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Chapter 3. Deploying a RHEL image as an EC2 instance on AWS

To use RHEL image on an Amazon Web Services (AWS), convert the RHEL image to the AWS-compatible format and deploy a VM from the RHEL image to run as an Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) instance. To create, customize, and deploy a RHEL Amazon Machine Image (AMI), you can use one of the following methods:

  • Use the Red Hat Image Builder. For instructions, see Preparing and uploading AMI images to AWS
  • Manually create and configure an AMI. This is a more complicated process but offers more granular customization options. For instructions, see the following sections.

Prerequisites

3.1. Available RHEL image types for public cloud

To deploy your RHEL virtual machine VM on a certified cloud service provider (CCSP), you can use a number of options. The following table lists the available image types, subscriptions, considerations, and sample scenarios for the image types.

Note

To deploy customized ISO images, you can use Red Hat Image Builder. With Image Builder, you can create, upload, and deploy these custom images specific to your chosen CCSP.

Table 3.1. Image options
Image typesSubscriptionsConsiderationsSample scenario

Deploy a Red Hat Golden Image

Use your existing Red Hat subscriptions

The subscriptions include the Red Hat product cost and support for Cloud Access images, while you pay the CCSP for all other instance costs

Select a Red Hat Golden Image on the CCSP. For details on Golden Images and how to access them on the CCSP, see the Red Hat Cloud Access Reference Guide

Deploy a custom image that you move to the CCSP

Use your existing Red Hat subscriptions

The subscriptions includes the Red Hat product cost and support for custom RHEL image, while you pay the CCSP for all other instance costs

Upload your custom image and attach your subscriptions

Deploy an existing RHEL based custom machine image

The custom machine images include a RHEL image

You pay the CCSP on an hourly basis based on a pay-as-you-go model. For this model, on-demand images are available on the CCSP marketplace. The CCSP provides support for these images, while Red Hat handles updates. The CCSP provides updates through the Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI)

Select a RHEL image when you launch an instance on the CCSP cloud management console, or choose an image from the CCSP marketplace.

Important

You cannot convert an on-demand instance to a custom RHEL instance. For migrating from an on-demand image to a custom RHEL bring your own subscription (BYOS) image:

  • Create a new custom RHEL instance, then migrate data from your on-demand instance.
  • When your data migration is completed, terminate the on-demand instance to avoid additional billing.

3.2. Deploying a RHEL instance by using a custom base image

To manually configure a virtual machine (VM), first create a base (starter) image. Then, you can modify configuration settings and add the packages the VM requires to operate on the cloud. You can also make additional configuration changes for your specific application after you upload the image.

Creating a VM from a base image has the following advantages:

  • Fully customizable
  • High flexibility for any use case
  • Lightweight - includes only the operating system and the required runtime libraries

To create a custom base image of RHEL from an ISO image, you can use the command line interface (CLI) or the web console for creating and configuring VM.

Note

Vertify the following VM configurations.

  • ssh - ssh must be enabled to provide remote access to your VMs
  • dhcp - the primary virtual adapter should be configured for dhcp.

Prerequisites

  • You have enabled virtualization on the host machine.

  • For web console, ensure the following options:

    • You have not checked the Immediately Start VM option.
    • You have already changed the Memory size to your preferred settings.
    • You have changed the Model option under Virtual Network Interface Settings to virtio and vCPUs to the capacity settings for the VM.

Procedure

  1. Configure the Red Hat Enterprise Linux VM:

    1. To install from the command line (CLI), ensure that you set the default memory, network interfaces, and CPUs as per your requirement for the VM. For details, see Creating virtual machines by using the command line
    2. To install from the web console, see Creating virtual machines by using the web console

  2. When the installation starts:

    1. Create a root password.
    2. Create an administrative user account.
  3. After the installation completes, reboot the VM and log in to the root account.
  4. After logging in as root, you can configure the image.

  5. Register the VM and enable the RHEL repository: 

    # subscription-manager register --auto-attach
    Copy to Clipboard

  6. For AMD64 or Intel 64 (x86_64) VMs, install the nvme, xen-netfront, and xen-blkfront drivers: 

    # dracut -f --add-drivers "nvme xen-netfront xen-blkfront"
    Copy to Clipboard

  7. For ARM 64 (aarch64) VMs, install the nvme driver: 

    # dracut -f --add-drivers "nvme"
    Copy to Clipboard

    Including these drivers prevents a dracut time-out.

    Alternatively, you can add the drivers to /etc/dracut.conf.d/ and then enter dracut -f to overwrite the existing initramfs file.

Verification

  • Verify that the cloud-init package is installed and enabled: 

    # dnf install cloud-init
# systemctl enable --now cloud-init.service
    Copy to Clipboard
  • Power down the VM.

3.3. Uploading a RHEL image to AWS by using the command line

To run a RHEL instance on Amazon Web Services (AWS), you must first upload a RHEL image to AWS. To configure and manage a RHEL EC2 instance on AWS, use the awscli2 utility.

3.3.1. Installing AWSCLI2

You can use the AWS command line interface awscli2 utility to configure and manage RHEL images and Red Hat high availability (HA) cluster on AWS.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to an AWS Access Key ID and an AWS Secret Access Key. For details, see manage access keys.

Procedure

  • Install awscli2: 

    # dnf install awscli2
    Copy to Clipboard

Verification

  1. Verify the installation: 

    $ aws --version
aws-cli/1.19.77 Python/3.6.15 Linux/5.14.16-201.fc34.x86_64 botocore/1.20.77
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Configure awscli2 for AWS credentials and settings: 

    $ aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]:
AWS Secret Access Key [None]:
Default region name [None]:
Default output format [None]:
    Copy to Clipboard

3.3.2. Converting and pushing an image to Amazon S3

You can convert a RHEL image in the qcow2 image format to OVA, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, and raw by using the qemu-img utility, and then upload to the Amazon S3 storage. For details, see supported image formats by AWS.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Run qemu-img to convert .qcow2 image to .raw image format: 

    # qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O raw rhel-10.0-sample.qcow2 rhel-10.0-sample.raw
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Upload the image to the Amazon S3 bucket: 

    $ aws s3 cp rhel-10.0-sample.raw s3://<example-s3-bucket-name>
    Copy to Clipboard

Verification

3.3.3. Managing a RHEL VM on AWS by using the command line

By using the awscli2 utility, you can manage a RHEL EC2 VM on AWS through command line. In this case, you can use the vmimport role for managing RHEL EC2 image snapshot. With awscli2, you can also import a RHEL EC2 image snapshot, create an AMI, launch, and connect to a RHEL EC2 instance.

  1. Use the vmimport role: An alternate to import the RHEL image to the Amazon S3 bucket is by using the vimport role. See Required permissions for VM Import/Export.
  2. Import RHEL image as a snapshot: You can import RHEL VM image from Amazon S3 as a snapshot to Amazon EC2. For details, see Start an import snapshot task and Monitor an import snapshot task.
  3. Create and launch a RHEL EC2 instance: You can create a RHEL Amazon Machine Image (AMI) from existing snapshot and launch a RHEL EC2 instance. For details, see create an AMI from snapshot by using awscli2 and launching, listing, and deleting RHEL instance by using awscli2.
  4. Configure the private key and connect to the RHEL EC2 instance: You can configure your <example-key>.pem file and connect to an RHEL EC2 instance. For details, see Create a key pair using Amazon EC2 and Connect using the AWS CLI.

3.3.4. Attaching Red Hat subscriptions

Using the subscription-manager command, you can register and attach your Red Hat subscription to a RHEL instance.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Register your system: 

    # subscription-manager register --auto-attach
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Attach your subscriptions:

  3. Optional: To collect various system metrics about the instance in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console, you can register the instance with Red Hat Insights. 

    # insights-client register --display-name <display-name-value>
    Copy to Clipboard

    For information on further configuration of Red Hat Insights, see Client Configuration Guide for Red Hat Insights.

3.4. Uploading a RHEL image to AWS by using the AWS console

To run a RHEL instance on Amazon Web Services (AWS), you must first upload the RHEL image to AWS. To configure and manage the RHEL EC2 instance on AWS, use the awscli2 utility.

3.4.1. Converting and pushing an image to S3 by using the AWS console

You can convert a RHEL image in the qcow2 image format to OVA, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, or raw, and upload it to an Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) by using the qemu-img utility. For details, see supported image formats by AWS.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Run qemu-img to convert .qcow2 image to .raw image format: 

    # qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O raw rhel-10.0-sample.qcow2 rhel-10.0-sample.raw
    Copy to Clipboard
  2. Upload the image to the S3 bucket by using Amazon S3 console

Verification

3.4.2. Managing a RHEL VM on AWS by using the AWS console

You can manage a RHEL EC2 VM on AWS by using the AWS console. You can create RHEL EC2 image snapshot, manage Amazon Machine Image (AMI), launch, and connect to a RHEL EC2 instance.

Procedure

  1. Use the vmimport role: An alternate way to import the RHEL image to the Amazon S3 bucket is by using the vmimport role. See Import your VM as an image.
  2. Import a RHEL image as a snapshot: You can import a RHEL VM image from Amazon S3 as a snapshot to Amazon EC2. For details, see Importing a disk as a snapshot using VM Import/Export and Monitor an import snapshot task.
  3. Create and launch a RHEL EC2 instance: You can create a RHEL Amazon Machine Image (AMI) from an existing snapshot and launch a RHEL EC2 instance. For details, see Create an AMI from a snapshot and Launch an instance using defined parameters.
  4. Configure the private key and connect to the RHEL EC2 instance: You can configure your <example-key>.pem file and connect to an RHEL EC2 instance. For details, see Create a key pair using Amazon EC2 and Connect using the Amazon EC2 console.
  5. For Red Hat susbscriptions, see Attaching Red Hat subscriptions
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