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Terminology

VM Host

  • A VM host is a physical computer running a VMware hypervisor
  • A VCL computer entry must be added for each VM host (Manage Computers > Edit Computer Information)
  • A VCL computer entry is designated as a VM host by changing the computer state to vmhostinuse (Manage Computers > Computer Utilities)

VM

  • A VM is a virtual machine managed by VCL
  • A computer entry must be added to VCL for each VM (Manage Computers > Edit Computer Information)
  • Each VM must be assigned to a VM host (Virtual Hosts > VM Hosts tab > Configure Host)
  • VMs do not need to be created manually in VMware, VCL automatically creates and deletes VMs

VM Host Profile

  • A VM host profile contains several parameters defining how a VM host is configured
  • Each VM host is assigned a VM host profile
  • A VM host profile may be assigned to multiple VM hosts if they are configured identically
  • VM host profiles may be added or modified via Virtual Hosts > VM Host Profiles tab

VMware Products Supported

  • VMware Server 2.x
  • VMware ESX 3.5 - 4.x
  • VMware ESXi 4.x

VM Host Management Options

 The VCL management node must be able to control the VM host and its VMs.  VMware provides several different ways of doing this.  VCL currently supports the following methods for remote VM host management:

  • VMware vSphere SDK
  • Execute vim-cmd commands remotely on the VM host via SSH

The vSphere SDK can only be used if remote management is not restricted due to the VMware license being used.  This mainly affects hosts running the free version of ESXi.  Remote management using any of the methods supported by VMware is disabled once a free license key is entered.

If remote management is restricted, the VM host can be managed if SSH is enabled on it.  VCL will execute vim-cmd on the VM host via SSH. 

How to enable SSH on the VM host:

VMware Server 2.x

Enable the SSH daemon and configure identity key authentication according to the underlying VM host OS

ESX/ESXi 3.5 & 4.0
  • Connect to the console of the ESX/ESXi host
  • Press ALT-F1 - you should see a black screen with the VMware product name at the top
  • Type the word unsupported and press Enter (you won't see the letters appear as you type them)
  • You should see a password prompt, type in the root password and press Enter
  • Edit the file: vi /etc/inetd.conf
  • Uncomment the first line beginning with #ssh by deleting the # character
  • Save the file - press Esc and then :wq
  • Kill the inetd process
    • Determine the PID of the inetd process: ps | grep inetd
      You should see a line that looks like: 5065 5065 busybox inetd
    • Kill the process (enter the PID from the output of the previous command): kill -HUP 5065
ESXi 4.1

Beginning with ESXi 4.1, SSH can be enabled using the vSphere Client:

  • Select the ESXi host
  • Select the Configuration tab
  • Select Security Profile under Software
  • Click Properties
  • Select Remote Tech Support (SSH)
  • Click Options
  • Select Start automatically
  • Click Start
  • Click OK
ESX 4.1

In the case of ESX 4.1, SSH  is enabled as the default. Using the vSphere Client, you can confirm it:

  • Select the ESXi host
  • Select the Configuration tab
  • Select Security Profile under Software
  • Click Properties
  • Select SSH Server
  • Click Options
  • Confirm that Start automatically is selected
  • Click OK

IMPORTANT:

  • You need to log in as root and to enable PermitRootLogin by editing /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

    vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

    PermitRootLogin yes

  • Then, you should restart sshd:

    /etc/init.d/sshd restart

How to configure ESX/ESXi to use SSH identity key authentication:

SSH identity key authentication must be configured if the SSH/vim-cmd method is used to manage the VM host.

  • Create an SSH key pair on the management node (or use a key you previously created):

    ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /etc/vcl/vcl.key -N '' -b 1024 -C 'VCL root account'

  • Log into the ESX host via SSH (password authentication should work) and create the directory:

    ssh <ESXi host> 'mkdir /.ssh'

  • Copy the public key to the ESXi host:

    scp /etc/vcl/vcl.key.pub <ESXi host>:/.ssh/authorized_keys

  • Test making an SSH connection using the key:

    ssh -i /etc/vcl/vcl.key <ESXi host>

IMPORTANT: Under ESXi, the authorized_keys file is erased when the ESXi VM host is rebooted. Complete the following steps to make the authorized_keys file persistent:

  • Create a compressed tarball file containing the /.ssh directory:

    tar -C / -czf bootbank/vcl.tgz .ssh

  • Edit the /bootbank/boot.cfg file and append ' --- vcl.tgz' to modules line as shown in the following example:

    kernel=b.z
    kernelopt=
    modules=k.z — s.z — c.z — oem.tgz — license.tgz — m.z — state.tgz — vcl.tgz
    build=4.1.0-260247
    updated=2
    bootstate=0

    Optionally you can run the following two commands:
    tar -C / -czf vcl.tgz .ssh
    BootModuleConfig.sh --add=vcl.tgz --verbose

VM host profile parameters:

  • Name - descriptive name of the VM host profile
  • Type - type of hypervisor installed on the VM host
    • The Type parameter is not actually used with the VMware provisioning module included with VCL 2.2.  The name and version of the VMware product installed on the VM host is retrieved directly from the VM host
    • The Type parameter only needs to be configured correctly if using the VMware provisioning module included with VCL 2.1 and earlier.
  • Image - VCL image installed on the VM host computers
    • VCL has the ability to install a hypervisor image on bare-metal computers if xCAT is installed and configured (Note: xCAT is not required if VM hosts are installed manually)
    • The image configured in the VM host profile is installed using xCAT when a computer's state is changed to vmhostinuse via Manage Computers > Computer Utilities
    • Even if xCAT is not used, the OS of the image selected should match the OS installed on the VM host
  • Repository Path - Path on management node where VMware images are stored
    • Only applicable if the VM Disk parameter is set to localdis.  The Repository Path parameter is not used if the VM Disk parameter is set to networkdisk
    • Image files are copied using SCP from the VM host to the Repository Path on the management node during the image capture process if the VM Disk parameter is set to localdisk
    • If the requested image does not reside in the Data Store Path on the VM host when a reservation is made, it is copied from the Repository Path on the management node to the VM host using SCP
  • Data Store Path - Path on VM host where virtual disk (.vmdk) files are stored
    • VCL creates a directory under the Data Store Path directory on the VM host for each image used on the VM host
    • The image directories are named after the VCL images:
      <os name><image name><image revision>
    • Example: vmwarewin7-enterprise156-v2
  • VM Path - Path on VM host where running VM files are stored (.vmx, .vswp, nvram...)
    • VCL creates a directory under the VM Path directory on the VM host for each VM it creates on the VM host
    • The VM directories are named using a combination of the VM computer and image name:
      <computer name>_<image id>-<image revision>
    • Example: vclvm-53_156-v0
  • Virtual Switch - network names configured in VMware
    Virtual Switch 0 - private VCL management networ
    Virtual Switch 1 - public network used by user making reservation to access the VMs
    • For ESXi, the Virtual Switch parameters must match the Virtual Machine Port Group Network Labels configured in the vSphere Client
    • For VMware Server 2.x, the Virtual Switch parameters must match the Network Names configured by running vmware-config.pl
  • VM Disk - Defines the type of storage used on the VM host to store the VCL images
    • localdisk - Select localdisk if separate storage is used by each VM host to store images and storage is available on the management node, configured by the Repository Path parameter
      • Images are copied from the VM host to the Repository Path on the management node during the image capture process
      • Images are copied from the Repository Path on the management node to the Data Store Path on the VM host during the image load process if the image does not already reside on the VM host
    • network - Select network if the same network-based storage is used by all of the VM hosts
      • Images are not copied to the Repository Path on the management node when during the image capture process
  • Generate eth0/eth1 MAC - not used
  • Username/Password - Name and password of the administrative or root user residing on the VM host
    • This account is used to manage the VM host and VMs assigned to the host
    • The username and password are currently only used if the vSphere SDK is used to manage the VM host and VMs
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