Chapter 4. Installing RHEL AI on IBM cloud

Procedure

1. Log in to IBM Cloud with the following command:

   $ ibmcloud login

   When prompted, select your desired account to log in to.

   Example output of the login

   $ ibmcloud login
   API endpoint: https://cloud.ibm.com
   Region: us-east
   
   Get a one-time code from https://identity-1.eu-central.iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/passcode to proceed.
   Open the URL in the default browser? [Y/n] >
   One-time code >
   Authenticating...
   OK
   
   Select an account:
   1. <account-name>
   2. <account-name-2>
   
   API endpoint:     https://cloud.ibm.com
   Region:           us-east
   User:             <user-name>
   Account:          <selected-account>
   Resource group:   No resource group targeted, use 'ibmcloud target -g RESOURCE_GROUP'

2. You need to set up various IBM Cloud configurations and create your COS bucket before generating a QCOW2 image.

   1. You can install the necessary IBM Cloud plugins by running the following command:

      $ ibmcloud plugin install cloud-object-storage infrastructure-service

   2. Set your preferred resource group, the following example command sets the resource group named Default.

      $ ibmcloud target -g Default

   3. Set your preferred region, the following example command sets the us-east region.

      $ ibmcloud target -r us-east

   4. You need to select a deployment plan for your service instance. Ensure you check the properties and pricing on the IBM cloud website.

      1. You can list the available deployment plans by running the following command:

         $ ibmcloud catalog service cloud-object-storage --output json | jq -r '.[].children[] | select(.children != null) | .children[].name'

      2. The following example command uses the premium-global-deployment plan and puts it in the environment variable cos_deploy_plan:

         $ cos_deploy_plan=premium-global-deployment

      3. Create a Cloud Object Storage (COS) service instance and save the name in an environment variable named cos_si_name and create the cloud-object-storage and by running the following commands:

         $ cos_si_name=THE_NAME_OF_YOUR_SERVICE_INSTANCE

         $ ibmcloud resource service-instance-create ${cos_si_name} cloud-object-storage standard global -d ${cos_deploy_plan}

   5. Get the Cloud Resource Name (CRN) for your Cloud Object Storage (COS) bucket in a variable named cos_crn by running the following commands:

      $ cos_crn=$(ibmcloud resource service-instance ${cos_si_name} --output json| jq -r '.[] | select(.crn | contains("cloud-object-storage")) | .crn')

      $ ibmcloud cos config crn --crn ${cos_crn} --force

   6. Create your Cloud Object Storage (COS) bucket named as the environment variable bucket_name with the following commands:

      $ bucket_name=NAME_OF_MY_BUCKET

      $ ibmcloud cos bucket-create --bucket ${bucket_name}

   7. Allow the infrastructure service to read the buckets that are in the service instance ${cos_si_guid} variable by running the following commands:

      $ cos_si_guid=$(ibmcloud resource service-instance ${cos_si_name} --output json| jq -r '.[] | select(.crn | contains("cloud-object-storage")) | .guid')

      $ ibmcloud iam authorization-policy-create is cloud-object-storage Reader --source-resource-type image --target-service-instance-id ${cos_si_guid}

3. Now that your IBM Cloud Object Storage (CoS) service instance bucket is set up, you need to download the QCOW2 image from Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI download page

4. Copy the QCOW2 image link and add it to the following command:

   $ curl -Lo disk.qcow2 "PASTE_HERE_THE_LINK_OF_THE_QCOW2_FILE"

5. Set the name you want to use as the RHEL AI IBM Cloud image

   $ image_name=rhel-ai-20240703v0

6. Upload the QCOW2 image to the Cloud Object Storage (COS) bucket by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud cos upload --bucket ${bucket_name} --key ${image_name}.qcow2 --file disk.qcow2 --region <region>

7. Convert the QCOW2 you just uploaded to an IBM Cloud image with the following commands:

   $ ibmcloud is image-create ${image_name} --file cos://<region>/${bucket_name}/${image_name}.qcow2 --os-name red-ai-9-amd64-nvidia-byol

8. Once the job launches, set the IBM Cloud image configurations into a variable called image_id by running the following command:

   $ image_id=$(ibmcloud is images --visibility private --output json | jq -r '.[] | select(.name=="'$image_name'") | .id')

9. You can view the progress of the job with the following command:

   $ while ibmcloud is image --output json ${image_id} | jq -r .status | grep -xq pending; do sleep 1; done

10. You can view the information of the newly created image with the following command:

    $ ibmcloud is image ${image_id}

Procedure

1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account and select the Account, Region and Resource Group by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud login -c <ACCOUNT_ID> -r <REGION> -g <RESOURCE_GROUP>

2. Before launching your IBM Cloud instance on the CLI, you need to create several configuration variables for your instance.

   1. Install the infrastructure-service plugin for IBM Cloud by running the following command

      $ ibmcloud plugin install infrastructure-service

   2. You need to create an SSH public key for your IBM Cloud account. IBM Cloud supports RSA and ed25519 keys. The following example command uses the ed25519 key types and names it ibmcloud.

      $ ssh-keygen -f ibmcloud -t ed25519

   3. You can now upload the public key to your IBM Cloud account by following the example command.

      $ ibmcloud is key-create my-ssh-key @ibmcloud.pub --key-type ed25519

   4. You need to create a Floating IP for your IBM Cloud instance by following the example command. Ensure you change the region to your preferred zone.

      $ ibmcloud is floating-ip-reserve my-public-ip --zone <region>

3. You need to select the instance profile that you want to use for the deployment. List all the profiles by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud is instance-profiles

   Make a note of your preferred instance profile, you will need it for your instance deployment.

4. You can now start creating your IBM Cloud instance. Populate environment variables for when you create the instance.

   name=my-rhelai-instance
   vpc=my-vpc-in-us-east
   zone=us-east-1
   subnet=my-subnet-in-us-east-1
   instance_profile=gx3-64x320x4l4
   image=my-custom-rhelai-image
   sshkey=my-ssh-key
   floating_ip=my-public-ip
   disk_size=250

5. You can now launch your instance, by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud is instance-create \
       $name \
       $vpc \
       $zone \
       $instance_profile \
       $subnet \
       --image $image \
       --keys $sshkey \
       --boot-volume '{"name": "'${name}'-boot", "volume": {"name": "'${name}'-boot", "capacity": '${disk_size}', "profile": {"name": "general-purpose"}}}' \
       --allow-ip-spoofing false

6. Link the Floating IP to the instance by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud is floating-ip-update $floating_ip --nic primary --in $name

Procedure

1. Create an environment variable called name that has the name of your instance by running the following command:

   $ name=my-rhelai-instance

2. Set the size of the new volume by running the following command:

   $ data_volume_size=1000

3. Create and attach the instance volume by running the following command:

   $ ibmcloud is instance-volume-attachment-add data ${name} \
       --new-volume-name ${name}-data \
       --profile general-purpose \
       --capacity ${data_volume_size}

4. You can list all the disks with the following command:

   $ lsblk

5. Create a disk variable with the content of the disk path your using. The following example command uses the /dev/vdb path.

   $ disk=/dev/vdb

6. Create a partition on your disk by running the following command:

   $ sgdisk -n 1:0:0 $disk

7. Format and label the partition by running the following command:

   $ mkfs.xfs -L ilab-data ${disk}1

8. You can configure your system to auto mount to your preferred directory. The following example command uses the /mnt directory.

   $ echo LABEL=ilab-data /mnt xfs defaults 0 0 >> /etc/fstab

9. Reload the systemd service to acknowledge the new configuration on mounts by running the following command:

   $ systemctl daemon-reload

10. Mount the disk with the following command:

    $ mount -a

11. Grant write permissions to all users in the new file system by running the following command:

    $ chmod 1777 /mnt/

Procedure

1. You can configure the ILAB_HOME environment variable by writing it to the $HOME/.bash_profile file by running the following commands:

   $ echo 'export ILAB_HOME=/mnt' >> $HOME/.bash_profile

2. You can make that change effective by reloading the $HOME/.bash_profile file with the following command:

   $ source $HOME/.bash_profile