Chapter 3. Enabling Red Hat Gluster Storage in Red Hat Virtualization Manager

Procedure 3.1. To Enable Red Hat Gluster Storage in Red Hat Virtualization Manager

1. Install Red Hat Virtualization Manager

   The Red Hat Virtualization Manager is the control center of the Red Hat Virtualization environment. Ensure that Red Hat Virtualization Manger is installed and configured.
   Install and configure Red Hat Virtualization Manager. See Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Manager in the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide for more information: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/part-Installing_Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization.html.

2. Install Hosts

   Install the virtual machine hosts using either Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor or Red Hat Enterprise Linux as hosts. Before beginning the installation process, ensure that all virtualization hosts meet the hardware requirements and that the installation of Red Hat Virtualization Manager is complete.
   You can use the following hypervisors as hosts:
   • Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor 3.4
   • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3
   • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4
   • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5
   During installation, set the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and IP address for the server in order to avoid network conflicts. For information on installing the hypervisor, see Installing Hypervisor Hosts in the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/part-Installing_Hypervisor_Hosts.html.

   Note

   You must install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Server or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 on a system to use it as a virtualization host in a Red Hat Virtualization environment. See Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts in the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide for details: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/chap-Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_Hosts.html.

3. Subscribe hosts to channels or repositories

   Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts need to be registered and subscribed to a number of entitlements using either Subscription Manager or Red Hat Network Classic. For more information, see Subscribing to Required Channels using RHN Classic in the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/Subscribing_to_Required_Channels_using_Subscription_Manager1.html.
   Subscribe Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 hosts to the channels listed below:
   • rhel-x86_64-server-6
   • rhel-x86_64-rhev-mgmt-agent-6
   Apart from the above channels, you must also subscribe to the Red Hat Gluster Storage 3.3 Native Client channels to get the latest version:
   Run the rhn-channel --add --channel command to subscribe the system to the correct Red Hat Gluster Storage Native Client channel:
   • For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x clients using Red Hat Satellite Server:

     # rhn-channel --add --channel= rhel-x86_64-server-rh-common-7

   • For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x clients:

     # rhn-channel --add --channel=rhel-x86_64-server-rhsclient-6

   • For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x clients:

     # rhn-channel --add --channel=rhel-x86_64-server-rhsclient-5

   For information on how to install native clients, see Installing Native Client in the Red Hat Gluster Storage Administration Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_gluster_storage/3.3/html/administration_guide/chap-accessing_data_-_setting_up_clients#Installing_Native_Client

4. Configure the Hypervisor

   Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor host

   Install Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor 3.4 on bare metal. See Installing the Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor chapter of the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/part-Installing_Hypervisor_Hosts.html

   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3, 6.4, or 6.5 host

   A Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization host must be registered and subscribed to a number of entitlements using either Subscription Manager or Red Hat Network Classic. See Subscribing to Required Channels using RHN Classic in the Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hosts chapter of the Red Hat Virtualization Installation Guide for more information.

   Subscribe to the Red Hat Gluster Storage Native Client from the Additional Services Channels to ensure the server has the latest clients installed:

   # yum install glusterfs-fuse glusterfs

   For more information, see Installing Native Client in the Red Hat Gluster Storage Administration Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Virtualization/3.6/html/Installation_Guide/chap-Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_Hosts.html.

5. Configure the data centers

   Define data centers and clusters to organize the virtualization hosts. The installation process creates a data center and associated cluster named Default.

   Note

   A server can be a Red Hat Virtualization Hypervisor or a Red Hat Enterprise Linux host. A trusted storage pool requires a minimum of one storage host, and at least one active virtualization host is required to connect the system to a storage pool.

6. Install Red Hat Gluster Storage

   Install the latest version of Red Hat Gluster Storage on new servers, not the virtualization hosts.
   For more information on obtaining and installing the software, see the Red Hat Gluster Storage Installation Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_gluster_storage/3.3/html/installation_guide/chap-installing_red_hat_storage.
   If you want to configure combined virtualization hosts and storage servers, see the Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure documentation: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_hyperconverged_infrastructure/1.0/html/deploying_red_hat_hyperconverged_infrastructure/

7. Configure Storage

   Configure the Red Hat Gluster Storage installation for your requirements.
   For instructions on creating a Red Hat Gluster Storage Volume, see chapter Red Hat Gluster Storage Volume in the Red Hat Gluster Storage Administration Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_gluster_storage/3.3/html/administration_guide/chap-red_hat_storage_volumes.
   Red Hat Virtualization uses a centralized storage system for virtual machine disk images. Before adding storage, ensure that you have a working Red Hat Virtualization Manager environment. You must be able to access the Administration Portal, and there must be at least one host connected with Up status.
   Optimize your Red Hat Gluster Storage volumes for storing virtual machine images by following the instructions in Procedure 4.1, “To Configure Volumes Using the Command Line Interface”.

   Note

   To reduce the risk of split-brain conditions developing in the cluster, Red Hat requires three-way replication when using Red Hat Gluster Storage with Red Hat Virtualization. Three-way replication is provided by the following volume types:

   • three-way replicated volumes (replica 3)
   • three-way distributed replicated volumes (replica count 3)
   • arbitrated replicated or distributed arbitrated replicated volumes (replica 3 arbiter 1)

8. Attach Storage to Hypervisor

   Check that you can access the Red Hat Virtualization Manager Administration Portal and that at least one virtualization host has Up status before you continue.
   Create a new storage domain with a Data domain function and the GlusterFS storage type. For further information, see the Adding a Red Hat Gluster Storage Volume as a Storage Domain section in the Red Hat Virtualization Administration Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_virtualization/4.1/html/administration_guide/sect-using_red_hat_gluster_storage_as_a_storage_domain