Chapter 7. Creating a virtual machine

Procedure

1. In the web console, navigate to Virtualization Catalog.

   The InstanceTypes tab opens by default.

2. Select either of the following options:

   • Select a suitable bootable volume from the list. If the list is truncated, click the Show all button to display the entire list.

     Note

     The bootable volume table lists only those volumes in the openshift-virtualization-os-images namespace that have the instancetype.kubevirt.io/default-preference label.

     • Optional: Click the star icon to designate a bootable volume as a favorite. Starred bootable volumes appear first in the volume list.

   • Click Add volume to upload a new volume or to use an existing persistent volume claim (PVC), a volume snapshot, or a containerDisk volume. Click Save.

     Logos of operating systems that are not available in the cluster are shown at the bottom of the list. You can add a volume for the required operating system by clicking the Add volume link.

     In addition, there is a link to the Create a Windows boot source quick start. The same link appears in a popover if you hover the pointer over the question mark icon next to the Select volume to boot from line.

     Immediately after you install the environment or when the environment is disconnected, the list of volumes to boot from is empty. In that case, three operating system logos are displayed: Windows, RHEL, and Linux. You can add a new volume that meets your requirements by clicking the Add volume button.

3. Click an instance type tile and select the resource size appropriate for your workload.

4. Optional: Choose the virtual machine details, including the VM’s name, that apply to the volume you are booting from:

   • For a Linux-based volume, follow these steps to configure SSH:

     1. If you have not already added a public SSH key to your project, click the edit icon beside Authorized SSH key in the VirtualMachine details section.

     2. Select one of the following options:

        • Use existing: Select a secret from the secrets list.

        • Add new: Follow these steps:

          1. Browse to the public SSH key file or paste the file in the key field.
          2. Enter the secret name.
          3. Optional: Select Automatically apply this key to any new VirtualMachine you create in this project.
     3. Click Save.

   • For a Windows volume, follow either of these set of steps to configure sysprep options:

     • If you have not already added sysprep options for the Windows volume, follow these steps:

       1. Click the edit icon beside Sysprep in the VirtualMachine details section.
       2. Add the Autoattend.xml answer file.
       3. Add the Unattend.xml answer file.
       4. Click Save.

     • If you want to use existing sysprep options for the Windows volume, follow these steps:

       1. Click Attach existing sysprep.
       2. Enter the name of the existing sysprep Unattend.xml answer file.
       3. Click Save.

5. Optional: If you are creating a Windows VM, you can mount a Windows driver disk:

   1. Click the Customize VirtualMachine button.
   2. On the VirtualMachine details page, click Storage.
   3. Select the Mount Windows drivers disk checkbox.
6. Optional: Click View YAML & CLI to view the YAML file. Click CLI to view the CLI commands. You can also download or copy either the YAML file contents or the CLI commands.
7. Click Create VirtualMachine.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform web console, click Virtualization VirtualMachines.
2. Select a VM to open the VirtualMachine details page.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. On the Details tab, click the instance type text to open the Edit Instancetype dialog. For example, click 1 CPU | 2 GiB Memory.

5. Edit the instance type by using the Series and Size lists.

   1. Select an item from the Series list to show the relevant sizes for that series. For example, select General Purpose.
   2. Select the VM’s new instance type from the Size list. For example, select medium: 1 CPUs, 4Gi Memory, which is available in the General Purpose series.
6. Click Save.

Verification

1. Click the YAML tab.
2. Click Reload.
3. Review the VM YAML to confirm that the instance type changed.

Procedure

1. From the OpenShift Container Platform web console, choose your view:

   • For a virtualization-focused view, select Administrator Virtualization Catalog.
   • For a general view, navigate to Virtualization Catalog.
2. Click the Template catalog tab.
3. Click the Boot source available checkbox to filter templates with boot sources. The catalog displays the default templates.

4. Click All templates to view the available templates for your filters.

   • To focus on particular templates, enter the keyword in the Filter by keyword field.
   • Choose a template project from the All projects dropdown menu, or view all projects.

5. Click a template tile to view its details.

   • Optional: If you are using a Windows template, you can mount a Windows driver disk by selecting the Mount Windows drivers disk checkbox.
   • If you do not need to customize the template or VM parameters, click Quick create VirtualMachine to create a VM from the template.

   • If you need to customize the template or VM parameters, do the following:

     1. Click Customize VirtualMachine. The Customize and create VirtualMachine page displays the Overview, YAML, Scheduling, Environment, Network interfaces, Disks, Scripts, and Metadata tabs.
     2. Click the Scripts tab to edit the parameters that must be set before the VM boots, such as Cloud-init, SSH key, or Sysprep (Windows VM only).
     3. Optional: Click the Start this virtualmachine after creation (Always) checkbox.

     4. Click Create VirtualMachine.

        The VirtualMachine details page displays the provisioning status.