Chapter 6. Deploying RHEL bootc images

Procedure

1. Create a metadata.yaml file and add the following information to this file:

   instance-id: cloud-vm
   local-hostname: vmname

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2. Create a userdata.yam file and add the following information to the file:

   #cloud-config
   users:
   - name: admin
     sudo: "ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL"
     ssh_authorized_keys:
     - ssh-rsa AAA...fhHQ== your.email@example.com

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   ssh_authorized_keys is your SSH public key. You can find your SSH public key in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

3. Export the metadata.yaml and userdata.yaml files to the environment, compressed with gzip, encoded in base64 as follows. You will use these files in further steps.

   export METADATA=$(gzip -c9 <metadata.yaml | { base64 -w0 2>/dev/null || base64; }) \
   USERDATA=$(gzip -c9 <userdata.yaml | { base64 -w0 2>/dev/null || base64; })

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4. Launch the image on vSphere with the metadata.yaml and userdata.yaml files:

   1. Import the .vmdk image in to vSphere:

      $ govc import.vmdk ./composer-api.vmdk <_foldername_>

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   2. Create the VM in vSphere without powering it on:

      govc vm.create \
      -net.adapter=vmxnet3 \
      -m=4096 -c=2 -g=rhel8_64Guest \
      -firmware=bios -disk=”foldername/composer-api.vmdk” \
      -disk.controller=ide -on=false \
      vmname

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   3. Change the VM to add ExtraConfig variables, the cloud-init config:

      govc vm.change -vm vmname \
      -e guestinfo.metadata="${METADATA}" \
      -e guestinfo.metadata.encoding="gzip+base64" \
      -e guestinfo.userdata="${USERDATA}" \
      -e guestinfo.userdata.encoding="gzip+base64"
      .. Power-on the VM:
      govc vm.power -on vmname

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   4. Retrieve the VM IP address:

      HOST=$(govc vm.ip vmname)

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Procedure

1. In a browser, access Service→EC2 and log in.
2. On the AWS console dashboard menu, choose the correct region. The image must have the Available status, to indicate that it was correctly uploaded.
3. On the AWS dashboard, select your image and click Launch.
4. In the new window that opens, choose an instance type according to the resources you need to start your image. Click Review and Launch.
5. Review your instance details. You can edit each section if you need to make any changes. Click Launch.
6. Before you start the instance, select a public key to access it. You can either use the key pair you already have or you can create a new key pair.

7. Click Launch Instance to start your instance. You can check the status of the instance, which displays as Initializing.

   After the instance status is Running, the Connect button becomes available.

8. Click Connect. A window appears with instructions on how to connect by using SSH.

9. Run the following command to set the permissions of your private key file so that only you can read it. See Connect to your Linux instance.

   $ chmod 400 <your-instance-name.pem>

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10. Connect to your instance by using its Public DNS:

    $ ssh -i <your-instance-name.pem>ec2-user@<your-instance-IP-address>

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Procedure

1. Create an ostreecontainer Kickstart file to fetch the image from the network. For example:

   # Basic setup
   text
   network --bootproto=dhcp --device=link --activate
   # Basic partitioning
   clearpart --all --initlabel --disklabel=gpt
   reqpart --add-boot
   part / --grow --fstype xfs
   
   # Reference the container image to install - The kickstart
   # has no %packages section. A container image is being installed.
   ostreecontainer --url quay.io/<namespace>/<image>:<tag> . bootc-image-builder:latest
   
   firewall --disabled
   services --enabled=sshd
   
   # Only inject a SSH key for root
   rootpw --iscrypted locked
   sshkey --username root "<your-key>"
   reboot

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2. Boot a system by using the RHEL 10 Boot ISO installation media.

   1. Append the Kickstart file with the following to the kernel argument:

      inst.ks=http://<path_to_your_kickstart>

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3. Press CTRL+X to boot the system.

Procedure

1. Create a custom installer ISO disk image with bootc-image-builder. See Creating ISO images by using bootc-image-builder.
2. Copy the ISO disk image to a USB flash drive.
3. Perform a bare-metal installation by using the content in the USB stick into a disconnected environment.

Procedure

1. Export the RHEL installation ISO image to the HTTP server. The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients.
2. Boot the client and start the installation.
3. Select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source. If the boot options are not displayed, press the Enter key on your keyboard or wait until the boot window opens.
4. From the Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot window, select the boot option that you want, and press Enter.
5. Start the network installation.

Procedure

1. Create a ./config.toml. The following example shows how to add a user to the disk image.

   [[customizations.user]]
   name = "user"
   password = "pass"
   key = "ssh-rsa AAA ... user@email.com"
   groups = ["wheel"]

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   • name - Mandatory. Name of the user.
   • password - Not mandatory. Nonencrypted password.
   • key - Not mandatory. Public SSH key contents.
   • groups - Not mandatory. An array of groups to add the user into.

2. Run bootc-image-builder and pass the following arguments, including the ./config.toml:

   $ sudo podman run \
       --rm \
       -it \
       --privileged \
       --pull=newer \
       --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
       -v $(pwd)/config.toml:/config.toml \
       -v $(pwd)/output:/output \
       registry.redhat.io/rhel10/bootc-image-builder:latest \
       --type qcow2 \
       --config config.toml \
       quay.io/<namespace>/<image>:<tag>

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3. Launch a VM, for example, by using virt-install:

   $ sudo virt-install \
     --name bootc \
     --memory 4096 \
     --vcpus 2 \
     --disk qcow2/disk.qcow2 \
     --import \
     --os-variant rhel10

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Procedure

1. After the instance starts, connect to it by using SSH using the key you selected when creating the instance:

   $ ssh -i <ssh-key-file> <cloud-user@ip>

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2. Make sure that the system-reinstall-bootc subpackage is installed:

   # rpm -q system-reinstall-bootc

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   If not, install the system-reinstall-bootc subpackage:

   # dnf -y install system-reinstall-bootc

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3. Convert the system to use a bootc image:

   # system-reinstall-bootc <image>

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   • You can use the container image from the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog or the customized bootc image built from a Containerfile.
4. Select users to import to the bootc image by pressing the "a" key.
5. Confirm your selection twice and wait until the image is downloaded.

6. Reboot the system:

   # reboot

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7. Remove the stored SSH host key for the given <ip> from your /.ssh/known_hosts file:

   # ssh-keygen -R <ip>

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   The bootc system is now using a new public SSH host key. When attempting to connect to the same IP address with a different key than what is stored locally, SSH will raise a warning or refuse the connection due to a host key mismatch. Since this change is expected, the existing host key entry can be safely removed from the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file using the following command.

8. Connect to the bootc system:

   # ssh -i <ssh-key-file> root@<ip>

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