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Red Hat Virtualization

Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) is an open-source, easy to use, efficient infrastructure and centralized management platform for virtualized Linux and Windows workloads. Built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technologies, it provides a distributed platform to virtualize traditional applications and build a foundation for cloud-native and container-based workloads.

RHV allows you to provision new virtual servers, and enables efficient use of physical server resources. With RHV, you can manage your entire virtual infrastructure - including hosts, virtual machines, networks, storage, and users - from a centralized graphical user interface or REST API.

RHV offers a high-performance, highly available platform with built-in security for business-critical workloads. RHV provides integrated management with a self-service user portal.

RHV is based on the OVirt open-source project.

RHV Key Components


RHV Key Components

Component NameDescription

Red Hat Virtualization Manager

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

Hosts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts (RHEL-based hypervisors) and Red Hat Virtualization Hosts (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 Manager.


Note

For single server deployments, Ribbon recommends using RHEL as a stand-alone virtual machine host.

Note

For multi-host deployments, Ribbon recommends deploying RHV using the Self-Hosted Engine Architecture, with stand-alone HA services.

Note the following:

  • Ribbon applications provide HA services; the RHV HA services are configured in stand-alone mode. 
  • Shared storage is optional, based on the storage requirements. 
  • NFS storage are deployed by the Manager and used for persistent state storage.
  • The Manager requires: 2 vCPU, 25 GB disk, 4 GB memory, 1 vNIC.
  • You can add more hosts based on the required VM capacity.

RHV Key Features and Benefits


RHV Key Features and Benefits

FeaturesBenefits

Centralized management

  • Red Hat Virtualization Manager provides a centralized management system with a search-driven graphical user interface.
  • A system dashboard provides access to detailed information, including a global-use overview of central processing units (CPUs), memory, and storage host resources.
  • A self-hosted engine provides built-in high availability for Red Hat Virtualization Manager, which is deployed as a virtual appliance.

Security and hardening

Secure virtualization (sVirt) and Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) technologies are incorporated to secure and harden the hypervisor against attacks aimed at the host or virtual machines (VMs).
Highly available resources
  • You can configure VMs for high availability in case of host failure.
  • You can configure hosts for power and/or storage-based fencing for high availability.
  • Red Hat Virtualization fully supports third-party tools through a REST application programming interface (API) that backs up, restores, and replicates VMs and infrastructure data.
Automation and integration
  • Red Hat CloudForms integrates with Red Hat Virtualization to automate and orchestrate virtual events and provide reporting, chargeback, self-service portals, and compliance enforcement.
  • Red Hat Virtualization integrates with OpenStack Glance and Neutron to ease traditional workload migration to private clouds, or to design applications that span virtual and private cloud environments.
  • Integration with Red Hat Ansible® Automation streamlines administration and operations for virtualization administrators and engineers by configuring Red Hat Virtualization infrastructure and resources, such as hosts, VMs, networks, and storage.
  • Red Hat Virtualization natively supports Red Hat Gluster Storage, and Gluster Storage node management is available through the Red Hat Virtualization administrator portal.
  • A RESTful API automates management and programming configurations.
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) allows Red Hat Virtualization Manager to integrate with third-party monitoring systems.
Workload management
  • An advanced service-level agreement manager allows administrators to define host and VM policies for underlying infrastructure resources, and guarantee service quality.
  • You can add more memory and CPU resources without disrupting applications.
  • An oVirt optimizer automatically balances existing VMs within a cluster.
Cross-platform support
  • RHV fully supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 (32 and 64-bit), 7 (64-bit) and 8 (64-bit).
  • It also supports Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 (32- and 64-bit), and 2016, as well as desktop systems Windows 7 and 10 (32- and 64-bit).
Migrate from other platformsRed Hat Virtualization Manager, or a command-line tool, helps to migrate workloads from VMware vCenter to Red Hat Virtualization.

References

For detailed information on RHV, refer to the following resources:

RHV References

TopicURL
RHV General Infohttps://access.redhat.com/products/red-hat-virtualization/
RHV Quickstarthttps://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-virtualization-43-quick-start
UI Dashboard Examples

https://www.redhat.com/en/about/videos/red-hat-virtualization-43-introduction-and-overview

https://www.redhat.com/en/about/videos/create-and-manage-virtual-machines-using-red-hat-virtualization
OVirt open-source projecthttps://ovirt.org/

Caution

The third-party URLs given in this article can change without notice.



SBC SWe Installation on RHV

To install SBC SWe on RHV, perform the following:

  1. Setup the RHV.
  2. Create an instance in RHV.

Setup the RHV

  1. Visit the IP address of the RHV hosted engine using a browser. When the page loads, do the following:

    1. Click Administration Portal.

      Red Hat Virtualization - Logon

    2. Provide the user credentials.
    3. Click Logon.

  2. Upload the SBC image to RHV.
    1. Using the panel on the left, navigate to Storage > Disks.

    2. Click Upload > Start.

      RHV - Upload SBC Image - Start Upload

    3. Click Choose File, and select an .iso image from the local disk.

      RHV - Choose File from Disk


      Tip

      The time required to upload the SBC image depends on the network speed. You can monitor the status in the Storage > Disks page.

    4. Provide an Alias, and the Description.
    5. Click OK.

  3. Create a Network for PKT0, PKT1, and HA.
    1. Using the left panel, navigate to Network > Networks.

    2. Click New.

      RHV - Create New Network

    3. Provide the name of the network, add necessary details, and click OK.

      RHV - Network - General

    4. Similarly, create networks for PKT1 and HA.

  4. Map the networks created in the previous step to every host.

    1. Using the left panel, navigate to Compute > Hosts.

      RHV - Compute Hosts

    2. To map a network to a host, select the host from the table, and click Network Interfaces > Setup Host Networks.

      RHV - Network Interfaces - Setup Host Networks

    3. Decide the interfaces corresponding to PKT0, PKT1, and HA. Drag the Interfaces to Assigned Logical Networks, and click OK.

      RHV - Interfaces - Assigned Logical Networks

Create an instance in RHV

To create a virtual machine instance in RHV, perform the following steps using the Red Hat Virtual Manager UI:

  1. Using the left panel, navigate to Compute > Virtual Machine, and click New.

    RHV - Compute - Virtual Machine

  2. If the advanced options does not load by default, click Show Advanced Options on the newly launched window. When the advanced options are displayed, the button changes to Hide Advanced Options.

    RHV - Virtual Machine - General

  3. For the SBC, select the "operating system" as Debian 7, and "optimized for " as Server.
  4. Provide the name of the instance, and other necessary details.

  5. In the section Instance Images, click Create. In the new window, do the following.

    RHV - Virtual Machine - New Virtual Disk


    1. Set the disk Size to 100 GiB.
    2. Provide an Alias.
    3. Select Bootable.

  6. Add the necessary network information. Based on the requirement, add four or six networks (for port redundancy).

    RHV - Virtual Machine - Network Interfaces

  7. Using the left panel, navigate to System.

    RHV - Virtual Machine - System


    1. Configure the memory related fields
    2. Configure time zone.

  8. Using the left panel, navigate to Boot Options.

    RHV - Virtual Machine - Boot Options


    1. Set the CD-ROM as First Device.
    2. Select Attach CD, and select the uploaded image
    3. Click OK.

  9. The table is updated with the newly created VM. Right-click on the VM, and select Run.

    RHV - Virtual Machine - Run

  10. Right-click on the VM, and select Console.

  11. In the Console, the SBC boot screen is displayed. To start installation, press Enter.

    RHV - Ribbon SBC - Install

  12. On completion of the installation process, followed by boot, do the following:
    1. Right-click the VM, and select Shutdown.
    2. Right-click the VM, and select Edit.
    3. In the Boot Options tab, select Hard Disk instead of CD-ROM, and uncheck the Attach CD option.
    4. Right-click on the VM, and select Run.
  13. Log on to the SBC (default username | password: linuxadmin | Sonus). Provide the IP address, netmask, and gateway information.

  14. Install the SBC application using the Platform Manager.

    Tip

    For detailed information on steps 14 and 15, refer to the following pages:

    Installing Application in Standalone Mode

    Installing Application in HA Mode