Virtualization
You can use Uyuni to manage virtualized clients. In this type of installation, a virtual host is installed on the Uyuni Server to manage any number of virtual guests. If you choose to, you can install several virtual hosts to manage groups of guests.
The range of capabilities that virtualized clients have depends on the third-party virtualization provider you choose.
Xen and KVM hosts and guests can be managed directly in Uyuni. This enables you to autoinstall hosts and guests using AutoYaST or Kickstart, and manage guests in the Web UI.
For VMWare, including VMWare vSphere, and Nutanix AHV, Uyuni requires you to set up a virtual host manager (VHM) to control the VMs. This gives you control over the hosts and guests, but in a more limited way than available with Xen and KVM; Uyuni cannot create or edit VMs on VMWare vSphere or Nutanix AHV.
Other third-party virtualization providers are not directly supported by Uyuni. However, if your provider allows you to export a JSON configuration file for the VM, you can upload that configuration file to Uyuni and manage it with a VHM.
For more information about using VHMs to manage virtualization, see Virtual Host Managers.
1. Manage Virtualized Hosts
Before you begin, ensure that the client you want to use as a virtualization host has the Virtualization Host
system type assigned to it.
Navigate to and click the name of the client to use as a virtualization host.
If the Virtualization Host
system type is not listed, initialize the Virtualization Host
formula.
For more information, see client-configuration:virt-xenkvm.adoc#virt-xenkvm-host.
When a client has the Virtualization Host
system type, the Virtualization
tab is available in the System Details page for the client.
The Virtualization
tab allows you to create and manage virtual guests, and manage storage pools and virtual networks.
2. Create Virtual Guests
You can add virtual guests to your virtualization hosts within the Uyuni Web UI.
-
In the Uyuni Web UI, navigate to
, click the name of the virtualization host, and navigate to theVirtualization
tab. -
In the
General
section, complete these details:-
In the
Guests
subtab, click Create Guest. -
In the
Name
field, type the name of the guest. -
In the
Hypervisor
field, select the hypervisor to use. -
In the
Virtual Machine Type
field, select either fully virtualized or para-virtualized. -
In the
Maximum Memory
field, type the upper size limit for the guest disk, in MiB. -
In the
Virtual CPU count
, type the number of vCPUs for the guest. -
In the
Architecture
field, select the emulated CPU architecture to use on the guest. By default, the architecture selected matches the virtual host. -
In the
Auto-installation Profile
field, select the auto-installation tool to use to install the guest. Leave this field blank if you do not want to use auto-installation.
-
-
In the
Disks
section, complete the details of the virtual disk to use with the client. In theSource template image URL
field, ensure you type the path to an operating system image. If you do not do this, your guest is created with an empty disk. -
In the
Networks
section, complete the details of the virtual network interface to use with the client. Leave theMAC address
field blank to generate a MAC address. -
In the
Graphics
section, complete the details of the graphics driver to use with the client. -
Schedule a time for the guest to be created, and click Create to create the guest.
-
The new virtual guest starts as soon as it has successfully been created.
You can add virtual guests on a pacemaker cluster within the Uyuni Web UI, too.
-
Follow the
Creating a Virtual Guest
procedure on one of the nodes of the cluster with the following additions:-
Ensure the
Define as a cluster resource
field is checked. -
In the
Path to the cluster shared folder for VM definitions
field, type the path to a folder shared by all cluster nodes where the guest configuration will be stored. -
Make sure every disk is located on a storage pool shared by all the cluster nodes.
-
Virtual Guests managed by a cluster can be live migrated.