Procedure

1. Install the Image Builder and other necessary packages on the virtual machine:

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

   # dnf 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. Create a directory that contains the repository overrides you want to use:

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

2. Create a JSON file with the following structure, for example:

   {
       "<ARCH>": [
           {
               "name": "baseos",
               "metalink": "",
               "baseurl": "http://mirror.example.com/composes/released/RHEL-8/8.2.0/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, mirrorlist, or baseurl. The remaining fields are optional.

3. Save the file using a name corresponding to your RHEL version, for example:

   /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-84.json
   /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-85.json
   /etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-90.json

   Alternatively, you can copy the file for your distribution from /usr/share/osbuild-composer/ and modify its content.

4. Copy the repository file to the directory you created.

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

   Replace rhel-version.json with your RHEL version, for example: rhel-85.json

5. Using the editor of your choice, edit the baseurl paths in the rhel-85.json file. For example:

   $  vi etc/osbuild-composer/repositories/rhel-85.json

Procedure

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

   [AppStream]
   name = AppStream mirror example
   baseurl = https://mirror.example.com/RHEL-8/8.5.0/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-8/8.5.0/AppStream/x86_64/os/",
               "gpgkey": "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\n\n (...)",
               "check_gpg": true,
               "rhsm": true
           }
       ]
   }

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

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

   • For a specific version, use the exact version number such as 8.30.
   • For latest available version, use the asterisk *.
   • For a latest minor version, use format such as 8.*.

3. Blueprints can be customized in a number of ways. For this example, Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT) can be disabled by performing the steps below. For additional customizations available, please see Supported Image Customizations.

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

4. Save the file 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.

6. To verify that the blueprint has been pushed and exists, list the existing blueprints:

   # composer-cli blueprints list

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

   # composer-cli blueprints depsolve BLUEPRINT-NAME

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 of your choice and make your changes.

3. Before finishing with the edits, make sure the file is a valid blueprint:

   1. Remove this line, if present:

      packages = []

   2. Increase the version number. Remember that Image Builder blueprint versions must use the Semantic Versioning scheme. Note also that if you do not change the version, the patch component of version is increased 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 editor.

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

   # composer-cli blueprints push BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml

   Note that you must supply the file name including the .toml extension, while in other commands you use only the name of the blueprint.

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 image. For possible values, see output of the composer-cli compose types command.

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

2. Wait until the compose is finished. Please, notice that this may take several minutes.

   To check the status of the compose:

   # composer-cli compose status

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

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

   # composer-cli compose image UUID

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

   You can also download the logs using the composer-cli compose logs UUID command, or the metadata using the composer-cli compose metadata UUID command.

Procedure

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

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

2. Log into the web console with credentials for a user account with sufficient privileges on the system.

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

   The Image Builder view opens, listing existing blueprints.

Procedure

1. Click Create Blueprint in the top right corner.

   A pop-up appears with fields for the blueprint name and description.

2. Fill in the name of the blueprint, its description, then click Create.

   The screen changes to blueprint editing mode.

3. Add components that you want to include in the system image:

   1. On the left, enter all or part of the component name in the Available Components field and press Enter.

      The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of components below is reduced to those that match the search.

      If the list of components is too long, add further search terms in the same way.

   2. The list of components is paged. To move to other result pages, use the arrows and entry field above the component list.
   3. Click the name of the component you intend to use to display its details. The right pane fills with details of the components, such as its version and dependencies.
   4. Select the version you want to use in the Component Options box, with the Version Release dropdown.
   5. Click Add in the top left.
   6. If you added a component by mistake, remove it by clicking the …​ button at the far right of its entry in the right pane, and select Remove in the menu.

   Note

   If you do not intend to select a version for some components, you can skip the component details screen and version selection by clicking the + buttons on the right side of the component list.

4. To save the blueprint, click Commit in the top right. A dialog with a summary of the changes pops up. Click Commit.

   A small pop-up on the right informs you of the saving progress and then the result.

5. To exit the editing screen, click Back to Blueprints in the top left.

   The Image Builder view opens, listing existing blueprints.

Procedure

1. Locate the blueprint that you want to edit by entering its name or a part of it into the search box at top left, and press Enter.

   The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of blueprints below is reduced to those that match the search.

   If the list of blueprints is too long, add further search terms in the same way.

2. On the right side of the blueprint, press the Edit Blueprint button that belongs to the blueprint.

   The view changes to the blueprint editing screen.

3. Remove unwanted components by clicking their ⫶ button at the far right of its entry in the right pane, and select Remove in the menu.

4. Change version of existing components:

   1. On the Blueprint Components search field, enter component name or a part of it into the field under the heading Blueprint Components and press Enter.

      The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of components below is reduced to those that match the search.

      If the list of components is too long, add further search terms in the same way.

   2. Click the ⫶ button at the far right of the component entry, and select View in the menu.

      A component details screen opens in the right pane.

   3. Select the desired version in the Version Release drop-down menu and click Apply Change in top right.

      The change is saved and the right pane returns to listing the blueprint components.

5. Add new components:

   1. On the left, enter component name or a part of it into the field under the heading Available Components and press Enter.

      The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of components below is reduced to those that match the search.

      If the list of components is too long, add further search terms in the same way.

   2. The list of components is paged. To move to other result pages, use the arrows and entry field above the component list.
   3. Click the name of the component you intend to use to display its details. The right pane fills with details of the components, such as its version and dependencies.
   4. Select the version you want to use in the Component Options box, with the Version Release drop-down menu.
   5. Click Add in the top right.

   6. If you added a component by mistake, remove it by clicking the ⫶ button at the far right of its entry in the right pane, and select Remove in the menu.

      Note

      If you do not intend to select a version for some components, you can skip the component details screen and version selection by clicking the + buttons on the right side of the component list.

6. Commit a new version of the blueprint with your changes:

   1. Click the Commit button in top right.

      A pop-up window with a summary of your changes appears.

   2. Review your changes and confirm them by clicking Commit.

      A small pop-up on the right informs you of the saving progress and the results. A new version of the blueprint is created.

   3. In the top left, click Back to Blueprints to exit the editing screen.

      The Image Builder view opens, listing existing blueprints.

Procedure

1. Find out the name of the blueprint: Open the Image Builder (Image builder) tab on the left in the RHEL web console to see the name of the blueprint.
2. Navigate to the CLI in web console: Open the system administration tab on the left, then select the last item Terminal from the list on the left.

3. Enter the super-user (root) mode:

   $ sudo bash

   Provide your credentials when asked. Note that the terminal does not reuse your credentials you entered when logging into the web console.

   A new shell with root privileges starts in your home directory.

4. Export the blueprint to a file:

   # composer-cli blueprints save BLUEPRINT-NAME

5. Edit the file BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml with a CLI text editor of your choice and add the users and groups.

   Important

   RHEL web console does not have any built-in feature to edit text files on the system, so the use of a CLI text editor is required for this step.

   1. For every user to be added, add this block to the file:

      [[customizations.user]]
      name = "USER-NAME"
      description = "USER-DESCRIPTION"
      password = "PASSWORD-HASH"
      key = "ssh-rsa (...) key-name"
      home = "/home/USER-NAME/"
      shell = "/usr/bin/bash"
      groups = ["users", "wheel"]
      uid = NUMBER
      gid = NUMBER

      Replace PASSWORD-HASH with the actual password hash. To generate the hash, use a command such as this:

      $ python3 -c 'import crypt,getpass;pw=getpass.getpass();print(crypt.crypt(pw) if (pw==getpass.getpass("Confirm: ")) else exit())'

      Replace ssh-rsa (…​) key-name with the actual public key.

      Replace the other placeholders with suitable values.

      Leave out any of the lines as needed, only the user name is required.

   2. For every user group to be added, add this block to the file:

      [[customizations.group]]
      name = "GROUP-NAME"
      gid = NUMBER

   3. Increase the version number.
   4. Save the file and close the editor.

6. Import the blueprint back into Image Builder:

   # composer-cli blueprints push BLUEPRINT-NAME.toml

   Note that you must supply the file name including the .toml extension, while in other commands you use only the name of the blueprint.

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

   # composer-cli blueprints show BLUEPRINT-NAME

   Check if the version matches what you put in the file and if your customizations are present.

   Important

   The Image Builder plugin for RHEL web console does not show any information that could be used to verify that the changes have been applied, unless you also edited the packages included in the blueprint.

8. Exit the privileged shell:

   # exit

9. Open the Image Builder (Image builder) tab on the left and refresh the page, in all browsers and all tabs where it was opened.

   This prevents state cached in the loaded page from accidentally reverting your changes.

Procedure

1. Locate the blueprint that you want to build an image by entering its name or a part of it into the search box at top left, and press Enter.

   The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of blueprints below is reduced to those that match the search.

   If the list of blueprints is too long, add further search terms in the same way.

2. On the right side of the blueprint, press the Create Image button that belongs to the blueprint.

   A pop-up window appears.

3. Select the image type and press Create.

   A small pop-up in the top right informs you that the image creation has been added to the queue.

4. Click the name of the blueprint.

   A screen with details of the blueprint opens.

5. Click the Images tab to switch to it. The image that is being created is listed with the status In Progress.

   Note

   Image creation takes a longer time, measured in minutes. There is no indication of progress while the image is created.

   To abort image creation, press its Stop button on the right.

6. Once the image is successfully created, the Stop button is replaced by a Download button. Click this button to download the image to your system.

Procedure

1. Click the ⫶ Manage Sources button in the top right corner.

   

   A pop-up window appears with the available sources, their names and descriptions.

   

2. On the right side of the pop-up window, click the Add Source button.

3. Add the desired Source name, the Source path, and the Source Type. The Security field is optional.

   

4. Click Add Source button. The screen shows the available sources window and lists the source you have added.

Procedure

1. Locate the blueprint that you want to create a user account for by entering its name or a part of it into the search box at the top left, and press Enter.

   The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of blueprints below is reduced to those that match the search.

2. Click on the blueprint name to display the blueprint details.

   

3. Click Create User Account.

   This will open a window with fields for user account creation.

   
4. Fill in the details. Notice that when you insert the name, the User name field autocompletes, suggesting a username.
5. Once you have inserted all the desired details, click Create.

6. The created user account appears showing all the information you have inserted.

   
7. To create further user accounts for the blueprint, repeat the process.

Procedure

1. Locate the blueprint that you want to create a user account for by entering its name or a part of it into the search box at the top left, and press Enter.

   The search is added to the list of filters under the text entry field, and the list of blueprints below is reduced to those that match the search.

2. Click on the blueprint name to display the blueprint details.

   

3. Click Create User Account.

   This will open a window with fields for user account creation

   

4. Fill in the details. Notice that when you insert the name, the User name field autocompletes, suggesting a username.

   If you want to provide administrators rights to the user account you are creating, check the Role field.

   Paste the content of your public SSH key file.

5. Once you have inserted all the desired details, click Create.

6. The new user account will appear in the user list, showing all the information you have inserted.

   
7. If you want to create more user accounts for the blueprint, repeat the process.

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. Once the compose is finished, download the resulting image file:

   # composer-cli compose image UUID

   Replace UUID with the UUID value shown 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.

Procedure

1. Open the Image Builder interface of the RHEL 8 web console in a browser.
2. Locate the blueprint that you want to build your image by entering its 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 Create Image button that belongs to the blueprint.

   The Create image dialog wizard opens.

4. On the Create image dialog wizard, from the Image Type list:

   1. Select the "RHEL Installer (.iso)" image type.
   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.

Procedure

1. Place the bootable ISO image file on a USB flash drive.
2. Connect the USB flash drive to the port of the computer you want to boot.
3. Boot the ISO image from the USB flash drive.

4. Perform the steps to install the customized bootable ISO image.

   The boot screen shows you the following options:

   • Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
   • Test this media & install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Procedure

1. Click Create blueprint to create a blueprint. See Creating an Image Builder blueprint in the web console interface.
2. Select the components and packages that you want as part of the KVM guest image you are creating.
3. Click Commit to commit the changes you made to the blueprint. A small pop-up on the superior right side informs you of the saving progress and then the result of the changes you commited.
4. Click the blueprint name link on the left banner.
5. Select the tab Images.
6. Click Create Image to create your customized image. A pop-up window opens.
7. From the Type drop-down menu list, select the `QEMU Image(.qcow2)' image.
8. Set the size that you want the image to be when instantiated and click Create.
9. A small pop-up on the upper right side of the window informs you that the image creation has been added to the queue. Once the image creation process is complete, you can see the Image build complete status.

Verification steps

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 and rename the image name to rhel-8.4-x86_64-kvm.qcow2.

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: citest-1

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

   #cloud-config
   user: admin
   password: cilogon
   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 ciiso.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 mytestcivm \
       --disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/rhel-8.4-x86_64-kvm.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
       --disk /home/sample/cloudinitiso/ciiso.iso,device=cdrom \
       --os-variant rhel8.4 \
       --virt-type kvm \
       --graphics none \
       --import

   Where,

   • --graphics none - means it is a headless RHEL 8.4 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 8.4 Beta (Ootpa)
   Kernel 4.18.0-221.el8.x86_64 on an x86_64

Verification

1. Log in to the created VM, using cloud-user as a username. Your password is cilogon.

Procedure

1. Install Python 3 and the pip tool:

   # dnf install python3
   # dnf 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. Then, to grant permission to access the S3 bucket, create a vmimport S3 Role in 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 of your choice, 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, 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 choose 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 Create blueprint to create a blueprint. See Creating an Image Builder blueprint in the web console interface.
2. Select the components and packages that you want as part of the image you are creating.

3. Click Commit to commit the changes you made to the blueprint.

   A small pop-up on the superior right side informs you of the saving progress and then the result of the changes you commited.

4. Click blueprint name link on the left banner.
5. Select the tab Images.

6. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   A pop-up window opens.

   1. From the "Type" drop-down menu list, select the `"Amazon Machine Image Disk (.ami)"' image.
   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 you provided and once you are satisfied, 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. We are using 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.

7. A small pop-up on the superior right side 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.

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

8. 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.
9. On the dashboard, select your image and click Launch.
10. A new window opens. Choose an instance type according to the resources you need to launch your image. Click Review and Launch.
11. Review your instance launch details. You can edit each section if you need to make any change. Click Launch

12. Before you launch the instance, you must 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 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.

13. Then, you can click Launch Instance to launch your instance.

    You can check the status of the instance, it shows as "Initializing".

14. Once the instance status is "running", the Connect button becomes available.

15. Click Connect. A popup window appears with instructions on how to connect using SSH.

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

    2. In the location you store your private key, make sure 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 steps

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

Procedure

1. Install python2:

   # dnf install python2

   Note

   python2 package must be installed because since the AZ CLI depends specifically on python 2.7

2. Import the Microsoft repository key:

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

3. 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'

4. Install the Azure CLI:

   # dnfdownloader 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 downloaded version.

5. Run the Azure CLI:

   $ az login

   The terminal shows the message 'Note, we have launched a browser for you to login. For old experience with device code, use "az login --use-device-code"' and open a browser where you can login.

   Note

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

6. 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 the Azure resource group and storage-account-name with name of the Azure storage account.

   Note

   You can list the available resources using the command:

   $ az resource list

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

   $ KEY1=value

8. 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.

Procedure

1. Push the image to Azure and create an instance from it:

   $ VHD=25ccb8dd-3872-477f-9e3d-c2970cd4bbaf-disk.vhd
   $ az storage blob upload --account-name $ACCOUNT --container-name $CONTAINER --file $VHD --name $VHD --type page
   ...

2. Once the upload to the Azure BLOB completes, create an Azure image from it:

   $ az image create --resource-group $GROUP --name $VHD --os-type linux --location eastus --source https://$ACCOUNT.blob.core.windows.net/$CONTAINER/$VHD
    - Running ...

3. Create an instance either with the 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 ...

4. 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 on Upload Files in the vCenter:

   

2. When you create a VM, on the Device Configuration, delete the default New Hard Disk and use the drop-down to select an Existing Hard Disk disk image:

   

3. Make sure you use an IDE device as the Virtual Device Node for the disk you create. The default value SCSI results in an unbootable virtual machine.

   

Procedure

1. Click Create blueprint.

   See Creating an Image Builder blueprint in the web console interface.

2. Select the components and packages that you want as part of the image you are creating.

3. Click Commit to commit the changes you made to the blueprint.

   A pop-up on the upper right side informs you of the saving progress and then the result of the changes you commited.

4. Click blueprint name link on the left banner.

5. Select the Customizations tab to create a user account for the blueprint.

   See Creating a user account for a blueprint.

6. Select the Images tab .

7. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   The Image type window opens.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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 datacenter where the image will be uploaded.
    5. Data store:The name of the Data store where the image will be uploaded.
    6. Click Next.

11. In the Review window, review the details about the image creation. Once you are satisfied, click Finish.

    You can click Back to modify any incorrect detail.

    Image Builder adds the compose of a RHEL 8.4 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.

    Once 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 Virtual Machine from the image you uploaded. For that:

   1. Select the image you uploaded.
   2. Click the right button on 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 a creation type: You can choose to create a New Virtual Machine.
      2. Select a name and a folder: For example, Virtual Machine name: vSphere Virtual Machine and location of your choice inside vSphere Client.
      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 OS: For example, select Linux and _Red Hat Fedora (64-bit).
      7. Customize hardware: When you create 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. Click Create blueprint to create a blueprint. See Creating an Image Builder blueprint in the web console interface.
2. Select the components and packages that you want as part of the image you are creating.

3. Click Commit to commit the changes you made to the blueprint.

   A small pop-up on the upper right side informs you of the saving progress and then the result of the changes you commited.

4. Click blueprint name link on the left banner.
5. Select the tab Images.

6. 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 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 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 once you are satisfied, click Finish.

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

7. A small pop-up on the upper right side displays when the image creation process starts with the message: "Image creation has been added to the queue".

   Once the image process creation is complete, click the blueprint you created an image from. You can see the "Image build complete" status for the image you created within the Images tab.

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

10. 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 OS 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.

11. Click Create to create the image. Once the image is created, you can see the message "Successfully created image" in the upper right corner.
12. Click Refresh to see your new image and open your newly created image.
13. Click + Create VM. You are redirected to the Create a virtual machine dashboard.

14. 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 Resource Group that is already pre-set.

15. Under Instance Details, insert:

    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 as in the default choice.

16. 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.

17. Under Inbound port rules, select:

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

19. Review the details and click Create.

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

20. A pop-up generates new key pair window opens. Click Download private key and create resources.

    Save the key file as "yourKey.pem".

21. Once the deployment is complete, click Go to resource.
22. 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 virtual machine. 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. Upload the image to OpenStack and start an instance from it. Use the Images interface to do this:

   

2. Start an instance with that image:

   

3. You can run the instance using any mechanism (CLI or OpenStack web UI) from the snapshot. 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 you want to check it by 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.

5. If any of the Detection Items fail, follow the instructions to correct it. For more information, see link: Detection items section.

Procedure

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

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

   • 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. Choose 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 right upper side, click Import Image. A window dialog 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, select Files section and then click the Details link on the right for the appropriate image. A window will appear on the right side of the screen, showing image details. The OSS object address is in the URL box.

2. 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, choose Instances.
3. In the top corner, click Create Instance. You are redirected to a new window.
4. Fill in 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.