IBM PowerVC Standard Edition for managing IBM PowerKVM
Using IBM PowerVC for managing PowerKVM for the setup, storage management, and the way that IBM PowerVC handles the capture of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) images requires special considerations. This chapter covers the installation and setup specifics and the basic steps to import, capture, and deploy ISO images:
6.1 Install IBM PowerVC Standard to manage PowerKVM
This section outlines the slight differences between the installation of IBM PowerVC Standard Edition for managing PowerKVM and the installation of IBM PowerVC Standard Edition for managing PowerVM.
 
Important: IBM PowerVM Novalink is a PowerVM-only offering. Although PowerVM and OpenStack have full support for PowerKVM, this technology does not support PowerKVM.
Before you install IBM PowerVC, a Linux Installation must be ready, as described in Chapter 4, “IBM PowerVC installation” on page 75. This section does not cover the Linux installation because it does not differ from the Linux installation for managing PowerVM. For the installation details, see 4.2, “Installing IBM PowerVC” on page 79.
After the IBM PowerVC installation for Linux is ready, complete the following steps:
1. From the Linux command-line interface (CLI), change the working directory to the location of the installation script.
2. Install IBM PowerVC Standard for managing PowerKVM by running this command:
./install
3. Select the offering type to install from the following two options:
 – 1 - Standard managing PowerVM
 – 2 - Standard managing PowerKVM
 – 9 - Exit
Enter 2 to install with PowerVC Standard managing PowerKVM.
The rest of the installation process is the same for all versions. For more information, see 4.2, “Installing IBM PowerVC” on page 79.
6.2 Setting up PowerVC Standard managing PowerKVM
This section covers the steps to add a PowerKVM host, a storage provider, and a network.
6.2.1 Adding the PowerKVM host
To add the PowerKVM host, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM PowerVC graphical user interface (GUI), type your user and password, and click Log In (Figure 6-1).
Figure 6-1 IBM PowerVC Login window
 
Note: The home window (Figure 6-2) does not offer the option to add a fabric.
Figure 6-2 IBM PowerVC home window
2. Click Add host to add the PowerKVM host, as shown in the Figure 6-3.
Figure 6-3 IBM PowerVC Add Host window
During the Add Host task, a package is transferred and installed in the PowerKVM host. As Figure 6-4 shows, messages appear in the lower-right side of the browser.
Figure 6-4 Informational messages
After the host is added, you see the message in Figure 6-5.
Figure 6-5 Host added successfully
3. To review the messages, click the black menu bar at the top of the browser. Figure 6-6 shows the home window with the available PowerKVM hosts.
Figure 6-6 IBM PowerVC managing PowerKVM hosts
4. For a detailed view of the added PowerKVM, click the Hosts icon in the left navigation panel (highlighted in Figure 6-6). Figure 6-7 shows the new PowerKVM hosts.
Figure 6-7 Detailed Hosts view
5. Click a PowerKVM host to display more information, as shown in Figure 6-8.
Figure 6-8 PowerKVM host information and capacity section
You can expand and collapse any sections. The display information about virtual switches and virtual machines (VMs) is shown in Figure 6-9.
Figure 6-9 PowerKVM Virtual Switches and Virtual Machines sections
6.2.2 Adding storage
To add storage, complete the following steps:
1. Add the storage by clicking the Add Storage plus sign (+) in the center of the
IBM PowerVC home window. Figure 6-10 shows a window to specify the storage array IP address and credentials. In our lab environment, we use an IBM SAN Volume Controller. Enter the name, user ID, and password. Click Connect.
Figure 6-10 Add a storage device to IBM PowerVC
2. After you provide the IP connection settings and credentials, specify the SAN Volume Controller storage pool that is assigned to your environment. In Figure 6-11, the SAN Volume Controller shows three pools. In our example, we select DS4800_site2_p02. Click Add Storage.
Figure 6-11 SAN Volume Controller storage pool choice
After you add the SAN Volume Controller and storage pool successfully, a new storage provider appears on the IBM PowerVC home window, as shown in Figure 6-12 (Storage Providers: 1). The storage provider does not have a managed volume yet.
Figure 6-12 The new SAN Volume Controller storage provider
6.2.3 Adding a network
To add a network, complete the following steps:
1. Click Add Network to open the window that is shown in Figure 6-13.
Figure 6-13 Add a network to the IBM PowerVC configuration
2. Add the network name, virtual LAN (VLAN) ID, subnet mask, default gateway, Domain Name Server (DNS), and the address deployment choice (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Static). The configured virtual switch is automatically retrieved from the PowerKVM configuration.
3. After you add the network to the configuration, the home window is updated, as shown in Figure 6-14.
Figure 6-14 Network is configured
Managing virtual switches
IBM PowerVC Standard for managing PowerKVM can manage multiple virtual switches to accommodate your business requirements. Complete the following steps:
1. To edit the virtual switch configuration, from the IBM PowerVC home window, click the Hosts icon, and then double-click the host that you want to use. Expand the Virtual Switches section, if it is not expanded. The virtual switches are defined on the host, as shown in Figure 6-15.
Figure 6-15 List of virtual switches
2. Select the switch that you need to edit and click Edit Switch. From the list of available components, select the physical component that you want to link to the virtual switch, and click Save, as shown in Figure 6-16.
Figure 6-16 Edit virtual switch window
3. The message that is shown in Figure 6-17 appears. Verify that no other activity is running on the host, and click OK.
Figure 6-17 Message about conflicts with the updated virtual switch selections
4. After the process finishes, the component is shown in the Components column. Click View Components to see the details that are shown in Figure 6-18.
Figure 6-18 Details of the virtual switch components
Environment verification
Check the overall IBM PowerVC configuration by clicking Verify Environment.
 
Note: This verification is the same procedure for all IBM PowerVC versions.
6.3 Host group setup
With IBM PowerVC, you can group hosts into host groups. You can set different placement policies for each host group. To create a host group, complete the following steps:
1. Click Hosts → Host Groups and click Create Host Group, as shown in Figure 6-19.
Figure 6-19 Create a host group
2. Enter the host group name, select the placement policy, and the hosts.
3. Click Create Host Group at the bottom of the window.
6.4 Importing ISO images
PowerVC Standard managing PowerKVM offers you the option to use ISO images to create Linux VMs. The setup differs slightly from PowerVC Standard managing PowerVM. After the environment is verified, you can import ISO images to the IBM PowerVC domain.
6.4.1 Importing ISO images by using the command-line interface
The first step to import an ISO image to IBM PowerVC is to transfer the file to the
IBM PowerVC hosts. Then, you can run the IBM PowerVC-iso-import command to add the ISO to IBM PowerVC. Example 6-1 shows an example of importing a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ISO image by using the command-line interface (CLI).
Example 6-1 Import a Red Hat ISO image
[admin@powerkvm bin]# IBM PowerVC-iso-import --name rhel65dvd2 --os rhel --location /softimg/rhel-server-6.5-ppc64-dvd.iso
Password
+----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Property | Value |
+----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Property 'architecture' | ppc64 |
| Property 'hw_vif_model' | virtio |
| Property 'hypervisor_type' | qemu |
| Property 'os_distro' | rhel |
| checksum | 66bb956177d7b55946a5602935e67013 |
| container_format | bare |
| created_at | 2014-05-27T21:14:57.012159 |
| deleted | False |
| deleted_at | None |
| disk_format | iso |
| id | a898e706-c835-42c6-87c2-e53d8efb98ae |
| is_public | True |
| min_disk | 0 |
| min_ram | 0 |
| name | rhel65dvd2 |
| owner | 9c03022ea2a146b78c495cc9a00b0487 |
| protected | False |
| size | 3347902464 |
| status | active |
| updated_at | 2014-05-27T21:15:47.330608 |
| virtual_size | None |
+----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
6.4.2 Importing ISO images by using the GUI
To import ISO images by using the graphical user interface (GUI), complete the following steps:
1. To import ISO images or qcow2 images into IBM PowerVC by using the GUI, click Images on the left navigation pane in IBM PowerVC. Then, click Upload. Enter the image name, operating system, and image type, as shown in Figure 6-20. Click Browse to navigate to the ISO image. Select the ISO image. Finally, click Upload.
Figure 6-20 Upload Image window
 
Note: This process takes a few seconds or minutes, depending on the network bandwidth and the size of the image.
2. After the ISO image is successfully imported, the ISO image appears on the left navigation pane of the IBM PowerVC home window, as shown in Figure 6-21.
Figure 6-21 ISO images that were imported to IBM PowerVC
3. The status of the ISO images can be verified by clicking the Images icon on the left navigation pane to open the Images view that is shown in Figure 6-22.
Figure 6-22 Status of the imported ISO image
4. Click the rhel65dvd2 image to get details, such as the ID, as shown in Figure 6-23.
Figure 6-23 RHEL ISO image details
The images are in the /var/lib/glance/images/ directory. Example 6-2 displays the ISO image file based on the ID in the Images interface that is shown in Figure 6-23.
Example 6-2 ISO image location and naming in IBM PowerVC
[admin@dIBM PowerVCkvm ~]$ ls /var/lib/glance/images
 
a898e706-c835-42c6-87c2-e53d8efb98ae
6.4.3 Deploying an RHEL ISO image
After an ISO image is imported, you can deploy it to a virtual machine (VM). This VM is a base that is ready for future image captures and the automatic deployments of other VMs. Complete the following steps:
1. From the Images window, on the left navigation pane (Figure 6-24), select the image and click Deploy.
Figure 6-24 Select the image for deployment
2. After the image is selected for deployment, you must specify the following parameters for the target VM before any deployment can start (Figure 6-25):
 – VM name.
 – Target host or host group.
 – Compute template.
The following default values can be overridden when they are available:
 • Processors
 • Processor units
 • Memory size
 • Disk size
 – Network template.
 – The VM’s IP address or IBM PowerVC can select an IP address automatically from the IP pool.
Figure 6-25 Virtual machine deployment parameters
3. Complete the required information, and click Deploy to start the VM’s deployment. During the deployment process, IBM PowerVC displays several messages. Figure 6-26 shows the deployment in-progress message.
Figure 6-26 Deployment in-progress message
4. Figure 6-27 shows the successful deployment message.
Figure 6-27 Successful deployment verification message
5. The VM’s deployment can be monitored from the left navigation area, as shown in Figure 6-28.
Figure 6-28 Virtual Machines view with highlighted State and Health columns
6. Click the name to see the detailed Information and Specifications sections about the deployed image, as shown in Figure 6-29.
Figure 6-29 Detailed information
7. The sections can be collapsed and expanded as needed. Figure 6-30 shows the expanded Network Interfaces and Details sections and the collapsed Information and Specifications sections.
Figure 6-30 Detailed information with expanded or collapsed sections
8. The Active status and OK health mean that the VM is deployed. Although this status seems definitive, you still must install the initial Linux installation manually.
9. The machine is prepared and ready for the operating system (OS) installation. A shutdown is required. Select the deployed VM and click Stop, as shown in Figure 6-31.
Figure 6-31 Stop the virtual machine
 
Note: This extra manual installation step is necessary only for ISO image deployment, not for captured VMs.
Tip: When you select the VM, the action buttons become active. If no VM is selected, all of the buttons remain inactive (gray).
Linux installation for the virtual machine
The following steps describe the manual installation of a Linux VM by using an ISO image:
1. Start the VM by clicking Start on IBM PowerVC. When the VM is started, the state is Active, as shown in Figure 6-32.
Figure 6-32 Virtual machine started and active
 
Note: The Health status might remain in the Warning state for several minutes.
2. After the VM status is Active and Health is OK, proceed with the manual installation steps.
3. Open a remote console connection from the PowerKVM command line to the VM by using the virsh console command. First, list all of the VMs by running the virsh list --all command. Example 6-3 shows the output for the virsh command.
Example 6-3 virsh list --all output
[admin@powerkvm ~]# virsh list --all
Id Name State
----------------------------------------------------
- linux20-36d9ca31-00000017 shut off
[admin@powerkvm ~]#
4. Copy the name of the VM and run the following command:
virsh console [virtual_machine_name]
5. This command opens a remote virtual console with the selected VM. Press any key to get the initial input. You see the “Disc Found” message after RHEL starts, as shown in Example 6-4.
Example 6-4 Virtual console that shows Disc Found message
Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ppc64
 
+-----------¦ Disc Found +-----------+
¦ ¦
¦ To begin testing the media before ¦
¦ installation press OK. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Choose Skip to skip the media test ¦
¦ and start the installation. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ +----+ +------+ ¦
¦ ¦ OK ¦ ¦ Skip ¦ ¦
¦ +----+ +------+ ¦
¦ ¦
¦ ¦
+------------------------------------+
 
<Tab>/<Alt-Tab> between elements | <Space> selects | <F12> next screen
6. Follow the instructions to complete the Linux installation. When the installation finishes, the VM is ready to be captured and deployed several times.
6.5 Capturing a virtual machine
A VM can be captured when it is in the Active state or a powered-off state.
This section describes how to capture a VM that is running and managed by IBM PowerVC. This section covers the necessary steps to capture the VM:
1. Install cloud-init on the VM that you want to capture. You must perform this step only the first time that you capture a VM.
2. Perform any pre-capture preparations, such as deleting or cleaning up log files, on the VM.
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server VMs, change the devices so that they are mounted by device name or Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).
Before you can capture a VM, you must ensure that the following requirements are met:
•Your IBM PowerVC environment is configured as described in 6.2, “Setting up PowerVC Standard managing PowerKVM” on page 193.
•The host on which the VM is configured is registered in IBM PowerVC.
•When you capture VMs that use local storage, the /var/lib/glance/images/ directory on the IBM PowerVC management server is used as the repository for storing the qcow2 and ISO images. The file system that contains the /var/lib/glance/images/ directory must have enough space to store the captured images.
6.5.1 Installing cloud-init on the virtual machine
The cloud-init script enables VM activation and initialization. It is widely used for OpenStack.
Before you capture a VM, install the cloud-init initialization package. This package is available at /opt/ibm/IBM PowerVC/images/cloud-init in IBM PowerVC.
 
Important: If you are installing the cloud-init package to capture a VM, and the activation engine (AE) is installed, you must uninstall the AE. To uninstall the AE, see “Preparing a virtual machine with activation-engine” on page 156.
Installing the required dependencies
Before you install cloud-init, you must install the necessary dependencies for cloud-init, such as the following examples, from the repository:
•Python boto
•Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM)
•Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL)
•Any other package manager
Not all dependencies are available in the regular RHEL repository.
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, install the dependencies that are provided at the following site:
For RHEL 6 and 7, complete the following steps:
1. Install the dependencies from the FTP location:
2. Add the EPEL YUM repository to get the dependent Red Hat Package Managers (RPMs):
 – Run the following commands to set up the repository for RHEL 6:
wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6Server/ppc64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh epel-release-6*.rpm
 – Run the following commands to set up the repository for RHEL 7:
wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/ppc64/e/epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh epel-release-7*.rpm
 
Note: The EPEL RPM packages might be renamed with the updated version. You can obtain the new versions from the following website with the correct version selected:
Installing cloud-init
Install the appropriate cloud-init RPM for your OS from /opt/ibm/IBM PowerVC/images/cloud-init:
•For RHEL 6, install cloud-init-0.7.4-*.el6.noarch.rpm.
•For RHEL 7, install cloud-init-0.7.4-*.el7.noarch.rpm from the /opt/ibm/IBM PowerVC/images/cloud-init/rhel location.
Modifying the cloud.cfg file
After you install cloud-init, modify the cloud.cfg file that is available at /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg with the following values, according to your OS.
For RHEL, update the cloud.cfg file with the following values:
•disable_root: 0
•ssh_pwauth: 1
•ssh_deletekeys: 1
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, edit the following fields in the cloud.cfg file:
1. Remove the following field:
users: -root
2. Add the following fields:
 – ssh_pwauth: true
 – ssh_deletekeys: true
For both RHEL and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, add the following new values to the cloud.cfg file:
•disable_ec2_metadata: True
•datasource_list: ['ConfigDrive']
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server only, after you update and save the cloud.cfg file, run the following commands:
•chkconfig -s cloud-init-local on
•chkconfig -s cloud-init on
•chkconfig -s cloud-config on
•chkconfig -s cloud-final on
For RHEL 7, ensure that the following conditions are set on the VM that you are capturing or deploying:
•SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is set to permissive or disabled on the VM that you are capturing or deploying.
•The Network Manager must be installed and enabled.
•Ensure that the net-tools package is installed.
 
Note: This package is not installed by default when you select the Minimal Install software option during the installation of RHEL 7 from an ISO image.
•Edit all of the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth* files and update NM_CONTROLLED=no in them.
Removing the MAC address information
After you install the cloud-init initialization package, remove the Media Access Control (MAC) address information by completing the following steps:
1. Replace /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules with an empty file. (The .rules file contains network persistence rules, including the MAC address.)
2. Replace /lib/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules with an empty file, which generates the .rules file.
 
Note: The recommended action is to replace the previous files with empty files rather than deleting the files. If you delete the files, you might receive an udev kernel warning at boot time.
3. Remove this HWADDR line from Fedora-based images:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
 
Tip: The /etc/sysconfig/network-script file path for the HWADDR file applies for RHEL only. For example, for the ifcfg-eth0 adapter on RHEL, remove the HWADDR line from /etc/sysconfig/network-script/ifcfg-eth0. For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the HWADDR path is /etc/sysconfig/network. On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, remove the HWADDR line from /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth0.
Important: You must remove the network persistence rules in the image because they cause the network interface in the instance to come up as an interface other than eth0. Your image has a record of the MAC address of the network interface card when it was first installed, and this MAC address is different each time that the instance boots.
6.5.2 Changing devices to be mounted by name or UUID
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server virtual servers, use literal names for device names rather than symbolic links. By default, devices are mounted by using -id, which means that they are represented by symbolic links.
You must change the devices so they are mounted by device name or UUID rather than by -id. You must perform this task before you capture a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server VM for the first time. After you capture a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server VM for the first time, you can capture and deploy an image of the resulting VM without performing this task.
To change the devices so that they are mounted by device name or UUID, complete the following steps:
1. Search the file system table /etc/fstab for the presence of symbolic links. Symbolic links look like /dev/disk/by-*.
2. Store the mapping of the /dev/disk/by-* symbolic links to their target devices in a scratch file by running this command:
ls -l /dev/disk/by-* > /tmp/scratchpad.txt
The contents of the scratchpad.txt file might look like Example 6-5.
Example 6-5 Symbolic links mapping
/dev/disk/by-id:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Apr 10 12:07 wwn-0x60050768028180ee380000000000603c -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 wwn-0x60050768028180ee380000000000603c-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 wwn-0x60050768028180ee380000000000603c-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 wwn-0x60050768028180ee380000000000603c-part3 -> ../../sda3
 
/dev/disk/by-path:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-0:0:1:0 -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-0:0:1:0-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-0:0:1:0-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 scsi-0:0:1:0-part3 -> ../../sda3
 
/dev/disk/by-uuid:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 3cb4e486-10a4-44a9-8273-9051f607435e -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 12:07 c6a9f4e8-4e87-49c9-b2-89086c2d1064 -> ../../sda3
/
 
Important: For the following steps, ensure that you use the device names in your own scratchpad.txt file. The following values are merely examples.
3. Edit /etc/fstab, replacing the /dev/disk/by-* entries with the device names that the symbolic links point to, as laid out in your scratchpad.txt file.
Example 6-6 shows what these lines might look like before you edit them.
Example 6-6 Sample device names before the change
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part3 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
Example 6-7 shows what these lines might look like after you edit them.
Example 6-7 Sample device names after the change
/dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda3 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
4. Edit the /etc/lilo.conf file so that the boot and root lines correspond to the device names.
Example 6-8 shows what these lines might look like before you edit them.
Example 6-8 lilo.conf file before change
boot = /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part1
root = /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360050768028180ee380000000000603c-part3
Example 6-9 shows what these lines might look like after you edit them.
Example 6-9 lilo.conf file after change
boot = /dev/sda1
root = /dev/sda3
5. Run the lilo command.
6. Run the mkinitrd command.
 
Note: The installation steps for cloud-init might change with the update of cloud-init or IBM PowerVC. Check the latest information about the cloud-init installation at the IBM Knowledge Center:
6.5.3 Capturing the virtual machine
Before you can capture a VM, the VM must meet specific requirements. If you do not prepare the VM before you capture it, you might get errors when you deploy the resulting image.
To capture a VM by using the cloud-init initialization package, complete the following steps:
1. Install cloud-init on the VM that you want to capture. You perform this step only the first time that you capture a VM. For more information about how to install cloud-init, see 6.5.1, “Installing cloud-init on the virtual machine” on page 217.
2. If the VM that you want to capture is running a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system, change the device mounting. For more information, see 6.5.2, “Changing devices to be mounted by name or UUID” on page 219.
3. Perform any pre-capture preparation, such as deleting or cleaning up log files, on the VM.
4. From the IBM PowerVC home window, click Virtual Machines, select the VM to capture, and click Capture.
5. When the message that is shown in Figure 6-33 appears, click Continue to proceed.
Figure 6-33 Warning message before you capture the VM
6. Name the new image. Figure 6-34 shows a text box to enter the name, and it displays the required default resources for this image.
 
Note: You can override the amount of required resources when you deploy a new VM with this image.
Figure 6-34 Capture window
7. Click Capture to continue. IBM PowerVC starts to capture the VM. IBM PowerVC presents the message that is shown in Figure 6-35.
Figure 6-35 Snapshot in-progress message
The process can take from a few seconds to a few minutes. To see the status of the capture operation, click Virtual Machines. Then, check the Task column to see the status of the snapshot, as shown in Figure 6-36.
 
Important: It is not necessary to shut down the VM that you want to capture. You can capture images dynamically from VMs that are running, but you might need to review and check any inconsistency in the data or applications outside of the operating system.
Figure 6-36 Status from the Virtual Machines view
You can see the capture status by clicking Images, as shown in Figure 6-37.
Figure 6-37 Snapshot status from the Images view
6.6 Deploying images
The process to create a VM by using an existing image is simple. The process is automated by IBM PowerVC.
To deploy a new VM, complete the following steps:
1. Click Image, select the image that you want to deploy, and then click Deploy. Complete the requested information. Figure 6-38 shows the first two sections of the Deploy window.
Figure 6-38 General and network sections of the window to deploy a VM
2. Figure 6-39 shows the expanded Activation Input section. In this section, you can upload scripts or add configuration data. After the VM is deployed, the script or data automatically configures the VM according to your requirements.
Figure 6-39 Activation Input section of the window to deploy a virtual machine
After you click Deploy, IBM PowerVC displays a message similar to the message that is shown in Figure 6-40.
Figure 6-40 Deployment is started message
3. When the deployment is complete, you can click Virtual Machines to see the new deployed image, as shown in Figure 6-41.
Figure 6-41 Virtual Machines view
 
Note: The network is configured automatically by IBM PowerVC during the task to build the VM. When the deployment task finishes, the VM is running and connected to the network.
6.7 Resizing virtual machines
PowerVC Standard managing PowerKVM can resize VMs with a simple procedure.
To resize your VMs, complete the following steps:
1. From the window that lists all VMs, select the VM to resize.
2. Click Resize to open the window that is shown in Figure 6-42.
Figure 6-42 Resize virtual machine window
 
Note: You can select a compute template to populate the required resource values or edit each field manually.
Important: If you change the size of the disk, ensure that you go into the OS of the VM and complete the required steps so that the OS can use the new space that was configured on the disk. For more information, see your OS documentation.
6.8 Suspending and resuming virtual machines
IBM PowerVC can suspend and resume a running VM. To suspend a VM, select it and then click Suspend. Two methods exist to suspend a VM, as shown in Figure 6-43.
Figure 6-43 Suspend or pause a virtual machine
After you select an option, click OK. The VM state changes to Paused or Suspended. To resume the VM, select it and click Resume.
 
Important: It is not possible to restart VMs that are in a Suspended or Paused state. The only available option is to perform a hard restart.
6.9 Restarting a virtual machine
IBM PowerVC can restart a VM. To do so, complete the following steps:
1. To restart a VM, select the VM and click Restart.
2. When the Restart window opens (Figure 6-44), select either a soft restart or a hard restart.
Figure 6-44 Restart a virtual machine
 
Note: It is possible to restart VMs in a Suspended or Paused state. However, the only available option is to perform a hard restart.
6.10 Migrating virtual machines
IBM PowerVC also support the migration of VMs between PowerKVM hosts if the VM meets the requirements of migration, for example, Network File System (NFS) shared storage was configured for the PowerKVM hosts. For the detailed requirements of VM migration, see the IBM Knowledge Center:
To migrate a VM, complete the following steps:
1. Go to the Virtual Machines window, select the VM to migrate, and click Migrate. Select the destination host, as shown in Figure 6-45, and then click Migrate.
Figure 6-45 Migrate a virtual machine
2. The VM is migrated to the destination host live, as shown in Figure 6-46.
Figure 6-46 Migrate a virtual machine
6.11 Restarting virtual machines remotely
With IBM PowerVC, you can restart VMs remotely if a PowerKVM host fails. To do so, complete the following steps:
1. After a PowerKVM host fails, go to the Hosts window, select the failed host, and click Remotely Restart Virtual Machines, as shown in Figure 6-47.
Figure 6-47 Remotely Restart Virtual Machines option
2. Select the VM or all VMs, select the destination host, as shown in Figure 6-48, and click Remote Restart.
Figure 6-48 Select virtual hosts to restart remotely
3. The selected VMs are restarted remotely on the destination PowerKVM host, as shown in Figure 6-49.
The remote restart function provides a new way to enhance the availability of applications.
Figure 6-49 Virtual machines that were restarted remotely
 
Note: Before you use the remote restart function, you must set up IBM PowerVC to meet the requirements. For the detailed remote restart requirements, see the IBM Knowledge Center:
6.12 Deleting virtual machines
IBM PowerVC can delete a VM. The process deletes the VM and the associated storage.
To delete a VM, complete the following steps:
1. To delete a VM, select it and click Delete.
2. When you see a confirmation message that is similar to the message that is shown in Figure 6-50, click OK if the message shows the correct machine.
Figure 6-50 Delete a virtual machine
6.13 Creating and attaching volumes
IBM PowerVC can create volumes in the available storage providers. These volumes can be assigned to a VM later, or it is possible to create and attach volumes in one single step.
To create a volume, click Storage Volumes, and then click Create. A window that is similar to the window that is shown in Figure 6-51 opens.
Figure 6-51 Create Volume window
It is possible to attach the volume later to an existing VM.
6.14 Attaching volumes
IBM PowerVC can attach a volume to existing VMs. It is also possible to create the volume and attach it in the same operation.
To attach volumes, complete the following steps:
1. Click Virtual Machines, select the VM, and click Attach Volume.
2. In the Attach Volume window (Figure 6-52), click Attach a new volume to this virtual machine to add a volume. Enter the storage template, volume name, description, and size (GB). Click Attach.
Figure 6-52 Attach a new volume to a virtual machine
3. To attach an existing volume, click Attach an existing volume to this virtual machine. A list of volumes is shown, as shown in Figure 6-53.
Figure 6-53 Attach an existing volume to this virtual machine
It is possible to attach volumes to paused and suspended VMs.
 
Note: When you attach volumes to Linux VMs, additional work is required for the OS to discover the volumes. For more information, check the documentation for your Linux distribution.
 
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