow2 diskfile.qcow2 5G

2. Boot the VM using the disk as a drive and the installer ISO as a CD-ROM. For example:

   $  qemu-system-x86_64 \
             -enable-kvm \
             -m 4G \
             -cpu host \
             -net nic,model=virtio \
             -net user,hostfwd=tcp::2223-:22 \
             -cdrom $HOME/Downloads/Fedora-Server-netinst-x86_64-33-1.2.iso \
             disk-image.img

   This command instructs qemu (the hypervisor) to:

   • Use KVM virtualization.
   • Increase memory to 4000MB (some processes are consuming lots of memory, for example dnf).
   • Use the same CPU type as the host uses.
   • Connect the guest to a virtual network bridge on the host and forward TCP port 2223 from the host to the SSH port (22) on the guest.
   • Mount the installation ISO.

   • Use the hard drive image created above.

     It gives you an Anaconda Installer. The RHEL Installer starts, loads the Kickstart file from the ISO and executes the commands, including the command to install the RHEL for Edge image commit. Once the installation is complete, the installer prompts for login details.

     Note

     Anaconda is preconfigured to use the container commit during the installation.

3. On the Login screen, specify your user account credentials and click Enter.

Verification steps

1. Verify whether the RHEL for Edge image is successfully installed.

   $  rpm-ostree status