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Chapter 6. Installing and configuring the MTV Operator

You can install the MTV Operator by using the Red Hat OpenShift web console or CLI. Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) version 2.4 and later includes the MTV plugin for the web console.

You can install the MTV Operator by using the Red Hat OpenShift web console.

Prerequisites

  • Red Hat OpenShift 4.20, 4.19, 4.18 installed.
  • OpenShift Virtualization Operator installed on an OpenShift migration target cluster.
  • You must be logged in as a user with cluster-admin permissions.

Procedure

  1. In the Red Hat OpenShift web console, click Operators OperatorHub.
  2. Use the Filter by keyword field to search for mtv-operator.
  3. Click Migration Toolkit for Virtualization Operator and then click Install.
  4. Click Create ForkliftController when the button becomes active.

  5. Click Create.

    Your ForkliftController appears in the list that is displayed.

  6. Click Workloads Pods to verify that the MTV pods are running.

  7. Click Operators Installed Operators to verify that Migration Toolkit for Virtualization Operator appears in the openshift-mtv project with the status Succeeded.

    When the plugin is ready you will be prompted to reload the page. The Migration menu item is automatically added to the navigation bar, displayed on the left of the Red Hat OpenShift web console.

You can install the MTV Operator by using the command-line interface (CLI).

Prerequisites

  • Red Hat OpenShift 4.20, 4.19, 4.18 installed.
  • OpenShift Virtualization Operator installed on an OpenShift migration target cluster.
  • You must be logged in as a user with cluster-admin permissions.

Procedure

  1. Create the openshift-mtv project: 

    $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: project.openshift.io/v1
kind: Project
metadata:
  name: openshift-mtv
EOF

  2. Create an OperatorGroup CR called migration: 

    $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: migration
  namespace: openshift-mtv
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
    - openshift-mtv
EOF

  3. Create a Subscription CR for the Operator: 

    $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: mtv-operator
  namespace: openshift-mtv
spec:
  channel: release-v2.10
  installPlanApproval: Automatic
  name: mtv-operator
  source: redhat-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
  startingCSV: "mtv-operator.v2.10.7"
EOF

  4. Create a ForkliftController CR: 

    $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: forklift.konveyor.io/v1beta1
kind: ForkliftController
metadata:
  name: forklift-controller
  namespace: openshift-mtv
spec:
  olm_managed: true
EOF

  5. Verify that the MTV pods are running: 

    $ oc get pods -n openshift-mtv

    The following is example output:

    Example: 

NAME                                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
forklift-api-bb45b8db4-cpzlg                            1/1     Running   0          6m34s
forklift-controller-7649db6845-zd25p                    2/2     Running   0          6m38s
forklift-must-gather-api-78fb4bcdf6-h2r4m               1/1     Running   0          6m28s
forklift-operator-59c87cfbdc-pmkfc                      1/1     Running   0          28m
forklift-ui-plugin-5c5564f6d6-zpd85                     1/1     Running   0          6m24s
forklift-validation-7d84c74c6f-fj9xg                    1/1     Running   0          6m30s
forklift-volume-populator-controller-85d5cb64b6-mrlmc   1/1     Running   0          6m36s

6.3. Configuring the MTV Operator
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Configure the MTV Operator through the Settings section of the Overview page or by modifying the ForkliftController custom resource (CR). Some configurations are available only in the CR.

Note

You can only use the string values "true" and "false" for feature gates, such as plugins and some services, in the ForkliftController CR. The ForkliftController API does not accept boolean values for these settings.

For information about the Settings section of the Overview page, see Settings tab.

Procedure

  • Change a parameter’s value in the spec section of the ForkliftController CR by adding the parameter and value as follows: 

    spec:
  <parameter: value>
    • Replace <parameter: value> with one of the parameters from the MTV Operator parameters table. For more information, see MTV Operator parameters.

6.4. MTV Operator parameters
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The MTV Operator parameters table contains a description of each MTV Operator parameter and its default value.

Expand
Table 6.1. MTV Operator parameters
ParameterDescriptionDefault value

controller_max_vm_inflight

The maximum number of disks or VMs that can transfer or migrate simultaneously. Varies with provider. For more information, see Configuring the controller_max_vm_inflight parameter.

20

must_gather_api_cleanup_max_age

The duration in hours for retaining must gather reports before they are automatically deleted.

-1 (disabled)

controller_container_limits_cpu

The CPU limit allocated to the main controller container.

500m

controller_container_limits_memory

The memory limit allocated to the main controller container.

800Mi

controller_precopy_interval

The interval in minutes at which a new snapshot is requested before initiating a warm migration.

60

controller_snapshot_status_check_rate_seconds

The frequency in seconds with which the system checks the status of snapshot creation or removal during a warm migration.

10

controller_filesystem_overhead

Percentage of space in persistent volumes allocated as file system overhead when the storageclass is filesystem.

ForkliftController CR only.

10

controller_block_overhead

Fixed amount of additional space allocated in persistent block volumes. This setting is applicable for any storageclass that is block-based. It can be used when data, such as encryption headers, is written to the persistent volumes in addition to the content of the virtual disk.

ForkliftController CR only.

0

vsphere_osmap_configmap_name

Config map for vSphere source providers. This config map maps the operating system of the incoming VM to a OpenShift Virtualization preference name. This config map needs to be in the namespace where the MTV Operator is deployed.

To see the list of preferences in your OpenShift Virtualization environment, open the OpenShift web console and click Virtualization > Preferences.

Add values to the config map when this parameter has the default value, forklift-vsphere-osmap. To override or delete values, specify a config map that is different from forklift-vsphere-osmap.

ForkliftController CR only.

forklift-vsphere-osmap

ovirt_osmap_configmap_name

Config map for RHV source providers. This config map maps the operating system of the incoming VM to a OpenShift Virtualization preference name. This config map needs to be in the namespace where the MTV Operator is deployed.

To see the list of preferences in your OpenShift Virtualization environment, open the OpenShift web console and click Virtualization Preferences.

You can add values to the config map when this parameter has the default value, forklift-ovirt-osmap. To override or delete values, specify a config map that is different from forklift-ovirt-osmap.

ForkliftController CR only.

forklift-ovirt-osmap

controller_retain_precopy_importer_pods

Whether to retain importer pods so that the Containerized Data Importer (CDI) does not delete them during migration.

ForkliftController CR only.

false

The value of controller_max_vm_inflight parameter, which is shown in the UI as Max concurrent virtual machine migrations, varies by the source provider of the migration

  • For all migrations except Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or VMware migrations, the parameter specifies the maximum number of disks that Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) can transfer simultaneously. In these migrations, MTV migrates the disks in parallel. This means that if the combined number of disks that you want to migrate is greater than the value of the setting, additional disks must wait until the queue is free, without regard for whether a VM has finished migrating.

    For example, if the value of the parameter is 15, and VM A has 5 disks, VM B has 5 disks, and VM C has 6 disks, all the disks except for the 16th disk start migrating at the same time. Once any of them has migrated, the 16th disk can be migrated, even though not all the disks on VM A and the disks on VM B have finished migrating.

  • For OVA migrations, the parameter specifies the maximum number of VMs that MTV can migrate simultaneously, meaning that all additional disks must wait until at least one VM has been completely migrated.

    For example, if the value of the parameter is 2, and VM A has 5 disks, VM B has 5 disks, and VM C has 6 disks, all the disks on VM C must wait to migrate until either all the disks on VM A or on VM B finish migrating.

  • For VMware migrations, the parameter has the following meanings:

    • Cold migration:

      • To local OpenShift Virtualization: VMs for each ESXi host that can migrate simultaneously.
      • To remote OpenShift Virtualization: Disks for each ESXi host that can migrate simultaneously.
    • Warm migration: Disks for each ESXi host that can migrate simultaneously.
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