Chapter 3. Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager involves the following steps:

3.1. Preparing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Machine

The Red Hat Virtualization Manager must run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. For detailed instructions on installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide.

This machine must meet the minimum Manager hardware requirements.

To install the Red Hat Virtualization Manager on a system that does not have access to the Content Delivery Network, see Appendix A, Configuring a Local Repository for Offline Red Hat Virtualization Manager Installation before configuring the Manager.

By default, the Red Hat Virtualization Manager’s configuration script, engine-setup, creates and configures the Manager database and Data Warehouse database automatically on the Manager machine. To set up either database, or both, manually, see Appendix B, Preparing a Local Manually Configured PostgreSQL Database before configuring the Manager.

3.2. Enabling the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Repositories

Register the system with Red Hat Subscription Manager, attach the Red Hat Virtualization Manager subscription, and enable 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
    Note

    If you are using an IPv6 network, use an IPv6 transition mechanism to access the Content Delivery Network and subscription manager.

  2. Find the Red Hat Virtualization Manager subscription pool and record the pool ID:

    # subscription-manager list --available
  3. Use the pool ID to attach the subscription 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-4.3-manager-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-rhv-4-manager-tools-rpms \
        --enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms \
        --enable=jb-eap-7.2-for-rhel-7-server-rpms

3.3. Installing and Configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Install the package and dependencies for the Red Hat Virtualization Manager, and configure it using the engine-setup command. The script 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.

Procedure

  1. Ensure all packages are up to date:

    # yum update
    Note

    Reboot the machine if any kernel-related packages were updated.

  2. Install the rhvm package and dependencies.

    # yum install rhvm
  3. Run the engine-setup command to begin configuring the Red Hat Virtualization Manager:

    # engine-setup
  4. Press Enter to configure the Manager on this machine:

    Configure Engine on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
  5. 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.

  6. 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]:
  7. 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]:
    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.

  8. Choose whether to configure Data Warehouse on this 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]:
  9. 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.

  10. 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]:
  11. 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.

  12. Specify whether to configure the Data Warehouse database on this machine, or on another machine:

    Where is the DWH database located? (Local, Remote) [Local]:
    • If you select Local, the engine-setup script 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 (for example, if you are installing the Data Warehouse service on the Manager machine, but have configured a remote Data Warehouse database), input the following values for the remote database server:

      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.

  13. Specify whether to configure the Manager database on this machine, or on another machine:

    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:
  14. Set a password for the automatically created administrative user of the Red Hat Virtualization Manager:

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

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

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

  16. 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:
  17. 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]:
  18. 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]:
  19. 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]:
  20. 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]:
  21. Choose how long Data Warehouse will retain collected data:

    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 server).

    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. Use Basic when the Manager and Data Warehouse are installed on the same machine.

  22. 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. engine-setup 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.

  23. 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.
  24. Install the certificate authority according to the instructions provided by your browser. You can get the certificate authority’s certificate by navigating to http://manager-fqdn/ovirt-engine/services/pki-resource?resource=ca-certificate&format=X509-PEM-CA, replacing manager-fqdn with the FQDN that you provided during the installation.

Log in to the Administration Portal, where you can add hosts and storage to the environment:

3.4. Connecting to the Administration Portal

Access the Administration Portal using a web browser.

  1. In a web browser, navigate to https://manager-fqdn/ovirt-engine, replacing manager-fqdn with the FQDN 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 along with the password that you specified during installation.
  4. Select the Domain to authenticate against. 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 is chosen based on the locale settings of your web browser. If you want 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.

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.