InfoScale™ 9.0 Virtualization Guide - Linux

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)
Platform: Linux
  1. Section I. Overview of InfoScale solutions used in Linux virtualization
    1. Overview of supported products and technologies
      1.  
        Overview of the InfoScale Virtualization Guide
      2. About InfoScale support for Linux virtualization environments
        1.  
          About SmartIO in the Linux virtualized environment
        2.  
          About the SmartPool feature
      3. About KVM technology
        1.  
          Kernel-based Virtual Machine Terminology
        2.  
          VirtIO disk drives
      4. About InfoScale deployments in OpenShift Virtualization environments
        1.  
          Configuring iSCSI for OpenShift VMs
      5.  
        About InfoScale deployments in OpenStack environments
      6.  
        Virtualization use cases addressed by InfoScale
      7.  
        About virtual-to-virtual (in-guest) clustering and failover
  2. Section II. Implementing a basic KVM environment
    1. Getting started with basic KVM
      1.  
        Creating and launching a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) host
      2.  
        RHEL-based KVM installation and usage
      3.  
        Setting up a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) guest
      4.  
        About setting up KVM with InfoScale solutions
      5. InfoScale configuration options for a KVM environment
        1.  
          Dynamic Multi-Pathing in the KVM guest virtualized machine
        2.  
          DMP in the KVM host
        3.  
          SF in the virtualized guest machine
        4.  
          Enabling I/O fencing in KVM guests
        5.  
          SFCFSHA in the KVM host
        6.  
          DMP in the KVM host and guest virtual machine
        7.  
          DMP in the KVM host and SFHA in the KVM guest virtual machine
        8.  
          VCS in the KVM host
        9.  
          VCS in the guest
        10.  
          VCS in a cluster across virtual machine guests and physical machines
      6.  
        Installing InfoScale in a KVM environment
      7. Installing and configuring VCS in a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) environment
        1.  
          How VCS manages virtual machine guests
    2. Configuring KVM resources
      1.  
        About KVM resources
      2. Configuring storage
        1.  
          Consistent storage mapping in the KVM environment
        2. Mapping devices to the guest
          1.  
            Mapping DMP meta-devices
          2.  
            Consistent naming across KVM Hosts
          3.  
            Mapping devices using paths
          4.  
            Mapping devices using volumes
          5.  
            Mapping devices using the virtio-scsi interface
        3.  
          Resizing devices
      3. Configuring networking
        1. Bridge network configuration
          1.  
            Host network configuration
          2.  
            Configuring guest network
        2.  
          Network configuration for VCS cluster across physical machines (PM-PM)
        3.  
          Standard bridge configuration
        4.  
          Network configuration for VM-VM cluster
  3. Section III. Implementing InfoScale an OpenStack environment
    1. Installing and configring resources in an OpenStack environment
      1.  
        About installing and configuring the OpenStack environment
      2.  
        About installing and configuring InfoScale on OpenStack VMs
  4. Section IV. Implementing Linux virtualization use cases
    1. Application visibility and device discovery
      1.  
        About storage to application visibility using InfoScale Operations Manager
      2.  
        About KVM virtualization discovery in InfoScale Operations Manager
      3.  
        About Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization discovery
      4.  
        Virtual machine discovery in Microsoft Hyper-V
      5.  
        Storage mapping discovery in Microsoft Hyper-V
    2. Server consolidation
      1.  
        Server consolidation
      2.  
        Implementing server consolidation for a simple workload
    3. Physical to virtual migration
      1.  
        Physical to virtual migration
      2.  
        How to implement physical to virtual migration (P2V)
    4. Simplified management
      1.  
        Simplified management
      2. Provisioning storage for a guest virtual machine
        1.  
          Provisioning VxVM volumes as data disks for VM guests
        2.  
          Provisioning VxVM volumes as boot disks for guest virtual machines
      3. Boot image management
        1.  
          Creating the boot disk group
        2.  
          Creating and configuring the golden image
        3.  
          Rapid Provisioning of virtual machines using the golden image
        4.  
          Storage Savings from space-optimized snapshots
    5. Application availability using Cluster Server
      1.  
        About application availability options
      2.  
        Cluster Server in a KVM environment architecture summary
      3.  
        Virtual-to-virtual clustering and failover
      4.  
        I/O fencing support for virtual-to-virtual clustering
      5.  
        Virtual-to-physical clustering and failover
      6.  
        Recommendations for improved resiliency of InfoScale clusters in virtualized environments
    6. Virtual machine availability
      1.  
        About virtual machine availability options
      2.  
        VCS in host monitoring the Virtual Machine as a resource
      3.  
        Validating the virtualization environment for virtual machine availability
    7. Virtual to virtual clustering in a Hyper-V environment
      1.  
        Installing and configuring Cluster Server with Microsoft Hyper-V virtual-to-virtual clustering
    8. Virtual to virtual clustering in an OVM environment
      1.  
        Installing and configuring Cluster Server for Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM) virtual-to-virtual clustering
      2.  
        Storage configuration for VCS support in Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM)
    9. Multi-tier business service support
      1.  
        About Virtual Business Services
      2.  
        Sample virtual business service configuration
      3. Recovery of Multi-tier Applications managed with Virtual Business Services in InfoScale Operations Manager
        1.  
          Service Group Management in Virtual Business Services
    10. Managing Docker containers with InfoScale Enterprise
      1.  
        About managing Docker containers with InfoScale Enterprise
      2. About the Cluster Server agents for Docker, Docker Daemon, and Docker Container
        1.  
          Supported software
        2.  
          How the agents make Docker containers highly available
        3.  
          Documentation reference
      3. Managing storage capacity for Docker containers
        1.  
          Provisioning storage for Docker infrastructure from the Arctera File System
        2. Provisioning data volumes for Docker containers
          1.  
            Provisioning storage on Arctera File System as data volumes for containers
          2.  
            Provisioning VxVM volumes as data volumes for containers
          3.  
            Creating a data volume container
        3. Automatically provision storage for Docker Containers
          1.  
            Installing the InfoScale Docker volume plugin
          2.  
            Configuring a disk group
          3.  
            Creating Docker containers with storage attached automatically
          4.  
            Avoid noisy neighbor problem by using Quality of Service support
          5.  
            Provision to create snapshots
          6.  
            Configuring Veritas volume plugin with Docker 1.12 Swarm mode
        4.  
          About using InfoScale Enterprise features to manage storage for containers
      4. Offline migration of Docker containers
        1.  
          Migrating Docker containers
        2.  
          Migrating Docker Daemons and Docker Containers
      5. Disaster recovery of volumes and file systems in Docker environments
        1.  
          Configuring Docker containers for disaster recovery
      6.  
        Limitations while managing Docker containers
  5. Section V. Reference
    1. Appendix A. Troubleshooting
      1.  
        InfoScale logs for CFS configurations in OpenStack environments
      2.  
        Troubleshooting virtual machine live migration
      3.  
        The KVMGuest resource may remain in the online state even if storage connectivity to the host is lost
      4.  
        VCS initiates a virtual machine failover if a host on which a virtual machine is running loses network connectivity
    2. Appendix B. Sample configurations
      1. Sample configuration for a KVM environment
        1.  
          Sample configuration 1: Native LVM volumes are used to store the guest image
        2.  
          Sample configuration 2: VxVM volumes are used to store the guest image
        3.  
          Sample configuration 3: CVM-CFS is used to store the guest image
      2.  
        Sample configurations for OpenStack environments
    3. Appendix C. Where to find more information
      1.  
        InfoScale documentation
      2.  
        Linux virtualization documentation
      3.  
        Service and support
      4.  
        About Services and Operations Readiness Tools (SORT)

Rapid Provisioning of virtual machines using the golden image

As mentioned above, for rapid provisioning of new virtual machines based on the golden image, we need to have full or space-optimized snapshots of the Golden Boot Volume. These snapshots can then be used as boot images for the new virtual machines. The process to create these snapshots is outlined below in the procedures below.

Creating Instant, Full Snapshots of Golden Boot Volume for Rapid Virtual Machine Provisioning

To create instant, full snapshots of the golden boot volume for rapid virtual machine provisioning

  1. Prepare the volume for an instant full snapshot. In the example, the disk group is boot_dg and the golden boot volume is gold-boot-disk-vol.
    $ vxsnap -g boot_dg prepare gold-boot-disk-vol
  2. Create a new volume which will be used as the boot volume for the new provisioned guest. The size of the guests boot volume must match the size of the golden boot volume.
    $ vxassist -g boot_dg make guest1-boot-disk-vol 16g layout=mirror
  3. Prepare the new boot volume so it can be used as a snapshot volume.
    $ vxsnap -g boot_dg prepare guest1-boot-disk-vol
  4. Create the full instant snapshot of the golden boot volume.
    $ vxsnap -g boot_dg make source=gold-boot-disk-vol/snapvol=\
		guest1-boot-disk-vol/syncing=off
  5. Create a new virtual machine, using the snapshot guest1-boot-disk-vol as an "existing disk image."

To create instant, space-optimized snapshots of the golden boot volume for rapid virtual machine provisioning

  1. Prepare the volume for an instant snapshot. In the example, the disk group isboot_dg and the golden boot volume is gold-boot-disk-vol.
    $ vxsnap -g boot_dg prepare	gold-boot-disk-vol
  2. Use the vxassist command to create the volume that is to be used for the cache volume. The cache volume will be used to store writes made to the space-optimized instant snapshots.
    $ vxassist -g boot_dg make cache_vol 5g  layout=mirror init=active
  3. Use the vxmake cache command to create a cache object on top of the cache volume which you created in the previous step.
    $ vxmake -g boot_dg cache cache_obj cachevolname=cache_vol autogrow=on
  4. Start the cache object:
    $ vxcache -g boot_dg start cache_obj
  5. Create a space-optimized instant snapshot of the golden boot image:
    $ vxsnap -g boot_dg make source=\
gold-boot-disk-vol/newvol=guest1-boot-disk-vol/cache=cache_obj
  6. Create a new virtual machine, using the snapshot of the golden image as an existing disk image.