Chapter 8. Deploying a RHEL for Edge image in a network-base environment

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 ostreesetup command is used to set up OStree-based installations. It fetches the OSTree commit, by using the following flags:

   • --nogpg - Disable GPG key verification.
   • --osname - Management root for OS installation.
   • --remote - Management root for OS installation
   • --url - URL of the repository to install from.
   • --ref - Name of the branch from the repository to be used for installation.

   • --url=https://mirror.example.com/repo/ is the address of the host system where you extracted the edge commit and served over nginx. 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 nginx 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 the nginx configuration file with the following instructions:

   events {
   
   }
   
   http {
       server{
           listen 8080;
           root /usr/share/nginx/html;
                   }
            }
   
   pid /run/nginx.pid;
   daemon off;

2. Copy the nginx configuration file to the /etc/nginx.conf directory.

3. Create a dockerfile with the following instructions:

   FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi
   RUN dnf -y install nginx && dnf clean all
   COPY kickstart.ks /var/www/html/
   COPY repo /usr/share/nginx/html/
   EXPOSE 8080
   CMD ["/usr/sbin/nginx", "-c", "/etc/nginx.conf"]
   ARG commit
   ADD ${commit} /usr/share/nginx/html/

   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 OSTree repository can be hosted from any HTTP service, and 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 (nginx)
     3. Adds the kickstart file to the server
     4. Adds the RHEL for Edge image commit to the server

4. Build a docker container

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

5. Run the container

   #  podman run --rm -d -p port:8080 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. Under Infrastructure Management, click the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Product.
3. Click the Download Now button for the option "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 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 size=8 \
   --disk path=prepared_disk_image.qcow2,format=qcow2 \
   --os-variant rhel8.6
   --cdrom /home/username/Downloads/rhel-8.6-x86_64-boot.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