15.4. Creating Image-based Hosts on Google Compute Engine

In Satellite, you can use Google Compute Engine provisioning to create hosts from an existing image. The new host entry triggers the Google Compute Engine server to create the instance using the pre-existing image as a basis for the new volume.

Procedure

  1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
  3. Click the Organization and Location tabs to ensure that the provisioning context is automatically set to the current context.
  4. From the Host Group list, select the host group that you want to use to populate the form.
  5. From the Deploy on list, select the Google Compute Engine connection.
  6. From the Compute Profile list, select a profile to use to automatically populate virtual machine settings.
  7. From the Lifecycle Environment list, select the environment.
  8. Click the Interfaces tab and click Edit on the host’s interface.

  9. Verify that the fields are automatically populated, particularly the following items:

    • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
    • The MAC address field is blank. Google Compute Engine assigns a MAC address to the host during provisioning.
    • Satellite Server automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
    • The Domain field is populated with the required domain.
    • The Managed, Primary, and Provision options are automatically selected for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
  10. Click the Operating System tab, and confirm that all fields automatically contain values.
  11. Click Resolve in Provisioning templates to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.
  12. Click the Virtual Machine tab and confirm that these settings are populated with details from the host group and compute profile. Modify these settings to suit your needs.
  13. Click the Parameters tab, and ensure that a parameter exists that provides an activation key. If not, add an activation key.
  14. Click Submit to save the host entry.

For CLI Users

  • Create the host with the hammer host create command and include --provision-method image. Replace the values in the following example with the appropriate values for your environment. 

    # hammer host create \
--name "GCE_VM" \
--organization "Your_Organization" \
--location "Your_Location" \
--compute-resource gce_cr_name
--compute-profile "gce_profile_name" \
--provision-method 'image' \
--image gce_image_name \
--root-password "your_root_password" \
--interface "type=interface,domain_id=1,managed=true,primary=true,provision=true" \
--puppet-environment-id 1 \
--puppet-ca-proxy-id 1 \
--puppet-proxy-id 1 \
--architecture x86_64 \
--operatingsystem "operating_system_name"

For more information about additional host creation parameters for this compute resource, enter the hammer host create --help command.