Bug 1371299 - [RFE][DOCS] Add chapter to installation guide for deploying hypervisor from PXE using tftp and automation of deployment
Summary: [RFE][DOCS] Add chapter to installation guide for deploying hypervisor from P...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager
Classification: Red Hat
Component: Documentation
Version: unspecified
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ovirt-4.0.7
: ---
Assignee: Tahlia Richardson
QA Contact: Byron Gravenorst
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2016-08-29 20:26 UTC by emahoney
Modified: 2020-05-14 15:17 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2017-02-13 02:33:38 UTC
oVirt Team: Docs
Target Upstream Version:


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Description emahoney 2016-08-29 20:26:27 UTC
Description of problem:

We used to have a chapter dedicated to hypervisor deployment over PXE:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization_for_Servers/2.1/html/5.4-2.1_Hypervisor_Deployment_Guide/sect-Deployment_Guide-Preparing_Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization_Hypervisor_installation_media-Deploying_RHEV_Hypervisors_with_PXE_and_tftp.html

Something can/should be added as large scale deployments would benefit from this. You can reference the chapter below for setting up a tftp server on RHEL 7 (which would be preferable).

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Storage_Administration_Guide/ch-disklesssystems.html

It also would help to have an updated automation chapter similar to the one linked below that is applicable to the newest versions of RHEV/RHV.

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization_for_Servers/2.1/html/5.4-2.1_Hypervisor_Deployment_Guide/sect-Deployment_Guide-Installing_Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization_Hypervisors-RHEV_Hypervisor_Kernel_Parameters_and_Automated_Installation.html


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Latest versions of these documents are for 2.1. Need an updated chapter/document that covers these topics.

Comment 1 Fabian Deutsch 2016-09-12 10:35:00 UTC
There is not a lot of difference between automatically installing RHVH and RHEL, thus the RHEL automated installation guide can be taken for reference:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-kickstart-installations.html

However, as RHVH does not use a package management system, the %packages section is not needed.
Instead there are a few other constraints:
a) Use he kernel, initrd and stage2 squashfs from a RHVH installation DVD
b) liveimg --url=$URL_TO_SQUASHFS directive must be used instead of %packages
c) %post section which calls "nodectl init" is required.
d) autopart must be used (as long as the manual partitioning is not documented)

These additional constraints should be added to the RHVH installation docs, because that is where RHVH installation differs from RHEL.

Comment 3 Tahlia Richardson 2016-11-25 05:03:15 UTC
For PXE, the RHEL docs have the following sections:

Preparing for a Network Installation:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-installation-server-setup.html

Booting from the Network Using PXE:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-booting-installer-x86.html#sect-booting-from-pxe-x86

I think that we can just have a section linking to these, the same as we will for kickstart, since I can't imagine there's a lot of difference between RHEL and RHVH. Fabian, can you confirm? Any requirements/limitations/differences that should be noted?

Comment 4 Fabian Deutsch 2016-11-25 07:30:08 UTC
Yes. Linking the two and the ks section is good.

But we have a few differences.

The required kickstart must contain:

autopart --type=thinp
liveimg --url=<url to squashfs>

%post
nodectl init
%end

If autopart is not used, then there are a few constraints:
/ needs to be a thin LV
/var needs to be a separate volume
/boot needs to be on a separate partition

Comment 6 Ryan Barry 2016-12-07 13:16:14 UTC
I'm a little concerned that the warning about the squashfs/kernel is not more explicit.

Anaconda must discover the correct product as part of /.buildstamp, which is part of the squashfs. If the squashfs from the RHV-H ISO is not explicitly referenced, anaconda will not know this is a RHV-H host, and the wrong partitioning will be selected.

Comment 7 Tahlia Richardson 2017-01-10 05:11:52 UTC
Hi Ryan, 
I tried to put those constraints in the order they would appear in the Kickstart file, according to the RHEL docs. However, since the RHVH squashfs is probably the most important part, I can put it first in that list if that would help?

Comment 8 Ryan Barry 2017-01-10 06:06:08 UTC
Hi Tahlia,

I would suggest leaving it in the same position as the "url" parameter normally is. It's true that liveimg (along with autopart) is the most important parameter in the main section of the kickstart, but replacing 'url' most closely matches the RHEL documentation.

That said, I'm not a documentation expert at all, so I'll trust your opinion.

Comment 9 Tahlia Richardson 2017-01-10 06:49:10 UTC
Thanks Ryan, I'll leave it as is.

Comment 10 Ryan Barry 2017-01-10 19:02:51 UTC
Hi Tahlia -

Just to clarify, the squashfs (the `liveimg` directive) should be in the same place as url.

However, the requirement on the kernel/initramfs (stage2) from the ISO still needs to be added.


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