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Installation Guide

Red Hat Virtualization 4.2

Installing Red Hat Virtualization

Red Hat Virtualization Documentation Team

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

A comprehensive guide to installing Red Hat Virtualization.

Preface

This guide covers:

  • Installing and configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager.
  • Installing and configuring hosts.
  • Attaching existing FCP storage to your Red Hat Virtualization environment. More storage options can be found in the Administration Guide.

Chapter 1. Requirements

1.1. Red Hat Virtualization Manager Requirements

1.1.1. Hardware Requirements

The minimum and recommended hardware requirements outlined here are based on a typical small to medium-sized installation. The exact requirements vary between deployments based on sizing and load.

Hardware certification for Red Hat Virtualization is covered by the hardware certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/725243. To confirm whether specific hardware items are certified for use with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, see https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/#certifiedHardware.

Table 1.1. Red Hat Virtualization Manager Hardware Requirements

ResourceMinimumRecommended

CPU

A dual core CPU.

A quad core CPU or multiple dual core CPUs.

Memory

4 GB of available system RAM if Data Warehouse is not installed and if memory is not being consumed by existing processes.

16 GB of system RAM.

Hard Disk

25 GB of locally accessible, writable disk space.

50 GB of locally accessible, writable disk space.

You can use the RHV Manager History Database Size Calculator to calculate the appropriate disk space for the Manager history database size.

Network Interface

1 Network Interface Card (NIC) with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps.

1 Network Interface Card (NIC) with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps.

1.1.2. Browser Requirements

The following browser versions and operating systems can be used to access the Administration Portal and the VM Portal.

Browser support is divided into tiers:

  • Tier 1: Browser and operating system combinations that are fully tested and fully supported. Red Hat Engineering is committed to fixing issues with browsers on this tier.
  • Tier 2: Browser and operating system combinations that are partially tested, and are likely to work. Limited support is provided for this tier. Red Hat Engineering will attempt to fix issues with browsers on this tier.
  • Tier 3: Browser and operating system combinations that are not tested, but may work. Minimal support is provided for this tier. Red Hat Engineering will attempt to fix only minor issues with browsers on this tier.

Table 1.2. Browser Requirements

Support TierOperating System FamilyBrowser

Tier 1

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Mozilla Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) version

Tier 2

Windows

Internet Explorer 11 or later

 

Any

Most recent version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

Tier 3

Any

Earlier versions of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

 

Any

Other browsers

1.1.3. Client Requirements

Virtual machine consoles can only be accessed using supported Remote Viewer (virt-viewer) clients on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Windows. To install virt-viewer, see Installing Supporting Components on Client Machines in the Virtual Machine Management Guide. Installing virt-viewer requires Administrator privileges.

Virtual machine consoles are accessed through the SPICE protocol. The QXL graphical driver can be installed in the guest operating system for improved/enhanced SPICE functionalities. SPICE currently supports a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 pixels.

Supported QXL drivers are available on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Windows XP, and Windows 7.

SPICE support is divided into tiers:

  • Tier 1: Operating systems on which Remote Viewer has been fully tested and is supported.
  • Tier 2: Operating systems on which Remote Viewer is partially tested and is likely to work. Limited support is provided for this tier. Red Hat Engineering will attempt to fix issues with remote-viewer on this tier.

Table 1.3. Client Operating System SPICE Support

Support TierOperating System

Tier 1

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 and later

 

Microsoft Windows 7

Tier 2

Microsoft Windows 8

 

Microsoft Windows 10

1.1.4. Operating System Requirements

The Red Hat Virtualization Manager must be installed on a base installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 that has been updated to the latest minor release.

Do not install any additional packages after the base installation, as they may cause dependency issues when attempting to install the packages required by the Manager.

Do not enable additional repositories other than those required for the Manager installation.

1.2. Host Requirements

Hardware certification for Red Hat Virtualization is covered by the hardware certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/725243. To confirm whether specific hardware items are certified for use with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, see https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/#certifiedHardware.

For more information on the requirements and limitations that apply to guests see https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-limits and https://access.redhat.com/articles/906543.

1.2.1. CPU Requirements

All CPUs must have support for the Intel® 64 or AMD64 CPU extensions, and the AMD-V™ or Intel VT® hardware virtualization extensions enabled. Support for the No eXecute flag (NX) is also required.

The following CPU models are supported:

  • AMD

    • Opteron G1 (deprecated)
    • Opteron G2 (deprecated)
    • Opteron G3 (deprecated)
    • Opteron G4
    • Opteron G5
  • Intel

    • Conroe (deprecated)
    • Penryn (deprecated)
    • Nehalem
    • Westmere
    • Sandybridge
    • Haswell
    • Haswell-noTSX
    • Broadwell
    • Broadwell-noTSX
    • Skylake (client)
    • Skylake (server)
  • IBM POWER8

1.2.1.1. Checking if a Processor Supports the Required Flags

You must enable virtualization in the BIOS. Power off and reboot the host after this change to ensure that the change is applied.

  1. At the Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Red Hat Virtualization Host boot screen, press any key and select the Boot or Boot with serial console entry from the list.
  2. Press Tab to edit the kernel parameters for the selected option.
  3. Ensure there is a space after the last kernel parameter listed, and append the parameter rescue.
  4. Press Enter to boot into rescue mode.
  5. At the prompt, determine that your processor has the required extensions and that they are enabled by running this command:

    # grep -E 'svm|vmx' /proc/cpuinfo | grep nx

If any output is shown, the processor is hardware virtualization capable. If no output is shown, your processor may still support hardware virtualization; in some circumstances manufacturers disable the virtualization extensions in the BIOS. If you believe this to be the case, consult the system’s BIOS and the motherboard manual provided by the manufacturer.

1.2.2. Memory Requirements

The minimum required RAM is 2 GB. The maximum supported RAM is 2 TB.

However, the amount of RAM required varies depending on guest operating system requirements, guest application requirements, and guest memory activity and usage. KVM can also overcommit physical RAM for virtualized guests, allowing you to provision guests with RAM requirements greater than what is physically present, on the assumption that the guests are not all working concurrently at peak load. KVM does this by only allocating RAM for guests as required and shifting underutilized guests into swap.

1.2.3. Storage Requirements

Hosts require local storage to store configuration, logs, kernel dumps, and for use as swap space. The minimum storage requirements of Red Hat Virtualization Host are documented in this section. The storage requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts vary based on the amount of disk space used by their existing configuration but are expected to be greater than those of Red Hat Virtualization Host.

The minimum storage requirements for host installation are listed below. However, Red Hat recommends using the default allocations, which use more storage space.

  • / (root) - 6 GB
  • /home - 1 GB
  • /tmp - 1 GB
  • /boot - 1 GB
  • /var - 15 GB
  • /var/log - 8 GB
  • /var/log/audit - 2 GB
  • swap - 1 GB (for the recommended swap size, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/15244)
  • Anaconda reserves 20% of the thin pool size within the volume group for future metadata expansion. This is to prevent an out-of-the-box configuration from running out of space under normal usage conditions. Overprovisioning of thin pools during installation is also not supported.
  • Minimum Total - 45 GB

If you are also installing the RHV-M Appliance for self-hosted engine installation, /var/tmp must be at least 5 GB.

1.2.4. PCI Device Requirements

Hosts must have at least one network interface with a minimum bandwidth of 1 Gbps. Red Hat recommends that each host have two network interfaces, with one dedicated to supporting network-intensive activities, such as virtual machine migration. The performance of such operations is limited by the bandwidth available.

For information about how to use PCI Express and conventional PCI devices with Intel Q35-based virtual machines, see Using PCI Express and Conventional PCI Devices with the Q35 Virtual Machine.

1.2.5. Device Assignment Requirements

If you plan to implement device assignment and PCI passthrough so that a virtual machine can use a specific PCIe device from a host, ensure the following requirements are met:

  • CPU must support IOMMU (for example, VT-d or AMD-Vi). IBM POWER8 supports IOMMU by default.
  • Firmware must support IOMMU.
  • CPU root ports used must support ACS or ACS-equivalent capability.
  • PCIe devices must support ACS or ACS-equivalent capability.
  • Red Hat recommends that all PCIe switches and bridges between the PCIe device and the root port support ACS. For example, if a switch does not support ACS, all devices behind that switch share the same IOMMU group, and can only be assigned to the same virtual machine.
  • For GPU support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 supports PCI device assignment of PCIe-based NVIDIA K-Series Quadro (model 2000 series or higher), GRID, and Tesla as non-VGA graphics devices. Currently up to two GPUs may be attached to a virtual machine in addition to one of the standard, emulated VGA interfaces. The emulated VGA is used for pre-boot and installation and the NVIDIA GPU takes over when the NVIDIA graphics drivers are loaded. Note that the NVIDIA Quadro 2000 is not supported, nor is the Quadro K420 card.

Check vendor specification and datasheets to confirm that your hardware meets these requirements. The lspci -v command can be used to print information for PCI devices already installed on a system.

1.2.6. vGPU Requirements

If you plan to configure a host to allow virtual machines on that host to install a vGPU, the following requirements must be met:

  • vGPU-compatible GPU
  • GPU-enabled host kernel
  • Installed GPU with correct drivers
  • Predefined mdev_type set to correspond with one of the mdev types supported by the device
  • vGPU-capable drivers installed on each host in the cluster
  • vGPU-supported virtual machine operating system with vGPU drivers installed

1.3. Networking Requirements

1.3.1. Firewall Requirements for DNS, NTP, and IPMI Fencing

The firewall requirements for DNS, NTP, and IPMI Fencing are special cases that require individual consideration.

DNS and NTP

Red Hat Virtualization does not create a DNS or NTP server, so the firewall does not need to have open ports for incoming traffic.

By default, Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows outbound traffic to DNS and NTP on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, make exceptions for requests being sent to DNS and NTP servers.

Important
  • The Red Hat Virtualization Manager and all hosts (Red Hat Virtualization Host and Red Hat Enterprise Linux host) must have a fully qualified domain name and full, perfectly-aligned forward and reverse name resolution.
  • Running a DNS service as a virtual machine in the Red Hat Virtualization environment is not supported. All DNS services the Red Hat Virtualization environment uses must be hosted outside of the environment.
  • Red Hat strongly recommends using DNS instead of the /etc/hosts file for name resolution. Using a hosts file typically requires more work and has a greater chance for errors.

IPMI and Other Fencing Mechanisms (optional)

For IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) and other fencing mechanisms, the firewall does not need to have open ports for incoming traffic.

By default, Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows outbound IPMI traffic to ports on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, make exceptions for requests being sent to your IPMI or fencing servers.

Each Red Hat Virtualization Host and Red Hat Enterprise Linux host in the cluster must be able to connect to the fencing devices of all other hosts in the cluster. In case the cluster hosts are badly affected, they must be able to connect to other hosts in the data center.

The specific port number depends on the type of the fence agent you are using and how it is configured.

The firewall requirement tables in the following sections do not represent this option.

1.3.2. Red Hat Virtualization Manager Firewall Requirements

The Red Hat Virtualization Manager requires that a number of ports be opened to allow network traffic through the system’s firewall.

The engine-setup script can configure the firewall automatically, but this overwrites any pre-existing firewall configuration if you are using iptables. If you want to keep the existing firewall configuration, you must manually insert the firewall rules required by the Manager. The engine-setup command saves a list of the iptables rules required in the /etc/ovirt-engine/iptables.example file. If you are using firewalld, engine-setup does not overwrite the existing configuration.

The firewall configuration documented here assumes a default configuration.

Note

A diagram of these firewall requirements is available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/3932211. You can use the IDs in the table to look up connections in the diagram.

Table 1.4. Red Hat Virtualization Manager Firewall Requirements

IDPort(s)ProtocolSourceDestinationPurpose

M1

-

ICMP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Optional.

May help in diagnosis.

M2

22

TCP

System(s) used for maintenance of the Manager including backend configuration, and software upgrades.

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Secure Shell (SSH) access.

Optional.

M3

2222

TCP

Clients accessing virtual machine serial consoles.

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Secure Shell (SSH) access to enable connection to virtual machine serial consoles.

M4

80, 443

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

REST API clients

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Provides HTTP and HTTPS access to the Manager.

M5

6100

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Provides websocket proxy access for a web-based console client, noVNC, when the websocket proxy is running on the Manager. If the websocket proxy is running on a different host, however, this port is not used.

M6

7410

UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

If Kdump is enabled on the hosts, open this port for the fence_kdump listener on the Manager. See fence_kdump Advanced Configuration.

M7

54323

TCP

Administration Portal clients

Red Hat Virtualization Manager (ImageIO Proxy server)

Required for communication with the ImageIO Proxy (ovirt-imageio-proxy).

M8

6442

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Open Virtual Network (OVN) southbound database

Connect to Open Virtual Network (OVN) database

M9

9696

TCP

Clients of external network provider for OVN

External network provider for OVN

OpenStack Networking API

M10

35357

TCP

Clients of external network provider for OVN

External network provider for OVN

OpenStack Identity API

M11

53

TCP, UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

DNS Server

DNS lookup requests from ports above 1023 to port 53, and responses. Open by default.

M12

123

UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

NTP Server

NTP requests from ports above 1023 to port 123, and responses. Open by default.

Note
  • A port for the OVN northbound database (6641) is not listed because, in the default configuration, the only client for the OVN northbound database (6641) is ovirt-provider-ovn. Because they both run on the same host, their communication is not visible to the network.
  • By default, Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows outbound traffic to DNS and NTP on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, make exceptions for the Manager to send requests to DNS and NTP servers. Other nodes may also require DNS and NTP. In that case, consult the requirements for those nodes and configure the firewall accordingly.

1.3.3. Host Firewall Requirements

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts and Red Hat Virtualization Hosts (RHVH) require a number of ports to be opened to allow network traffic through the system’s firewall. The firewall rules are automatically configured by default when adding a new host to the Manager, overwriting any pre-existing firewall configuration.

To disable automatic firewall configuration when adding a new host, clear the Automatically configure host firewall check box under Advanced Parameters.

To customize the host firewall rules, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/2772331.

Note

A diagram of these firewall requirements is available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/3932211. You can use the IDs in the table to look up connections in the diagram.

Table 1.5. Virtualization Host Firewall Requirements

IDPort(s)ProtocolSourceDestinationPurpose

H1

22

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Secure Shell (SSH) access.

Optional.

H2

2223

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Secure Shell (SSH) access to enable connection to virtual machine serial consoles.

H3

161

UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Simple network management protocol (SNMP). Only required if you want Simple Network Management Protocol traps sent from the host to one or more external SNMP managers.

Optional.

H4

111

TCP

NFS storage server

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

NFS connections.

Optional.

H5

5900 - 6923

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Remote guest console access via VNC and SPICE. These ports must be open to facilitate client access to virtual machines.

H6

5989

TCP, UDP

Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM)

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Used by Common Information Model Object Managers (CIMOM) to monitor virtual machines running on the host. Only required if you want to use a CIMOM to monitor the virtual machines in your virtualization environment.

Optional.

H7

9090

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Client machines

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Required to access the Cockpit user interface, if installed.

H8

16514

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Virtual machine migration using libvirt.

H9

49152 - 49216

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Virtual machine migration and fencing using VDSM. These ports must be open to facilitate both automated and manual migration of virtual machines.

H10

54321

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

VDSM communications with the Manager and other virtualization hosts.

H11

54322

TCP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager (ImageIO Proxy server)

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Required for communication with the ImageIO daemon (ovirt-imageio-daemon).

H12

6081

UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

Required, when Open Virtual Network (OVN) is used as a network provider, to allow OVN to create tunnels between hosts.

H13

53

TCP, UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

DNS Server

DNS lookup requests from ports above 1023 to port 53, and responses. This port is required and open by default.

H14

123

UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts

NTP Server

NTP requests from ports above 1023 to port 123, and responses. This port is required and open by default.

Note

By default, Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows outbound traffic to DNS and NTP on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, make exceptions for the Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts to send requests to DNS and NTP servers. Other nodes may also require DNS and NTP. In that case, consult the requirements for those nodes and configure the firewall accordingly.

1.3.4. Database Server Firewall Requirements

Red Hat Virtualization supports the use of a remote database server for the Manager database (engine) and the Data Warehouse database (ovirt-engine-history). If you plan to use a remote database server, it must allow connections from the Manager and the Data Warehouse service (which can be separate from the Manager).

Similarly, if you plan to access a local or remote Data Warehouse database from an external system, such as Red Hat CloudForms, the database must allow connections from that system.

Important

Accessing the Manager database from external systems is not supported.

Note

A diagram of these firewall requirements is available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/3932211. You can use the IDs in the table to look up connections in the diagram.

Table 1.6. Database Server Firewall Requirements

IDPort(s)ProtocolSourceDestinationPurpose

D1

5432

TCP, UDP

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Data Warehouse service

Manager (engine) database server

Data Warehouse (ovirt-engine-history) database server

Default port for PostgreSQL database connections.

D2

5432

TCP, UDP

External systems

Data Warehouse (ovirt-engine-history) database server

Default port for PostgreSQL database connections.

Part I. Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Chapter 2. Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Install the Red Hat Virtualization Manager on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 system that meets the Section 1.1, “Red Hat Virtualization Manager Requirements”.

2.1. Enabling the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Repositories

Register the system with Red Hat Subscription Manager, attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscriptions, and enable the Manager repositories.

Procedure

  1. Register your system with the Content Delivery Network, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted:

    # subscription-manager register
  2. Find the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscription pools and record the pool IDs:

    # subscription-manager list --available
  3. Use the pool IDs to attach the subscriptions to the system:

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
    Note

    To view currently attached subscriptions:

    # subscription-manager list --consumed

    To list all enabled repositories:

    # yum repolist
  4. Configure the repositories:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-supplementary-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4.2-manager-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-manager-tools-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms \
        --enable=jb-eap-7-for-rhel-7-server-rpms

2.2. Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Packages

Before you can configure and use the Red Hat Virtualization Manager, you must install the rhvm package and dependencies.

Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Packages

  1. To ensure all packages are up to date, run the following command on the machine where you are installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager:

    # yum update
    Note

    Reboot the machine if any kernel related packages have been updated.

  2. Run the following command to install the rhvm package and dependencies.

    # yum install rhvm

Proceed to the next step to configure your Red Hat Virtualization Manager.

2.3. Configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

After you have installed the rhvm package and dependencies, configure the Red Hat Virtualization Manager (which is sometimes referred to as "engine") using the engine-setup command. This command asks you a series of questions and, after you provide the required values for all questions, applies that configuration and starts the ovirt-engine service.

Important

The engine-setup command guides you through several distinct configuration stages, each comprising several steps that require user input. Suggested configuration defaults are provided in square brackets; if the suggested value is acceptable for a given step, press Enter to accept that value.

You can run engine-setup --accept-defaults to automatically accept all questions that have default answers. This option should be used with caution and only if you are familiar with engine-setup.

Prerequisites

If you plan to choose the following options during the configuration procedure, perform the corresponding task now, before beginning the configuration procedure.

Procedure

  1. Run the engine-setup command to begin configuration of the Red Hat Virtualization Manager:

    # engine-setup
  2. Press Enter to configure the Manager:

    Configure Engine on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  3. Optionally allow engine-setup to configure the Image I/O Proxy (ovirt-imageio-proxy) to allow the Manager to upload virtual disks into storage domains.

    Configure Image I/O Proxy on this host? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  4. Optionally allow engine-setup to configure a websocket proxy server for allowing users to connect to virtual machines through the noVNC console:

    Configure WebSocket Proxy on this machine? (Yes, No) [Yes]:

    To configure the websocket proxy on a separate machine, select No and refer to Appendix F, Installing a Websocket Proxy on a Separate Machine for configuration instructions.

    Important

    The websocket proxy and noVNC are Technology Preview features only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service-level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete, and Red Hat does not recommend using them for production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process. For more information see Red Hat Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

  5. Choose whether to configure Data Warehouse on the Manager machine.

    Please note: Data Warehouse is required for the engine. If you choose to not configure it on this host, you have to configure it on a remote host, and then configure the engine on this host so that it can access the database of the remote Data Warehouse host.
    Configure Data Warehouse on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:

    To configure Data Warehouse on a separate machine, select No and see Installing and Configuring Data Warehouse on a Separate Machine in the Data Warehouse Guide for installation and configuration instructions.

  6. Optionally allow access to a virtual machines’s serial console from the command line.

    Configure VM Console Proxy on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:

    Additional configuration is required on the client machine to use this feature. See Opening a Serial Console to a Virtual Machine in the Virtual Machine Management Guide.

  7. Optionally install Open Virtual Network (OVN). Selecting Yes will install an OVN central server on the Manager machine, and add it to Red Hat Virtualization as an external network provider. The default cluster will use OVN as its default network provider, and hosts added to the default cluster will automatically be configured to communicate with OVN.

    Configure ovirt-provider-ovn (Yes, No) [Yes]:

    For more information on using OVN networks in Red Hat Virtualization, see Adding Open Virtual Network (OVN) as an External Network Provider in the Administration Guide.

  8. Press Enter to accept the automatically detected host name, or enter an alternative host name and press Enter. Note that the automatically detected host name may be incorrect if you are using virtual hosts.

    Host fully qualified DNS name of this server [autodetected host name]:
  9. The engine-setup command checks your firewall configuration and offers to open the ports used by the Manager for external communication, such as ports 80 and 443. If you do not allow engine-setup to modify your firewall configuration, you must manually open the ports used by the Manager. firewalld is configured as the firewall manager; iptables is deprecated.

    Setup can automatically configure the firewall on this system.
    Note: automatic configuration of the firewall may overwrite current settings.
    NOTICE: iptables is deprecated and will be removed in future releases
    Do you want Setup to configure the firewall? (Yes, No) [Yes]:

    If you choose to automatically configure the firewall, and no firewall managers are active, you are prompted to select your chosen firewall manager from a list of supported options. Type the name of the firewall manager and press Enter. This applies even in cases where only one option is listed.

  10. Choose to use either a local or remote PostgreSQL database as the Data Warehouse database:

    Where is the DWH database located? (Local, Remote) [Local]:
    • If you select Local, the engine-setup command can configure your database automatically (including adding a user and a database), or it can connect to a preconfigured local database:

      Setup can configure the local postgresql server automatically for the DWH to run. This may conflict with existing applications.
      Would you like Setup to automatically configure postgresql and create DWH database, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
      • If you select Automatic by pressing Enter, no further action is required here.
      • If you select Manual, input the following values for the manually-configured local database:

        DWH database secured connection (Yes, No) [No]:
        DWH database name [ovirt_engine_history]:
        DWH database user [ovirt_engine_history]:
        DWH database password:
      Note

      engine-setup requests these values after the Manager database is configured in the next step.

    • If you select Remote, input the following values for the preconfigured remote database host:

      DWH database host [localhost]:
      DWH database port [5432]:
      DWH database secured connection (Yes, No) [No]:
      DWH database name [ovirt_engine_history]:
      DWH database user [ovirt_engine_history]:
      DWH database password:
    Note

    engine-setup requests these values after the Manager database is configured in the next step.

  11. Choose to use either a local or remote PostgreSQL database as the Manager database:

    Where is the Engine database located? (Local, Remote) [Local]:
    • If you select Local, the engine-setup command can configure your database automatically (including adding a user and a database), or it can connect to a preconfigured local database:

      Setup can configure the local postgresql server automatically for the engine to run. This may conflict with existing applications.
      Would you like Setup to automatically configure postgresql and create Engine database, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
      • If you select Automatic by pressing Enter, no further action is required here.
      • If you select Manual, input the following values for the manually-configured local database:

        Engine database secured connection (Yes, No) [No]:
        Engine database name [engine]:
        Engine database user [engine]:
        Engine database password:
    • If you select Remote, input the following values for the preconfigured remote database host:

      Engine database host [localhost]:
      Engine database port [5432]:
      Engine database secured connection (Yes, No) [No]:
      Engine database name [engine]:
      Engine database user [engine]:
      Engine database password:
  12. Set a password for the automatically created administrative user of the Red Hat Virtualization Manager:

    Engine admin password:
    Confirm engine admin password:
  13. Select Gluster, Virt, or Both:

    Application mode (Both, Virt, Gluster) [Both]:

    Both offers the greatest flexibility. In most cases, select Both. Virt application mode allows you to run virtual machines in the environment; Gluster application mode only allows you to manage GlusterFS from the Administration Portal.

  14. If you installed the OVN provider, you can choose to use the default credentials, or specify an alternative.

    Use default credentials (admin@internal) for ovirt-provider-ovn (Yes, No) [Yes]:
    oVirt OVN provider user[admin@internal]:
    oVirt OVN provider password:
  15. Set the default value for the wipe_after_delete flag, which wipes the blocks of a virtual disk when the disk is deleted.

    Default SAN wipe after delete (Yes, No) [No]:
  16. The Manager uses certificates to communicate securely with its hosts. This certificate can also optionally be used to secure HTTPS communications with the Manager. Provide the organization name for the certificate:

    Organization name for certificate [autodetected domain-based name]:
  17. Optionally allow engine-setup to make the landing page of the Manager the default page presented by the Apache web server:

    Setup can configure the default page of the web server to present the application home page. This may conflict with existing applications.
    Do you wish to set the application as the default web page of the server? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  18. By default, external SSL (HTTPS) communication with the Manager is secured with the self-signed certificate created earlier in the configuration to securely communicate with hosts. Alternatively, choose another certificate for external HTTPS connections; this does not affect how the Manager communicates with hosts:

    Setup can configure apache to use SSL using a certificate issued from the internal CA.
    Do you wish Setup to configure that, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
  19. Choose how long Data Warehouse will retain collected data:

    Note

    This step is skipped if you chose not to configure Data Warehouse on the Manager machine.

    Please choose Data Warehouse sampling scale:
    (1) Basic
    (2) Full
    (1, 2)[1]:

    Full uses the default values for the data storage settings listed in the Data Warehouse Guide (recommended when Data Warehouse is installed on a remote host).

    Basic reduces the values of DWH_TABLES_KEEP_HOURLY to 720 and DWH_TABLES_KEEP_DAILY to 0, easing the load on the Manager machine (recommended when the Manager and Data Warehouse are installed on the same machine).

  20. Review the installation settings, and press Enter to accept the values and proceed with the installation:

    Please confirm installation settings (OK, Cancel) [OK]:

    When your environment has been configured, engine-setup displays details about how to access your environment. If you chose to manually configure the firewall, engine-setup provides a custom list of ports that need to be opened, based on the options selected during setup. The engine-setup command also saves your answers to a file that can be used to reconfigure the Manager using the same values, and outputs the location of the log file for the Red Hat Virtualization Manager configuration process.

  21. If you intend to link your Red Hat Virtualization environment with a directory server, configure the date and time to synchronize with the system clock used by the directory server to avoid unexpected account expiry issues. See Synchronizing the System Clock with a Remote Server in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administrator’s Guide for more information.
  22. Install the certificate authority according to the instructions provided by your browser. You can get the certificate authority’s certificate by navigating to`http://your-manager-fqdn/ovirt-engine/services/pki-resource?resource=ca-certificate&format=X509-PEM-CA`, replacing your-manager-fqdn with the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that you provided during the installation.

Proceed to the next section to connect to the Administration Portal as the admin@internal user. Then, proceed with setting up hosts, and attaching storage.

2.4. Connecting to the Administration Portal

Access the Administration Portal using a web browser.

  1. In a web browser, navigate to https://your-manager-fqdn/ovirt-engine, replacing your-manager-fqdn with the fully qualified domain name that you provided during installation.

    Note

    You can access the Administration Portal using alternate host names or IP addresses. To do so, you need to add a configuration file under /etc/ovirt-engine/engine.conf.d/. For example:

    # vi /etc/ovirt-engine/engine.conf.d/99-custom-sso-setup.conf
    SSO_ALTERNATE_ENGINE_FQDNS="alias1.example.com alias2.example.com"

    The list of alternate host names needs to be separated by spaces. You can also add the IP address of the Manager to the list, but using IP addresses instead of DNS-resolvable host names is not recommended.

  2. Click Administration Portal. An SSO login page displays. SSO login enables you to log in to the Administration and VM Portal at the same time.
  3. Enter your User Name and Password. If you are logging in for the first time, use the user name admin in conjunction with the password that you specified during installation.
  4. Select the domain against which to authenticate from the Domain list. If you are logging in using the internal admin user name, select the internal domain.
  5. Click Log In.
  6. You can view the Administration Portal in multiple languages. The default selection will be chosen based on the locale settings of your web browser. If you would like to view the Administration Portal in a language other than the default, select your preferred language from the drop-down list on the welcome page.
Important

Keep the environment up-to-date. See https://access.redhat.com/articles/2974891 for more information. Since bug fixes for known issues are frequently released, Red Hat recommends using scheduled tasks to update the hosts and the Manager.

To log out of the Red Hat Virtualization Administration Portal, click your user name in the header bar and click Sign Out. You are logged out of all portals and the Manager welcome screen displays.

The next chapter contains additional Manager related tasks which are optional. If the tasks are not applicable to your environment, proceed to Part II, “Installing Hosts”.

Part II. Installing Hosts

Chapter 4. Introduction to Hosts

Red Hat Virtualization supports two types of hosts: Red Hat Virtualization Host (RHVH) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux host. Depending on your environment requirement, you may want to use one type only or both in your Red Hat Virtualization environment. It is recommended that you install and attach at least two hosts to the Red Hat Virtualization environment. Where you attach only one host you will be unable to access features such as migration and high availability.

Important

SELinux is in enforcing mode upon installation. To verify, run getenforce. SELinux must be in enforcing mode on all hosts and Managers for your Red Hat Virtualization environment to be supported by Red Hat.

Table 4.1. Hosts

Host TypeOther NamesDescription

Red Hat Virtualization Host

RHVH, thin host

This is a minimal operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is distributed as an ISO file from the Customer Portal and contains only the packages required for the machine to act as a host.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Host

RHEL-based hypervisor, thick host

Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems with the appropriate subscriptions attached can be used as hosts.

4.1. Host Compatibility

When you create a new data center, you can set the compatibility version. Select the compatibility version that suits all the hosts in the data center. Once set, version regression is not allowed. For a fresh Red Hat Virtualization installation, the latest compatibility version is set in the default data center and default cluster; to use an earlier compatibility version, you must create additional data centers and clusters. For more information about compatibility versions see Red Hat Virtualization Manager Compatibility in the Red Hat Virtualization Life Cycle.

Chapter 5. Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

5.1. Installing Red Hat Virtualization Host

Red Hat Virtualization Host (RHVH) is a minimal operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux that is designed to provide a simple method for setting up a physical machine to act as a hypervisor in a Red Hat Virtualization environment. The minimal operating system contains only the packages required for the machine to act as a hypervisor, and features a Cockpit user interface for monitoring the host and performing administrative tasks. See http://cockpit-project.org/running.html for the minimum browser requirements.

RHVH supports NIST 800-53 partitioning requirements to improve security. RHVH uses a NIST 800-53 partition layout by default.

Before you proceed, ensure the machine on which you are installing RHVH meets the hardware requirements listed in Section 1.2, “Host Requirements”.

Installing RHVH on a physical machine involves three key steps:

  • Download the RHVH ISO image from the Customer Portal.
  • Write the RHVH ISO image to a USB, CD, or DVD.
  • Install the RHVH minimal operating system.

Installing Red Hat Virtualization Host

  1. Download the RHVH ISO image from the Customer Portal:

    1. Log in to the Customer Portal at https://access.redhat.com.
    2. Click Downloads in the menu bar.
    3. Click Red Hat Virtualization, the Red Hat Virtualization page opens on the Get Started tab.
    4. Under Hypervisor Image, click Download RHVH to access the product download page.
    5. In the Version drop down list, select 4.2.
    6. Choose the latest Hypervisor Image and click Download Now.
    7. Create a bootable media device. See Making Media in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for more information.
  2. Start the machine on which you are installing RHVH, booting from the prepared installation media.
  3. From the boot menu, select Install RHVH 4.2 and press Enter.

    Note

    You can also press the Tab key to edit the kernel parameters. Kernel parameters must be separated by a space, and you can boot the system using the specified kernel parameters by pressing the Enter key. Press the Esc key to clear any changes to the kernel parameters and return to the boot menu.

  4. Select a language, and click Continue.
  5. Select a time zone from the Date & Time screen and click Done.
  6. Select a keyboard layout from the Keyboard screen and click Done.
  7. Select the device on which to install RHVH from the Installation Destination screen. Optionally, enable encryption. Click Done.

    Important

    Red Hat strongly recommends using the Automatically configure partitioning option. However, if you do select I will configure partitioning, see Section 5.2.1, “Custom Partitioning” for details.

    Note

    For information on preserving local storage domains when reinstalling RHVH, see Upgrading to RHVH While Preserving Local Storage in the Upgrade Guide for Red Hat Virtualization 4.0 for more details.

  8. Select a network from the Network & Host Name screen and click Configure…​ to configure the connection details. Enter a host name in the Host name field, and click Done.
  9. Optionally configure Language Support, Security Policy, and Kdump. See Installing Using Anaconda in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide for more information on each of the sections in the Installation Summary screen.
  10. Click Begin Installation.
  11. Set a root password and, optionally, create an additional user while RHVH installs.

    Warning

    Red Hat strongly recommends not creating untrusted users on RHVH, as this can lead to exploitation of local security vulnerabilities.

  12. Click Reboot to complete the installation.

    Note

    When RHVH restarts, nodectl check performs a health check on the host and displays the result when you log in on the command line. The message node status: OK or node status: DEGRADED indicates the health status. Run nodectl check to get more information. The service is enabled by default.

  13. Register the system to receive updates:

    • If you are registering RHVH with the Content Delivery Network:

      1. Log in to the Cockpit user interface at https://HostFQDNorIP:9090.
      2. Navigate to Subscriptions, click Register System, and enter your Customer Portal user name and password. The Red Hat Virtualization Host subscription is automatically attached to the system.
      3. Click Terminal.
      4. Enable the Red Hat Virtualization Host 7 repository to allow later updates to the Red Hat Virtualization Host:

        # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-rhvh-4-rpms
    • If you are registering RHVH with Red Hat Satellite 6:

      1. Log in to the Cockpit user interface at https://HostFQDNorIP:9090.
      2. Click Terminal.
      3. Register RHVH with Red Hat Satellite 6:

          # rpm -Uvh http://satellite.example.com/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
          # subscription-manager register --org="org_id"
          # subscription-manager list --available
          # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
          # subscription-manager repos \
            --disable='*' \
            --enable=rhel-7-server-rhvh-4-rpms

You can now add the host to your Red Hat Virtualization environment. See Chapter 7, Adding a Host to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager.

5.2. Advanced Installation

5.2.1. Custom Partitioning

Custom partitioning on Red Hat Virtualization Host (RHVH) is not recommended. Red Hat strongly recommends using the Automatically configure partitioning option in the Installation Destination window.

If your installation requires custom partitioning, select the I will configure partitioning option during the installation, and note that the following restrictions apply:

  • Ensure the default LVM Thin Provisioning option is selected in the Manual Partitioning window.
  • The following directories are required and must be on thin provisioned logical volumes:
  • root (/)
  • /home
  • /tmp
  • /var
  • /var/log
  • /var/log/audit
Important

Do not create a separate partition for /usr. Doing so will cause the installation to fail.

/usr must be on a logical volume that is able to change versions along with RHVH, and therefore should be left on root (/).

For information about the required storage sizes for each partition, see Section 1.2.3, “Storage Requirements”.

  • The /boot directory should be defined as a standard partition.
  • The /var directory must be on a separate volume or disk.
  • Only XFS or Ext4 file systems are supported.

Configuring Manual Partitioning in a Kickstart File

The following example demonstrates how to configure manual partitioning in a Kickstart file. See Section 5.2.2, “Automating Red Hat Virtualization Host Deployment” for more information on RHVH Kickstart files.

clearpart --all
part /boot --fstype xfs --size=1000 --ondisk=sda
part pv.01 --size=42000 --grow
volgroup HostVG pv.01 --reserved-percent=20
logvol swap --vgname=HostVG --name=swap --fstype=swap --recommended
logvol none --vgname=HostVG --name=HostPool --thinpool --size=40000 --grow
logvol / --vgname=HostVG --name=root --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=6000 --grow
logvol /var --vgname=HostVG --name=var --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool
--fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=15000
logvol /var/log --vgname=HostVG --name=var_log --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=8000
logvol /var/log/audit --vgname=HostVG --name=var_audit --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=2000
logvol /home --vgname=HostVG --name=home --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=1000
logvol /tmp --vgname=HostVG --name=tmp --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=1000
Note

If you use logvol --thinpool --grow, you must also include volgroup --reserved-space or volgroup --reserved-percent to reserve space in the volume group for the thin pool to grow.

5.2.2. Automating Red Hat Virtualization Host Deployment

You can install Red Hat Virtualization Host (RHVH) without a physical media device by booting from a PXE server over the network with a Kickstart file that contains the answers to the installation questions.

General instructions for installing from a PXE server with a Kickstart file are available in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide, as RHVH is installed in much the same way as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. RHVH-specific instructions, with examples for deploying RHVH with Red Hat Satellite, are described below.

The automated RHVH deployment has 3 stages:

5.2.2.1. Preparing the Installation Environment

  1. Log in to the Customer Portal.
  2. Click Downloads in the menu bar.
  3. Click Red Hat Virtualization and click Download Latest in the header to go to the product download page.
  4. Go to Hypervisor Image for RHV 4.2 and click Download Now.
  5. Make the RHVH ISO image available over the network. See Installation Source on a Network in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.
  6. Extract the squashfs.img hypervisor image file from the RHVH ISO:

    # mount -o loop /path/to/RHVH-ISO /mnt/rhvh
    # cp /mnt/rhvh/Packages/redhat-virtualization-host-image-update* /tmp
    # cd /tmp
    # rpm2cpio redhat-virtualization-host-image-update* | cpio -idmv
    Note

    This squashfs.img file, located in the /tmp/usr/share/redhat-virtualization-host/image/ directory, is called redhat-virtualization-host-version_number_version.squashfs.img. It contains the hypervisor image for installation on the physical machine. It should not be confused with the /LiveOS/squashfs.img file, which is used by the Anaconda inst.stage2 option.

5.2.2.2. Configuring the PXE Server and the Boot Loader

  1. Configure the PXE server. See Preparing for a Network Installation in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.
  2. Copy the RHVH boot images to the /tftpboot directory:

    # cp mnt/rhvh/images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
  3. Create a rhvh label specifying the RHVH boot images in the boot loader configuration:

    LABEL rhvh
    MENU LABEL Install Red Hat Virtualization Host
    KERNEL /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/vmlinuz
    APPEND initrd=/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/initrd.img inst.stage2=URL/to/RHVH-ISO

    RHVH Boot Loader Configuration Example for Red Hat Satellite

    If you are using information from Red Hat Satellite to provision the host, you must create a global or host group level parameter called rhvh_image and populate it with the directory URL where the ISO is mounted or extracted:

    <%#
    kind: PXELinux
    name: RHVH PXELinux
    %>
    # Created for booting new hosts
    #
    
    DEFAULT rhvh
    
    LABEL rhvh
    KERNEL <%= @kernel %>
    APPEND initrd=<%= @initrd %> inst.ks=<%= foreman_url("provision") %> inst.stage2=<%= @host.params["rhvh_image"] %> intel_iommu=on console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200n8 ssh_pwauth=1 local_boot_trigger=<%= foreman_url("built") %>
    IPAPPEND 2
  4. Make the content of the RHVH ISO locally available and export it to the network, for example, using an HTTPD server:

    # cp -a /mnt/rhvh/ /var/www/html/rhvh-install
    # curl URL/to/RHVH-ISO/rhvh-install

5.2.2.3. Creating and Running a Kickstart File

  1. Create a Kickstart file and make it available over the network. See Kickstart Installations in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.
  2. Ensure that the Kickstart file meets the following RHV-specific requirements:

    • The %packages section is not required for RHVH. Instead, use the liveimg option and specify the redhat-virtualization-host-version_number_version.squashfs.img file from the RHVH ISO image:

      liveimg --url=example.com/tmp/usr/share/redhat-virtualization-host/image/redhat-virtualization-host-version_number_version.squashfs.img
    • Autopartitioning is highly recommended:

      autopart --type=thinp
      Note

      Thin provisioning must be used with autopartitioning.

      The --no-home option does not work in RHVH because /home is a required directory.

      If your installation requires manual partitioning, see Section 5.2.1, “Custom Partitioning” for a list of limitations that apply to partitions and an example of manual partitioning in a Kickstart file.

    • A %post section that calls the nodectl init command is required:

      %post
      nodectl init
      %end

      Kickstart Example for Deploying RHVH on Its Own

      This Kickstart example shows you how to deploy RHVH. You can include additional commands and options as required.

      liveimg --url=http://FQDN/tmp/usr/share/redhat-virtualization-host/image/redhat-virtualization-host-version_number_version.squashfs.img
      clearpart --all
      autopart --type=thinp
      rootpw --plaintext ovirt
      timezone --utc America/Phoenix
      zerombr
      text
      
      reboot
      
      %post --erroronfail
      nodectl init
      %end

      Kickstart Example for Deploying RHVH with Registration and Network Configuration from Satellite

      This Kickstart example uses information from Red Hat Satellite to configure the host network and register the host to the Satellite server. You must create a global or host group level parameter called rhvh_image and populate it with the directory URL to the squashfs.img file. ntp_server1 is also a global or host group level variable.

      <%#
      kind: provision
      name: RHVH Kickstart default
      oses:
      - RHVH
      %>
      install
      liveimg --url=<%= @host.params['rhvh_image'] %>squashfs.img
      
      network --bootproto static --ip=<%= @host.ip %> --netmask=<%= @host.subnet.mask %> --gateway=<%= @host.subnet.gateway %> --nameserver=<%= @host.subnet.dns_primary %> --hostname <%= @host.name %>
      
      zerombr
      clearpart --all
      autopart --type=thinp
      
      rootpw --iscrypted <%= root_pass %>
      
      # installation answers
      lang en_US.UTF-8
      timezone <%= @host.params['time-zone'] || 'UTC' %>
      keyboard us
      firewall --service=ssh
      services --enabled=sshd
      
      text
      reboot
      
      %post --log=/root/ks.post.log --erroronfail
      nodectl init
      <%= snippet 'subscription_manager_registration' %>
      <%= snippet 'kickstart_networking_setup' %>
      /usr/sbin/ntpdate -sub <%= @host.params['ntp_server1'] || '0.fedora.pool.ntp.org' %>
      /usr/sbin/hwclock --systohc
      
      /usr/bin/curl <%= foreman_url('built') %>
      
      sync
      systemctl reboot
      %end
  3. Add the Kickstart file location to the boot loader configuration file on the PXE server:

    APPEND initrd=/var/tftpboot/pxelinux/initrd.img inst.stage2=URL/to/RHVH-ISO inst.ks=URL/to/RHVH-ks.cfg
  4. Install RHVH following the instructions in Booting from the Network Using PXE in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts

6.1. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts

A Red Hat Enterprise Linux host is based on a standard basic installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a physical server, with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscriptions attached. For detailed installation instructions, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide.

The host must meet the minimum Section 1.2, “Host Requirements”.

See Appendix G, Configuring a Host for PCI Passthrough for more information on how to enable the host hardware and software for device passthrough.

Important

Virtualization must be enabled in your host’s BIOS settings. For information on changing your host’s BIOS settings, refer to your host’s hardware documentation.

Important

Third-party watchdogs should not be installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts, as they can interfere with the watchdog daemon provided by VDSM.

6.2. Enabling the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Host Repositories

To use a Red Hat Enterprise Linux machine as a host, you must register the system with the Content Delivery Network, attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscriptions, and enable the host repositories.

Procedure

  1. Register your system with the Content Delivery Network, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted:

    # subscription-manager register
  2. Find the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscription pools and record the pool IDs:

    # subscription-manager list --available
  3. Use the pool IDs to attach the subscriptions to the system:

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=poolid
    Note

    To view currently attached subscriptions:

    # subscription-manager list --consumed

    To list all enabled repositories:

    # yum repolist
  4. Configure the repositories:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-mgmt-agent-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms

    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hosts, little endian, on IBM POWER8 hardware:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-mgmt-agent-for-power-le-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-for-power-le-rpms

    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hosts, little endian, on IBM POWER9 hardware:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-mgmt-agent-for-power-9-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-for-power-9-rpms
  5. Ensure that all packages currently installed are up to date:

    # yum update
  6. Reboot the machine.

6.3. Installing Cockpit on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts

You can install a Cockpit user interface for monitoring the host’s resources and performing administrative tasks.

Installing Cockpit on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts

  1. By default, when adding a host to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager, the Manager configures the required firewall ports. See ] for details. However, if you disable Automatically configure host firewall when adding the host, manually configure the firewall according to xref:host-firewall-requirements_RHV_install[.
  2. Install the dashboard packages:

    # yum install cockpit-ovirt-dashboard
  3. Enable and start the cockpit.socket service:

    # systemctl enable cockpit.socket
    # systemctl start cockpit.socket
  4. You can log in to the Cockpit user interface at https://HostFQDNorIP:9090.

Chapter 7. Adding a Host to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Adding a host to your Red Hat Virtualization environment can take some time, as the following steps are completed by the platform: virtualization checks, installation of packages, and creation of a bridge. Use the details pane to monitor the process as the host and the Manager establish a connection.

Adding a Host to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

  1. From the Administration Portal, click ComputeHosts.
  2. Click New.
  3. Use the drop-down list to select the Data Center and Host Cluster for the new host.
  4. Enter the Name and the Address of the new host. The standard SSH port, port 22, is auto-filled in the SSH Port field.
  5. Select an authentication method to use for the Manager to access the host.

    • Enter the root user’s password to use password authentication.
    • Alternatively, copy the key displayed in the SSH PublicKey field to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys on the host to use public key authentication.
  6. Click the Advanced Parameters button to expand the advanced host settings.

    • Optionally disable automatic firewall configuration.
    • Optionally add a host SSH fingerprint to increase security. You can add it manually, or fetch it automatically.
  7. Optionally configure power management, where the host has a supported power management card. For information on power management configuration, see Host Power Management Settings Explained in the Administration Guide.
  8. Click OK.

The new host displays in the list of hosts with a status of Installing, and you can view the progress of the installation in the details pane. After a brief delay the host status changes to Up.

Important

Keep the environment up-to-date. See https://access.redhat.com/articles/2974891 for more information. Since bug fixes for known issues are frequently released, Red Hat recommends using scheduled tasks to update the hosts and the Manager.

Part III. Attaching Storage

Chapter 8. Storage

8.1. Introduction to Storage

A storage domain is a collection of images that have a common storage interface. A storage domain contains complete images of templates and virtual machines (including snapshots), ISO files, and metadata about themselves. A storage domain can be made of either block devices (SAN - iSCSI or FCP) or a file system (NAS - NFS, GlusterFS, or other POSIX compliant file systems).

There are two types of storage domains:

  • Data Domain: A data domain holds the virtual hard disks and OVF files of all the virtual machines and templates in a data center, and cannot be shared across data centers. Data domains of multiple types (iSCSI, NFS, FC, POSIX, and Gluster) can be added to the same data center, provided they are all shared, rather than local, domains.

    Important

    You must have one host with the status of Up and have attached a data domain to a data center before you can attach an ISO domain and an export domain.

  • ISO Domain: ISO domains store ISO files (or logical CDs) used to install and boot operating systems and applications for the virtual machines, and can be shared across different data centers. An ISO domain removes the data center’s need for physical media. ISO domains can only be NFS-based. Only one ISO domain can be added to a data center.
Important

If your host is booting from SAN storage and loses connectivity to the storage, the storage file systems become read-only and remain in this state after connectivity is restored.

To prevent this situation, Red Hat recommends adding a drop-in multipath configuration file for the boot LUN to ensure that it is queued when there is a connection:

# cat /etc/multipath/conf.d/host.conf
multipaths {
    multipath {
        wwid boot_LUN_wwid
        no_path_retry queue
    }

See the next section to attach existing FCP storage as a data domain. More storage options are available in the Administration Guide.

8.2. Adding FCP Storage

Red Hat Virtualization platform supports SAN storage by creating a storage domain from a volume group made of pre-existing LUNs. Neither volume groups nor LUNs can be attached to more than one storage domain at a time.

Red Hat Virtualization system administrators need a working knowledge of Storage Area Networks (SAN) concepts. SAN usually uses Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) for traffic between hosts and shared external storage. For this reason, SAN may occasionally be referred to as FCP storage.

For information regarding the setup and configuration of FCP or multipathing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, see the Storage Administration Guide and DM Multipath Guide.

The following procedure shows you how to attach existing FCP storage to your Red Hat Virtualization environment as a data domain. For more information on other supported storage types, see Storage in the Administration Guide.

Adding FCP Storage

  1. Click StorageDomains to list all storage domains.
  2. Click New Domain.
  3. Enter the Name of the storage domain.
  4. Use the Data Center drop-down menu to select an FCP data center.

    If you do not yet have an appropriate FCP data center, select (none).

  5. Select the Domain Function and the Storage Type from the drop-down menus. The storage domain types that are not compatible with the chosen data center are not available.
  6. Select an active host in the Use Host field. If this is not the first data domain in a data center, you must select the data center’s SPM host.

    Important

    All communication to the storage domain is through the selected host and not directly from the Red Hat Virtualization Manager. At least one active host must exist in the system and be attached to the chosen data center. All hosts must have access to the storage device before the storage domain can be configured.

  7. The New Domain window automatically displays known targets with unused LUNs when Fibre Channel is selected as the storage type. Select the LUN ID check box to select all of the available LUNs.
  8. Optionally, you can configure the advanced parameters.

    1. Click Advanced Parameters.
    2. Enter a percentage value into the Warning Low Space Indicator field. If the free space available on the storage domain is below this percentage, warning messages are displayed to the user and logged.
    3. Enter a GB value into the Critical Space Action Blocker field. If the free space available on the storage domain is below this value, error messages are displayed to the user and logged, and any new action that consumes space, even temporarily, will be blocked.
    4. Select the Wipe After Delete check box to enable the wipe after delete option. This option can be edited after the domain is created, but doing so will not change the wipe after delete property of disks that already exist.
    5. Select the Discard After Delete check box to enable the discard after delete option. This option can be edited after the domain is created. This option is only available to block storage domains.
  9. Click OK to create the storage domain and close the window.

The new FCP data domain displays in StorageDomains. It will remain with a Locked status while it is being prepared for use. When ready, it is automatically attached to the data center.

Appendix A. Changing the Permissions for the Local ISO Domain

If the Manager was configured during setup to provide a local ISO domain, that domain can be attached to one or more data centers, and used to provide virtual machine image files. By default, the access control list (ACL) for the local ISO domain provides read and write access for only the Manager machine. Virtualization hosts require read and write access to the ISO domain in order to attach the domain to a data center. Use this procedure if network or host details were not available at the time of setup, or if you need to update the ACL at any time.

While it is possible to allow read and write access to the entire network, it is recommended that you limit access to only those hosts and subnets that require it.

Changing the Permissions for the Local ISO Domain

  1. Log in to the Manager machine.
  2. Edit the /etc/exports file, and add the hosts, or the subnets to which they belong, to the access control list:

    /var/lib/exports/iso 10.1.2.0/255.255.255.0(rw) host01.example.com(rw) host02.example.com(rw)

    The example above allows read and write access to a single /24 network and two specific hosts. /var/lib/exports/iso is the default file path for the ISO domain. See the exports(5) man page for further formatting options.

  3. Apply the changes:

    # exportfs -ra

Note that if you manually edit the /etc/exports file after running engine-setup, running engine-cleanup later will not undo the changes.

Appendix B. Attaching the Local ISO Domain to a Data Center

The local ISO domain, created during the Manager installation, appears in the Administration Portal as Unattached. To use it, attach it to a data center. The ISO domain must be of the same Storage Type as the data center. Each host in the data center must have read and write access to the ISO domain. In particular, ensure that the Storage Pool Manager has access.

Only one ISO domain can be attached to a data center.

Attaching the Local ISO Domain to a Data Center

  1. In the Administration Portal, click ComputeData Centers and select the appropriate data center.
  2. Click the data center’s name to go to the details view.
  3. Click the Storage tab to list the storage domains already attached to the data center.
  4. Click Attach ISO to open the Attach ISO Library window.
  5. Click the radio button for the local ISO domain.
  6. Click OK.

The ISO domain is now attached to the data center and is automatically activated.

Appendix C. Enabling Gluster Processes on Red Hat Gluster Storage Nodes

  1. Click ComputeClusters.
  2. Click New.
  3. Click the General tab and select the Enable Gluster Service check box. Enter the address, SSH fingerprint, and password as necessary. The address and password fields can be filled in only when the Import existing Gluster configuration check box is selected.
  4. Click OK.

It is now possible to add Red Hat Gluster Storage nodes to the Gluster cluster, and to mount Gluster volumes as storage domains. iptables rules no longer block storage domains from being added to the cluster.

To use Red Hat Gluster Storage with Red Hat Virtualization, see Configuring Red Hat Virtualization with Red Hat Gluster Storage.

Appendix D. Preparing a Remote PostgreSQL Database

By default, the Manager’s configuration script, engine-setup, creates and configures the Manager database locally on the Manager machine. For automatic database configuration, see Section 2.3, “Configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager”.

To set up the Manager database with custom values on the Manager machine, see Appendix E, Preparing a Local Manually-Configured PostgreSQL Database. You should set up a Manager database before you configure the Manager. You must supply the database credentials during engine-setup.

The Data Warehouse’s configuration script offers the choice of creating a local or remote database. However, situations may arise where you might want to configure a remote database for Data Warehouse manually.

Use this procedure to configure the database on a machine that is separate from the machine where the Manager is installed.

Note

The engine-setup and engine-backup --mode=restore commands only support system error messages in the en_US.UTF8 locale, even if the system locale is different.

The locale settings in the postgresql.conf file must be set to en_US.UTF8.

Important

The database name must contain only numbers, underscores, and lowercase letters.

Enabling the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Repositories

Register the system with Red Hat Subscription Manager, attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscriptions, and enable the Manager repositories.

Procedure

  1. Register your system with the Content Delivery Network, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted:

    # subscription-manager register
  2. Find the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscription pools and record the pool IDs:

    # subscription-manager list --available
  3. Use the pool IDs to attach the subscriptions to the system:

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
    Note

    To view currently attached subscriptions:

    # subscription-manager list --consumed

    To list all enabled repositories:

    # yum repolist
  4. Configure the repositories:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-supplementary-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4.2-manager-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-manager-tools-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms \
        --enable=jb-eap-7-for-rhel-7-server-rpms

Initializing the PostgreSQL Database

  1. Install the PostgreSQL server package:

    # yum install rh-postgresql95 rh-postgresql95-postgresql-contrib
  2. Initialize the PostgreSQL database, start the postgresql service, and ensure that this service starts on boot:

    # scl enable rh-postgresql95 -- postgresql-setup --initdb
    # systemctl enable rh-postgresql95-postgresql
    # systemctl start rh-postgresql95-postgresql
  3. Connect to the psql command line interface as the postgres user:

    su - postgres -c 'scl enable rh-postgresql95 -- psql'
  4. Create a default user. The Manager’s default user is engine and the Data Warehouse’s default user is ovirt_engine_history:

    postgres=# create role user_name with login encrypted password 'password';
  5. Create a database. The Manager’s default database name is engine and Data Warehouse’s default database name is ovirt_engine_history:

    postgres=# create database database_name owner user_name template template0 encoding 'UTF8' lc_collate 'en_US.UTF-8' lc_ctype 'en_US.UTF-8';
  6. Connect to the new database:

    postgres=# \c database_name
  7. Add the uuid-ossp extension:

    database_name=# CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";
  8. Add the plpgsql language if it does not exist:

    database_name=# CREATE LANGUAGE plpgsql;
  9. Ensure the database can be accessed remotely by enabling md5 client authentication. Edit the /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf file, and add the following line immediately underneath the line starting with local at the bottom of the file, replacing X.X.X.X with the IP address of the Manager or the Data Warehouse machine:

    host    database_name    user_name    ::0/32    md5
    host    database_name    user_name    ::0/128   md5
  10. Allow TCP/IP connections to the database. Edit the /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql95/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file and add the following line:

    listen_addresses='*'

    This example configures the postgresql service to listen for connections on all interfaces. You can specify an interface by giving its IP address.

  11. Update the PostgreSQL server’s configuration. Edit the /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql95/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file and add the following lines:

    autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor='0.01'
    autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor='0.075'
    autovacuum_max_workers='6'
    maintenance_work_mem='65536'
    max_connections='150'
    work_mem='8192'
  12. Open the default port used for PostgreSQL database connections, and save the updated firewall rules:

    # firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=postgresql
    # firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=postgresql
  13. Restart the postgresql service:

    # systemctl rh-postgresql95-postgresql restart

Optionally, set up SSL to secure database connections using the instructions at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/ssl-tcp.html#SSL-FILE-USAGE.

Appendix E. Preparing a Local Manually-Configured PostgreSQL Database

You have the option of configuring a local PostgreSQL database on the Manager machine to use as the Manager database. By default, the Red Hat Virtualization Manager’s configuration script, engine-setup, creates and configures the Manager database locally on the Manager machine. For automatic database configuration, see Section 2.3, “Configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager”.

To configure the Manager database on a machine that is separate from the machine where the Manager is installed, see Appendix D, Preparing a Remote PostgreSQL Database.

Use this procedure to set up the Manager database with custom values. Set up this database before you configure the Manager; you must supply the database credentials during engine-setup. To set up the database, you must first install the rhvm package on the Manager machine. The postgresql-server package is installed as a dependency.

Note

The engine-setup and engine-backup --mode=restore commands only support system error messages in the en_US.UTF8 locale, even if the system locale is different.

The locale settings in the postgresql.conf file must be set to en_US.UTF8.

Important

The database name must contain only numbers, underscores, and lowercase letters.

Enabling the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Repositories

Register the system with Red Hat Subscription Manager, attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscriptions, and enable the Manager repositories.

Procedure

  1. Register your system with the Content Delivery Network, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted:

    # subscription-manager register
  2. Find the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server and Red Hat Virtualization subscription pools and record the pool IDs:

    # subscription-manager list --available
  3. Use the pool IDs to attach the subscriptions to the system:

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
    Note

    To view currently attached subscriptions:

    # subscription-manager list --consumed

    To list all enabled repositories:

    # yum repolist
  4. Configure the repositories:

    # subscription-manager repos \
        --disable='*' \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-supplementary-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4.2-manager-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-manager-tools-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms \
        --enable=jb-eap-7-for-rhel-7-server-rpms

Initializing the PostgreSQL Database

  1. Install the PostgreSQL server package:

    # yum install rh-postgresql95 rh-postgresql95-postgresql-contrib
  2. Initialize the PostgreSQL database, start the postgresql service, and ensure that this service starts on boot:

    # scl enable rh-postgresql95 -- postgresql-setup --initdb
    # systemctl enable rh-postgresql95-postgresql
    # systemctl start rh-postgresql95-postgresql
  3. Connect to the psql command line interface as the postgres user:

    su - postgres -c 'scl enable rh-postgresql95 -- psql'
  4. Create a user for the Manager to use when it writes to and reads from the database. The default user name on the Manager is engine:

    postgres=# create role user_name with login encrypted password 'password';
  5. Create a database in which to store data about the Red Hat Virtualization environment. The default database name on the Manager is engine:

    postgres=# create database database_name owner user_name template template0 encoding 'UTF8' lc_collate 'en_US.UTF-8' lc_ctype 'en_US.UTF-8';
  6. Connect to the new database:

    postgres=# \c database_name
  7. Add the uuid-ossp extension:

    database_name=# CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";
  8. Add the plpgsql language if it does not exist:

    database_name=# CREATE LANGUAGE plpgsql;
  9. Ensure the database can be accessed remotely by enabling md5 client authentication. Edit the /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql95/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf file, and add the following line immediately underneath the line starting with local at the bottom of the file, replacing ::0/32 or ::0/128 with the IP address of the Manager:

    host    [database name]    [user name]    0.0.0.0/0  md5
    host    [database name]    [user name]    ::/32      md5
    host    [database name]    [user name]    ::/128     md5
  10. Update the PostgreSQL server’s configuration. Edit the /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql95/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file and add the following lines:

    autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor='0.01'
    autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor='0.075'
    autovacuum_max_workers='6'
    maintenance_work_mem='65536'
    max_connections='150'
    work_mem='8192'
  11. Restart the postgresql service:

    # systemctl rh-postgresql95-postgresql restart

Optionally, set up SSL to secure database connections using the instructions at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/ssl-tcp.html#SSL-FILE-USAGE.

Appendix F. Installing a Websocket Proxy on a Separate Machine

Important

The websocket proxy and noVNC are Technology Preview features only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service-level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete, and Red Hat does not recommend using them for production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process. For more information see Red Hat Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

The websocket proxy allows users to connect to virtual machines through a noVNC console. The noVNC client uses websockets to pass VNC data. However, the VNC server in QEMU does not provide websocket support, so a websocket proxy must be placed between the client and the VNC server. The proxy can run on any machine that has access to the network, including the the Manager machine.

For security and performance reasons, users may want to configure the websocket proxy on a separate machine.

This section describes how to install and configure the websocket proxy on a separate machine that does not run the Manager. See Section 2.3, “Configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager” for instructions on how to configure the websocket proxy on the Manager.

Installing and Configuring a Websocket Proxy on a Separate Machine

  1. Install the websocket proxy:

    # yum install ovirt-engine-websocket-proxy
  2. Run the engine-setup command to configure the websocket proxy.

    # engine-setup
    Note

    If the rhvm package has also been installed, choose No when asked to configure the Manager (Engine) on this host.

  3. Press Enter to allow engine-setup to configure a websocket proxy server on the machine.

    Configure WebSocket Proxy on this machine? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  4. Press Enter to accept the automatically detected host name, or enter an alternative host name and press Enter. Note that the automatically detected host name may be incorrect if you are using virtual hosts:

    Host fully qualified DNS name of this server [host.example.com]:
  5. Press Enter to allow engine-setup to configure the firewall and open the ports required for external communication. If you do not allow engine-setup to modify your firewall configuration, then you must manually open the required ports.

    Setup can automatically configure the firewall on this system.
    Note: automatic configuration of the firewall may overwrite current settings.
    Do you want Setup to configure the firewall? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  6. Enter the fully qualified DNS name of the Manager machine and press Enter.

    Host fully qualified DNS name of the engine server []: engine_host.example.com
  7. Press Enter to allow engine-setup to perform actions on the Manager machine, or press 2 to manually perform the actions.

    Setup will need to do some actions on the remote engine server. Either automatically, using ssh as root to access it, or you will be prompted to manually perform each such action.
    Please choose one of the following:
    1 - Access remote engine server using ssh as root
    2 - Perform each action manually, use files to copy content around
    (1, 2) [1]:
    1. Press Enter to accept the default SSH port number, or enter the port number of the Manager machine.

      ssh port on remote engine server [22]:
    2. Enter the root password to log in to the Manager machine and press Enter.

      root password on remote engine server engine_host.example.com:
  8. Select whether to review iptables rules if they differ from the current settings.

    Generated iptables rules are different from current ones.
    Do you want to review them? (Yes, No) [No]:
  9. Press Enter to confirm the configuration settings.

    --== CONFIGURATION PREVIEW ==--
    
    Firewall manager                        : iptables
    Update Firewall                         : True
    Host FQDN                               : host.example.com
    Configure WebSocket Proxy               : True
    Engine Host FQDN                        : engine_host.example.com
    
    Please confirm installation settings (OK, Cancel) [OK]:

    Instructions are provided to configure the Manager machine to use the configured websocket proxy.

    Manual actions are required on the engine host
    in order to enroll certs for this host and configure the engine about it.
    
    Please execute this command on the engine host:
       engine-config -s WebSocketProxy=host.example.com:6100
    and than restart the engine service to make it effective
  10. Log in to the Manager machine and execute the provided instructions.

    # engine-config -s WebSocketProxy=host.example.com:6100
    # systemctl restart ovirt-engine.service

Appendix G. Configuring a Host for PCI Passthrough

Enabling PCI passthrough allows a virtual machine to use a host device as if the device were directly attached to the virtual machine. To enable the PCI passthrough function, you need to enable virtualization extensions and the IOMMU function. The following procedure requires you to reboot the host. If the host is attached to the Manager already, ensure you place the host into maintenance mode before running the following procedure.

Prerequisites:

Configuring a Host for PCI Passthrough

  1. Enable the virtualization extension and IOMMU extension in the BIOS. See Enabling Intel VT-x and AMD-V virtualization hardware extensions in BIOS in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization and Administration Guide for more information.
  2. Enable the IOMMU flag in the kernel by selecting the Hostdev Passthrough & SR-IOV check box when adding the host to the Manager or by editing the grub configuration file manually.

  3. For GPU passthrough, you need to run additional configuration steps on both the host and the guest system. See Preparing Host and Guest Systems for GPU Passthrough in the Administration Guide for more information.

Enabling IOMMU Manually

  1. Enable IOMMU by editing the grub configuration file.

    Note

    If you are using IBM POWER8 hardware, skip this step as IOMMU is enabled by default.

    • For Intel, boot the machine, and append intel_iommu=on to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line in the grub configuration file.

      # vi /etc/default/grub
      ...
      GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nofb splash=quiet console=tty0 ... intel_iommu=on
      ...
    • For AMD, boot the machine, and append amd_iommu=on to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line in the grub configuration file.

      # vi /etc/default/grub
      ...
      GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nofb splash=quiet console=tty0 ... amd_iommu=on
      ...
      Note

      If intel_iommu=on or amd_iommu=on works, you can try adding iommu=pt or amd_iommu=pt. The pt option only enables IOMMU for devices used in passthrough and provides better host performance. However, the option might not be supported on all hardware. Revert to previous option if the pt option doesn’t work for your host.

      If the passthrough fails because the hardware does not support interrupt remapping, you can consider enabling the allow_unsafe_interrupts option if the virtual machines are trusted. The allow_unsafe_interrupts is not enabled by default because enabling it potentially exposes the host to MSI attacks from virtual machines. To enable the option:

      # vi /etc/modprobe.d
      options vfio_iommu_type1 allow_unsafe_interrupts=1
  2. Refresh the grub.cfg file and reboot the host for these changes to take effect:

    # grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
    # reboot

For enabling SR-IOV and assigning dedicated virtual NICs to virtual machines, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/2335291 for more information.

Appendix H. Preparing a Host for vGPU Installation

Installing a vGPU on a Virtual Machine

You can use a host with a compatible graphics processing unit (GPU) to run virtual machines with virtual GPUs (vGPUs). A virtual machine with a vGPU is better suited for graphics-intensive tasks than a virtual machine without a vGPU. A virtual machine with a vGPU can also run software that cannot run without a GPU, such as CAD.

vGPU Requirements

If you plan to configure a host to allow virtual machines on that host to install a vGPU, the following requirements must be met:

  • vGPU-compatible GPU
  • GPU-enabled host kernel
  • Installed GPU with correct drivers
  • Predefined mdev_type set to correspond with one of the mdev types supported by the device
  • vGPU-capable drivers installed on each host in the cluster
  • vGPU-supported virtual machine operating system with vGPU drivers installed

Preparing a Host for vGPU Installation

  1. Install vGPU-capable drivers onto your host. Consult the documentation for your GPU card for more information.
  2. Install vdsm-hook-vfio-mdev:

    # yum install vdsm-hook-vfio-mdev

You can now install vGPUs on the virtual machines running on this host.

Installing a vGPU on a Virtual Machine

  1. Confirm the vGPU instance to use:

    • Click ComputeHosts, click the required host’s name to go to the details view, and click the Host Devices tab. Available vGPU instances appear in the Mdev Types column.
    • Alternatively, run the following command on the host:

      # vdsm-client Host hostdevListByCaps

      Available vGPU instances appear in the mdev key available_instances.

  2. Install the required virtual machine operating system. See Installing Linux Virtual Machines and Installing Windows Virtual Machines in the Virtual Machine Management Guide.
  3. Shut down the virtual machine.
  4. Add the vGPU instance to the virtual machine:

    1. Select the virtual machine and click Edit.
    2. Click Show Advanced Options, then click the Custom Properties tab.
    3. Select mdev_type from the drop-down list and enter the vGPU instance in the text field.
    4. Click OK.
  5. Start the virtual machine and install the vGPU driver through the vendor’s installer. Consult the documentation for your GPU card for more information.
  6. Restart the virtual machine.
  7. Verify that the vGPU is recognized by checking the virtual machine operating system’s device manager.
Important

You cannot migrate a virtual machine using a vGPU to a different host. When upgrading the virtual machine, verify the operating system and GPU vendor support in the vendor’s documentation.