Knowledge: Managing KVM on IBM Z with oVirt - Part 3

Defining a Virtual Machine

Back on the dashboard select the “n Virtual Machines” link and click the “New” button. The pop up for the VM definition has multiple tabs. The following tabs and fields are relevant.

General

Name: enter a unique name for the virtual machine (VM).
Instance Images: Use the “Create” button to define a new disk image and attach it to the VM.
Select a VNIC profile for the VM's network interface (default is ovirtmgmt).

Console

While there is work in progress to enable virtio-based graphical devices, contemporary Linux on Z distributions do not have support for graphical consoles. Therefore, it is necessary to select the “Headless Mode” check box.
Do not forget to select the “Enable VirtIO serial console” check box to provide a serial console for the guest.

Boot Options

Set the Boot Sequence “First Device” to CD-ROM.
Select the “Attach CD” check box and choose the correct ISO image for the VM from the drop-down list.

Setting up Serial Console Access

The access to the virtual machines' serial consoles is provided using the ovirt-vmconsole-proxy package. Console users log into the client using

    ssh -t -p 2222 ovirt-vmconsole@proxyhost

Replace proxyhost with the DNS name or IP address of the administration portal machine.
To use the console proxy, the user has to upload a public SSH key to be used for the connection. The public key has to be stored in the User's profile options.

 

Installing the Virtual Machine

As the VM has been defined to boot from CD-ROM, starting it (using the button labeled “Run”) will begin the installation process. Since the installation usually needs some user input, it is necessary to connect to the virtual machine’s serial console. This can be done by opening a Linux terminal window and executing the following command:

   ssh -p 2222 -t ovirt-vmconsole@engine.mydomain.mytld connect --vm-name=myvm

Replace engine.mydomain.tld with the administration portal's hostname, and myvm with the virtual machine's name.
From the console, complete the installation of the VM and let it shut down. To exit the console session you can use the hotkey combination ~. (tilde dot).

Finishing up

As of this writing, KVM guests on IBM Z cannot be defined with an ordered list of boot devices. Therefore, the definition of the virtual machine has to be changed to boot from the virtual hard disk after the installation has been completed. For that purpose, select “Edit” on the virtual machine page, navigate to the “Boot” tab and select “Hard Disk” as the “First Boot Device”.
That's it! Now you are ready to go and take your new virtual machine for a test drive. You can start it on the “Virtual Machines” view and perform the usual management tasks like monitor its' resource usage, create a snapshot, migrate to another host in the cluster, and eventually shut it down.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3