ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
This chapter will discuss using ManageIQ Management Engine Console for provisioning. While making a provisioning request, the user is able to do any of the following:
Set an owner (User can do this using LDAP lookup)
Assign a purpose (tag)
Select a template or image from which to create a new virtual machine or instance respectively
Choose placement
Set hardware requirements
Specify the vLan
Customize the guest operating system
Schedule the provisioning
3.1. Requirements for Provisioning Virtual Machines and Instances
3.1.1. Requirements for Provisioning Virtual Machines from VMware
Providers
To provision a virtual machine from VMware providers, you will require the following in addition to the
ManageIQ Management Engine Automate requirements:
Important
If you are using a Windows template, the following steps are essential.
To customize settings that are inside the operating system, Sysprep must be copied to the appropriate directory on your vCenter computer. Usually this location is:
C:\Documents and
Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep. Copy the Sysprep tools to the relevant operating system subdirectory. If you are running a standard
Win2008 operating system, this step will be unnecessary.
Note
If you are running a standard Win2008 operating system, this step is unnecessary as Sysprep is included as standard.
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The Windows template must have the latest version of VMware tools for its ESX Server. Check the
VMware Site for more information. If you will be creating a new password for the Administrator
Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests account, the Administrators password must be blank on the template. (This is a limitation of Microsoft
Sysprep.)
Refer to VMware documentation for a complete list of customization requirements.
3.1.2. Requirements for Provisioning Virtual Machines from Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization Manager
Below are the requirements for using
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager with ManageIQ
Management Engine:
Table 3.1. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager configuration requirements for
ManageIQ Management Engine
Item
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager version
3.0
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager History
Database
Requirements
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager properly installed with API in default location
(https://server:8443/api).
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager Data
Warehouse (DWH) properly installed with access to the PostgreSQL database on the Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization Manager server.
Port 5432 open in iptables.
md5 authentication allowed to ManageIQ
Management Engine Appliances in
pg_hba.conf.
PostgreSQL set to listen for connections on
*:5432 in postgresql.conf.
Credentials provided during database setup to be used in ManageIQ Management Engine UI.
Storage Supported for ManageIQ Management
Engine Virtual Machine Analysis
NFS - ManageIQ Management Engine server must be able to mount NFS storage domain.
iSCSI / FCP - Cluster must use full Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (not Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization Hypervisor) Hosts.
DirectLUN Hook installed on each host and registered to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
Managers.
Must have ManageIQ Management Engine
Appliance in each Cluster with this storage type.
ManageIQ Management Engine appliance virtual machine container must have DirectLUN attribute set.
Local storage - Not yet supported (Red Hat does not recommend due to single point of failure).
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
The following are requirements for provisioning virtual machines from Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
Manager:
DHCP server configured with required PXE implementation
PXE implementation for Linux virtual machine provisioning
NFS and SAMBA read and write access to create and modify files on the PXE server
ManageIQ Management Engine Server uses NFS mount to read and write the response files
HTTP read access to the NFS share location as virtual machines use this URL to access PXE images and Kickstart configuration files
Operating system installation media available to be streamed from PXE server
Images configured for desired operating systems
Kickstart templates to configure operating systems with desired packages
Additional Requirements for provisioning Linux virtual machines:
Linux distribution kernel and ramdisk available over HTTP
Linux sources available over HTTP
Sample PXE menu item that boots this kernel
Additional Requirements for provisioning Windows virtual machines:
WinPE ISO built with proper rhev-agent-tools and configured to mount shares for Windows source files and Sysprep files and configured to run customization script
Windows based WIM file with operating system installed and configured with Sysprep
Sample Sysprep unattend file to be used with the operating system
Sample PXE menu item that downloads WinPE ISO, mount in memdisk and boot into WinPE environment
3.1.3. PXE Provisioning
3.1.3.1. PXE Provisioning
PXE is a boot method that allows you to load files from across a network link. ManageIQ Management
Engine uses it for files required for provisioning virtual machines. PXE can be used for provisioning for either Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager or VMware.
Connect to the PXE Server.
Create a System Image Type.
Associate each PXE image with an image type.
Create a customization template.
3.1.3.2. Connecting to a PXE Server
The following procedure connects to a PXE server and adds its details to ManageIQ Management Engine.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Procedure 3.1. To connect to a PXE server
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click (
Configuration), then
(
Add a New PXE Server).
3. In
Basic Information, type a Name that will be meaningful in your environment.
4. For Depot Type, select either Network File System (NFS) or Samba. The fields to enter in the dialog depend on the Depot Type.
For NFS, type in the URI, Access URL, PXE Directory, Windows Images Directory and
Customization Directory. When you provision, ManageIQ Management Engine writes a text file to the PXE Directory. The file is named after the MAC address of the NIC that is assigned to the virtual machine. It contains where to get the kernel and initrd image. This file is removed after a successful provision. The
Windows Images Directory is where the files are located on your NFS for the provisioning of Windows operating systems. The
Customization Directory is where your Kickstart and Sysprep files are located.
If using a Depot Type of Samba, you will not need Access URL, but you will need a User
ID, and Password, in addition to the items required for NFS.
5. For
PXE Image Menus, type the filename for the PXE Boot menu.
6. Click
Add.
7. Select the new PXE server from the tree on the left, and click (
Configuration), then
( Refresh) to see your existing images.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
Note
Next, create PXE Image types to associate with the customization templates and to specify if the image type is for a virtual machine, a host, or both.
3.1.3.3. Creating System Image Types for PXE
The following procedure creates a system image type for PXE servers.
Procedure 3.2. To Create System Image Types
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the System Image Types accordion.
3. Click
Configuration, then (Add a new System Image Type).
4. In Basic Information, type in a Name and select a Type.
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Use Host if you want this image type to only apply to hosts.
Use Vm if you want this image type to only apply to virtual machines.
Use
Any if this image type can be used for either hosts or virtual machines.
5. Click
Add.
Note
After creating the System Image Types, assign the types to each image on your PXE servers. To do this, you will select each image on the PXE server and identify its type.
Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
3.1.3.4. Setting the PXE Image Type for a PXE Image
The following procedure sets the image type for a chosen PXE image.
Procedure 3.3. To Set the PXE Image Type for a PXE Image
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the PXE Servers accordion and select the image that you want to set a type for.
3. Click (Configuration), then (Edit this PXE Image).
4. From the Basic Information area, select the correct type. If this PXE image will be used as the
Windows Boot Environment, check Windows Boot Environment. At the time of this writing, only one PXE Image can be identified as the
Windows Boot Environment. Therefore, checking one as the Windows Boot Environment, will remove that from any other PXE image with that check.
5. Click Save.
3.1.4. ISO Provisioning
3.1.4.1. ISO Provisioning
ManageIQ Management Engine also allows ISO provisioning from
Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization Manager datastores. To use this feature, you will need to do the following before creating a provision request.
Procedure 3.4. To Prepare for an ISO Provision Request
1. Add the ISO Datastore. The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager system must have already been discovered or added into the VMDB. For more information, see the
Insight
Guide.
2. Refresh the
ISO Datastore.
3. Create a
System Image Type.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
4. Set the ISO Image Type.
5. Create a customization template.
3.1.4.2. Adding an ISO Datastore
The following procedure adds an ISO Datastore from your Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment.
Procedure 3.5. To Add an ISO Datastore
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the
ISO Datastores accordion.
3. Click
(Configuration), (Add a new ISO Datastore).
4. Select the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager Provider hosting the ISO Datastore.
5. Click Add.
Result:
The ISO datastore is added to ManageIQ Management Engine.
3.1.4.3. Refreshing an ISO Datastore
The following procedure refreshes the chosen ISO datastore and updates ManageIQ Management
Engine with available ISOs.
Procedure 3.6. To Refresh the ISO Datastore
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the
ISO Datastores accordion, and select an ISO datastore.
3. Click
(Configuration), then click (Refresh).
3.1.4.4. Creating System Image Types for ISO
The following procedure creates a system image type for ISO Servers.
Procedure 3.7. To Create System Image Types
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the System Image Types accordion.
3. Click (Configuration), then (Add a new System Image Type).
4. In Basic Information, type in a Name and select a Type.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Use Host if you want this image type to only apply to hosts.
Use Vm if you want this image type to only apply to virtual machines.
Use Any if this image type can be used for either hosts or virtual machines.
5. Click Add.
Note
After creating the system image types, assign the types to each image on your ISO servers. To do this, you will select each image on the ISO server and identify its type.
3.1.4.5. Setting the Image Type for an ISO Image
The following procedure sets the image type for an ISO image.
Procedure 3.8. To Set the Image Type for an ISO Image
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the
PXE Servers accordion, and select the image that you want to set a type for.
3. Click
(Configuration), then (Edit this ISO Image).
4. From the
Basic Information area, select the correct Type.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
5. Click
Save.
3.1.5. Customization Templates for Virtual Machine and Instance
Provisioning
Add a customization template to provide Kickstart, Cloudinit, or Sysprep files for the initial loading of the operating system. For each of these types of customizations, there are certain sections to use to allow for interactions with the Provisioning Dialogs provided by ManageIQ Management Engine.
Note the following additional requirements if you are performing PXE or ISO provisioning:
ISO Provisioning requires that the
Kickstart file be named ks.cfg
ISO Provisioning requires that the new virtual machine must be set to power down after provisioning is complete.
When you get to the Catalog page in the Provisioning Dialogs, be sure to select Provision
Type of ISO or PXE as appropriate.
3.1.5.1. Customization Script Additions for Virtual Machine and Instance
Provisioning
Table 3.2. List of Customization Script Additions for Virtual Machine Provisioning
Custo mizatio n Type
Reason to
Include
Kickstart Takes the values from the
Customize tab in
Provisioning
Dialog and substitutes them into the script.
Script entries
#Configure Networking based on values from provisioning dialog
<% if evm[:addr_mode].first == 'static' %>
<% network_string = "network --onboot yes -device=eth0 --bootproto=static --noipv6" %>
<% ["ip", :ip_addr, "netmask", :subnet_mask,
"gateway", :gateway, "hostname", :hostname,
"nameserver", :dns_servers].each_slice(2) do
|ks_key, evm_key| %>
<% network_string << " --#{ks_key}
#{evm[evm_key]}" unless evm[evm_key].blank? %>
<% end %>
<%= network_string %>
<% else %> network --device=eth0 --bootproto=dhcp
<% end %>
Kickstart Encrypts the root password from the
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests password from the
Customize tab in the
Provisioning
Dialog.
Kickstart Sends status of the provision back to
ManageIQ
Management Engine
Server for display in the ManageIQ
Management Engine
Console.
Sysprep Encrypts the root password from the
Customize tab in the
Provisioning
Dialog. The value for the
AdministratorPa
ssword line must be inserted to use the password from the
Provision
Dialog and encrypt it.
rootpw --iscrypted <%=
MiqPassword.md5crypt(evm[:root_password]) %>
# Callback to CFME during post-install wget --no-check-certificate <%= evm[:callback_url_on_post_install] %>
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<Value> < %=
MiqPassword.sysprep_crypt(evm[:root_password])
%> </Value>
<PlainText> false </PlainText>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
3.1.5.2. Adding a Customization Template
Procedure 3.9. To Add a Customization Template
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the
Customization Templates accordion.
3. Click
(Configuration), (Add a new Customization Template).
4. In Basic Information, type in a Name and Description.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
5. Select the Image Type. This list should include the PXE image types you created.
6. In Type, select Kickstart or Cloudinit for Linux based systems, and Sysprep for Windows based system.
7. In the
Script area, either paste the script from another source or type the script directly into the
ManageIQ Management Engine interface.
8. Click Add.
Note
The default dialogs show all possible parameters for provisioning. To limit the options shown, see
Customizing Provisioning Dialogs.
3.2. Requirements for Provisioning a Host
ManageIQ Management Engine can provision hosts using PXE and Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) technologies. To do this, complete the following steps before you provision your first host.
When creating a provisioning request, you may want to limit which hosts, datastores, and templates, a group can choose from. To do this, create a tag value with the exact name of the user group for the
Provisioning Scope Category. For example, if you want to limit the scope for the group named
EvmGroup-desktop, create a tag value of EvmGroup-desktop. Then, assign that tag to the hosts, datastores, and template to which you want to limit this group.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Important
Provisioning requires the
Automation Engine server role enabled. Check your server role settings in Configure → Configuration → Server → Server Control. In addition, set the
Provisioning Scope tag to All, for a provider, a host, and then a data store.
Procedure 3.10. To Provision a Host
1. Make a PXE server accessible to the ManageIQ Management Engine server.
2. Create a customization template for hosts. This customization template must contain host-specific additions, documented in the Customization Templates for Host Provisioning section.
3. Create system image types for the host.
4. Associate images with the image types.
5. Enable IPMI on provisioning hosts and add them to the ManageIQ Management Engine
Infrastructure.
3.2.1. IPMI Hosts
3.2.1.1. IPMI Hosts
There are two ways to get the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Host into the VMDB. You can either use the ManageIQ Management Engine's discovery process or add the host using its IP address and credentials.
3.2.1.2. Discovering the Management Interface for an IPMI Host
Procedure 3.11. To Discover the Management Interface for a IPMI Host
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → Hosts.
2. Click
(Configuration), then (Discover Hosts).
3. In
Discover, check IPMI.
4. Optionally, in
IPMI Credentials, type in a User ID and Password.
Note
You can also add IPMI credentials after the host has been discovered. See
Adding IPMI
Credentials to a Discovered Host.
5. In
Subnet Range, type in a range of IP addresses. For quickest results, use the actual IP address in both fields.
6. Click Discover.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
Note
After the host is discovered, you can add credentials for IPMI.
3.2.1.3. Adding IPMI Credentials to a Discovered Host
After discovering an IPMI host, add the credentials using the following procedure.
Procedure 3.12. To Add IPMI Credentials
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → Hosts.
2. Click on the host you want to edit.
3. Click (Configuration), and then (Edit this Host).
4. In the Credentials area, IPMI tab, type in the IPMI credentials a. Use User ID to specify a login ID.
b. Use Password to specify the password for the user ID.
c. Use Verify Password to confirm the password.
5. Click Validate to test the credentials.
6. Click
Save.
3.2.1.4. Adding the Management Interface for an IPMI Host
Procedure 3.13. To Add the Management Interface for the IPMI Host
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → Hosts.
2. Click (Configuration), then (Add a New Host).
3. In Basic Information, type in a Name and the IPMI IP address.
4. In the Credentials area, under IPMI tab, type in the IPMI credentials a. Use User ID to specify a login ID.
5. Click Validate to test the credentials.
6. Click Add.
Result:
b. Use Password to specify the password for the User ID.
c. Use Verify Password to confirm the password.
The IPMI host is added to the ManageIQ Management Engine environment; an operating system can now be provisioned onto it.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
3.2.2. Customization Templates for Host Provisioning
Add a customization template to provide Kickstart files for the initial loading of the operating system.
There are certain sections to use to allow for interactions with the provisioning dialogs provided by
ManageIQ Management Engine.
3.2.2.1. Customization Script Additions
Table 3.3. Customization Script Additions
Customization
Type
Kickstart
Reason to
Include
Takes the values from the
Customize tab in
Provisioning
Dialog and substitutes them into the script.
Script entries
#Configure Networking based on values from provisioning dialog
<% if evm[:addr_mode].first == 'static'
%>
<% network_string = "network --onboot yes --device=eth0 --bootproto=static -noipv6" %>
<% ["ip", :ip_addr, "netmask",
:subnet_mask, "gateway", :gateway,
"hostname", :hostname, "nameserver",
:dns_servers].each_slice(2) do |ks_key, evm_key| %>
<% network_string << " --#{ks_key}
#{evm[evm_key]}" unless evm[evm_key].blank? %>
<% end %>
<%= network_string %>
<% else %> network --device=eth0 --bootproto=dhcp
<% end %>
Kickstart Encrypts the root password from the
Customize tab in the
Provisioning
Dialog.
rootpw --iscrypted <%=
MiqPassword.md5crypt(evm[:root_password])
%>
Kickstart Sends status of the provision back to
ManageIQ
Management Engine for display in the
ManageIQ
Management Engine
Console.
# Callback to EVM during post-install wget --no-check-certificate <%= evm[:callback_url_on_post_install] %>
3.2.2.2. Adding a Customization Template
Procedure 3.14. To Add a Customization Template
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → PXE.
2. Click the Customization Templates accordion.
3. Click (Configuration), then (Add a New Customization Template).
4. In
Basic Information, type in a Name and Description.
5. Select the Image Type dropdown. This list should include the PXE image types you created.
6. In Type, select Kickstart or Cloudinit for Linux based systems, and Sysprep for Windows based system.
7. In the
Script area, either paste the script from another source or type the script directly into the
ManageIQ Management Engine interface.
8. Click Add.
Note
The default dialogs show all possible parameters for provisioning. To limit the options shown, see
Customizing Provisioning Dialogs.
3.3. Provisioning a Host
After setting up the IPMI and PXE environments, you are ready to provision a host. Currently, you can only provision in the cluster where the template is located or you can create a template in each cluster and let a ManageIQ Management Engine Automate method automatically switch the selected template in the provision object.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Important
A customization template with host-specific script additions is required. Ensure especially that the customization template contains the post-installation callback to enable discovery in ManageIQ
Management Engine.
Procedure 3.15. To Provision a Host
1. Navigate to
Infrastructure → Hosts.
2. Select a host with IPMI enabled.
3. Click
(Lifecycle), then (Provision Hosts).
4. In
Request Information, type in at least a First Name and Last Name and an email address. This email is used to send the requester status emails during the provisioning. The other information is optional. If the ManageIQ Management Engine server is configured to use LDAP, you can use the
Look Up button to populate the other fields based on the email address.
5. On the Purpose page, select the appropriate tags for the provisioned host.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
6. On the Catalog page, select the hosts to provision.
In the Host area, select the hosts you want to provision
In the PXE area, select the PXE server and image.
7. On the Customize page, you can select how you might want to customize the operating system of the new host. These options vary based on the operating system to be provisioned.
Use Credentials to type in a root password
In the IP Address area, select either Static or DHCP and enter any other address information you need. If needed, type in DNS specifications.
Under Customize Template, select a script.
8. On the Schedule page, decide if you want the provisioning to begin as soon as it is approved, or at a specific time.
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In Schedule Info, choose if you want the provisioning to begin as soon as it is approved, or at a specific time. If you select
Schedule, you will be prompted to enter a date and time.
Check Stateless if you do not want the files deleted after the provision completes. A stateless
Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests provision does not write to the disk so it will need the PXE files on the next boot.
9. Click Submit.
Result:
The provisioning request is sent for approval. For the provisioning to begin, a user with the admin, approver, or super admin account role must approve the request. The admin and super admin roles can also edit, delete, and deny the requests. You will be able to see all provisioning requests where you are either the requester or the approver.
3.4. Provisioning Virtual Machines
There are three types of provisioning requests available in ManageIQ Management Engine:
1. Provision a new virtual machine from a template
2. Clone a virtual machine
3. Publish a virtual machine to a template
3.4.1. Provisioning a Virtual Machine from a Template
You can provision virtual machines through various methods. One method is to provision a virtual machine directly from a template stored on a provider.
Procedure 3.16. To Provision a Virtual Machine from a Template
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → Virtual Machines.
2. Click (Lifecycle), and then (Provision).
3. Select a template from the list presented.
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Request tab, enter information about this provisioning request.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
36
In Request Information, type in at least a First Name and Last Name and an email address. This email is used to send the requester status emails during the provisioning process for items such as auto-approval, quota, provision complete, retirement, request pending approval, and request denied. The other information is optional. If the ManageIQ Management Engine server is configured to use LDAP, you can use the Look Up button to populate the other fields based on the email address.
Note
Parameters with a * next to the label are required to submit the provisioning request. To change the required parameters, see Customizing Provisioning Dialogs.
6. Click the Purpose tab to select the appropriate tags for the provisioned virtual machines.
7. Click the
Catalog tab to select the template to provision from. This tab is context sensitive based on provider.
8. For templates on VMware providers:
Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests a. For
Provision Type, select NetApp, VMware, or PXE.
i. If VMware is selected, check Linked Clone if you want to create a linked clone to the virtual machine instead of a full clone. Since a snapshot is required to create a linked clone, this box is only enabled if a snapshot is present. Select the snapshot you want to use for the linked clone.
ii. If PXE is selected, select a PXE Server and Image to use for provisioning b. Under Count, select the number of virtual machines you want to create in this request.
c. Use VM Naming to specify a virtual machine name and virtual machine description. When provisioning multiple virtual machines, a number will be appended to the virtual machine name.
9. For templates on Red Hat providers: a. Select the
Name of a template to use.
b. For Provision Type, select either ISO, PXE, or Native Clone.
i. If Native Clone is selected, check Linked Clone if you want to create a linked clone to the virtual machine instead of a full clone. This is equivalent to
Thin
Template Provisioning in Red Hat Enterprise Virtualisation. Since a snapshot is required to create a linked clone, this box is only enabled if a snapshot is present.
Select the snapshot you want to use for the linked clone.
ii. If ISO is selected, select an ISO Image to use for provisioning iii. If PXE is selected, select a PXE Server and Image to use for provisioning c. Under Count, select the number of virtual machines you want to create in this request.
d. Use
VM Naming to specify a VM Name and VM Description. When provisioning multiple virtual machines, a number will be appended to the
VM Name.
10. Click the Environment tab to decide where you want the new virtual machines to reside.
a. If provisioning from a template on VMware, you can either let ManageIQ Management Engine decide for you by checking Choose Automatically, or select a specific cluster, resource pool, folder, host, and datastore.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide b. If provisioning from a template on Red Hat, you can either let ManageIQ Management Engine decide for you by checking Choose Automatically, or select a datacenter, cluster, host and datastore.
11. Click the Hardware tab to set hardware options.
a. In VM Hardware, set the number of CPUs, amount of memory, and disk format: thin, preallocated/thick or same as the provisioning template (default).
b. For VMware provisioning, set the VM Limits of CPU and memory the virtual machine can use.
c. For VMware provisioning, set the In
VM Reservation amount of CPU and memory.
12. Click
Network to set the vLan adapter. Additional networking settings that are internal to the operating system appear on the Customize tab.
a. In Network Adapter Information, select the vLan.
13. Click Customize to select how you might want to customize the operating system of the new virtual machine. These options vary based on the
operating system of the template.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
14. For Windows provisioning: a. To use a customer specification from the Provider, click Specification. To select an appropriate template, a list will be provided in the custom specification area. The values that are honored by ManageIQ Management Engine will display.
Note
Any values in the specification that do not show in the ManageIQ Management Engine console's request dialogs will not be used by ManageIQ Management Engine. For example, for Windows operating systems, if you have any run once values in the specification, they will not be used in creating the new virtual machines. Currently, for a Windows operating system, ManageIQ Management Engine honors the unattended
GUI, identification, workgroup information, user data, windows options, and server license. If more than one network card is specified, only the first will be used.
To modify the specification, check Override Specification Values.
b. Select Sysprep Answer File, to upload a Sysprep file or use one that exists for a custom specification on the Provider where the template resides. To upload a file, click
Browse to find the file, and then upload. To use an answer file in Customization Specification, simply click on the item. The answer file will automatically upload for viewing. You cannot make modifications to it.
15. For Linux provisioning: a. Under
Credentials, enter a Root Password for the root user to access the instance.
b. Enter a
IP Address Information for the instance. Leave as DHCP for automatic IP assignment from the provider.
c. Enter any DNS information for the instance if necessary.
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide d. Select a Customize Template for additional instance configuration. Select from the
Kickstart scripts stored on your appliance.
16. Click the
Schedule tab to decide if you want the provisioning to begin as soon as it is approved, or at a specific time.
a. In Schedule Info, choose if you want the provisioning to begin as soon as it is approved, or at a specific time. If you select Schedule, you will be prompted to enter a date and time.
b. In
Lifespan, select if you want to power on the virtual machines after they are created, and if you want to set a retirement date. If you select a retirement period, you will be prompted for when you want a retirement warning.
17. Click Submit.
Result:
The provisioning request is sent for approval. For the provisioning to begin, a user with the administrator, approver, or super administrator account role must approve the request. The administrator and super administrator roles can also edit, delete, and deny the requests. You will be able to see all provisioning requests where you are either the requester or the approver.
3.4.2. Cloning a Virtual Machine (VMware Virtual Machines Only)
Procedure 3.17. To Clone a Virtual Machine
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → Virtual Machines, and check the virtual machine you want to clone.
2. Click
(Lifecycle), and then (Clone selected item).
3. Fill in the options as shown in
To Provision from a template using the provided dialogs. Be sure to check the Catalog Tab.
4. Schedule the request on the Schedule tab.
5. Click Submit.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
3.4.3. Publishing a Virtual Machine to a Template (VMware Virtual
Machines Only)
Procedure 3.18. To Publish a Virtual Machine to a Template
1. Navigate to Infrastructure → Virtual Machines, and check the virtual machine you want to publish as a template.
2. Click (Lifecycle), and then (Publish selected VM to a Template).
3. Fill in the options as shown in To Provision from a template using the provided dialogs. Be sure to check the
Catalog tab.
4. Schedule the request on the
Schedule tab.
5. Click Submit.
3.5. Provisioning Instances
Cloud instances follow the same process (Request, Approval, Deployment) as a standard virtual machine from virtualization infrastructure. First, a user makes a request for instances and specifies the image, tags, availability zone and hardware profile flavor. Second, the request goes through the approval phase.
Finally, ManageIQ Management Engine executes the request.
3.5.1. Provisioning an Instance from an Image
Procedure 3.19. To Provision an Instance from an Image
1. Navigate to Clouds → Instances.
2. Click ( Lifecycle), then click (Provision Instances).
3. Select an image from the list presented.
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Request tab, enter information about this provisioning request. In Request
Information, type in at least a first and last name and an email address. This email is used to send the requester status emails during the provisioning process for items such as auto-approval, quota, provision complete, retirement, request pending approval, and request denied. The other information is optional. If the ManageIQ Management Engine Server is configured to use LDAP, you can use the
Look Up button to populate the other fields based on the email address.
Note
Parameters with a * next to the label are required to submit the provisioning request. To change the required parameters, see Customizing Provisioning Dialogs.
6. Click the Purpose tab to select the appropriate tags for the provisioned instance.
7. Click the Catalog tab for basic instance options.
41
ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide a. To change the image to use as a basis for the instance, select it from the list of images.
b. Select the Number of VMs to provision.
c. Type a
VM Name and VM Description.
8. Click the
Environment tab to select the instance's Availability Zone. If no specific availability zone is require, select the Choose Automatically checkbox.
9. Click the Hardware tab to set provider options such as hardware flavor and security settings.
a. Select a flavor from the Instance Type list.
b. Select a Guest Access Key Pair for access to the instance.
c. In Security Groups, select which security group suits your allowed port and IP address requirements. Otherwise, leave at the default group.
d. If provisioning from an Amazon EC2 provider, select the
CloudWatch monitoring level.
Leave as Basic for the default EC2 monitoring.
e. In Public IP Address, select the public IP address that suits your requirements.
10. Click the Customize tab to set additional instance options.
a. Under Credentials, enter a Root Password for the root user access to the instance.
b. Enter a IP Address Information for the instance. Leave as DHCP for automatic IP assignment from the provider.
c. Enter any
DNS information for the instance if necessary.
d. Select a
Customize Template for additional instance configuration. Select from the
Cloudinit scripts stored on your appliance.
11. Click the Schedule tab to set the provisioning and retirement date and time.
a. In Schedule Info, choose whether the provisioning begins upon approval, or at a specific time. If you select
Schedule, you will be prompted to enter a date and time.
b. In
Lifespan, select whether to power on the instances after they are created, and whether to set a retirement date. If you select a retirement period, you will be prompted for when to receive a retirement warning.
12. Click Submit.
Result:
The provisioning request is sent for approval. For the provisioning to begin, a user with the admin, approver, or super admin account role must approve the request. The admin and super admin roles can also edit, delete, and deny the requests. You will be able to see all provisioning requests where you are either the requester or the approver.
3.6. Customizing Provisioning Dialogs
3.6.1. Customizing Provisioning Dialogs
The default set of provisioning dialogs shows all possible options. However, ManageIQ Management
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Engine also provides the ability to customize which tabs and fields are shown. You can decide what fields are required to submit the provisioning request or set default values.
For each type of provisioning, there is a dialog that can be created to adjust what options are presented.
While samples are provided containing all possible fields for provisioning, you can remove what fields are shown. However, you cannot add fields or tabs.
Edit the dialogs to:
1. Hide or show provisioning tabs.
2. Hide or show fields. If you hide an attribute, the default will be used, unless you specify otherwise.
3. Set default values for a field.
4. Specify if a field is required to submit the request.
5. Create custom dialogs for specific users.
3.6.2. Adding a Provision Dialog for all Users
Procedure 3.20. To Add a Provision Dialog for All Users
1. Navigate to
Automate → Customization.
2. Click the
Provisioning Dialogs accordion.
3. Click the type of dialog you want to create:
Host Provision, VM Provision or VM Migrate.
4. Select one of the default dialogs.
5. Click (Configuration), and then (Copy this Dialog).
6. Type a new Name and Description for the dialog.
7. In the Content field,
To remove a tab from display, change its display value to ignore. By choosing ignore, you not only hide the tab, but also skip any fields on that tab that were required. To show the tab, change the display value to show.
To hide a field, change its display value from
edit to hide. To display fields of most data types, use edit. To display a button, use show. To set a default value for a field, use
:default => defaultvalue to the list of parameters for the field. Set the required parameter to either
true or false based on your needs. Note that if you set required parameter to true, the field must have a value for the provision request to be submitted.
8. Click Add.
Result:
If you are using Provisioning Profiles, you can specify a specific file that holds the customizations.
To do this, you must create an instance mapping to this file in the ManageIQ Management Engine
Applications/provisioning/profile/VM provisioning by group class. By default, if you are using provisioning profiles and the group does not have a defined instance, the appropriate default dialog file will be used based on the type of provisioning selected.
3.6.3. Creating a Custom Provision Dialog
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
Procedure 3.21. To Create a Custom Provision Dialog
1. Navigate to
Automate → Customization.
2. Click on the
Provisioning Dialogs accordion.
3. Click on the type of dialog you want to create, Host Provision, VM Provision or VM
Migrate.
4. Select one of the default dialogs.
5. Click (Configuration), and then
(Copy this Dialog).
6. Rename the dialog as shown in the examples below.
Type of provision
Provision Virtual Machine from a template
Clone a Virtual Machine
Publish a Virtual Machine to a template
Dialog name
miq_provision_dialogs_ groupname_template
Example: miq_provision_dialogs_ EvmGroupuser_self_service _template miq_provision_dialogs_ groupname_clone_to
_vm
Example: miq_provision_dialogs_ EvmGroupuser_self_service _clone_to_vm miq_provision_dialogs_ groupname_clone_to
_template
Example: miq_provision_dialogs_ EvmGroupuser_self_service _clone_to_template
7. Make any changes you need.
8. In the Content field,
To remove a tab from display, change its display value to ignore. By choosing ignore, you not only hide the tab, but also skip any fields on that tab that were required. To show the tab, change the display value to show.
To hide a field, change its display value from edit to hide. To ensure the field does not get turned back on by a workflow model, use
:display_override => :hide. To display fields of most data types, use
edit. To display a button, use show. To set a default value for a field, use :default => defaultvalue to the list of parameters for the field. Set the required parameter to either true or false based on your needs. Note that if you set required to true, the field must have a value for the provision request to be submitted.
9. Click
Add.
Result:
Enter the name of the new dialog into the dialog name field in the appropriate ManageIQ Management
Engine Applications/provisioning/profile instance. This dialog can now be referred to in an instance in the
Provisioning Profiles class so that it can be used for groups of users.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
3.7. Provisioning Profiles
3.7.1. Provisioning Profiles
Provisioning profiles can be used to customize the dialogs and the state machine (steps used to provision the machine). Profiles can be created for LDAP or ManageIQ Management Engine groups. To use provisioning profiles, you will need to:
Create a Provisioning Profile instance for the LDAP or ManageIQ Management Engine group. If no instance exists, then default settings will be used.
If customizing dialogs, create a custom dialog file, and specify the name of that file in the provisioning profile instance. If customizing the states for provisioning, create a state instance and set the name of the state instance in the provisioning profile instance.
The diagram below shows where provisioning profiles are called during the entire provisioning process.
3.7.2. Creating a Provisioning Profile Instance
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ManageIQ 6.0 Management Engine 5.2 Lifecycle and Automation Guide
Procedure 3.22. To Create a Provisioning Profile Instance
1. Navigate to Automate → Explorer.
2. Using the tree located in the accordion, select
EVMApplications → Provisioning → Profile
→ VM provisioning Group (VM).
3. Click (Configuration), (Add a New Instance).
4. Make the name of the tag identical to the name of the LDAP or ManageIQ Management Engine group you are creating the instance for, replacing spaces in the group name with underscores. For example, change
ManageIQ-test group to ManageIQ-test_group. This is how ManageIQ
Management Engine knows which instance to use.
5. In the dialog name field, type in the name of the customized dialog file. This file must reside on the
ManageIQ Management Engine Appliance in the /var/www/miq/vmdb/db/fixtures directory.
As a best practice, you should name the file in the format
miq_provision_dialogs-
groupname.rb. Red Hat recommends putting this file on all ManageIQ Management Engine
Appliances. For instructions on how to create a custom dialog file, see
Customizing
Provisioning Dialogs.
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Chapter 3. Provisioning Requests
Note
Be sure that the custom dialog file exists. If it does not, an error will appear when the user clicks on the Provisioning button in the ManageIQ Management Engine console.
6. After making all required changes, click Add.
3.7.3. Using Tags to set a Scope for Provisioning
When creating a provisioning request, you may want to limit which hosts, datastores, and templates, a group can choose from. To do this, create a tag value with the exact name of the user group for the
Provisioning Scope Category. For example, if you want to limit the scope for the group named
EvmGroup-desktop, create a tag value of EvmGroup-desktop. Then, assign that tag to the hosts, datastores, and template to which you want to limit this group.
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