Intro
Virtualization made a significant change in the IT (Information Technology)
industry. This technology helped many organizations to use server resources efficiently. Server virtualization revolutionized data center management and helped
organizations cut the fat out of the IT infrastructure. This was a game
changer for data center investments and optimization. Nowadays IT engineers are managing software-driven data centers.
Virtualization requires the use of a hypervisor, hypervisor abstracts
operating systems and applications from their underlying hardware. This
enables the host hardware to operate multiple VMs independently of each other
and share abstract resources among those VMs.
Virtualization there are two major types.
- Full-virtualization
- Para-virtualization
Even though the cloud exists still organizations invest in virtualization technology. Because there are
many benefits. A few pros and cons are listed below.
Pros of virtualization
-
Reduced IT costs, This cost reduction comes from different
levels.
I. Capital expenditure savings:
Virtualization enables reducing the cost by reducing the hardware footprint
in the data center by requiring fewer hardware servers and related resources
to achieve the same level of computing performance, availability, and
Scalability.
II. Operational expenditure savings:
Once servers are virtualized, IT staff can greatly reduce the ongoing
administration and management of manual intervention time-consuming
processes like server installation.
III. Data center and energy savings:
As we shrink company hardware and
server footprint, we are lowering the data center energy consumption and square
footage.
2. Efficient resource utilization.
Most companies spend a lot of capital settings up their systems and server but eventually use only a fraction of it effectively. Virtualization enables to host of multiple VMS on a single hypervisor. This will save the hardware cost and attain a high-efficiency level.
3. Scalability and Availability.
Virtualization platforms offer many advanced features that are not found on physical servers. Which increases the uptime and availability. Although vendor feature names may be different, all provide features like
- Live migration
- Storage migration
- fault tolerance
- high availability.
- distribute resource scheduling.
These features elevated the ability to recover from unplanned outages.
4. Ease the cloud migration.
If there is a plan to move to the cloud, virtualization makes this easy. Because cloud and virtualization use the same technology stack.
Cons of virtualization
- The upfront costs are hefty.
- Not all the hardware or software can be virtualized
- It's easily carried away with adding servers.
Last decade there is a significant improvement in open source virtualization
technology. Oracle also change the view of the virtualization path by
moving from OVM to KVM (Kernel Based Virtual Machine). KVM is actually an open-source virtualization technology that turns Linux into a hypervisor. Also, Oracle came up with a management engine to
manage multiple hypervisors called OLVM (Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager)
this is a similar product to VMware vcenter.
OLVM Installation and Configuration.
In this article, I will cover OLVM
(Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager) installation and other administrative tasks like adding a KVM host to
OLVM etc.. This environment I have hosted in a VirtualBox environment. (Nested virtualization). I will explain how to set up the nested virtualized environment in VBox.
I have mentioned the oracle documentation link for OLVM-engine 4.4
installation and configuration.
Installation and Configuration (oracle.com)
Required Packages
First, we need to enable the oracle Linux 8 repository. We need to enable an internet connection to the KVM server or need to create a sample repository.
dnf install oracle-ovirt-release-el8
Sample output
[root@kvm02 ~]# dnf install oracle-ovirt-release-el8
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:04 ago on Fri 22 Jul 2022 12:08:59 AM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Package Architecture Version Repository Size
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
oracle-ovirt-release-el8 x86_64 1.0-1.0.3.el8 ol8_baseos_latest 23 k
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 23 k
Installed size: 35 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64.rpm 9.0 kB/s | 23 kB 00:02
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 9.0 kB/s | 23 kB 00:02
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Running scriptlet: oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installing : oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64 1/1
Running scriptlet: oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64 1/1
Enabling OLVM 4.4 required Yum Channels...
Enabling ol8_baseos_latest Yum Channel...
Enabling ol8_UEKR6 Yum Channel...
Enabling ol8_gluster_appstream Yum Channel...
Enabling ol8_kvm_appstream Yum Channel...
Disabling yum module virt:ol
Enabling yum module virt:kvm_utils2
Enabling module pki-deps
Enabling module postgresql:13
Required oVirt 4.4 Yum Channels enabled.
Done.
Verifying : oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installed:
oracle-ovirt-release-el8-1.0-1.0.3.el8.x86_64
Complete!
[root@kvm02 ~]#
List repository
This will enable the new oel 8 repository required for KVM installation.
[root@kvm02 ~]# dnf repolist
repo id repo name
ol8_UEKR6 Latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64)
ol8_appstream Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64)
ol8_baseos_latest Oracle Linux 8 BaseOS Latest (x86_64)
ol8_gluster_appstream Oracle Linux 8 Gluster Appstream (x86_64)
ol8_kvm_appstream Oracle Linux 8 KVM Application Stream (x86_64)
ovirt-4.4 Latest oVirt 4.4 Release (x86_64)
ovirt-4.4-extra oVirt 4.4 Extra (x86_64)
[root@kvm02 ~]#
Install Engine
Execute the "installed ovirt-engine" mentioned commands to install the engine-related packages.
dnf install ovirt-engine
Configure Engine
Make sure the hostname is configured with FQDN (Full qualified domain name) eg:kvm02.local.com
To configure the engine setup need to execute the engine-setup command. If need to accept all the default values execute
engine-setup --accept-defaults to automatically accept all questions that have default answers.
Sample output
[root@kvm02 ~]# engine-setup
[ INFO ] Stage: Initializing
[ INFO ] Stage: Environment setup
Configuration files: /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/10-packaging-jboss.conf, /etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/10-packaging.conf
Log file: /var/log/ovirt-engine/setup/ovirt-engine-setup-20220725103208-vp6a4t.log
Version: otopi-1.9.5 (otopi-1.9.5-1.el8)
[ INFO ] Stage: Environment packages setup
[ INFO ] Stage: Programs detection
[ INFO ] Stage: Environment setup (late)
[ INFO ] Stage: Environment customization
--== PRODUCT OPTIONS ==--
Configure Cinderlib integration (Currently in tech preview) (Yes, No) [No]:
Configure Engine on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
Configuring ovirt-provider-ovn also sets the Default cluster's default network provider to ovirt-provider-ovn.
Non-Default clusters may be configured with an OVN after installation.
Configure ovirt-provider-ovn (Yes, No) [Yes]:
Configure WebSocket Proxy on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
* Please note * : Data Warehouse is required for the engine.
If you choose to not configure it on this host, you have to configure
it on a remote host, and then configure the engine on this host so
that it can access the database of the remote Data Warehouse host.
Configure Data Warehouse on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
Configure VM Console Proxy on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
Configure Grafana on this host (Yes, No) [Yes]:
--== PACKAGES ==--
[ INFO ] Checking for product updates...
[ INFO ] DNF Package grafana-postgres available, but not installed.
[ INFO ] No product updates found
--== NETWORK CONFIGURATION ==--
Host fully qualified DNS name of this server [kvm02.local.com]:
[WARNING] Failed to resolve kvm02.local.com using DNS, it can be resolved only locally
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]:
[ INFO ] firewalld will be configured as firewall manager.
--== DATABASE CONFIGURATION ==--
Where is the DWH database located? (Local, Remote) [Local]:
Setup can configure the local postgresql server automatically for the DWH to run. This may conflict with existing applications.
Would you like Setup to automatically configure postgresql and create DWH database, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
Where is the Engine database located? (Local, Remote) [Local]:
Setup can configure the local postgresql server automatically for the engine to run. This may conflict with existing applications.
Would you like Setup to automatically configure postgresql and create Engine database, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
--== OVIRT ENGINE CONFIGURATION ==--
Engine admin password:
Confirm engine admin password:
[WARNING] Password is weak: The password is shorter than 8 characters
Use weak password? (Yes, No) [No]: Yes
Application mode (Virt, Gluster, Both) [Both]:
Use default credentials (admin@internal) for ovirt-provider-ovn (Yes, No) [Yes]:
--== STORAGE CONFIGURATION ==--
Default SAN wipe after delete (Yes, No) [No]:
--== PKI CONFIGURATION ==--
Organization name for certificate [local.com]:
--== APACHE CONFIGURATION ==--
Setup can configure the default page of the web server to present the application home page. This may conflict with existing applications.
Do you wish to set the application as the default page of the web server? (Yes, No) [Yes]:
Setup can configure apache to use SSL using a certificate issued from the internal CA.
Do you wish Setup to configure that, or prefer to perform that manually? (Automatic, Manual) [Automatic]:
--== SYSTEM CONFIGURATION ==--
--== MISC CONFIGURATION ==--
Please choose Data Warehouse sampling scale:
(1) Basic
(2) Full
(1, 2)[1]:
Use Engine admin password as initial Grafana admin password (Yes, No) [Yes]:
--== END OF CONFIGURATION ==--
[ INFO ] Stage: Setup validation
[WARNING] Less than 16384MB of memory is available
--== CONFIGURATION PREVIEW ==--
Application mode : both
Default SAN wipe after delete : False
Host FQDN : kvm02.local.com
Firewall manager : firewalld
Update Firewall : True
Set up Cinderlib integration : False
Configure local Engine database : True
Set application as default page : True
Configure Apache SSL : True
Engine database host : localhost
Engine database port : 5432
Engine database secured connection : False
Engine database host name validation : False
Engine database name : engine
Engine database user name : engine
Engine installation : True
PKI organization : local.com
Set up ovirt-provider-ovn : True
Grafana integration : True
Grafana database user name : ovirt_engine_history_grafana
Configure WebSocket Proxy : True
DWH installation : True
DWH database host : localhost
DWH database port : 5432
DWH database secured connection : False
DWH database host name validation : False
DWH database name : ovirt_engine_history
Configure local DWH database : True
Configure VMConsole Proxy : True
Please confirm installation settings (OK, Cancel) [OK]:
[ INFO ] Stage: Transaction setup
[ INFO ] Stopping engine service
[ INFO ] Stopping ovirt-fence-kdump-listener service
[ INFO ] Stopping dwh service
[ INFO ] Stopping vmconsole-proxy service
[ INFO ] Stopping websocket-proxy service
[ INFO ] Stage: Misc configuration (early)
[ INFO ] Stage: Package installation
[ INFO ] DNF Downloading 4 files, 16083.99KB
[ INFO ] DNF Downloaded ovirt-vmconsole-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch.rpm
[ INFO ] DNF Downloaded selinux-policy-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch.rpm
[ INFO ] DNF Downloaded selinux-policy-targeted-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch.rpm
[ INFO ] DNF Downloaded ovirt-vmconsole-proxy-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch.rpm
[ INFO ] DNF Upgraded: selinux-policy-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Upgraded: selinux-policy-targeted-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Upgraded: ovirt-vmconsole-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Upgraded: ovirt-vmconsole-proxy-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Unknown: ovirt-vmconsole-proxy-1.0.9-2.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Unknown: ovirt-vmconsole-1.0.9-2.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Unknown: selinux-policy-targeted-3.14.3-80.0.1.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Unknown: selinux-policy-3.14.3-80.0.1.el8.noarch
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: selinux-policy-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch 1/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: selinux-policy-3.14.3-80.0.1.el8.noarch 2/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: selinux-policy-targeted-3.14.3-80.0.4.el8_5.2.noarch 3/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: selinux-policy-targeted-3.14.3-80.0.1.el8.noarch 4/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: ovirt-vmconsole-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch 5/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: ovirt-vmconsole-1.0.9-2.el8.noarch 6/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: ovirt-vmconsole-proxy-1.0.9-3.el8.noarch 7/8
[ INFO ] DNF Verify: ovirt-vmconsole-proxy-1.0.9-2.el8.noarch 8/8
[ INFO ] Stage: Misc configuration
[ INFO ] Upgrading CA
[ INFO ] Initializing PostgreSQL
[ INFO ] Creating PostgreSQL 'engine' database
[ INFO ] Configuring PostgreSQL
[ INFO ] Creating PostgreSQL 'ovirt_engine_history' database
[ INFO ] Configuring PostgreSQL
[ INFO ] Creating CA: /etc/pki/ovirt-engine/ca.pem
[ INFO ] Creating CA: /etc/pki/ovirt-engine/qemu-ca.pem
[ INFO ] Updating OVN SSL configuration
[ INFO ] Updating OVN timeout configuration
[ INFO ] Creating/refreshing DWH database schema
[ INFO ] Setting up ovirt-vmconsole proxy helper PKI artifacts
[ INFO ] Setting up ovirt-vmconsole SSH PKI artifacts
[ INFO ] Configuring WebSocket Proxy
[ INFO ] Creating/refreshing Engine database schema
[ INFO ] Creating a user for Grafana
[ INFO ] Creating/refreshing Engine 'internal' domain database schema
[ INFO ] Creating default mac pool range
[ INFO ] Adding default OVN provider to database
[ INFO ] Adding OVN provider secret to database
[ INFO ] Setting a password for internal user admin
[ INFO ] Install selinux module /usr/share/ovirt-engine/selinux/ansible-runner-service.cil
[ INFO ] Generating post install configuration file '/etc/ovirt-engine-setup.conf.d/20-setup-ovirt-post.conf'
[ INFO ] Stage: Transaction commit
[ INFO ] Stage: Closing up
[ INFO ] Starting engine service
[ INFO ] Starting dwh service
[ INFO ] Starting Grafana service
[ INFO ] Restarting ovirt-vmconsole proxy service
--== SUMMARY ==--
[ INFO ] Restarting httpd
Please use the user 'admin@internal' and password specified in order to login
Web access is enabled at:
http://kvm02.local.com:80/ovirt-engine
https://kvm02.local.com:443/ovirt-engine
Internal CA CF:C8:A2:E0:42:FE:5F:19:55:B3:E2:9F:A9:7F:4C:DC:49:8D:C7:CB
SSH fingerprint: SHA256:aRJ1E8zUzNaYsXG2tCfvV4EGTMxw/mMzrKQQt2ZFZKE
[WARNING] Less than 16384MB of memory is available
Web access for grafana is enabled at:
https://kvm02.local.com/ovirt-engine-grafana/
Please run the following command on the engine machine kvm02.local.com, for SSO to work:
systemctl restart ovirt-engine
--== END OF SUMMARY ==--
[ INFO ] Stage: Clean up
Log file is located at /var/log/ovirt-engine/setup/ovirt-engine-setup-20220725103208-vp6a4t.log
[ INFO ] Generating answer file '/var/lib/ovirt-engine/setup/answers/20220725103526-setup.conf'
[ INFO ] Stage: Pre-termination
[ INFO ] Stage: Termination
[ INFO ] Execution of setup completed successfully
[root@kvm02 ~]#
Config Firewall
Enable the below-mentioned firewall rule to access the olvm url.
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --reload
Access the URL
OLVM URL can be found in the engine setup summary section, This figure shows the main URL of the virtual manager.
Login
Once you click the administration portal, you can log in to the login page. The username for the administration portal is admin.
Dashboard
This figure shows the main dashboard, the dashboard has the main tab to navigate the data-center, cluster, host, VM (virtual machines), and Storage domains.
Conclusion
Virtualization is the best solution to utilize resources efficiently and reduce the data center footprint. Last decade virtual manager and virtualization technology have improved drastically on open source platforms. It's not easy to manage 100 to 300 KVM separately by login into each URL. OLVM (Oracle Linux virtualization manager) will act as a single point of contact to manage all the DC (data center), KVM, and VM (Virtual Machine) and storage domains. The best practice should be to host this machine out of the KVM server. As many developers working on this OLVM, this will be more mature with many more features. Also, virtualization is the backbone of the cloud platform which enabled the software-driven data center concept.
Next article I will cover the Storage domain configuration and VM creation.
