Table of Contents

Installing oVirt as a self-hosted engine using the command line

Self-hosted engine installation is automated using Ansible. The installation script (hosted-engine --deploy) runs on an initial deployment host, and the oVirt Engine (or "engine") is installed and configured on a virtual machine that is created on the deployment host. The Engine and Data Warehouse databases are installed on the Engine virtual machine, but can be migrated to a separate server post-installation if required.

Hosts that can run the Engine virtual machine are referred to as self-hosted engine nodes. At least two self-hosted engine nodes are required to support the high availability feature.

A storage domain dedicated to the Engine virtual machine is referred to as the self-hosted engine storage domain. This storage domain is created by the installation script, so the underlying storage must be prepared before beginning the installation.

See the Planning and Prerequisites Guide for information on environment options and recommended configuration. See Self-Hosted Engine Recommendations for configuration specific to a self-hosted engine environment.

oVirt Key Components

Component Name Description

oVirt Engine

A service that provides a graphical user interface and a REST API to manage the resources in the environment. The Engine is installed on a physical or virtual machine running Enterprise Linux.

Hosts

Enterprise Linux hosts (Enterprise Linux hosts) and oVirt Nodes (image-based hypervisors) are the two supported types of host. Hosts use Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology and provide resources used to run virtual machines.

Shared Storage

A storage service is used to store the data associated with virtual machines.

Data Warehouse

A service that collects configuration information and statistical data from the Engine.

Self-Hosted Engine Architecture

The oVirt Engine runs as a virtual machine on self-hosted engine nodes (specialized hosts) in the same environment it manages. A self-hosted engine environment requires one less physical server, but requires more administrative overhead to deploy and manage. The Engine is highly available without external HA management.

The minimum setup of a self-hosted engine environment includes:

  • One oVirt Engine virtual machine that is hosted on the self-hosted engine nodes. The Engine Appliance is used to automate the installation of a Enterprise Linux 8 virtual machine, and the Engine on that virtual machine.

  • A minimum of two self-hosted engine nodes for virtual machine high availability. You can use Enterprise Linux hosts or oVirt Nodes (oVirt Node). VDSM (the host agent) runs on all hosts to facilitate communication with the oVirt Engine. The HA services run on all self-hosted engine nodes to manage the high availability of the Engine virtual machine.

  • One storage service, which can be hosted locally or on a remote server, depending on the storage type used. The storage service must be accessible to all hosts.

Self-Hosted Engine Architecture
Figure 1. Self-Hosted Engine oVirt Architecture

1. Installation Overview

The self-hosted engine installation uses Ansible and the Engine Appliance (a pre-configured Engine virtual machine image) to automate the following tasks:

  • Configuring the first self-hosted engine node

  • Installing a Enterprise Linux virtual machine on that node

  • Installing and configuring the oVirt Engine on that virtual machine

  • Configuring the self-hosted engine storage domain

The Engine Appliance is only used during installation. It is not used to upgrade the Engine.

Installing a self-hosted engine environment involves the following steps:

  1. Prepare storage to use for the self-hosted engine storage domain and for standard storage domains. You can use one of the following storage types:

  2. Install a deployment host to run the installation on. This host will become the first self-hosted engine node. You can use either host type:

  3. Install and configure the oVirt Engine:

  4. Add more self-hosted engine nodes and standard hosts to the Engine. Self-hosted engine nodes can run the Engine virtual machine and other virtual machines. Standard hosts can run all other virtual machines, but not the Engine virtual machine.

  5. Add more storage domains to the Engine. The self-hosted engine storage domain is not recommended for use by anything other than the Engine virtual machine.

  6. If you want to host any databases or services on a server separate from the Engine, you can migrate them after the installation is complete.

Keep the environment up to date. Since bug fixes for known issues are frequently released, use scheduled tasks to update the hosts and the Engine.

2. Requirements

2.1. oVirt Engine Requirements

2.1.1. 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.

The oVirt Engine runs on Enterprise Linux operating systems like CentOS Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Table 1. oVirt Engine Hardware Requirements
Resource Minimum Recommended

CPU

A dual core x86_64 CPU.

A quad core x86_64 CPU or multiple dual core x86_64 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 Engine History Database Size Calculator to calculate the appropriate disk space for the Engine 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.

2.1.2. Browser Requirements

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

Browser testing is divided into tiers:

  • Tier 1: Browser and operating system combinations that are fully tested.

  • Tier 2: Browser and operating system combinations that are partially tested, and are likely to work.

  • Tier 3: Browser and operating system combinations that are not tested, but may work.

Table 2. Browser Requirements
Support Tier Operating System Family Browser

Tier 1

Enterprise Linux

Mozilla Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) version

Any

Most recent version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

Tier 2

Tier 3

Any

Earlier versions of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

Any

Other browsers

2.1.3. Client Requirements

Virtual machine consoles can only be accessed using supported Remote Viewer (virt-viewer) clients on 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.

You can access virtual machine consoles using the SPICE, VNC, or RDP (Windows only) protocols. You can install the QXLDOD graphical driver in the guest operating system to improve the functionality of SPICE. SPICE currently supports a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 pixels.

Client Operating System SPICE Support

Supported QXLDOD drivers are available on Enterprise Linux 7.2 and later, and Windows 10.

SPICE may work with Windows 8 or 8.1 using QXLDOD drivers, but it is neither certified nor tested.

2.1.4. Operating System Requirements

The oVirt Engine must be installed on a base installation of Enterprise Linux 8.7 or later.

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 Engine.

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

2.2. Host Requirements

2.2.1. 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 G4

    • Opteron G5

    • EPYC

  • Intel

    • Nehalem

    • Westmere

    • SandyBridge

    • IvyBridge

    • Haswell

    • Broadwell

    • Skylake Client

    • Skylake Server

    • Cascadelake Server

Enterprise Linux 9 doesn’t support virtualization for ppc64le: CentOS Virtualization SIG is working on re-introducing virtualization support but it’s not ready yet.

The oVirt project also provides packages for the 64-bit ARM architecture (ARM 64) but only as a Technology Preview.

For each CPU model with security updates, the CPU Type lists a basic type and a secure type. For example:

  • Intel Cascadelake Server Family

  • Secure Intel Cascadelake Server Family

The Secure CPU type contains the latest updates. For details, see BZ#1731395

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.

Procedure
  1. At the Enterprise Linux or oVirt Node 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.

2.2.2. Memory Requirements

The minimum required RAM is 2 GB. For cluster levels 4.2 to 4.5, the maximum supported RAM per VM in oVirt Node is 6 TB. For cluster levels 4.6 to 4.7, the maximum supported RAM per VM in oVirt Node is 16 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.

2.2.3. Storage Requirements

Hosts require storage to store configuration, logs, kernel dumps, and for use as swap space. Storage can be local or network-based. oVirt Node (oVirt Node) can boot with one, some, or all of its default allocations in network storage. Booting from network storage can result in a freeze if there is a network disconnect. Adding a drop-in multipath configuration file can help address losses in network connectivity. If oVirt Node boots from SAN storage and loses connectivity, the files become read-only until network connectivity restores. Using network storage might result in a performance downgrade.

The minimum storage requirements of oVirt Node are documented in this section. The storage requirements for 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 oVirt Node.

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

  • / (root) - 6 GB

  • /home - 1 GB

  • /tmp - 1 GB

  • /boot - 1 GB

  • /var - 5 GB

  • /var/crash - 10 GB

  • /var/log - 8 GB

  • /var/log/audit - 2 GB

  • /var/tmp - 10 GB

  • swap - 1 GB. See What is the recommended swap size for Red Hat platforms? for details.

  • 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 - 64 GiB

If you are also installing the Engine Appliance for self-hosted engine installation, /var/tmp must be at least 10 GB.

If you plan to use memory overcommitment, add enough swap space to provide virtual memory for all of virtual machines. See Memory Optimization.

2.2.4. PCI Device Requirements

Hosts must have at least one network interface with a minimum bandwidth of 1 Gbps. Each host should 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.

2.2.5. 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.

  • All PCIe switches and bridges between the PCIe device and the root port should 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, Enterprise Linux 8 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.

2.2.6. vGPU Requirements

A host must meet the following requirements in order for virtual machines on that host to use a vGPU:

  • vGPU-compatible GPU

  • GPU-enabled host kernel

  • Installed GPU with correct drivers

  • Select a vGPU type and the number of instances that you would like to use with this virtual machine using the Manage vGPU dialog in the Administration Portal Host Devices tab of the virtual machine.

  • vGPU-capable drivers installed on each host in the cluster

  • vGPU-supported virtual machine operating system with vGPU drivers installed

2.3. Networking requirements

2.3.1. General requirements

oVirt requires IPv6 to remain enabled on the physical or virtual machine running the Engine. Do not disable IPv6 on the Engine machine, even if your systems do not use it.

2.3.2. Network range for self-hosted engine deployment

The self-hosted engine deployment process temporarily uses a /24 network address under 192.168. It defaults to 192.168.222.0/24, and if this address is in use, it tries other /24 addresses under 192.168 until it finds one that is not in use. If it does not find an unused network address in this range, deployment fails.

When installing the self-hosted engine using the command line, you can set the deployment script to use an alternate /24 network range with the option --ansible-extra-vars=he_ipv4_subnet_prefix=PREFIX, where PREFIX is the prefix for the default range. For example:

# hosted-engine --deploy --ansible-extra-vars=he_ipv4_subnet_prefix=192.168.222

You can only set another range by installing oVirt as a self-hosted engine using the command line.

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

The firewall requirements for all of the following topics are special cases that require individual consideration.

DNS and NTP

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

By default, Enterprise Linux allows outbound traffic to DNS and NTP on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, define exceptions for requests that are sent to DNS and NTP servers.

  • The oVirt Engine and all hosts (oVirt Node and 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 oVirt environment is not supported. All DNS services the oVirt environment uses must be hosted outside of the environment.

  • Use 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, 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 oVirt Node and Enterprise Linux host in the cluster must be able to connect to the fencing devices of all other hosts in the cluster. If the cluster hosts are experiencing an error (network error, storage error…​) and cannot function as hosts, 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.

2.3.4. oVirt Engine Firewall Requirements

The oVirt Engine 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.

The firewall configuration documented here assumes a default configuration.

Table 3. oVirt Engine Firewall Requirements
ID Port(s) Protocol Source Destination Purpose Encrypted by default

M1

-

ICMP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Engine

Optional.

May help in diagnosis.

No

M2

22

TCP

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

oVirt Engine

Secure Shell (SSH) access.

Optional.

Yes

M3

2222

TCP

Clients accessing virtual machine serial consoles.

oVirt Engine

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

Yes

M4

80, 443

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

REST API clients

oVirt Engine

Provides HTTP (port 80, not encrypted) and HTTPS (port 443, encrypted) access to the Engine. HTTP redirects connections to HTTPS.

Yes

M5

6100

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

oVirt Engine

Provides websocket proxy access for a web-based console client, noVNC, when the websocket proxy is running on the Engine.

No

M6

7410

UDP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Engine

If Kdump is enabled on the hosts, open this port for the fence_kdump listener on the Engine. See fence_kdump Advanced Configuration. fence_kdump doesn’t provide a way to encrypt the connection. However, you can manually configure this port to block access from hosts that are not eligible.

No

M7

54323

TCP

Administration Portal clients

oVirt Engine (ovirt-imageio service)

Required for communication with the ovirt-imageo service.

Yes

M8

6642

TCP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

Open Virtual Network (OVN) southbound database

Connect to Open Virtual Network (OVN) database

Yes

M9

9696

TCP

Clients of external network provider for OVN

External network provider for OVN

OpenStack Networking API

Yes, with configuration generated by engine-setup.

M10

35357

TCP

Clients of external network provider for OVN

External network provider for OVN

OpenStack Identity API

Yes, with configuration generated by engine-setup.

M11

53

TCP, UDP

oVirt Engine

DNS Server

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

No

M12

123

UDP

oVirt Engine

NTP Server

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

No

  • 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, Enterprise Linux allows outbound traffic to DNS and NTP on any destination address. If you disable outgoing traffic, make exceptions for the Engine 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.

2.3.5. Host Firewall Requirements

Enterprise Linux hosts and oVirt Nodes (oVirt Node) 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 Engine, 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.

Table 4. Virtualization Host Firewall Requirements
ID Port(s) Protocol Source Destination Purpose Encrypted by default

H1

22

TCP

oVirt Engine

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

Secure Shell (SSH) access.

Optional.

Yes

H2

2223

TCP

oVirt Engine

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

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

Yes

H3

161

UDP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Engine

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.

No

H4

111

TCP

NFS storage server

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

NFS connections.

Optional.

No

H5

5900 - 6923

TCP

Administration Portal clients

VM Portal clients

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

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

Yes (optional)

H6

5989

TCP, UDP

Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM)

oVirt Nodes

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.

No

H7

9090

TCP

oVirt Engine

Client machines

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

Required to access the Cockpit web interface, if installed.

Yes

H8

16514

TCP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

Virtual machine migration using libvirt.

Yes

H9

49152 - 49215

TCP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Nodes

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.

Yes. Depending on agent for fencing, migration is done through libvirt.

H10

54321

TCP

oVirt Engine

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

VDSM communications with the Engine and other virtualization hosts.

Yes

H11

54322

TCP

oVirt Engine ovirt-imageio service

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

Required for communication with the ovirt-imageo service.

Yes

H12

6081

UDP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

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

No

H13

53

TCP, UDP

oVirt Nodes

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.

No

H14

123

UDP

oVirt Nodes

Enterprise Linux hosts

NTP Server

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

H15

4500

TCP, UDP

oVirt Nodes

oVirt Nodes

Internet Security Protocol (IPSec)

Yes

H16

500

UDP

oVirt Nodes

oVirt Nodes

Internet Security Protocol (IPSec)

Yes

H17

-

AH, ESP

oVirt Nodes

oVirt Nodes

Internet Security Protocol (IPSec)

Yes

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

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.

2.3.6. Database Server Firewall Requirements

oVirt supports the use of a remote database server for the Engine 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 Engine and the Data Warehouse service (which can be separate from the Engine).

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

Accessing the Engine database from external systems is not supported.

Table 5. Database Server Firewall Requirements
ID Port(s) Protocol Source Destination Purpose Encrypted by default

D1

5432

TCP, UDP

oVirt Engine

Data Warehouse service

Engine (engine) database server

Data Warehouse (ovirt-engine-history) database server

Default port for PostgreSQL database connections.

No, but can be enabled.

D2

5432

TCP, UDP

External systems

Data Warehouse (ovirt-engine-history) database server

Default port for PostgreSQL database connections.

Disabled by default. No, but can be enabled.

2.3.7. Maximum Transmission Unit Requirements

The recommended Maximum Transmission Units (MTU) setting for Hosts during deployment is 1500. It is possible to update this setting after the environment is set up to a different MTU. For more information on changing the MTU setting, see How to change the Hosted Engine VM network MTU.

3. Preparing Storage for oVirt

You need to prepare storage to be used for storage domains in the new environment. A oVirt environment must have at least one data storage domain, but adding more is recommended.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

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 while active (but can be migrated between data centers). Data domains of multiple storage types can be added to the same data center, provided they are all shared, rather than local, domains.

You can use one of the following storage types:

Prerequisites
  • Self-hosted engines must have an additional data domain with at least 74 GiB dedicated to the Engine virtual machine. The self-hosted engine installer creates this domain. Prepare the storage for this domain before installation.

    Extending or otherwise changing the self-hosted engine storage domain after deployment of the self-hosted engine is not supported. Any such change might prevent the self-hosted engine from booting.

  • When using a block storage domain, either FCP or iSCSI, a single target LUN is the only supported setup for a self-hosted engine.

  • If you use iSCSI storage, the self-hosted engine storage domain must use a dedicated iSCSI target. Any additional storage domains must use a different iSCSI target.

  • It is strongly recommended to create additional data storage domains in the same data center as the self-hosted engine storage domain. If you deploy the self-hosted engine in a data center with only one active data storage domain, and that storage domain is corrupted, you cannot add new storage domains or remove the corrupted storage domain. You must redeploy the self-hosted engine.

3.1. Preparing NFS Storage

Set up NFS shares on your file storage or remote server to serve as storage domains on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Host systems. After exporting the shares on the remote storage and configuring them in the Red Hat Virtualization Manager, the shares will be automatically imported on the Red Hat Virtualization hosts.

For information on setting up, configuring, mounting and exporting NFS, see Managing file systems for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

Specific system user accounts and system user groups are required by oVirt so the Engine can store data in the storage domains represented by the exported directories. The following procedure sets the permissions for one directory. You must repeat the chown and chmod steps for all of the directories you intend to use as storage domains in oVirt.

Prerequisites
  1. Install the NFS utils package.

    # dnf install nfs-utils -y
  2. To check the enabled versions:

    # cat /proc/fs/nfsd/versions
  3. Enable the following services:

    # systemctl enable nfs-server
    # systemctl enable rpcbind
Procedure
  1. Create the group kvm:

    # groupadd kvm -g 36
  2. Create the user vdsm in the group kvm:

    # useradd vdsm -u 36 -g kvm
  3. Create the storage directory and modify the access rights.

    # mkdir /storage
    # chmod 0755 /storage
    # chown 36:36 /storage/
  4. Add the storage directory to /etc/exports with the relevant permissions.

    # vi /etc/exports
    # cat /etc/exports
     /storage *(rw)
  5. Restart the following services:

    # systemctl restart rpcbind
    # systemctl restart nfs-server
  6. To see which export are available for a specific IP address:

    # exportfs
     /nfs_server/srv
                   10.46.11.3/24
     /nfs_server       <world>

If changes in /etc/exports have been made after starting the services, the exportfs -ra command can be used to reload the changes. After performing all the above stages, the exports directory should be ready and can be tested on a different host to check that it is usable.

3.2. Preparing iSCSI Storage

oVirt supports iSCSI storage, which is a storage domain created from a volume group made up of LUNs. Volume groups and LUNs cannot be attached to more than one storage domain at a time.

For information on setting up and configuring iSCSI storage, see Configuring an iSCSI target in Managing storage devices for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

If you are using block storage and intend to deploy virtual machines on raw devices or direct LUNs and manage them with the Logical Volume Manager (LVM), you must create a filter to hide guest logical volumes. This will prevent guest logical volumes from being activated when the host is booted, a situation that could lead to stale logical volumes and cause data corruption. Use the vdsm-tool config-lvm-filter command to create filters for the LVM. See Creating an LVM filter

oVirt currently does not support block storage with a block size of 4K. You must configure block storage in legacy (512b block) mode.

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, add a drop-in multipath configuration file on the root file system of the SAN 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
    }

3.3. Preparing FCP Storage

oVirt 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.

oVirt 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 on setting up and configuring FCP or multipathing on Enterprise Linux, see the Storage Administration Guide and DM Multipath Guide.

If you are using block storage and intend to deploy virtual machines on raw devices or direct LUNs and manage them with the Logical Volume Manager (LVM), you must create a filter to hide guest logical volumes. This will prevent guest logical volumes from being activated when the host is booted, a situation that could lead to stale logical volumes and cause data corruption. Use the vdsm-tool config-lvm-filter command to create filters for the LVM. See Creating an LVM filter

oVirt currently does not support block storage with a block size of 4K. You must configure block storage in legacy (512b block) mode.

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, add a drop-in multipath configuration file on the root file system of the SAN 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
    }
  }

3.4. Preparing Gluster Storage

For information on setting up and configuring Gluster Storage, see the Gluster Storage Installation Guide.

3.5. Customizing Multipath Configurations for SAN Vendors

If your RHV environment is configured to use multipath connections with SANs, you can customize the multipath configuration settings to meet requirements specified by your storage vendor. These customizations can override both the default settings and settings that are specified in /etc/multipath.conf.

To override the multipath settings, do not customize /etc/multipath.conf. Because VDSM owns /etc/multipath.conf, installing or upgrading VDSM or oVirt can overwrite this file including any customizations it contains. This overwriting can cause severe storage failures.

Instead, you create a file in the /etc/multipath/conf.d directory that contains the settings you want to customize or override.

VDSM executes the files in /etc/multipath/conf.d in alphabetical order. So, to control the order of execution, you begin the filename with a number that makes it come last. For example, /etc/multipath/conf.d/90-myfile.conf.

To avoid causing severe storage failures, follow these guidelines:

  • Do not modify /etc/multipath.conf. If the file contains user modifications, and the file is overwritten, it can cause unexpected storage problems.

  • Do not override the user_friendly_names and find_multipaths settings. For details, see Recommended Settings for Multipath.conf.

  • Avoid overriding the no_path_retry and polling_interval settings unless a storage vendor specifically requires you to do so. For details, see Recommended Settings for Multipath.conf.

Not following these guidelines can cause catastrophic storage errors.

Prerequisites
  • VDSM is configured to use the multipath module. To verify this, enter:

    # vdsm-tool is-configured --module multipath
Procedure
  1. Create a new configuration file in the /etc/multipath/conf.d directory.

  2. Copy the individual setting you want to override from /etc/multipath.conf to the new configuration file in /etc/multipath/conf.d/<my_device>.conf. Remove any comment marks, edit the setting values, and save your changes.

  3. Apply the new configuration settings by entering:

    # systemctl reload multipathd

    Do not restart the multipathd service. Doing so generates errors in the VDSM logs.

Verification steps
  1. Test that the new configuration performs as expected on a non-production cluster in a variety of failure scenarios. For example, disable all of the storage connections.

  2. Enable one connection at a time and verify that doing so makes the storage domain reachable.

Do not override the following settings:

user_friendly_names no

Device names must be consistent across all hypervisors. For example, /dev/mapper/{WWID}. The default value of this setting, no, prevents the assignment of arbitrary and inconsistent device names such as /dev/mapper/mpath{N} on various hypervisors, which can lead to unpredictable system behavior.

Do not change this setting to user_friendly_names yes. User-friendly names are likely to cause unpredictable system behavior or failures, and are not supported.
find_multipaths no

This setting controls whether oVirt Node tries to access devices through multipath only if more than one path is available. The current value, no, allows oVirt to access devices through multipath even if only one path is available.

Do not override this setting.

Avoid overriding the following settings unless required by the storage system vendor:

no_path_retry 4

This setting controls the number of polling attempts to retry when no paths are available. Before oVirt version 4.2, the value of no_path_retry was fail because QEMU had trouble with the I/O queuing when no paths were available. The fail value made it fail quickly and paused the virtual machine. oVirt version 4.2 changed this value to 4 so when multipathd detects the last path has failed, it checks all of the paths four more times. Assuming the default 5-second polling interval, checking the paths takes 20 seconds. If no path is up, multipathd tells the kernel to stop queuing and fails all outstanding and future I/O until a path is restored. When a path is restored, the 20-second delay is reset for the next time all paths fail. For more details, see the commit that changed this setting.

polling_interval 5

This setting determines the number of seconds between polling attempts to detect whether a path is open or has failed. Unless the vendor provides a clear reason for increasing the value, keep the VDSM-generated default so the system responds to path failures sooner.

4. Installing the Self-hosted Engine Deployment Host

A self-hosted engine can be deployed from a oVirt Node or a Enterprise Linux host.

If you plan to use bonded interfaces for high availability or VLANs to separate different types of traffic (for example, for storage or management connections), you should configure them on the host before beginning the self-hosted engine deployment. See Networking Recommendations in the Planning and Prerequisites Guide.

4.1. Installing oVirt Nodes

oVirt Node (oVirt Node) is a minimal operating system based on Enterprise Linux that is designed to provide a simple method for setting up a physical machine to act as a hypervisor in a oVirt environment. The minimal operating system contains only the packages required for the machine to act as a hypervisor, and features a Cockpit web interface for monitoring the host and performing administrative tasks. See Running Cockpit for the minimum browser requirements.

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

The host must meet the minimum host requirements.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

Procedure
  1. Visit the oVirt Node Download page.

  2. Choose the version of oVirt Node to download and click its Installation ISO link.

  3. Write the oVirt Node Installation ISO disk image to a USB, CD, or DVD.

  4. Start the machine on which you are installing oVirt Node, booting from the prepared installation media.

  5. From the boot menu, select Install oVirt Node 4.5 and press Enter.

    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.

  6. Select a language, and click Continue.

  7. Select a keyboard layout from the Keyboard Layout screen and click Done.

  8. Select the device on which to install oVirt Node from the Installation Destination screen. Optionally, enable encryption. Click Done.

    Use the Automatically configure partitioning option.

  9. Select a time zone from the Time & Date screen and click Done.

  10. Select a network from the Network & Host Name screen and click Configure…​ to configure the connection details.

    To use the connection every time the system boots, select the Connect automatically with priority check box. For more information, see Configuring network and host name options in the Enterprise Linux 8 Installation Guide.

    Enter a host name in the Host Name field, and click Done.

  11. Optional: Configure Security Policy and Kdump. See Customizing your RHEL installation using the GUI in Performing a standard RHEL installation for Enterprise Linux 8 for more information on each of the sections in the Installation Summary screen.

  12. Click Begin Installation.

  13. Set a root password and, optionally, create an additional user while oVirt Node installs.

    Do not create untrusted users on oVirt Node, as this can lead to exploitation of local security vulnerabilities.

  14. Click Reboot to complete the installation.

    When oVirt Node 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.

4.2. Installing Enterprise Linux hosts

A Enterprise Linux host is based on a standard basic installation of Enterprise Linux 8.7 or later on a physical server, with the Enterprise Linux Server and oVirt repositories enabled.

The oVirt project also provides packages for Enterprise Linux 9.

For detailed installation instructions, see the Performing a standard EL installation.

The host must meet the minimum host requirements.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

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.

Do not install third-party watchdogs on Enterprise Linux hosts. They can interfere with the watchdog daemon provided by VDSM.

5. Installing the oVirt Engine

5.1. Manually installing the Engine Appliance

When you deploy the self-hosted engine, the following sequence of events takes place:

  1. The installer installs the Engine Appliance to the deployment host.

  2. The appliance installs the Engine virtual machine.

  3. The appliance installs the Engine on the Engine virtual machine.

However, you can install the appliance manually on the deployment host beforehand if you need to. The appliance is large and network connectivity issues might cause the appliance installation to take a long time, or possibly fail.

Procedure
  1. On Enterprise Linux hosts:

    1. Reset the virt module:

      # dnf module reset virt

      If this module is already enabled in the Advanced Virtualization stream, this step is not necessary, but it has no negative impact.

      You can see the value of the stream by entering:

      # dnf module list virt
    2. Enable the virt module in the Advanced Virtualization stream with the following command:

  • For oVirt 4.4.2:

    # dnf module enable virt:8.2
  • For oVirt 4.4.3 to 4.4.5:

    # dnf module enable virt:8.3
  • For oVirt 4.4.6 to 4.4.10:

    # dnf module enable virt:av
  • For oVirt 4.5 and later:

    # dnf module enable virt:rhel

    Starting with EL 8.6 the Advanced virtualization packages will use the standard virt:rhel module. For EL 8.4 and 8.5, only one Advanced Virtualization stream is used, rhel:av.

    1. Synchronize installed packages to update them to the latest available versions:

      # dnf distro-sync --nobest
    2. Install the Engine Appliance to the host manually:

      # dnf install ovirt-engine-appliance

Now, when you deploy the self-hosted engine, the installer detects that the appliance is already installed.

5.2. Enabling and configuring the firewall

firewalld must be installed and running before you run the self-hosted deployment script. You must also have an active zone with an interface configured.

Prerequisites
  • firewalld is installed. hosted-engine-setup requires the firewalld package, so you do not need to do any additional steps.

Procedure
  1. Start firewalld:

    # systemctl unmask firewalld
    # systemctl start firewalld

    To ensure firewalld starts automatically at system start, enter the following command as root:

    # systemctl enable firewalld
  2. Ensure that firewalld is running:

    # systemctl status firewalld
  3. Ensure that your management interface is in a firewall zone via

    # firewall-cmd --get-active-zones

Now you are ready to deploy the self-hosted engine.

5.3. Deploying the self-hosted engine using the command line

You can deploy a self-hosted engine from the command line. After installing the setup package, you run the command hosted-engine --deploy, and a script collects the details of your environment and uses them to configure the host and the Engine.

You can customize the Engine virtual machine during deployment, either manually, by pausing the deployment, or using automation.

  • Setting the variable he_pause_host to true pauses deployment after installing the Engine and adding the deployment host to the Engine.

  • Setting the variable he_pause_before_engine_setup to true pauses the deployment before installing the Engine and before restoring the Engine when using he_restore_from_file.

    When the he_pause_host or he_pause_before_engine_setup variables are set to true a lock file is created at /tmp with the suffix _he_setup_lock on the deployment host. You can then manually customize the virtual machine as needed. The deployment continues after you delete the lock file, or after 24 hours, whichever comes first.

  • Adding an Ansible playbook to any of the following directories on the deployment host automatically runs the playbook. Add the playbook under one of the following directories under /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/redhat/rhv/roles/hosted_engine_setup/hooks/:

    • enginevm_before_engine_setup

    • enginevm_after_engine_setup

    • after_add_host

    • after_setup

Prerequisites
  • Upgrade the appliance content to the latest product version before performing engine-setup.

    • To do this manually, pause the deployment using he_pause_before_engine_setup and perform a dnf update.

    • To do this automatically, apply the enginevm_before_engine_setup hook.

  • FQDNs prepared for your Engine and the host. Forward and reverse lookup records must both be set in the DNS.

  • When using a block storage domain, either FCP or iSCSI, a single target LUN is the only supported setup for a self-hosted engine.

  • Optional: If you want to customize the Engine virtual machine during deployment using automation, an Ansible playbook must be added. See Customizing the Engine virtual machine using automation during deployment.

  • The self-hosted engine setup script requires ssh public key access using 2048-bit RSA keys from the engine virtual machine to the root account of its bare metal host. In /etc/ssh/sshd_config, these values must be set as follows:

    • PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes must allow 2048-bit RSA keys or stronger.

      By default, this setting uses system-wide crypto policies. For more information, see the manual page crypto-policies(7).

      oVirt Node hosts that are registered with the Engine in versions earlier than 4.4.5.5 require RSA 2048 for backward compatibility until all the keys are migrated.

      oVirt Node hosts registered for 4.4.5.5 and later use the strongest algorithm that is supported by both the Engine and oVirt Node. The PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes setting helps determine which algorithm is used.

    • PermitRootLogin is set to without-password or yes

    • PubkeyAuthentication is set to yes

Procedure
  1. Install the deployment tool:

    # dnf install ovirt-hosted-engine-setup
  2. Use the tmux window manager to run the script to avoid losing the session in case of network or terminal disruption.

    Install and run tmux:

    # dnf -y install tmux
    # tmux
  3. Start the deployment script:

    # hosted-engine --deploy

    Alternatively, to pause the deployment after adding the deployment host to the Engine, use the command line option --ansible-extra-vars=he_pause_host=true:

    # hosted-engine --deploy --ansible-extra-vars=he_pause_host=true

    To escape the script at any time, use the Ctrl+D keyboard combination to abort deployment. In the event of session timeout or connection disruption, run tmux attach to recover the deployment session.

  4. When prompted, enter Yes to begin the deployment:

    Continuing will configure this host for serving as hypervisor and will create a local VM with a running engine.
    The locally running engine will be used to configure a new storage domain and create a VM there.
    At the end the disk of the local VM will be moved to the shared storage.
    Are you sure you want to continue? (Yes, No)[Yes]:
  5. Configure the network. Check that the gateway shown is correct and press Enter. Enter a pingable address on the same subnet so the script can check the host’s connectivity.

    Please indicate a pingable gateway IP address [X.X.X.X]:
  6. The script detects possible NICs to use as a management bridge for the environment. Enter one of them or press Enter to accept the default.

    Please indicate a nic to set ovirtmgmt bridge on: (ens1, ens0) [ens1]:
  7. Specify how to check network connectivity. The default is dns.

    Please specify which way the network connectivity should be checked (ping, dns, tcp, none) [dns]:
    ping

    Attempts to ping the gateway.

    dns

    Checks the connection to the DNS server.

    tcp

    Creates a TCP connection to a host and port combination. You need to specify a destination IP address and port. Once the connection is successfully created, the network is considered to be alive. Ensure that the given host is able to accept incoming TCP connections on the given port.

    none

    The network is always considered connected.

  8. Enter a name for the data center in which to deploy the host for the self-hosted engine. The default name is Default.

    Please enter the name of the data center where you want to deploy this hosted-engine host.
    Data center [Default]:
  9. Enter a name for the cluster in which to deploy the host for the self-hosted engine. The default name is Default.

    Please enter the name of the cluster where you want to deploy this hosted-engine host.
    Cluster [Default]:
  10. If you want to use a custom appliance for the virtual machine installation, enter the path to the OVA archive. Otherwise, leave this field empty to use the Engine Appliance.

  11. To deploy with a custom Engine Appliance appliance image, specify the path to the OVA archive. Otherwise, leave this field empty to use the Engine Appliance.

    If you want to deploy with a custom engine appliance image, please specify the path to the OVA archive you would like to use.
     Entering no value will use the image from the rhvm-appliance rpm, installing it if needed.
     Appliance image path []:
  12. Enter the CPU and memory configuration for the Engine virtual machine:

    Please specify the number of virtual CPUs for the VM. The default is the appliance OVF value [4]:
    Please specify the memory size of the VM in MB. The default is the maximum available [6824]:
  13. Specify the FQDN for the Engine virtual machine, such as manager.example.com:

    Please provide the FQDN you would like to use for the engine.
    Note: This will be the FQDN of the engine VM you are now going to launch,
    it should not point to the base host or to any other existing machine.
    Engine VM FQDN []:
  14. Specify the domain of the Engine virtual machine. For example, if the FQDN is manager.example.com, then enter example.com.

    Please provide the domain name you would like to use for the engine appliance.
    Engine VM domain: [example.com]
  15. Create the root password for the Engine, and reenter it to confirm:

    Enter root password that will be used for the engine appliance:
    Confirm appliance root password:
  16. Optional: Enter an SSH public key to enable you to log in to the Engine virtual machine as the root user without entering a password, and specify whether to enable SSH access for the root user:

    You may provide an SSH public key, that will be added by the deployment script to the authorized_keys file of the root user in the engine appliance.
    This should allow you passwordless login to the engine machine after deployment.
    If you provide no key, authorized_keys will not be touched.
    SSH public key []:
    
    Do you want to enable ssh access for the root user (yes, no, without-password) [yes]:
  17. Optional: You can apply the DISA STIG security profile on the Engine virtual machine. The DISA STIG profile is the default OpenSCAP profile.

    Do you want to apply a default OpenSCAP security profile? (Yes, No) [No]:
  18. Enter a MAC address for the Engine virtual machine, or accept a randomly generated one. If you want to provide the Engine virtual machine with an IP address via DHCP, ensure that you have a valid DHCP reservation for this MAC address. The deployment script will not configure the DHCP server for you.

    You may specify a unicast MAC address for the VM or accept a randomly generated default [00:16:3e:3d:34:47]:
  19. Enter the Engine virtual machine’s networking details:

    How should the engine VM network be configured (DHCP, Static)[DHCP]?

    If you specified Static, enter the IP address of the Engine virtual machine:

    • The static IP address must belong to the same subnet as the host. For example, if the host is in 10.1.1.0/24, the Engine virtual machine’s IP must be in the same subnet range (10.1.1.1-254/24).

    • For IPv6, oVirt supports only static addressing.

    Please enter the IP address to be used for the engine VM [x.x.x.x]:
    Please provide a comma-separated list (max 3) of IP addresses of domain name servers for the engine VM
    Engine VM DNS (leave it empty to skip):
  20. Specify whether to add entries for the Engine virtual machine and the base host to the virtual machine’s /etc/hosts file. You must ensure that the host names are resolvable.

    Add lines for the appliance itself and for this host to /etc/hosts on the engine VM?
    Note: ensuring that this host could resolve the engine VM hostname is still up to you.
    Add lines to /etc/hosts? (Yes, No)[Yes]:
  21. Provide the name and TCP port number of the SMTP server, the email address used to send email notifications, and a comma-separated list of email addresses to receive these notifications. Alternatively, press Enter to accept the defaults:

    Please provide the name of the SMTP server through which we will send notifications [localhost]:
    Please provide the TCP port number of the SMTP server [25]:
    Please provide the email address from which notifications will be sent [root@localhost]:
    Please provide a comma-separated list of email addresses which will get notifications [root@localhost]:
  22. Create a password for the admin@internal user to access the Administration Portal and reenter it to confirm:

    Enter engine admin password:
    Confirm engine admin password:
  23. Specify the hostname of the deployment host:

    Please provide the hostname of this host on the management network [hostname.example.com]:

    The script creates the virtual machine. By default, the script first downloads and installs the Engine Appliance, which increases the installation time.

  24. Optional: If you set the variable he_pause_host: true, the deployment pauses after adding the deployment host to the Engine. You can now log in from the deployment host to the Engine virtual machine to customize it. You can log in with either the FQDN or the IP address of the Engine. For example, if the FQDN of the Engine is manager.example.com:

    $ ssh root@manager.example.com

    In the installation log, the IP address is in local_vm_ip. The installation log is the most recent instance of /var/log/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-ansible-bootstrap_local_vm*.

    1. Customize the Engine virtual machine as needed.

    2. When you are done, log in to the Administration Portal using a browser with the Engine FQDN and make sure that the host’s state is Up.

    3. Delete the lock file and the deployment script automatically continues, configuring the Engine virtual machine.

  25. Select the type of storage to use:

    Please specify the storage you would like to use (glusterfs, iscsi, fc, nfs)[nfs]:
    • For NFS, enter the version, full address and path to the storage, and any mount options:

      Please specify the nfs version you would like to use (auto, v3, v4, v4_1)[auto]:
      Please specify the full shared storage connection path to use (example: host:/path): storage.example.com:/hosted_engine/nfs
      If needed, specify additional mount options for the connection to the hosted-engine storage domain []:
    • For iSCSI, enter the portal details and select a target and LUN from the auto-detected lists. You can only select one iSCSI target during the deployment, but multipathing is supported to connect all portals of the same portal group.

      To specify more than one iSCSI target, you must enable multipathing before deploying the self-hosted engine. See Enterprise Linux DM Multipath for details. There is also a Multipath Helper tool that generates a script to install and configure multipath with different options.

      Please specify the iSCSI portal IP address:
      Please specify the iSCSI portal port [3260]:
      Please specify the iSCSI discover user:
      Please specify the iSCSI discover password:
      Please specify the iSCSI portal login user:
      Please specify the iSCSI portal login password:
      
      The following targets have been found:
      	[1]	iqn.2017-10.com.redhat.example:he
      		TPGT: 1, portals:
      			192.168.1.xxx:3260
      			192.168.2.xxx:3260
      			192.168.3.xxx:3260
      
      Please select a target (1) [1]: 1
      
      The following luns have been found on the requested target:
        [1] 360003ff44dc75adcb5046390a16b4beb   199GiB  MSFT   Virtual HD
            status: free, paths: 1 active
      
      Please select the destination LUN (1) [1]:
    • For Gluster storage, enter the full address and path to the storage, and any mount options:

      Only replica 1 and replica 3 Gluster storage are supported. Ensure you configure the volume as follows:

      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME group virt
      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME performance.strict-o-direct on
      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME network.remote-dio off
      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME storage.owner-uid 36
      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME storage.owner-gid 36
      gluster volume set VOLUME_NAME network.ping-timeout 30
      Please specify the full shared storage connection path to use (example: host:/path): storage.example.com:/hosted_engine/gluster_volume
      If needed, specify additional mount options for the connection to the hosted-engine storage domain []:
    • For Fibre Channel, select a LUN from the auto-detected list. The host bus adapters must be configured and connected, and the LUN must not contain any existing data. To reuse an existing LUN, see Reusing LUNs in the Administration Guide.

      The following luns have been found on the requested target:
      [1] 3514f0c5447600351   30GiB   XtremIO XtremApp
      		status: used, paths: 2 active
      
      [2] 3514f0c5447600352   30GiB   XtremIO XtremApp
      		status: used, paths: 2 active
      
      Please select the destination LUN (1, 2) [1]:
  26. Enter the disk size of the Engine virtual machine:

    Please specify the size of the VM disk in GB: [50]:

    When the deployment completes successfully, one data center, cluster, host, storage domain, and the Engine virtual machine are already running. You can log in to the Administration Portal to add any other resources.

  27. Optional: Install and configure Red Hat Single Sign On so that you can add additional users to the environment. For more information, see Installing and Configuring Red Hat Single Sign-On in the Administration Guide.

  28. Optional: Deploy Grafana so you can monitor and display reports from your oVirt environment. For more information, see Configuring Grafana in the Administration Guide.

The Engine virtual machine, the host running it, and the self-hosted engine storage domain are flagged with a gold crown in the Administration Portal.

Both the Engine’s I/O scheduler and the hypervisor that hosts the Engine reorder I/O requests. This double reordering might delay I/O requests to the storage layer, impacting performance.

Depending on your data center, you might improve performance by changing the I/O scheduler to none. For more information, see Available disk schedulers in Monitoring and managing system status and performance for RHEL.

The next step is to enable the oVirt Engine repositories.

5.4. Enabling the oVirt Engine Repositories

Ensure the correct repositories are enabled.

For oVirt 4.5: If you are going to install on RHEL or derivatives please follow Installing on RHEL or derivatives first.

# dnf install -y centos-release-ovirt45

As discussed in oVirt Users mailing list we suggest the user community to use oVirt master snapshot repositories ensuring that the latest fixes for the platform regressions will be promptly available.

For oVirt 4.4:

Common procedure valid for both 4.4 and 4.5 on Enterprise Linux 8 only:

You can check which repositories are currently enabled by running dnf repolist.

  1. Enable the javapackages-tools module.

    # dnf module -y enable javapackages-tools
  2. Enable the pki-deps module.

    # dnf module -y enable pki-deps
  3. Enable version 12 of the postgresql module.

    # dnf module -y enable postgresql:12
  4. Enable version 2.3 of the mod_auth_openidc module.

    # dnf module -y enable mod_auth_openidc:2.3
  5. Enable version 14 of the nodejs module:

    # dnf module -y enable nodejs:14
  6. Update the Self-Hosted Engine using the procedure Updating a Self-Hosted Engine in the Upgrade Guide.

Additional resources

For information on modules and module streams, see the following sections in Installing, managing, and removing user-space components

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

5.5. 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.

    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 Engine 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 oVirt Administration Portal, click your user name in the header bar and click Sign Out. You are logged out of all portals and the Engine welcome screen displays.

6. Installing Hosts for oVirt

oVirt supports two types of hosts: oVirt Nodes (oVirt Node) and Enterprise Linux hosts. Depending on your environment, you may want to use one type only, or both. At least two hosts are required for features such as migration and high availability.

See Recommended practices for configuring host networks for networking information.

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

Table 6. Host Types
Host Type Other Names Description

oVirt Node

oVirt Node, thin host

This is a minimal operating system based on 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.

Enterprise Linux host

Enterprise Linux host, thick host

Enterprise Linux systems with the appropriate repositories enabled can be used as hosts.

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 oVirt 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.

6.1. oVirt Nodes

6.1.1. Installing oVirt Nodes

oVirt Node (oVirt Node) is a minimal operating system based on Enterprise Linux that is designed to provide a simple method for setting up a physical machine to act as a hypervisor in a oVirt environment. The minimal operating system contains only the packages required for the machine to act as a hypervisor, and features a Cockpit web interface for monitoring the host and performing administrative tasks. See Running Cockpit for the minimum browser requirements.

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

The host must meet the minimum host requirements.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

Procedure
  1. Visit the oVirt Node Download page.

  2. Choose the version of oVirt Node to download and click its Installation ISO link.

  3. Write the oVirt Node Installation ISO disk image to a USB, CD, or DVD.

  4. Start the machine on which you are installing oVirt Node, booting from the prepared installation media.

  5. From the boot menu, select Install oVirt Node 4.5 and press Enter.

    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.

  6. Select a language, and click Continue.

  7. Select a keyboard layout from the Keyboard Layout screen and click Done.

  8. Select the device on which to install oVirt Node from the Installation Destination screen. Optionally, enable encryption. Click Done.

    Use the Automatically configure partitioning option.

  9. Select a time zone from the Time & Date screen and click Done.

  10. Select a network from the Network & Host Name screen and click Configure…​ to configure the connection details.

    To use the connection every time the system boots, select the Connect automatically with priority check box. For more information, see Configuring network and host name options in the Enterprise Linux 8 Installation Guide.

    Enter a host name in the Host Name field, and click Done.

  11. Optional: Configure Security Policy and Kdump. See Customizing your RHEL installation using the GUI in Performing a standard RHEL installation for Enterprise Linux 8 for more information on each of the sections in the Installation Summary screen.

  12. Click Begin Installation.

  13. Set a root password and, optionally, create an additional user while oVirt Node installs.

    Do not create untrusted users on oVirt Node, as this can lead to exploitation of local security vulnerabilities.

  14. Click Reboot to complete the installation.

    When oVirt Node 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.

6.1.2. Installing a third-party package on oVirt-node

If you need a package that is not included in the oVirt provided repository, you need to provide the repository before you can install the package.

Prerequisites
  • The path to the repository that includes the package you want to install.

  • You are logged in to the host with root permissions.

Procedure
  1. Open an existing .repo file or create a new one in /etc/yum.repos.d/.

  2. Add an entry to the .repo file. For example, to install sssd-ldap, add the following entry to a new .repo file name third-party.repo:

    # imgbased: set-enabled
    [custom-sssd-ldap]
    name = Provides sssd-ldap
    mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$stream&arch=$basearch&repo=BaseOS&infra=$infra
    #baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/$contentdir/$stream/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
    gpgcheck=1
    enabled=1
    gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-centosofficial
    includepkgs = sssd-ldap
  3. Install ` sssd-ldap`:

    # dnf install sssd-ldap

6.1.3. Advanced Installation

Custom Partitioning

Custom partitioning on oVirt Node (oVirt Node) is not recommended. Use 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/crash

    • /var/log

    • /var/log/audit

      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 oVirt Node, and therefore should be left on root (/).

      For information about the required storage sizes for each partition, see 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.

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/crash --vgname=HostVG --name=var_crash --thin --fstype=ext4 --poolname=HostPool --fsoptions="defaults,discard" --size=10000
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

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.

Installing a DUD driver on a host without installer support

There are times when installing oVirt Node (oVirt Node) requires a Driver Update Disk (DUD), such as when using a hardware RAID device that is not supported by the default configuration of oVirt Node. In contrast with Enterprise Linux hosts, oVirt Node does not fully support using a DUD. Subsequently the host fails to boot normally after installation because it does not see RAID. Instead it boots into emergency mode.

Example output:

Warning: /dev/test/rhvh-4.4-20210202.0+1 does not exist
Warning: /dev/test/swap does not exist
Entering emergency mode. Exit the shell to continue.

In such a case you can manually add the drivers before finishing the installation.

Prerequisites
  • A machine onto which you are installing oVirt Node.

  • A DUD.

  • If you are using a USB drive for the DUD and oVirt Node, you must have at least two available USB ports.

Procedure
  1. Load the DUD on the host machine.

    You can search for DUDs or modules for CentOS Stream at the following locations:

  2. Install oVirt Node. See Installing oVirt Nodes in Installing oVirt as a self-hosted engine using the command line.

    When installation completes, do not reboot the system.

    If you want to access the DUD using SSH, do the following:

    • Add the string inst.sshd to the kernel command line:

      <kernel_command_line> inst.sshd
    • Enable networking during the installation.

  3. Enter the console mode, by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F3. Alternatively you can connect to it using SSH.

  4. Mount the DUD:

    # mkdir /mnt/dud
    # mount -r /dev/<dud_device> /mnt/dud
  5. Copy the RPM file inside the DUD to the target machine’s disk:

    # cp /mnt/dud/rpms/<path>/<rpm_file>.rpm /mnt/sysroot/root/

    For example:

    # cp /mnt/dud/rpms/x86_64/kmod-3w-9xxx-2.26.02.014-5.el8_3.elrepo.x86_64.rpm /mnt/sysroot/root/
  6. Change the root directory to /mnt/sysroot:

    # chroot /mnt/sysroot
  7. Back up the current initrd images. For example:

    # cp -p /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img.bck1
    # cp -p /boot/ovirt-node-ng-4.4.5.1-0.20210323.0+1/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img /boot/ovirt-node-ng-4.4.5.1-0.20210323.0+1/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img.bck1
  8. Install the RPM file for the driver from the copy you made earlier.

    For example:

    # dnf install /root/kmod-3w-9xxx-2.26.02.014-5.el8_3.elrepo.x86_64.rpm

    This package is not visible on the system after you reboot into the installed environment, so if you need it, for example, to rebuild the initramfs, you need to install that package once again, after which the package remains.

    If you update the host using dnf, the driver update persists, so you do not need to repeat this process.

    If you do not have an internet connection, use the rpm command instead of dnf:

    # rpm -ivh /root/kmod-3w-9xxx-2.26.02.014-5.el8_3.elrepo.x86_64.rpm
  9. Create a new image, forcefully adding the driver:

    # dracut --force --add-drivers <module_name> --kver <kernel_version>

    For example:

    # dracut --force --add-drivers 3w-9xxx --kver 4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64
  10. Check the results. The new image should be larger, and include the driver. For example, compare the sizes of the original, backed-up image file and the new image file.

    In this example, the new image file is 88739013 bytes, larger than the original 88717417 bytes:

    # ls -ltr /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img*
    -rw-------. 1 root root 88717417 Jun  2 14:29 /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img.bck1
    -rw-------. 1 root root 88739013 Jun  2 17:47 /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img

    The new drivers should be part of the image file. For example, the 3w-9xxx module should be included:

    # lsinitrd /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img | grep 3w-9xxx
    drwxr-xr-x   2 root     root            0 Feb 22 15:57 usr/lib/modules/4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64/weak-updates/3w-9xxx
    lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           55 Feb 22 15:57 usr/lib/modules/4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64/weak-updates/3w-9xxx/3w-9xxx.ko-../../../4.18.0-240.el8.x86_64/extra/3w-9xxx/3w-9xxx.ko
    drwxr-xr-x   2 root     root            0 Feb 22 15:57 usr/lib/modules/4.18.0-240.el8.x86_64/extra/3w-9xxx
    -rw-r--r--   1 root     root        80121 Nov 10  2020 usr/lib/modules/4.18.0-240.el8.x86_64/extra/3w-9xxx/3w-9xxx.ko
  11. Copy the image to the the directory under /boot that contains the kernel to be used in the layer being installed, for example:

    # cp -p /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img /boot/ovirt-node-ng-4.4.5.1-0.20210323.0+1/initramfs-4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64.img
  12. Exit chroot.

  13. Exit the shell.

  14. If you used Ctrl + Alt + F3 to access a virtual terminal, then move back to the installer by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F_<n>_, usually F1 or F5

  15. At the installer screen, reboot.

Verification

The machine should reboot successfully.

Automating oVirt Node deployment

You can install oVirt Node (oVirt Node) 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.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

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

The automated oVirt Node deployment has 3 stages:

Preparing the installation environment
  1. Visit the oVirt Node Download page.

  2. Choose the version of oVirt Node to download and click its Installation ISO link.

  3. Make the oVirt Node ISO image available over the network. See Installation Source on a Network in the Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.

  4. Extract the squashfs.img hypervisor image file from the oVirt Node ISO:

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

    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.

Configuring the PXE server and the boot loader
  1. Configure the PXE server. See Preparing for a Network Installation in the Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.

  2. Copy the oVirt Node 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 oVirt Node boot images in the boot loader configuration:

    LABEL rhvh
    MENU LABEL Install oVirt Node
    KERNEL /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/vmlinuz
    APPEND initrd=/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/initrd.img inst.stage2=URL/to/oVirt Node-ISO
    oVirt Node 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: oVirt Node 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 oVirt Node 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/oVirt Node-ISO/rhvh-install
Creating and running a Kickstart file
  1. Create a Kickstart file and make it available over the network. See Kickstart Installations in the Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.

  2. Ensure that the Kickstart file meets the following oVirt-specific requirements:

    • The %packages section is not required for oVirt Node. Instead, use the liveimg option and specify the redhat-virtualization-host-version_number_version.squashfs.img file from the oVirt Node 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, but use caution: ensure that the local disk is detected first, include the ignoredisk command, and specify the local disk to ignore, such as sda. To ensure that a particular drive is used, oVirt recommends using ignoredisk --only-use=/dev/disk/<path> or ignoredisk --only-use=/dev/disk/<ID>:

      autopart --type=thinp
      ignoredisk --only-use=sda
      ignoredisk --only-use=/dev/disk/<path>
      ignoredisk --only-use=/dev/disk/<ID>

      Autopartitioning requires thin provisioning.

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

      If your installation requires manual partitioning, see 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

      Ensure that the nodectl init command is at the very end of the %post section but before the reboot code, if any.

      Kickstart example for deploying oVirt Node on its own

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

      This example assumes that all disks are empty and can be initialized. If you have attached disks with data, either remove them or add them to the ignoredisks property.

      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
  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/oVirt Node-ISO inst.ks=URL/to/oVirt Node-ks.cfg
  4. Install oVirt Node following the instructions in Booting from the Network Using PXE in the Enterprise Linux Installation Guide.

6.2. Enterprise Linux hosts

6.2.1. Installing Enterprise Linux hosts

A Enterprise Linux host is based on a standard basic installation of Enterprise Linux 8.7 or later on a physical server, with the Enterprise Linux Server and oVirt repositories enabled.

The oVirt project also provides packages for Enterprise Linux 9.

For detailed installation instructions, see the Performing a standard EL installation.

The host must meet the minimum host requirements.

When installing or reinstalling the host’s operating system, oVirt strongly recommends that you first detach any existing non-OS storage that is attached to the host to avoid accidental initialization of these disks, and with that, potential data loss.

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.

Do not install third-party watchdogs on Enterprise Linux hosts. They can interfere with the watchdog daemon provided by VDSM.

6.2.2. Installing Cockpit on Enterprise Linux hosts

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

Procedure
  1. Install the dashboard packages:

    # dnf install cockpit-ovirt-dashboard
  2. Enable and start the cockpit.socket service:

    # systemctl enable cockpit.socket
    # systemctl start cockpit.socket
  3. Check if Cockpit is an active service in the firewall:

    # firewall-cmd --list-services

    You should see cockpit listed. If it is not, enter the following with root permissions to add cockpit as a service to your firewall:

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=cockpit

    The --permanent option keeps the cockpit service active after rebooting.

You can log in to the Cockpit web interface at https://HostFQDNorIP:9090.

Always use the oVirt Engine to modify the network configuration of hosts in your clusters. Otherwise, you might create an unsupported configuration. For details, see Network Manager Stateful Configuration (nmstate).

If your network environment is complex, you may need to configure a host network manually before adding the host to the oVirt Engine.

Consider the following practices for configuring a host network:

  • Configure the network with Cockpit. Alternatively, you can use nmtui or nmcli.

  • If a network is not required for a self-hosted engine deployment or for adding a host to the Engine, configure the network in the Administration Portal after adding the host to the Engine. See Creating a New Logical Network in a Data Center or Cluster.

  • Use the following naming conventions:

    • VLAN devices: VLAN_NAME_TYPE_RAW_PLUS_VID_NO_PAD

    • VLAN interfaces: physical_device.VLAN_ID (for example, eth0.23, eth1.128, enp3s0.50)

    • Bond interfaces: bondnumber (for example, bond0, bond1)

    • VLANs on bond interfaces: bondnumber.VLAN_ID (for example, bond0.50, bond1.128)

  • Use network bonding. Network teaming is not supported in oVirt and will cause errors if the host is used to deploy a self-hosted engine or added to the Engine.

  • Use recommended bonding modes:

  • Configure a VLAN on a physical NIC as in the following example (although nmcli is used, you can use any tool):

    # nmcli connection add type vlan con-name vlan50 ifname eth0.50 dev eth0 id 50
    # nmcli con mod vlan50 +ipv4.dns 8.8.8.8 +ipv4.addresses 123.123.0.1/24 +ipv4.gateway 123.123.0.254
  • Configure a VLAN on a bond as in the following example (although nmcli is used, you can use any tool):

    # nmcli connection add type bond con-name bond0 ifname bond0 bond.options "mode=active-backup,miimon=100" ipv4.method disabled ipv6.method ignore
    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name eth0 ifname eth0 master bond0 slave-type bond
    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name eth1 ifname eth1 master bond0 slave-type bond
    # nmcli connection add type vlan con-name vlan50 ifname bond0.50 dev bond0 id 50
    # nmcli con mod vlan50 +ipv4.dns 8.8.8.8 +ipv4.addresses 123.123.0.1/24 +ipv4.gateway 123.123.0.254
  • Do not disable firewalld.

  • Customize the firewall rules in the Administration Portal after adding the host to the Engine. See Configuring Host Firewall Rules.

6.4. Adding Self-Hosted Engine Nodes to the oVirt Engine

Add self-hosted engine nodes in the same way as a standard host, with an additional step to deploy the host as a self-hosted engine node. The shared storage domain is automatically detected and the node can be used as a failover host to host the Engine virtual machine when required. You can also attach standard hosts to a self-hosted engine environment, but they cannot host the Engine virtual machine. Have at least two self-hosted engine nodes to ensure the Engine virtual machine is highly available. You can also add additional hosts using the REST API. See Hosts in the REST API Guide.

Prerequisites
Procedure
  1. In the Administration Portal, click Compute  Hosts.

  2. Click New.

    For information on additional host settings, see Explanation of Settings and Controls in the New Host and Edit Host Windows in the Administration Guide.

  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 Engine 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. 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.

  7. Click the Hosted Engine tab.

  8. Select Deploy.

  9. Click OK.

6.5. Adding Standard Hosts to the oVirt Engine

Always use the oVirt Engine to modify the network configuration of hosts in your clusters. Otherwise, you might create an unsupported configuration. For details, see Network Manager Stateful Configuration (nmstate).

Adding a host to your oVirt environment can take some time, as the following steps are completed by the platform: virtualization checks, installation of packages, and creation of a bridge.

Procedure
  1. From the Administration Portal, click Compute  Hosts.

  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 Engine 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. Optionally, click the Advanced Parameters button to change the following advanced host settings:

    • Disable automatic firewall configuration.

    • 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 Events section of the Notification Drawer (EventsIcon). After a brief delay the host status changes to Up.

7. Adding Storage for oVirt

Add storage as data domains in the new environment. A oVirt environment must have at least one data domain, but adding more is recommended.

Add the storage you prepared earlier:

If you are using iSCSI storage, new data domains must not use the same iSCSI target as the self-hosted engine storage domain.

Creating additional data domains in the same data center as the self-hosted engine storage domain is highly recommended. If you deploy the self-hosted engine in a data center with only one active data storage domain, and that storage domain is corrupted, you will not be able to add new storage domains or remove the corrupted storage domain; you will have to redeploy the self-hosted engine.

7.1. Adding NFS Storage

This procedure shows you how to attach existing NFS storage to your oVirt environment as a data domain.

If you require an ISO or export domain, use this procedure, but select ISO or Export from the Domain Function list.

Procedure
  1. In the Administration Portal, click Storage  Domains.

  2. Click New Domain.

  3. Enter a Name for the storage domain.

  4. Accept the default values for the Data Center, Domain Function, Storage Type, Format, and Host lists.

  5. Enter the Export Path to be used for the storage domain. The export path should be in the format of 123.123.0.10:/data (for IPv4), [2001:0:0:0:0:0:0:5db1]:/data (for IPv6), or domain.example.com:/data.

  6. 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.

  7. Click OK.

The new NFS data domain has a status of Locked until the disk is prepared. The data domain is then automatically attached to the data center.

7.2. Adding iSCSI Storage

This procedure shows you how to attach existing iSCSI storage to your oVirt environment as a data domain.

Procedure
  1. Click Storage  Domains.

  2. Click New Domain.

  3. Enter the Name of the new storage domain.

  4. Select a Data Center from the drop-down list.

  5. Select Data as the Domain Function and iSCSI as the Storage Type.

  6. Select an active host as the Host.

    Communication to the storage domain is from the selected host and not directly from the Engine. Therefore, all hosts must have access to the storage device before the storage domain can be configured.

  7. The Engine can map iSCSI targets to LUNs or LUNs to iSCSI targets. The New Domain window automatically displays known targets with unused LUNs when the iSCSI storage type is selected. If the target that you are using to add storage does not appear, you can use target discovery to find it; otherwise proceed to the next step.

    1. Click Discover Targets to enable target discovery options. When targets have been discovered and logged in to, the New Domain window automatically displays targets with LUNs unused by the environment.

      LUNs used externally for the environment are also displayed.

      You can use the Discover Targets options to add LUNs on many targets or multiple paths to the same LUNs.

      If you use the REST API method discoveriscsi to discover the iscsi targets, you can use an FQDN or an IP address, but you must use the iscsi details from the discovered targets results to log in using the REST API method iscsilogin. See discoveriscsi in the REST API Guide for more information.

    2. Enter the FQDN or IP address of the iSCSI host in the Address field.

    3. Enter the port with which to connect to the host when browsing for targets in the Port field. The default is 3260.

    4. If CHAP is used to secure the storage, select the User Authentication check box. Enter the CHAP user name and CHAP password.

      You can define credentials for an iSCSI target for a specific host with the REST API. See StorageServerConnectionExtensions: add in the REST API Guide for more information.

    5. Click Discover.

    6. Select one or more targets from the discovery results and click Login for one target or Login All for multiple targets.

      If more than one path access is required, you must discover and log in to the target through all the required paths. Modifying a storage domain to add additional paths is currently not supported.

      When using the REST API iscsilogin method to log in, you must use the iscsi details from the discovered targets results in the discoveriscsi method. See iscsilogin in the REST API Guide for more information.

  8. Click the + button next to the desired target. This expands the entry and displays all unused LUNs attached to the target.

  9. Select the check box for each LUN that you are using to create the storage domain.

  10. 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.

  11. Click OK.

If you have configured multiple storage connection paths to the same target, follow the procedure in Configuring iSCSI Multipathing to complete iSCSI bonding.

If you want to migrate your current storage network to an iSCSI bond, see Migrating a Logical Network to an iSCSI Bond.

7.3. Adding FCP Storage

This procedure shows you how to attach existing FCP storage to your oVirt environment as a data domain.

Procedure
  1. Click Storage  Domains.

  2. Click New Domain.

  3. Enter the Name of the storage domain.

  4. Select an FCP Data Center from the drop-down list.

    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 lists. The storage domain types that are not compatible with the chosen data center are not available.

  6. Select an active host in the Host field. If this is not the first data domain in a data center, you must select the data center’s SPM host.

    All communication to the storage domain is through the selected host and not directly from the oVirt Engine. 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.

The new FCP data domain remains in a Locked status while it is being prepared for use. When ready, it is automatically attached to the data center.

7.4. Adding Gluster Storage

To use Gluster Storage with oVirt, see Configuring oVirt with Gluster Storage.

For the Gluster Storage versions that are supported with oVirt, see Red Hat Gluster Storage Version Compatibility and Support.

Appendix A: Troubleshooting a Self-hosted Engine Deployment

To confirm whether the self-hosted engine has already been deployed, run hosted-engine --check-deployed. An error will only be displayed if the self-hosted engine has not been deployed.

Troubleshooting the Engine Virtual Machine

Check the status of the Engine virtual machine by running hosted-engine --vm-status.

Any changes made to the Engine virtual machine will take about 20 seconds before they are reflected in the status command output.

Depending on the Engine status in the output, see the following suggestions to find or fix the issue.

Engine status: "health": "good", "vm": "up" "detail": "up"

  1. If the Engine virtual machine is up and running as normal, you will see the following output:

    --== Host 1 status ==--
    
    Status up-to-date              : True
    Hostname                       : hypervisor.example.com
    Host ID                        : 1
    Engine status                  : {"health": "good", "vm": "up", "detail": "up"}
    Score                          : 3400
    stopped                        : False
    Local maintenance              : False
    crc32                          : 99e57eba
    Host timestamp                 : 248542
  2. If the output is normal but you cannot connect to the Engine, check the network connection.

Engine status: "reason": "failed liveliness check", "health": "bad", "vm": "up", "detail": "up"

  1. If the health is bad and the vm is up, the HA services will try to restart the Engine virtual machine to get the Engine back. If it does not succeed within a few minutes, enable the global maintenance mode from the command line so that the hosts are no longer managed by the HA services.

    # hosted-engine --set-maintenance --mode=global
  2. Connect to the console. When prompted, enter the operating system’s root password. For more console options, see How to access Hosted Engine VM console from RHEV-H host?.

    # hosted-engine --console
  3. Ensure that the Engine virtual machine’s operating system is running by logging in.

  4. Check the status of the ovirt-engine service:

    # systemctl status -l ovirt-engine
    # journalctl -u ovirt-engine
  5. Check the following logs: /var/log/messages, /var/log/ovirt-engine/engine.log, and /var/log/ovirt-engine/server.log.

  6. After fixing the issue, reboot the Engine virtual machine manually from one of the self-hosted engine nodes:

    # hosted-engine --vm-shutdown
    # hosted-engine --vm-start

    When the self-hosted engine nodes are in global maintenance mode, the Engine virtual machine must be rebooted manually. If you try to reboot the Engine virtual machine by sending a reboot command from the command line, the Engine virtual machine will remain powered off. This is by design.

  7. On the Engine virtual machine, verify that the ovirt-engine service is up and running:

     # systemctl status ovirt-engine.service
  8. After ensuring the Engine virtual machine is up and running, close the console session and disable the maintenance mode to enable the HA services again:

    # hosted-engine --set-maintenance --mode=none

Engine status: "vm": "down", "health": "bad", "detail": "unknown", "reason": "vm not running on this host"

This message is expected on a host that is not currently running the Engine virtual machine.

  1. If you have more than one host in your environment, ensure that another host is not currently trying to restart the Engine virtual machine.

  2. Ensure that you are not in global maintenance mode.

  3. Check the ovirt-ha-agent logs in /var/log/ovirt-hosted-engine-ha/agent.log.

  4. Try to reboot the Engine virtual machine manually from one of the self-hosted engine nodes:

    # hosted-engine --vm-shutdown
    # hosted-engine --vm-start

Engine status: "vm": "unknown", "health": "unknown", "detail": "unknown", "reason": "failed to getVmStats"

This status means that ovirt-ha-agent failed to get the virtual machine’s details from VDSM.

  1. Check the VDSM logs in /var/log/vdsm/vdsm.log.

  2. Check the ovirt-ha-agent logs in /var/log/ovirt-hosted-engine-ha/agent.log.

Engine status: The self-hosted engine’s configuration has not been retrieved from shared storage

If you receive the status The hosted engine configuration has not been retrieved from shared storage. Please ensure that ovirt-ha-agent is running and the storage server is reachable there is an issue with the ovirt-ha-agent service, or with the storage, or both.

  1. Check the status of ovirt-ha-agent on the host:

    # systemctl status -l ovirt-ha-agent
    # journalctl -u ovirt-ha-agent
  2. If the ovirt-ha-agent is down, restart it:

    # systemctl start ovirt-ha-agent
  3. Check the ovirt-ha-agent logs in /var/log/ovirt-hosted-engine-ha/agent.log.

  4. Check that you can ping the shared storage.

  5. Check whether the shared storage is mounted.

Additional Troubleshooting Commands

  • hosted-engine --reinitialize-lockspace: This command is used when the sanlock lockspace is broken. Ensure that the global maintenance mode is enabled and that the Engine virtual machine is stopped before reinitializing the sanlock lockspaces.

  • hosted-engine --clean-metadata: Remove the metadata for a host’s agent from the global status database. This makes all other hosts forget about this host. Ensure that the target host is down and that the global maintenance mode is enabled.

  • hosted-engine --check-liveliness: This command checks the liveliness page of the ovirt-engine service. You can also check by connecting to https://engine-fqdn/ovirt-engine/services/health/ in a web browser.

  • hosted-engine --connect-storage: This command instructs VDSM to prepare all storage connections needed for the host and the Engine virtual machine. This is normally run in the back-end during the self-hosted engine deployment. Ensure that the global maintenance mode is enabled if you need to run this command to troubleshoot storage issues.

Cleaning Up a Failed Self-hosted Engine Deployment

If a self-hosted engine deployment was interrupted, subsequent deployments will fail with an error message. The error will differ depending on the stage in which the deployment failed.

If you receive an error message, you can run the cleanup script on the deployment host to clean up the failed deployment. However, it’s best to reinstall your base operating system and start the deployment from the beginning.

The cleanup script has the following limitations:

  • A disruption in the network connection while the script is running might cause the script to fail to remove the management bridge or to recreate a working network configuration.

  • The script is not designed to clean up any shared storage device used during a failed deployment. You need to clean the shared storage device before you can reuse it in a subsequent deployment.

Procedure
  1. Run /usr/sbin/ovirt-hosted-engine-cleanup and select y to remove anything left over from the failed self-hosted engine deployment.

    # /usr/sbin/ovirt-hosted-engine-cleanup
    This will de-configure the host to run ovirt-hosted-engine-setup from scratch.
    Caution, this operation should be used with care.
    Are you sure you want to proceed? [y/n]
  2. Define whether to reinstall on the same shared storage device or select a different shared storage device.

    • To deploy the installation on the same storage domain, clean up the storage domain by running the following command in the appropriate directory on the server for NFS, Gluster, PosixFS or local storage domains:

      # rm -rf storage_location/*
    • For iSCSI or Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) storage, see How to Clean Up a Failed Self-hosted Engine Deployment? for information on how to clean up the storage.

    • Reboot the self-hosted engine host or select a different shared storage device.

      The reboot is needed to make sure all the connections to the storage are cleaned before the next attempt.

  3. Redeploy the self-hosted engine.

Appendix B: Customizing the Engine virtual machine using automation during deployment

You can use automation to adjust or otherwise customize the Engine virtual machine during deployment by using one or more Ansible playbooks. You can run playbooks at the following points during deployment:

  • before the self-hosted engine setup

  • after the self-hosted engine setup, but before storage is configured

  • after adding the deployment host to the Engine

  • after the deployment completes entirely

Procedure
  1. Write one or more Ansible playbooks to run on the Engine virtual machine at specific points in the deployment process.

  2. Add the playbooks to the appropriate directory under /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/redhat/rhv/roles/hosted_engine_setup/hooks/:

    enginevm_before_engine_setup

    Run the playbook before the self-hosted engine setup.

    enginevm_after_engine_setup

    Run the playbook after the self-hosted engine setup, but before storage is configured.

    after_add_host

    Run the playbook after adding the deployment host to the Engine.

    after_setup

    Run the playbook after deployment is completed.

When you run the self-hosted-engine installer, the deployment script runs the ovirt-engine-setup role, which automatically runs any playbooks in either of these directories.

Appendix C: Migrating Databases and Services to a Remote Server

Although you cannot configure remote databases and services during the automated installation, you can migrate them to a separate server post-installation.

Migrating Data Warehouse to a Separate Machine

This section describes how to migrate the Data Warehouse database and service from the oVirt Engine machine to a separate machine. Hosting the Data Warehouse service on a separate machine reduces the load on each individual machine, and avoids potential conflicts caused by sharing CPU and memory resources with other processes.

oVirt only supports installing the Data Warehouse database, the Data Warehouse service and Grafana all on the same machine as each other, even though you can install each of these components on separate machines from each other.

You have the following migration options:

  • You can migrate the Data Warehouse service away from the Engine machine and connect it with the existing Data Warehouse database (ovirt_engine_history).

  • You can migrate the Data Warehouse database away from the Engine machine and then migrate the Data Warehouse service.

Migrating the Data Warehouse Database to a Separate Machine

Procedure
  1. Create a backup of the Data Warehouse database and configuration files on the Engine:

    # engine-backup --mode=backup --scope=grafanadb --scope=dwhdb --scope=files --file=file_name --log=log_file_name
  2. Copy the backup file from the Engine to the new machine:

    # scp /tmp/file_name root@new.dwh.server.com:/tmp
  3. Install engine-backup on the new machine:

    # dnf install ovirt-engine-tools-backup
  4. Install the PostgreSQL server package:

    # dnf install postgresql-server postgresql-contrib
  5. Initialize the PostgreSQL database, start the postgresql service, and ensure that this service starts on boot:

    # su - postgres -c 'initdb'
    # systemctl enable postgresql
    # systemctl start postgresql
  6. Restore the Data Warehouse database on the new machine. file_name is the backup file copied from the Engine.

    # engine-backup --mode=restore --scope=files --scope=grafanadb --scope=dwhdb --file=file_name --log=log_file_name --provision-dwh-db

    When the --provision-* option is used in restore mode, --restore-permissions is applied by default.

The Data Warehouse database is now hosted on a separate machine from that on which the Engine is hosted. After successfully restoring the Data Warehouse database, a prompt instructs you to run the engine-setup command. Before running this command, migrate the Data Warehouse service.

Migrating the Data Warehouse Service to a Separate Machine

You can migrate the Data Warehouse service installed and configured on the oVirt Engine to a separate machine. Hosting the Data Warehouse service on a separate machine helps to reduce the load on the Engine machine.

Notice that this procedure migrates the Data Warehouse service only.

To migrate the Data Warehouse database (ovirt_engine_history) prior to migrating the Data Warehouse service, see Migrating the Data Warehouse Database to a Separate Machine.

oVirt only supports installing the Data Warehouse database, the Data Warehouse service and Grafana all on the same machine as each other, even though you can install each of these components on separate machines from each other.

Prerequisites
  • You must have installed and configured the Engine and Data Warehouse on the same machine.

  • To set up the new Data Warehouse machine, you must have the following:

    • The password from the Engine’s /etc/ovirt-engine/engine.conf.d/10-setup-database.conf file.

    • Allowed access from the Data Warehouse machine to the Engine database machine’s TCP port 5432.

    • The username and password for the Data Warehouse database from the Engine’s /etc/ovirt-engine-dwh/ovirt-engine-dwhd.conf.d/10-setup-database.conf file. If you migrated the ovirt_engine_history database using Migrating the Data Warehouse Database to a Separate Machine, the backup includes these credentials, which you defined during the database setup on that machine.

Installing this scenario requires four steps:

Setting up the New Data Warehouse Machine

Enable the oVirt repositories and install the Data Warehouse setup package on a Enterprise Linux 8 machine:

  1. Enable the pki-deps module.

    # dnf module -y enable pki-deps
  2. Ensure that all packages currently installed are up to date:

    # dnf upgrade --nobest
  3. Install the ovirt-engine-dwh-setup package:

    # dnf install ovirt-engine-dwh-setup
Stopping the Data Warehouse Service on the Engine Machine
  1. Stop the Data Warehouse service:

    # systemctl stop ovirt-engine-dwhd.service
  2. If the database is hosted on a remote machine, you must manually grant access by editing the postgres.conf file. Edit the /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file and modify the listen_addresses line so that it matches the following:

    listen_addresses = '*'

    If the line does not exist or has been commented out, add it manually.

    If the database is hosted on the Engine machine and was configured during a clean setup of the oVirt Engine, access is granted by default.

    See Migrating the Data Warehouse Database to a Separate Machine for more information on how to configure and migrate the Data Warehouse database.

  3. Restart the postgresql service:

    # systemctl restart postgresql
Configuring the New Data Warehouse Machine

The order of the options or settings shown in this section may differ depending on your environment.

  1. If you are migrating both the ovirt_engine_history database and the Data Warehouse service to the same machine, run the following, otherwise proceed to the next step.

    # sed -i '/^ENGINE_DB_/d' \
            /etc/ovirt-engine-dwh/ovirt-engine-dwhd.conf.d/10-setup-database.conf
    
    # sed -i \
         -e 's;^\(OVESETUP_ENGINE_CORE/enable=bool\):True;\1:False;' \
         -e '/^OVESETUP_CONFIG\/fqdn/d' \
         /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/20-setup-ovirt-post.conf
  2. Run the engine-setup command to begin configuration of Data Warehouse on the machine:

    # engine-setup
  3. Press Enter to accept the automatically detected host name, or enter an alternative host name and press Enter:

    Host fully qualified DNS name of this server [autodetected host name]:
  4. Press Enter to automatically configure the firewall, or type No and press Enter to maintain existing settings:

    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]:

    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.

  5. Enter the fully qualified domain name and password for the Engine. Press Enter to accept the default values in each other field:

    Host fully qualified DNS name of the engine server []: engine-fqdn
    Setup needs 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]:
    ssh port on remote engine server [22]:
    root password on remote engine server engine-fqdn: password
  6. Enter the FQDN and password for the Engine database machine. Press Enter to accept the default values in each other field:

    Engine database host []: manager-db-fqdn
    Engine database port [5432]:
    Engine database secured connection (Yes, No) [No]:
    Engine database name [engine]:
    Engine database user [engine]:
    Engine database password: password
  7. Confirm your installation settings:

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

The Data Warehouse service is now configured on the remote machine. Proceed to disable the Data Warehouse service on the Engine machine.

Disabling the Data Warehouse Service on the Engine Machine
  1. On the Engine machine, restart the Engine:

    # service ovirt-engine restart
  2. Run the following command to modify the file /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/20-setup-ovirt-post.conf and set the options to False:

    # sed -i \
         -e 's;^\(OVESETUP_DWH_CORE/enable=bool\):True;\1:False;' \
         -e 's;^\(OVESETUP_DWH_CONFIG/remoteEngineConfigured=bool\):True;\1:False;' \
         /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/20-setup-ovirt-post.conf
    
    # sed -i \
         -e 's;^\(OVESETUP_GRAFANA_CORE/enable=bool\):True;\1:False;' \
         /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/20-setup-ovirt-post.conf
  3. Disable the Data Warehouse service:

    # systemctl disable ovirt-engine-dwhd.service
  4. Remove the Data Warehouse files:

    # rm -f /etc/ovirt-engine-dwh/ovirt-engine-dwhd.conf.d/* .conf /var/lib/ovirt-engine-dwh/backups/*

The Data Warehouse service is now hosted on a separate machine from the Engine.

Appendix D: Configuring a Host for PCI Passthrough

This is one in a series of topics that show how to set up and configure SR-IOV on oVirt. For more information, see Setting Up and Configuring SR-IOV

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 must enable virtualization extensions and the IOMMU function. The following procedure requires you to reboot the host. If the host is attached to the Engine already, ensure you place the host into maintenance mode first.

Prerequisites
  • Ensure that the host hardware meets the requirements for PCI device passthrough and assignment. See PCI Device Requirements for more information.

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 Enterprise Linux Virtualization Deployment 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 Engine 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 GPU device passthrough: Assigning a host GPU to a single virtual machine in Setting up an NVIDIA GPU for a virtual machine in Red Hat Virtualization for more information.

Enabling IOMMU Manually
  1. Enable IOMMU by editing the grub configuration file.

    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
      …​

      If intel_iommu=on or an AMD IOMMU is detected, you can try adding 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 the 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

Appendix E: Preventing kernel modules from loading automatically

You can prevent a kernel module from being loaded automatically, whether the module is loaded directly, loaded as a dependency from another module, or during the boot process.

Procedure
  1. The module name must be added to a configuration file for the modprobe utility. This file must reside in the configuration directory /etc/modprobe.d.

    For more information on this configuration directory, see the man page modprobe.d.

  2. Ensure the module is not configured to get loaded in any of the following:

    • /etc/modprobe.conf

    • /etc/modprobe.d/*

    • /etc/rc.modules

    • /etc/sysconfig/modules/*

    # modprobe --showconfig <_configuration_file_name_>
  3. If the module appears in the output, ensure it is ignored and not loaded:

    # modprobe --ignore-install <_module_name_>
  4. Unload the module from the running system, if it is loaded:

    # modprobe -r <_module_name_>
  5. Prevent the module from being loaded directly by adding the blacklist line to a configuration file specific to the system - for example /etc/modprobe.d/local-dontload.conf:

    # echo "blacklist <_module_name_> >> /etc/modprobe.d/local-dontload.conf

    This step does not prevent a module from loading if it is a required or an optional dependency of another module.

  6. Prevent optional modules from being loading on demand:

    # echo "install <_module_name_>/bin/false" >> /etc/modprobe.d/local-dontload.conf

    If the excluded module is required for other hardware, excluding it might cause unexpected side effects.

  7. Make a backup copy of your initramfs:

    # cp /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img.$(date +%m-%d-%H%M%S).bak
  8. If the kernel module is part of the initramfs, rebuild your initial ramdisk image, omitting the module:

    # dracut --omit-drivers <_module_name_> -f
  9. Get the current kernel command line parameters:

    # grub2-editenv - list | grep kernelopts
  10. Append <_module_name_>.blacklist=1 rd.driver.blacklist=<_module_name_> to the generated output:

    # grub2-editenv - set kernelopts="<> <_module_name_>.blacklist=1 rd.driver.blacklist=<_module_name_>"

    For example:

    # grub2-editenv - set kernelopts="root=/dev/mapper/rhel_example-root ro crashkernel=auto resume=/dev/mapper/rhel_example-swap rd.lvm.lv=rhel_example/root rd.lvm.lv=rhel_example/swap <_module_name_>.blacklist=1 rd.driver.blacklist=<_module_name_>"
  11. Make a backup copy of the kdump initramfs:

    # cp /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)kdump.img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)kdump.img.$(date +%m-%d-%H%M%S).bak
  12. Append rd.driver.blacklist=<_module_name_> to the KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND setting in /etc/sysconfig/kdump to omit it from the kdump initramfs:

    # sed -i '/^KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND=/s/"$/ rd.driver.blacklist=module_name"/' /etc/sysconfig/kdump
  13. Restart the kdump service to pick up the changes to the kdump initrd:

      # kdumpctl restart
  14. Rebuild the kdump initial ramdisk image:

      # mkdumprd -f /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)kdump.img
  15. Reboot the system.

Removing a module temporarily

You can remove a module temporarily.

Procedure
  1. Run modprobe to remove any currently-loaded module:

    # modprobe -r <module name>
  2. If the module cannot be unloaded, a process or another module might still be using the module. If so, terminate the process and run the modpole command written above another time to unload the module.