Bug 1732437 - Remove direct kernel/initrd booting from oVirt Engine [NEEDINFO]
Summary: Remove direct kernel/initrd booting from oVirt Engine
Keywords:
Status: ON_QA
Alias: None
Product: ovirt-engine
Classification: oVirt
Component: BLL.Virt
Version: future
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
high
unspecified vote
Target Milestone: ovirt-4.4.0
: ---
Assignee: Liran Rotenberg
QA Contact: Nikolai Sednev
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2019-07-23 11:57 UTC by Ryan Barry
Modified: 2020-02-04 20:35 UTC (History)
6 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Removed functionality
Doc Text:
The linux boot parameters, including direct kernel, initrd and custom kernel parameters are removed within this bug from the WEB-UI. It is deprecated from ansible and REST-API to support older versions.
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
oVirt Team: Virt
nsednev: needinfo? (rbarry)
pm-rhel: ovirt-4.4+

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Links
System ID Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Github ansible ansible pull 60386 'None' closed ovirt: remove linux boot params 2020-02-23 12:36:24 UTC
oVirt gerrit 102399 'None' MERGED webadmin: remove linux boot options 2020-02-23 12:36:24 UTC
oVirt gerrit 102438 'None' MERGED restapi: deprecate linux boot params 2020-02-23 12:36:23 UTC
oVirt gerrit 102487 'None' ABANDONED restapi: remove linux boot params 2020-02-23 12:36:23 UTC
oVirt gerrit 102879 'None' ABANDONED restapi: deprecate linux boot params 2020-02-23 12:36:23 UTC
oVirt gerrit 103307 'None' MERGED restapi: Update to model 4.4.8 2020-02-23 12:36:23 UTC

Description Ryan Barry 2019-07-23 11:57:48 UTC 
Description of problem:
Direct kernel/initrd booting for VMs is supported by libvirt/qemu, and was added to oVirt in the past. However, this feature is not utilized by end users, and the backend support depends on directly moving these files through a mechanism which is not data domains.

Rather than rewriting to use data domains (similar to the existing ISO bugs), it's better to remove it from the following:

UI
REST API
Any ansible code which may invoke it
Comment 1 RHEL Program Management 2019-09-19 15:09:44 UTC 
The documentation text flag should only be set after 'doc text' field is provided. Please provide the documentation text and set the flag to '?' again.
Comment 2 Timoses 2019-11-10 14:48:16 UTC 
This makes accessing the the boot options (https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/installation_guide/chap-anaconda-boot-options) impossible.

What is the rationale of removing this? "this feature is not utilized by end users"?!

We actually did intend to use the kernel_params of the Ansible ovirt_vm module to initiate a kickstart installation process of a guest VM. Now that support is removed, we're left without a visible alternative.

Are there remaining alternatives to controlling boot options via Ansible (e.g. ovirt_vm) or the REST API now?
Comment 3 Ryan Barry 2019-11-14 14:40:05 UTC 
Well, the alternatives are:

* PXE installation
* embed a kickstart onto the ISO
* Provision with Foreman
* Make/seal a template out of a VM
* Configuration of a pre-built image with cloud-init

Are there any required boot options outside of inst.ks?
Comment 4 Nikolai Sednev 2020-01-21 14:57:36 UTC 
What would be the reproduction steps?
Comment 5 Ryan Barry 2020-01-21 15:14:08 UTC 
Open the runonce dialog and VM boot settings and see that the option is not there (it is present in 4.3)
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