Virtualization Host Configuration and Guest Installation Guide

Procedure 5.1. Installing the virtualization package group

1. Launch the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation program

   Start an interactive Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation CD-ROM, DVD or PXE.

2. Continue installation up to package selection

   Complete the other steps up to the package selection step.
   

   Figure 5.1. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux package selection screen

   Select the Virtualization Host server role to install a platform for guest virtual machines. Alternatively, ensure that the Customize Now radio button is selected before proceeding, to specify individual packages.

3. Select the Virtualization package group

   This selects the qemu-kvm emulator, virt-manager, libvirt and virt-viewer for installation.
   

   Figure 5.2. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux package selection screen

   Note

   If you wish to create virtual machines in a graphical user interface (virt-manager) later, you should also select the General Purpose Desktop package group.

4. Customize the packages (if required)

   Customize the Virtualization group if you require other virtualization packages.
   

   Figure 5.3. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux package selection screen

   Click on the Close button, then the Next button to continue the installation.

Procedure 6.1. Creating a guest virtual machine with virt-manager

1. Open virt-manager

   Start virt-manager. Launch the Virtual Machine Manager application from the Applications menu and System Tools submenu. Alternatively, run the virt-manager command as root.

2. Optional: Open a remote hypervisor

   Select the hypervisor and click the Connect button to connect to the remote hypervisor.

3. Create a new virtual machine

   The virt-manager window allows you to create a new virtual machine. Click the Create a new virtual machine button (Figure 6.1, “Virtual Machine Manager window”) to open the New VM wizard.
   

   Figure 6.1. Virtual Machine Manager window

   The New VM wizard breaks down the virtual machine creation process into five steps:
   1. Naming the guest virtual machine and choosing the installation type
   2. Locating and configuring the installation media
   3. Configuring memory and CPU options
   4. Configuring the virtual machine's storage
   5. Configuring networking, architecture, and other hardware settings
   Ensure that virt-manager can access the installation media (whether locally or over the network) before you continue.

4. Specify name and installation type

   The guest virtual machine creation process starts with the selection of a name and installation type. Virtual machine names can have underscores (_), periods (.), and hyphens (-).
   

   Figure 6.2. Name virtual machine and select installation method

   Type in a virtual machine name and choose an installation type:

   Local install media (ISO image or CDROM)

   This method uses a CD-ROM, DVD, or image of an installation disk (for example, .iso).

   Network Install (HTTP, FTP, or NFS)

   This method involves the use of a mirrored Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora installation tree to install a guest. The installation tree must be accessible through either HTTP, FTP, or NFS.

   Network Boot (PXE)

   This method uses a Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) server to install the guest virtual machine. Setting up a PXE server is covered in the Deployment Guide. To install using network boot, the guest must have a routable IP address or shared network device. For information on the required networking configuration for PXE installation, refer to Section 6.4, “Creating Guests with PXE”.

   Import existing disk image

   This method allows you to create a new guest virtual machine and import a disk image (containing a pre-installed, bootable operating system) to it.

   Click Forward to continue.

5. Configure installation

   Next, configure the OS type and Version of the installation. Ensure that you select the appropriate OS type for your virtual machine. Depending on the method of installation, provide the install URL or existing storage path.
   

   Figure 6.3. Remote installation URL

   

   Figure 6.4. Local ISO image installation

6. Configure CPU and memory

   The next step involves configuring the number of CPUs and amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine. The wizard shows the number of CPUs and amount of memory you can allocate; configure these settings and click Forward.
   

   Figure 6.5. Configuring CPU and memory

7. Configure storage

   Assign storage to the guest virtual machine.
   

   Figure 6.6. Configuring virtual storage

   If you chose to import an existing disk image during the first step, virt-manager will skip this step.
   Assign sufficient space for your virtual machine and any applications it requires, then click Forward to continue.

8. Final configuration

   Verify the settings of the virtual machine and click Finish when you are satisfied; doing so will create the virtual machine with default networking settings, virtualization type, and architecture.
   

   Figure 6.7. Verifying the configuration

   If you prefer to further configure the virtual machine's hardware first, check the Customize configuration before install box first before clicking Finish. Doing so will open another wizard that will allow you to add, remove, and configure the virtual machine's hardware settings.
   After configuring the virtual machine's hardware, click Apply. virt-manager will then create the virtual machine with your specified hardware settings.
9. After the installation completes, you can connect to the guest operating system. For more information, see Section 6.5, “Connecting to Virtual Machines”

Procedure 6.2. PXE installation with virt-manager

1. Select PXE

   Select PXE as the installation method and follow the rest of the steps to configure the OS type, memory, CPU and storage settings.
   

   Figure 6.8. Selecting the installation method

   

   Figure 6.9. Selecting the installation type

   

   Figure 6.10. Specifying virtualized hardware details

   

   Figure 6.11. Specifying storage details

2. Start the installation

   The installation is ready to start.
   

   Figure 6.12. Finalizing virtual machine details

Procedure 7.1. Creating a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest virtual machine with virt-manager

1. Optional: Preparation

   Prepare the storage environment for the virtual machine. For more information on preparing storage, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide.

   Important

   Various storage types may be used for storing guest virtual machines. However, for a virtual machine to be able to use migration features the virtual machine must be created on networked storage.
   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 requires at least 1GB of storage space. However, Red Hat recommends at least 5GB of storage space for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation and for the procedures in this guide.

2. Open virt-manager and start the wizard

   Open virt-manager by executing the virt-manager command as root or opening Applications → System Tools → Virtual Machine Manager.
   

   Figure 7.1. The Virtual Machine Manager window

   Click on the Create a new virtual machine button to start the new virtualized guest wizard.
   

   Figure 7.2. The Create a new virtual machine button

   The New VM window opens.

3. Name the virtual machine

   Virtual machine names can contain letters, numbers and the following characters: '_', '.' and '-'. Virtual machine names must be unique for migration and cannot consist only of numbers.
   Choose the Local install media (ISO image or CDROM) radio button.
   

   Figure 7.3. The New VM window - Step 1

   Click Forward to continue.

4. Select the installation media

   Select the appropriate radio button for your installation media.
   

   Figure 7.4. Locate your install media

   • If you wish to install from a CD-ROM or DVD, select the Use CDROM or DVD radio button, and select the appropriate disk drive from the drop-down list of drives available.
   • If you wish to install from an ISO image, select Use ISO image, and then click the Browse... button to open the Locate media volume window.
     Select the installation image you wish to use, and click Choose Volume.
     If no images are displayed in the Locate media volume window, click on the Browse Local button to browse the host machine for the installation image or DVD drive containing the installation disk. Select the installation image or DVD drive containing the installation disk and click Open; the volume is selected for use and you are returned to the Create a new virtual machine wizard.

     Important

     For ISO image files and guest storage images, the recommended location to use is /var/lib/libvirt/images/. Any other location may require additional configuration by SELinux. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide for more details on configuring SELinux.
   Select the operating system type and version which match the installation media you have selected.
   

   Figure 7.5. The New VM window - Step 2

   Click Forward to continue.

5. Set RAM and virtual CPUs

   Choose appropriate values for the virtual CPUs and RAM allocation. These values affect the host's and guest's performance. Memory and virtual CPUs can be overcommitted. For more information on overcommitting, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide.
   Virtual machines require sufficient physical memory (RAM) to run efficiently and effectively. Red Hat supports a minimum of 512MB of RAM for a virtual machine. Red Hat recommends at least 1024MB of RAM for each logical core.
   Assign sufficient virtual CPUs for the virtual machine. If the virtual machine runs a multithreaded application, assign the number of virtual CPUs the guest virtual machine will require to run efficiently.
   You cannot assign more virtual CPUs than there are physical processors (or hyper-threads) available on the host system. The number of virtual CPUs available is noted in the Up to X available field.
   

   Figure 7.6. The new VM window - Step 3

   Click Forward to continue.

6. Enable and assign storage

   Enable and assign storage for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest virtual machine. Assign at least 5GB for a desktop installation or at least 1GB for a minimal installation.

   Note

   Live and offline migrations require virtual machines to be installed on shared network storage. For information on setting up shared storage for virtual machines, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization Administration Guide.

   1. With the default local storage

      Select the Create a disk image on the computer's hard drive radio button to create a file-based image in the default storage pool, the /var/lib/libvirt/images/ directory. Enter the size of the disk image to be created. If the Allocate entire disk now check box is selected, a disk image of the size specified will be created immediately. If not, the disk image will grow as it becomes filled.

      Note

      Although the storage pool is a virtual container it is limited by two factors: maximum size allowed to it by qemu-kvm and the size of the disk on the host physical machine. Storage pools may not exceed the size of the disk on the host physical machine. The maximum sizes are as follows:

      • virtio-blk = 2^63 bytes or 8 Exabytes(using raw files or disk)
      • Ext4 = ~ 16 TB (using 4 KB block size)
      • XFS = ~8 Exabytes
      • qcow2 and host file systems keep their own metadata and scalability should be evaluated/tuned when trying very large image sizes. Using raw disks means fewer layers that could affect scalability or max size.
      

      Figure 7.7. The New VM window - Step 4

      Click Forward to create a disk image on the local hard drive. Alternatively, select Select managed or other existing storage, then select Browse to configure managed storage.

   2. With a storage pool

      If you selected Select managed or other existing storage in the previous step to use a storage pool and clicked Browse, the Locate or create storage volume window will appear.
      

      Figure 7.8. The Locate or create storage volume window

      1. Select a storage pool from the Storage Pools list.
      2. Optional: Click on the New Volume button to create a new storage volume. The Add a Storage Volume screen will appear. Enter the name of the new storage volume.
         Choose a format option from the Format drop-down menu. Format options include raw, cow, qcow, qcow2, qed, vmdk, and vpc. Adjust other fields as desired.
         

         Figure 7.9. The Add a Storage Volume window

   Click Finish to continue.

7. Verify and finish

   Verify there were no errors made during the wizard and everything appears as expected.
   Select the Customize configuration before install check box to change the guest's storage or network devices, to use the paravirtualized drivers or to add additional devices.
   Click on the Advanced options down arrow to inspect and modify advanced options. For a standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation, none of these options require modification.
   

   Figure 7.10. The New VM window - local storage

   Click Finish to continue into the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation sequence. For more information on installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Installation Guide.

Procedure 7.2. Creating a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest with virt-manager

1. Optional: Preparation

   Prepare the storage environment for the guest virtual machine. For more information on preparing storage, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide.

   Important

   Various storage types may be used for storing guest virtual machines. However, for a virtual machine to be able to use migration features the virtual machine must be created on networked storage.
   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 requires at least 1GB of storage space. However, Red Hat recommends at least 5GB of storage space for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation and for the procedures in this guide.

2. Open virt-manager and start the wizard

   Open virt-manager by executing the virt-manager command as root or opening Applications → System Tools → Virtual Machine Manager.
   

   Figure 7.11. The main virt-manager window

   Click on the Create a new virtual machine button to start the new virtual machine wizard.
   

   Figure 7.12. The Create a new virtual machine button

   The Create a new virtual machine window opens.

3. Name the virtual machine

   Virtual machine names can contain letters, numbers and the following characters: '_', '.' and '-'. Virtual machine names must be unique for migration and cannot consist only of numbers.
   Choose the installation method from the list of radio buttons.
   

   Figure 7.13. The New VM window - Step 1

   Click Forward to continue.
4. Provide the installation URL, and the Kickstart URL and Kernel options if required.
   

   Figure 7.14. The New VM window - Step 2

   Click Forward to continue.
5. The remaining steps are the same as the ISO installation procedure. Continue from Step 5 of the ISO installation procedure.

Procedure 7.3. Creating a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest with virt-manager

1. Optional: Preparation

   Prepare the storage environment for the virtual machine. For more information on preparing storage, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Administration Guide.

   Important

   Various storage types may be used for storing guest virtual machines. However, for a virtual machine to be able to use migration features the virtual machine must be created on networked storage.
   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 requires at least 1GB of storage space. However, Red Hat recommends at least 5GB of storage space for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 installation and for the procedures in this guide.

2. Open virt-manager and start the wizard

   Open virt-manager by executing the virt-manager command as root or opening Applications → System Tools → Virtual Machine Manager.
   

   Figure 7.15. The main virt-manager window

   Click on the Create new virtualized guest button to start the new virtualized guest wizard.
   

   Figure 7.16. The create new virtualized guest button

   The New VM window opens.

3. Name the virtual machine

   Virtual machine names can contain letters, numbers and the following characters: '_', '.' and '-'. Virtual machine names must be unique for migration and cannot consist only of numbers.
   Choose the installation method from the list of radio buttons.
   

   Figure 7.17. The New VM window - Step 1

   Click Forward to continue.
4. The remaining steps are the same as the ISO installation procedure. Continue from Step 5 of the ISO installation procedure. From this point, the only difference in this PXE procedure is on the final New VM screen, which shows the Install: PXE Install field.
   

   Figure 7.18. The New VM window - Step 5 - PXE Install

1. Download the drivers

   The virtio-win package contains the virtio block and network drivers for all supported Windows guest virtual machines.
   Download and install the virtio-win package on the host with the yum command.

    # yum install virtio-win

   The list of virtio-win packages that are supported on Windows operating systems, and the current certified package version, can be found at the following URL: windowsservercatalog.com.
   Note that the Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are created on the same code base so the drivers for the same version (for example, Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor 3.3 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5) are supported for both environments.
   The virtio-win package installs a CD-ROM image, virtio-win.iso, in the /usr/share/virtio-win/ directory.

2. Install the virtio drivers

   When booting a Windows guest that uses virtio-win devices, the relevant virtio-win device drivers must already be installed on this guest. The virtio-win drivers are not provided as inbox drivers in Microsoft's Windows installation kit, so installation of a Windows guest on a virtio-win storage device (viostor/virtio-scsi) requires that you provide the appropriate driver during the installation, either directly from the virtio-win.iso or from the supplied Virtual Floppy image virtio-win<version>.vfd.

Procedure 10.1. Installing from the driver CD-ROM image with virt-manager

1. Open virt-manager and the guest virtual machine

   Open virt-manager, then open the guest virtual machine from the list by double-clicking the guest name.

2. Open the hardware window

   Click the lightbulb icon on the toolbar at the top of the window to view virtual hardware details.
   

   Figure 10.1. The virtual hardware details button

   Then click the Add Hardware button at the bottom of the new view that appears. This opens a wizard for adding the new device.

3. Select the device type — for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 versions prior to 6.2

   Skip this step if you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 or later.
   On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 versions prior to version 6.2, you must select the type of device you wish to add. In this case, select Storage from the drop-down menu.
   

   Figure 10.2. The Add new virtual hardware wizard in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1

   Click the Finish button to proceed.

4. Select the ISO file

   Ensure that the Select managed or other existing storage radio button is selected, and browse to the virtio driver's .iso image file. The default location for the latest version of the drivers is /usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.iso.
   Change the Device type to IDE cdrom and click the Forward button to proceed.
   

   Figure 10.3. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

5. Finish adding virtual hardware — for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 versions prior to 6.2

   If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 or later, skip this step.
   On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 versions prior to version 6.2, click on the Finish button to finish adding the virtual hardware and close the wizard.
   

   Figure 10.4. The Add new virtual hardware wizard in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1

6. Reboot

   Reboot or start the virtual machine to begin using the driver disc. Virtualized IDE devices require a restart to for the virtual machine to recognize the new device.

Procedure 10.2. Windows installation on a Windows 7 virtual machine

1. Open the Computer Management window

   On the desktop of the Windows virtual machine, click the Windows icon at the bottom corner of the screen to open the Start menu.
   Right-click on Computer and select Manage from the pop-up menu.
   

   Figure 10.5. The Computer Management window

2. Open the Device Manager

   Select the Device Manager from the left-most pane. This can be found under Computer Management > System Tools.
   

   Figure 10.6. The Computer Management window

3. Start the driver update wizard

   1. View available system devices

      Expand System devices by clicking on the arrow to its left.
      

      Figure 10.7. Viewing available system devices in the Computer Management window

   2. Locate the appropriate device

      There are up to four drivers available: the balloon driver, the serial driver, the network driver, and the block driver.
      • Balloon, the balloon driver, affects the PCI standard RAM Controller in the System devices group.
      • vioserial, the serial driver, affects the PCI Simple Communication Controller in the System devices group.
      • NetKVM, the network driver, affects the Network adapters group. This driver is only available if a virtio NIC is configured. Configurable parameters for this driver are documented in Appendix A, NetKVM Driver Parameters.
      • viostor, the block driver, affects the Disk drives group. This driver is only available if a virtio disk is configured.
      Right-click on the device whose driver you wish to update, and select Update Driver... from the pop-up menu.
      This example installs the balloon driver, so right-click on PCI standard RAM Controller.
      

      Figure 10.8. The Computer Management window

   3. Open the driver update wizard

      From the drop-down menu, select Update Driver Software... to access the driver update wizard.
      

      Figure 10.9. Opening the driver update wizard

4. Specify how to find the driver

   The first page of the driver update wizard asks how you want to search for driver software. Click on the second option, Browse my computer for driver software.
   

   Figure 10.10. The driver update wizard

5. Select the driver to install

   1. Open a file browser

      Click on Browse...
      

      Figure 10.11. The driver update wizard

   2. Browse to the location of the driver

      A separate driver is provided for each of the various combinations of operating system and architecture. The drivers are arranged hierarchically according to their driver type, the operating system, and the architecture on which they will be installed: driver_type/os/arch/. For example, the Balloon driver for a Windows 7 operating system with an x86 (32-bit) architecture, resides in the Balloon/w7/x86 directory.
      

      Figure 10.12. The Browse for driver software pop-up window

      Once you have navigated to the correct location, click OK.

   3. Click Next to continue

      

      Figure 10.13. The Update Driver Software wizard

      The following screen is displayed while the driver installs:
      

      Figure 10.14. The Update Driver Software wizard

6. Close the installer

   The following screen is displayed when installation is complete:
   

   Figure 10.15. The Update Driver Software wizard

   Click Close to close the installer.

7. Reboot

   Reboot the virtual machine to complete the driver installation.

Procedure 10.3. Installing virtio drivers during the Windows installation

1. Install the virtio-win package

   Use the following command to install the virtio-win package:

   # yum install virtio-win

2. Create the guest virtual machine

   Important

   Create the virtual machine, as normal, without starting the virtual machine. Follow one of the procedures below.
   Select one of the following guest-creation methods, and follow the instructions.

   1. Create the guest virtual machine with virsh

      This method attaches the virtio driver floppy disk to a Windows guest before the installation.
      If the virtual machine is created from an XML definition file with virsh, use the virsh define command not the virsh create command.
      1. Create, but do not start, the virtual machine. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization Administration Guide for details on creating virtual machines with the virsh command.
      2. Add the driver disk as a virtualized floppy disk with the virsh command. This example can be copied and used if there are no other virtualized floppy devices attached to the guest virtual machine. Note that vm_name should be replaced with the name of the virtual machine.

         # virsh attach-disk vm_name /usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.vfd fda --type floppy

         You can now continue with Step 3.

   2. Create the guest virtual machine with virt-manager and changing the disk type

      1. At the final step of the virt-manager guest creation wizard, check the Customize configuration before install check box.
         

         Figure 10.16. The virt-manager guest creation wizard

         Click on the Finish button to continue.

      2. Open the Add Hardware wizard

         Click the Add Hardware button in the bottom left of the new panel.

      3. Select storage device

         Storage is the default selection in the Hardware type list.
         

         Figure 10.17. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

         Ensure the Select managed or other existing storage radio button is selected. Click Browse....
         

         Figure 10.18. Select managed or existing storage

         In the new window that opens, click Browse Local. Navigate to /usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.vfd, and click Select to confirm.
         Change Device type to Floppy disk, and click Finish to continue.
         

         Figure 10.19. Change the Device type

      4. Confirm settings

         Review the device settings.
         

         Figure 10.20. The virtual machine hardware information window

         You have now created a removable device accessible by your virtual machine.

      5. Change the hard disk type

         To change the hard disk type from IDE Disk to Virtio Disk, we must first remove the existing hard disk, Disk 1. Select the disk and click on the Remove button.
         

         Figure 10.21. The virtual machine hardware information window

         Add a new virtual storage device by clicking Add Hardware. Then, change the Device type from IDE disk to Virtio Disk. Click Finish to confirm the operation.
         

         Figure 10.22. The virtual machine hardware information window

      6. Ensure settings are correct

         Review the settings for VirtIO Disk 1.
         

         Figure 10.23. The virtual machine hardware information window

         When you are satisfied with the configuration details, click the Begin Installation button.
         You can now continue with Step 3.

   3. Create the guest virtual machine with virt-install

      Append the following parameter exactly as listed below to add the driver disk to the installation with the virt-install command:

      --disk path=/usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.vfd,device=floppy

      Important

      If the device you wish to add is a disk (that is, not a floppy or a cdrom), you will also need to add the bus=virtio option to the end of the --disk parameter, like so:

      --disk path=/usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.vfd,device=disk,bus=virtio

      According to the version of Windows you are installing, append one of the following options to the virt-install command:

      --os-variant win2k3

      --os-variant win7

      You can now continue with Step 3.

3. Additional steps for driver installation

   During the installation, additional steps are required to install drivers, depending on the type of Windows guest.

   1. Windows Server 2003

      Before the installation blue screen repeatedly press F6 for third party drivers.
      

      Figure 10.24. The Windows Setup screen

      Press S to install additional device drivers.
      

      Figure 10.25. The Windows Setup screen

      

      Figure 10.26. The Windows Setup screen

      Press Enter to continue the installation.

   2. Windows Server 2008

      Follow the same procedure for Windows Server 2003, but when the installer prompts you for the driver, click on Load Driver, point the installer to Drive A: and pick the driver that suits your guest operating system and architecture.

Procedure 10.4. Using KVM virtio drivers for existing devices

1. Ensure that you have installed the appropriate driver (viostor), as described in Section 10.1, “Installing the KVM Windows virtio Drivers”, before continuing with this procedure.
2. Run the virsh edit <guestname> command as root to edit the XML configuration file for your device. For example, virsh edit guest1. The configuration files are located in /etc/libvirt/qemu.
3. Below is a file-based block device using the virtualized IDE driver. This is a typical entry for a virtual machine not using the virtio drivers.

   <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
   </disk>

4. Change the entry to use the virtio device by modifying the bus= entry to virtio. Note that if the disk was previously IDE it will have a target similar to hda, hdb, or hdc and so on. When changing to bus=virtio the target needs to be changed to vda, vdb, or vdc accordingly.

   <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img'/>
      <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
   </disk>

5. Remove the address tag inside the disk tags. This must be done for this procedure to work. Libvirt will regenerate the address tag appropriately the next time the virtual machine is started.

Procedure 10.5. Adding a storage device using the virtio storage driver

1. Open the guest virtual machine by double clicking on the name of the guest in virt-manager.
2. Open the Show virtual hardware details tab by clicking the lightbulb button.
   

   Figure 10.27. The Show virtual hardware details tab

3. In the Show virtual hardware details tab, click on the Add Hardware button.

4. Select hardware type

   Select Storage as the Hardware type.
   

   Figure 10.28. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

5. Select the storage device and driver

   Create a new disk image or select a storage pool volume.
   Set the Device type to Virtio disk to use the virtio drivers.
   

   Figure 10.29. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

   Click Finish to complete the procedure.

Procedure 10.6. Adding a network device using the virtio network driver

1. Open the guest virtual machine by double clicking on the name of the guest in virt-manager.
2. Open the Show virtual hardware details tab by clicking the lightbulb button.
   

   Figure 10.30. The Show virtual hardware details tab

3. In the Show virtual hardware details tab, click on the Add Hardware button.

4. Select hardware type

   Select Network as the Hardware type.
   

   Figure 10.31. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

5. Select the network device and driver

   Set the Device model to virtio to use the virtio drivers. Choose the desired Host device.
   

   Figure 10.32. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

   Click Finish to complete the procedure.

Procedure 12.3. Assigning a PCI device to a guest virtual machine with virsh

1. Identify the device

   First, identify the PCI device designated for device assignment to the virtual machine. Use the lspci command to list the available PCI devices. You can refine the output of lspci with grep.
   This example uses the Ethernet controller highlighted in the following output:

   # lspci | grep Ethernet
   00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-2 Gigabit Network Connection
   01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)
   01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)

   This Ethernet controller is shown with the short identifier 00:19.0. We need to find out the full identifier used by virsh in order to assign this PCI device to a virtual machine.
   To do so, combine the virsh nodedev-list command with the grep command to list all devices of a particular type (pci) that are attached to the host machine. Then look at the output for the string that maps to the short identifier of the device you wish to use.
   This example highlights the string that maps to the Ethernet controller with the short identifier 00:19.0. Note that the : and . characters are replaced with underscores in the full identifier.

   # virsh nodedev-list --cap pci
   pci_0000_00_00_0
   pci_0000_00_01_0
   pci_0000_00_03_0
   pci_0000_00_07_0
   pci_0000_00_10_0
   pci_0000_00_10_1
   pci_0000_00_14_0
   pci_0000_00_14_1
   pci_0000_00_14_2
   pci_0000_00_14_3
   pci_0000_00_19_0
   pci_0000_00_1a_0
   pci_0000_00_1a_1
   pci_0000_00_1a_2
   pci_0000_00_1a_7
   pci_0000_00_1b_0
   pci_0000_00_1c_0
   pci_0000_00_1c_1
   pci_0000_00_1c_4
   pci_0000_00_1d_0
   pci_0000_00_1d_1
   pci_0000_00_1d_2
   pci_0000_00_1d_7
   pci_0000_00_1e_0
   pci_0000_00_1f_0
   pci_0000_00_1f_2
   pci_0000_00_1f_3
   pci_0000_01_00_0
   pci_0000_01_00_1
   pci_0000_02_00_0
   pci_0000_02_00_1
   pci_0000_06_00_0
   pci_0000_07_02_0
   pci_0000_07_03_0

   Record the PCI device number that maps to the device you want to use; this is required in other steps.

2. Review device information

   Information on the domain, bus, and function are available from output of the virsh nodedev-dumpxml command:

   virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_00_19_0
   <device>
     <name>pci_0000_00_19_0</name>
     <parent>computer</parent>
     <driver>
       <name>e1000e</name>
     </driver>
     <capability type='pci'>
       <domain>0</domain>
       <bus>0</bus>
       <slot>25</slot>
       <function>0</function>
       <product id='0x1502'>82579LM Gigabit Network Connection</product>
       <vendor id='0x8086'>Intel Corporation</vendor>
       <capability type='virt_functions'>
       </capability>
     </capability>
   </device>

3. Determine required configuration details

   Refer to the output from the virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_00_19_0 command for the values required for the configuration file.
   Optionally, convert slot and function values to hexadecimal values (from decimal) to get the PCI bus addresses. Append "0x" to the beginning of the output to tell the computer that the value is a hexadecimal number.
   The example device has the following values: bus = 0, slot = 25 and function = 0. The decimal configuration uses those three values:

   bus='0'
   slot='25'
   function='0'

   If you want to convert to hexadecimal values, you can use the printf utility to convert from decimal values, as shown in the following example:

   $ printf %x 0
   0
   $ printf %x 25
   19
   $ printf %x 0
   0

   The example device would use the following hexadecimal values in the configuration file:

   bus='0x0'
   slot='0x19'
   function='0x0'

4. Add configuration details

   Run virsh edit, specifying the virtual machine name, and add a device entry in the <source> section to assign the PCI device to the guest virtual machine.

   # virsh edit guest1-rhel6-64
   <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
     <source>
        <address domain='0x0' bus='0x0' slot='0x19' function='0x0'/>
     </source>
   </hostdev>

   Alternately, run virsh attach-device, specifying the virtual machine name and the guest's XML file:

   virsh attach-device guest1-rhel6-64 file.xml

5. Allow device management

   Set an SELinux boolean to allow the management of the PCI device from the virtual machine:

   # setsebool -P virt_use_sysfs 1

6. Start the virtual machine

   # virsh start guest1-rhel6-64

Procedure 12.4. Assigning a PCI device to a guest virtual machine using virt-manager

1. Open the hardware settings

   Open the guest virtual machine and click the Add Hardware button to add a new device to the virtual machine.
   

   Figure 12.1. The virtual machine hardware information window

2. Select a PCI device

   Select PCI Host Device from the Hardware list on the left.
   Select an unused PCI device. Note that selecting PCI devices presently in use on the host causes errors. In this example, a spare 82576 network device is used. Click Finish to complete setup.
   

   Figure 12.2. The Add new virtual hardware wizard

3. Add the new device

   The setup is complete and the guest virtual machine now has direct access to the PCI device.
   

   Figure 12.3. The virtual machine hardware information window

Procedure 12.5. Assigning a PCI device to a virtual machine with virt-install

1. Identify the device

   Identify the PCI device designated for device assignment to the guest virtual machine.

   # lspci | grep Ethernet
   00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-2 Gigabit Network Connection
   01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)
   01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)

   The virsh nodedev-list command lists all devices attached to the system, and identifies each PCI device with a string. To limit output to only PCI devices, run the following command:

   # virsh nodedev-list --cap pci
   pci_0000_00_00_0
   pci_0000_00_01_0
   pci_0000_00_03_0
   pci_0000_00_07_0
   pci_0000_00_10_0
   pci_0000_00_10_1
   pci_0000_00_14_0
   pci_0000_00_14_1
   pci_0000_00_14_2
   pci_0000_00_14_3
   pci_0000_00_19_0
   pci_0000_00_1a_0
   pci_0000_00_1a_1
   pci_0000_00_1a_2
   pci_0000_00_1a_7
   pci_0000_00_1b_0
   pci_0000_00_1c_0
   pci_0000_00_1c_1
   pci_0000_00_1c_4
   pci_0000_00_1d_0
   pci_0000_00_1d_1
   pci_0000_00_1d_2
   pci_0000_00_1d_7
   pci_0000_00_1e_0
   pci_0000_00_1f_0
   pci_0000_00_1f_2
   pci_0000_00_1f_3
   pci_0000_01_00_0
   pci_0000_01_00_1
   pci_0000_02_00_0
   pci_0000_02_00_1
   pci_0000_06_00_0
   pci_0000_07_02_0
   pci_0000_07_03_0

   Record the PCI device number; the number is needed in other steps.
   Information on the domain, bus and function are available from output of the virsh nodedev-dumpxml command:

   # virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_01_00_0
   <device>
     <name>pci_0000_01_00_0</name>
     <parent>pci_0000_00_01_0</parent>
     <driver>
       <name>igb</name>
     </driver>
     <capability type='pci'>
       <domain>0</domain>
       <bus>1</bus>
       <slot>0</slot>
       <function>0</function>
       <product id='0x10c9'>82576 Gigabit Network Connection</product>
       <vendor id='0x8086'>Intel Corporation</vendor>
       <capability type='virt_functions'>
       </capability>
     </capability>
   </device>

2. Add the device

   Use the PCI identifier output from the virsh nodedev command as the value for the --host-device parameter.

   virt-install \
   --name=guest1-rhel6-64 \
   --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/guest1-rhel6-64.img,size=8 \
   --nonsparse --graphics spice \
   --vcpus=2 --ram=2048 \
   --location=http://example1.com/installation_tree/RHEL6.1-Server-x86_64/os \
   --nonetworks \
   --os-type=linux \
   --os-variant=rhel6 \
   --host-device=pci_0000_01_00_0

3. Complete the installation

   Complete the guest installation. The PCI device should be attached to the guest.

Procedure 12.6. Detaching a PCI device from a guest with virsh

1. Detach the device

   Use the following command to detach the PCI device from the guest by removing it in the guest's XML file:

   # virsh detach-device name_of_guest file.xml

2. Re-attach the device to the host (optional)

   If the device is in managed mode, skip this step. The device will be returned to the host automatically.
   If the device is not using managed mode, use the following command to re-attach the PCI device to the host machine:

   # virsh nodedev-reattach device

   For example, to re-attach the pci_0000_01_00_0 device to the host:

   virsh nodedev-reattach pci_0000_01_00_0

   The device is now available for host use.

Procedure 12.7. Detaching a PCI Device from a guest with virt-manager

1. Open the virtual hardware details screen

   In virt-manager, double-click on the virtual machine that contains the device. Select the Show virtual hardware details button to display a list of virtual hardware.
   

   Figure 12.4. The virtual hardware details button

2. Select and remove the device

   Select the PCI device to be detached from the list of virtual devices in the left panel.
   

   Figure 12.5. Selecting the PCI device to be detached

   Click the Remove button to confirm. The device is now available for host use.

Procedure 13.1. Attach an SR-IOV network device on an Intel or AMD system

1. Enable Intel VT-d or the AMD IOMMU specifications in the BIOS and kernel

   On an Intel system, enable Intel VT-d in the BIOS if it is not enabled already. Refer to Procedure 12.1, “Preparing an Intel system for PCI device assignment” for procedural help on enabling Intel VT-d in the BIOS and kernel.
   Skip this step if Intel VT-d is already enabled and working.
   On an AMD system, enable the AMD IOMMU specifications in the BIOS if they are not enabled already. Refer to Procedure 12.2, “Preparing an AMD system for PCI device assignment” for procedural help on enabling IOMMU in the BIOS.

2. Verify support

   Verify if the PCI device with SR-IOV capabilities is detected. This example lists an Intel 82576 network interface card which supports SR-IOV. Use the lspci command to verify whether the device was detected.

   # lspci
   03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)
   03:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)

   Note that the output has been modified to remove all other devices.

3. Start the SR-IOV kernel modules

   If the device is supported the driver kernel module should be loaded automatically by the kernel. Optional parameters can be passed to the module using the modprobe command. The Intel 82576 network interface card uses the igb driver kernel module.

   # modprobe igb [<option>=<VAL1>,<VAL2>,]
   # lsmod |grep igb
   igb    87592  0
   dca    6708    1 igb

4. Activate Virtual Functions

   The max_vfs parameter of the igb module allocates the maximum number of Virtual Functions. The max_vfs parameter causes the driver to spawn, up to the value of the parameter in, Virtual Functions. For this particular card the valid range is 0 to 7.
   Remove the module to change the variable.

   # modprobe -r igb

   Restart the module with the max_vfs set to 7 or any number of Virtual Functions up to the maximum supported by your device.

   # modprobe igb max_vfs=7

5. Make the Virtual Functions persistent

   Add the line options igb max_vfs=7 to any file in /etc/modprobe.d to make the Virtual Functions persistent. For example:

   # echo "options igb max_vfs=7" >>/etc/modprobe.d/igb.conf

6. Inspect the new Virtual Functions

   Using the lspci command, list the newly added Virtual Functions attached to the Intel 82576 network device. (Alternatively, use grep to search for Virtual Function, to search for devices that support Virtual Functions.)

   # lspci | grep 82576
   0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01)
   0b:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Gigabit Network Connection(rev 01)
   0b:10.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.2 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.3 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.4 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.5 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:10.7 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.2 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.3 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.4 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)
   0b:11.5 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82576 Virtual Function (rev 01)

   The identifier for the PCI device is found with the -n parameter of the lspci command. The Physical Functions correspond to 0b:00.0 and 0b:00.1. All Virtual Functions have Virtual Function in the description.

7. Verify devices exist with virsh

   The libvirt service must recognize the device before adding a device to a virtual machine. libvirt uses a similar notation to the lspci output. All punctuation characters, ; and ., in lspci output are changed to underscores (_).
   Use the virsh nodedev-list command and the grep command to filter the Intel 82576 network device from the list of available host devices. 0b is the filter for the Intel 82576 network devices in this example. This may vary for your system and may result in additional devices.

   # virsh nodedev-list | grep 0b
   pci_0000_0b_00_0
   pci_0000_0b_00_1
   pci_0000_0b_10_0
   pci_0000_0b_10_1
   pci_0000_0b_10_2
   pci_0000_0b_10_3
   pci_0000_0b_10_4
   pci_0000_0b_10_5
   pci_0000_0b_10_6
   pci_0000_0b_11_7
   pci_0000_0b_11_1
   pci_0000_0b_11_2
   pci_0000_0b_11_3
   pci_0000_0b_11_4
   pci_0000_0b_11_5

   The serial numbers for the Virtual Functions and Physical Functions should be in the list.

8. Get device details with virsh

   The pci_0000_0b_00_0 is one of the Physical Functions and pci_0000_0b_10_0 is the first corresponding Virtual Function for that Physical Function. Use the virsh nodedev-dumpxml command to get advanced output for both devices.

   # virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_0b_00_0
   <device>
      <name>pci_0000_0b_00_0</name>
      <parent>pci_0000_00_01_0</parent>
      <driver>
         <name>igb</name>
      </driver>
      <capability type='pci'>
         <domain>0</domain>
         <bus>11</bus>
         <slot>0</slot>
         <function>0</function>
         <product id='0x10c9'>82576 Gigabit Network Connection</product>
         <vendor id='0x8086'>Intel Corporation</vendor>
      </capability>
   </device>

   # virsh nodedev-dumpxml pci_0000_0b_10_0
   <device>
      <name>pci_0000_0b_10_0</name>
      <parent>pci_0000_00_01_0</parent>
      <driver>
         <name>igbvf</name>
      </driver>
      <capability type='pci'>
         <domain>0</domain>
         <bus>11</bus>
         <slot>16</slot>
         <function>0</function>
         <product id='0x10ca'>82576 Virtual Function</product>
         <vendor id='0x8086'>Intel Corporation</vendor>
      </capability>
   </device>

   This example adds the Virtual Function pci_0000_0b_10_0 to the virtual machine in Step 9. Note the bus, slot and function parameters of the Virtual Function: these are required for adding the device.
   Copy these parameters into a temporary XML file, such as /tmp/new-interface.xml for example.

      <interface type='hostdev' managed='yes'>
        <source>
          <address type='pci' domain='0' bus='11' slot='16' function='0'/>
        </source>
      </interface>

   Note

   If you do not specify a MAC address, one will be automatically generated. The <virtualport> element is only used when connecting to an 802.11Qbh hardware switch. The <vlan> element is new for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 and this will transparently put the guest's device on the VLAN tagged 42.

   When the virtual machine starts, it should see a network device of the type provided by the physical adapter, with the configured MAC address. This MAC address will remain unchanged across host and guest reboots.

   The following <interface> example shows the syntax for the optional <mac address>, <virtualport>, and <vlan> elements. In practice, use either the <vlan> or <virtualport> element, not both simultaneously as shown in the example:

   ...
    <devices>
      ...
      <interface type='hostdev' managed='yes'>
        <source>
          <address type='pci' domain='0' bus='11' slot='16' function='0'/>
        </source>
        <mac address='52:54:00:6d:90:02'>
        <vlan>
           <tag id='42'/>
        </vlan>
        <virtualport type='802.1Qbh'>
          <parameters profileid='finance'/>
        </virtualport>
      </interface>
      ...
    </devices>

9. Add the Virtual Function to the virtual machine

   Add the Virtual Function to the virtual machine using the following command with the temporary file created in the previous step. This attaches the new device immediately and saves it for subsequent guest restarts.

   virsh attach-device MyGuest /tmp/new-interface.xml  --config
   

   Using the --config option ensures the new device is available after future guest restarts.

Procedure 14.1. Using the Real-Time Clock with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 guests

1. Open the Windows guest virtual machine.
2. Open the Accessories menu of the start menu. Right click on the Command Prompt application, select Run as Administrator.
3. Confirm the security exception, if prompted.
4. Set the boot manager to use the platform clock. This should instruct Windows to use the PM timer for the primary clock source. The system UUID ({default} in the example below) should be changed if the system UUID is different than the default boot device.

   C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /set {default} USEPLATFORMCLOCK on
   The operation completed successfully

1. Register the KVM hypervisor

   Register the KVM Hypervisor by running the subscription-manager register [options] command in a terminal as the root user on the host physical machine. More options are available using the # subscription-manager register --help menu. In cases where you are using a user name and password, use the credentials that are known to the subscription manager. If this is your very first time subscribing and you do not have a user account, contact customer support. For example to register the VM as 'admin' with 'secret' as a password, you would send the following command:

   [root@rhel-server ~]# subscription-manager register --username=admin --password=secret --auto-attach --type=hypervisor

2. Install the virt-who packages

   Install the virt-who packages, by running the following command in a terminal as root on the host physical machine:

   [root@rhel-server ~]# yum install virt-who

3. Create a virt-who configuration file

   Add a configuration file in the /etc/virt-who.d/ directory. It does not matter what the name of the file is, but you should give it a name that makes sense and the file must be located in the /etc/virt-who.d/ directory. Inside that file add the following snippet and remember to save the file before closing it.

   [libvirt]
   type=libvirt
   

4. Start the virt-who service

   Start the virt-who service by running the following command in a terminal as root on the host physical machine:

   [root@virt-who ~]# service virt-who start
   [root@virt-who ~]# chkconfig virt-who on
   

5. Confirm virt-who service is receiving guest information

   At this point, the virt-who service will start collecting a list of domains from the host. Check the /var/log/rhsm/rhsm.log file on the host physical machine to confirm that the file contains a list of the guest VMs. For example:

   2015-05-28 12:33:31,424 DEBUG: Libvirt domains found: [{'guestId': '58d59128-cfbb-4f2c-93de-230307db2ce0', 'attributes': {'active': 0, 'virtWhoType': 'libvirt', 'hypervisorType': 'QEMU'}, 'state': 5}]
   

Procedure 16.1. Managing the subscription on the customer portal

1. Subscribing the hypervisor

   As the virtual machines will be receiving the same subscription benefits as the hypervisor, it is important that the hypervisor has a valid subscription and that the subscription is available for the VMs to use.

   1. Login to the customer portal

      Login to the Red Hat customer portal https://access.redhat.com/ and click the Subscriptions button at the top of the page.

   2. Click the Systems link

      In the Subscriber Inventory section (towards the bottom of the page), click Systems link.

   3. Select the hypervisor

      On the Systems page, there is a table of all subscribed systems. Click on the name of the hypervisor (localhost.localdomain for example). In the details page that opens, click Attach a subscription and select all the subscriptions listed. Click Attach Selected. This will attach the host's physical subscription to the hypervisor so that the guests can benefit from the subscription.

2. Subscribing the guest virtual machines - first time use

   This step is for those who have a new subscription and have never subscribed a guest virtual machine before. If you are adding virtual machines, skip this step. To consume the subscription assigned to the hypervisor profile on the machine running the virt-who service, auto subscribe by running the following command in a terminal, on the guest virtual machine as root.

   [root@virt-who ~]# subscription-manager attach --auto
   

3. Subscribing additional guest virtual machines

   If you just subscribed a for the first time, skip this step. If you are adding additional virtual machines, it should be noted that running this command will not necessarily re-attach the same subscriptions to the guest virtual machine. This is because removing all subscriptions then allowing auto attach to resolve what is necessary for a given guest virtual machine may result in different subscriptions consumed than before. This may not have any effect on your system, but it is something you should be aware about. If you used a manual attachment procedure to attach the virtual machine, which is not described below, you will need to re-attach those virtual machines manually as the auto-attach will not work. Use the following command as root in a terminal to first remove the subscriptions for the old guests and then use the auto-attach to attach subscriptions to all the guests. Run these commands on the guest virtual machine.

   [root@virt-who ~]# subscription-manager remove --all
   [root@virt-who ~]# subscription-manager attach --auto
   

4. Confirm subscriptions are attached

   Confirm that the subscription is attached to the hypervisor by running the following command as root in a terminal on the guest virtual machine:

   [root@virt-who ~]# subscription-manager list --consumed

   Output similar to the following will be displayed. Pay attention to the Subscription Details. It should say 'Subscription is current'.

   [root@virt-who ~]#  subscription-manager list --consumed
   +-------------------------------------------+
      Consumed Subscriptions
   +-------------------------------------------+
   Subscription Name:	Awesome OS with unlimited virtual guests
   Provides: 		Awesome OS Server Bits
   SKU: 			awesomeos-virt-unlimited
   Contract: 		0
   Account: 		######### Your account number #####
   Serial: 		######### Your serial number ######
   Pool ID: 		XYZ123                                             
   Provides Management: 	No
   Active: 		True
   Quantity Used: 		1
   Service Level:
   Service Type:
   Status Details:		Subscription is current                       
   Subscription Type:
   Starts: 		01/01/2015
   Ends: 			12/31/2015
   System Type: 		Virtual
   

   	The ID for the subscription to attach to the system is displayed here. You will need this ID if you need to attach the subscription manually.
   	Indicates if your subscription is current. If your subscription is not current, an error message appears. One example is Guest has not been reported on any host and is using a temporary unmapped guest subscription. In this case the guest needs to be subscribed. In other cases, use the information as indicated in Section 16.5.2, “I have subscription status errors, what do I do?”.

5. Register additional guests

   When you install new guest VMs on the hypervisor, you must register the new VM and use the subscription attached to the hypervisor, by running the following commands in a terminal as root on the guest virtual machine:

   [root@server1 ~]# subscription-manager register
   [root@server1 ~]# subscription-manager attach --auto
   [root@server1 ~]# subscription-manager list --consumed
   

1. Login to the Subscription Manager

   The Subscription Manager is located on the Red Hat Customer Portal. Login to the Customer Portal using your user name and password, by clicking the login icon at the top of the screen.

2. Click the Subscriptions tab

   Click the Subscriptions tab.

3. Click the Systems link

   Scroll down the page and click the Systems link.

4. Delete the system

   To delete the system profile, locate the specified system's profile in the table, select the check box beside its name and click Delete.

Procedure 16.2. How to attach a subscription manually

1. List subscription information and find the Pool ID

   First you need to list the available subscriptions which are of the virtual type. Run the following command in a terminal as root:

   [root@server1 ~]# subscription-manager list --avail --match-installed | grep 'Virtual' -B12
   Subscription Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (Basic for Virtualization)
   Provides:          Red Hat Beta
                      Oracle Java (for RHEL Server)
                      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
   SKU:               -------
   Pool ID:           XYZ123
   Available:         40
   Suggested:         1
   Service Level:     Basic
   Service Type:      L1-L3
   Multi-Entitlement: No
   Ends:              01/02/2017
   System Type:       Virtual
   

   Note the Pool ID displayed. Copy this ID as you will need it in the next step.

2. Attach the subscription with the Pool ID

   Using the Pool ID you copied in the previous step run the attach command. Replace the Pool ID XYZ123 with the Pool ID you retrieved. Run the following command in a terminal as root:

   [root@server1 ~]# subscription-manager attach --pool=XYZ123
   
   Successfully attached a subscription for: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (Basic for Virtualization)