VMWare / Cobbler Work flow

[Aaron Lippold]

Hello,

I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler integration
could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list could
help just start the team.

The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
what is supported and what the development road map is.

Thanks,

Aaron

[Rob Crittenden]

Aaron Lippold wrote:
>  Hello,
>  
>  I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler integration
>  could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
>  target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
>  developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
>  profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list could
>  help just start the team.
>  
>  The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
>  what is supported and what the development road map is.
>  
>  Thanks,
>  
>  Aaron 
I worked on the VMWare Workstation support a bit and the thing that is 
going to stand in your way whether using Server or Workstation is the 
MAC address. In order to do a PXE boot, cobbler needs to do the MAC 
assignment in the profile so it can write the proper PXE config file.

Cobbler is currently hardcoded to use the Xen MAC address range which 
will not work with VMWare. If you try to pass a non-VMWare address space 
it will ignore it and generate its own meaning that the PXE boot will 
fail (because it can't find the config file).

On my system I simply replaced a function in the cobbler code but this 
is hardly portable.

I'm not sure what kind of profile configuration you are looking to do. I 
didn't mess around with custom variables in the ks files but I'm 
assuming those will work the same as with any of the other virt types.

The vmx file for VMWare is a bit hardcoded presently, limiting you to 
configuring just 1 disk, available RAM, the MAC address and system name 
(as far as VMWare is concerned).

Workstation has a few more options but for example, it assumes you are 
only installing Linux and picks the most generic setting it can.

I've fiddled with it about as much as I'm going to. It works ok for me 
and I can live with the current idiosyncrasies.

rob

[Joseph Boyer Jr.]

Here is a simple kickstart snippet that I use to Identify virtual machines base on their
MAC address:

set $mac_address = $getVar('$mac_address', None)
#if $mac_address
#set $mac_prefix = $mac_address[0:8]
#set $my_prefix = $mac_prefix.lower()

#if $my_prefix == "00:0c:29" or $my_prefix == "00:05:69" or $my_prefix
== "00:50:56" or $my_prefix == "00:16:3e"
#set global $isvm = 1
#end if
#end if

The snippet sets a variable, isvm and which I pass as a global variable, thus it is
accessible to all other snippets and the kickstart pre/post install scripts. So you can
use this var to key how your snippets or pre/post installs function.

My kickstart config looks something like this:

## Regional Settings
SNIPPET::regionalize

# ROOT PASSWORD
rootpw --iscrypted blach

# INSTALLATION OPTIONS
install
nfs --server $nfs_server --dir $nfs_distro_root/$distro --opts=tcp
reboot
text

# PARTITION CLEARING INFORMATION
clearpart --all --initlabel

# Network information
SNIPPET::networkIT

# SYSTEM AUTHORIZATION INFORMATION
authconfig --enableshadow --enablemd5 --enablecache

# DO NOT CONFIGURE XWindows
skipx

# FIREWALL and SELINUX ONFIGURATION
firewall --disabled
selinux --disabled

# TURN OFF INSTALL KEY REQUEST
key --skip

# SYSTEM BOOTLOADER CONFIGURATION
bootloader --location=mbr --md5pass=$1$WtRV9ECC$3/C0izWipK8hQKZisIjbO0

# Partitioning
SNIPPET::isVM <=== am I a vm? If so configure the disk according. We have XEN (guest
and server) ESX, VMware workstation, and virtualbox
SNIPPET::partitionIT

## RPM Configuration
SNIPPET::rpmLIST

# Post Install
SNIPPET::postINSTALL


Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Joseph Boyer Jr.
Liquidnet Holdings, Inc.
E joseph.boyer(a)liquidnet.com
T +1 646.660.8352
C +1 646.284.8394

-----Original Message-----
From: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
[mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Rob Crittenden
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 2:51 PM
To: cobbler mailing list
Subject: Re: VMWare / Cobbler Work flow

Aaron Lippold wrote:
>  Hello,
>
>  I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler integration
>  could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
>  target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
>  developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
>  profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list could
>  help just start the team.
>
>  The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
>  what is supported and what the development road map is.
>
>  Thanks,
>
>  Aaron 
I worked on the VMWare Workstation support a bit and the thing that is
going to stand in your way whether using Server or Workstation is the
MAC address. In order to do a PXE boot, cobbler needs to do the MAC
assignment in the profile so it can write the proper PXE config file.

Cobbler is currently hardcoded to use the Xen MAC address range which
will not work with VMWare. If you try to pass a non-VMWare address space
it will ignore it and generate its own meaning that the PXE boot will
fail (because it can't find the config file).

On my system I simply replaced a function in the cobbler code but this
is hardly portable.

I'm not sure what kind of profile configuration you are looking to do. I
didn't mess around with custom variables in the ks files but I'm
assuming those will work the same as with any of the other virt types.

The vmx file for VMWare is a bit hardcoded presently, limiting you to
configuring just 1 disk, available RAM, the MAC address and system name
(as far as VMWare is concerned).

Workstation has a few more options but for example, it assumes you are
only installing Linux and picks the most generic setting it can.

I've fiddled with it about as much as I'm going to. It works ok for me
and I can live with the current idiosyncrasies.

rob
_______________________________________________
cobbler mailing list
cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

[Michael DeHaan]

Rob Crittenden wrote:
>  Aaron Lippold wrote:
>    
> > Hello,
> >
> > I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler integration
> > could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
> > target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
> > developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
> > profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list could
> > help just start the team.
> >
> > The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
> > what is supported and what the development road map is.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Aaron
> >     
>
>  I worked on the VMWare Workstation support a bit and the thing that is 
>  going to stand in your way whether using Server or Workstation is the 
>  MAC address. In order to do a PXE boot, cobbler needs to do the MAC 
>  assignment in the profile so it can write the proper PXE config file.
>
>  Cobbler is currently hardcoded to use the Xen MAC address range which 
>  will not work with VMWare. If you try to pass a non-VMWare address space 
>  it will ignore it and generate its own meaning that the PXE boot will 
>  fail (because it can't find the config file).
>     
FWIW, I have an RFE open on this... based on the --virt-type, have the 
"random" mac feature pull an unused MAC range from the available pool, 
in the VMware range for VMware, in the Xen range for Xen, etc.

Koan will need similar logic, so it probably also needs to be an XMLRPC 
call.

Until then the workaround is to know the range and manually add a MAC in 
the range.

--Michael

>  On my system I simply replaced a function in the cobbler code but
> this 
>  is hardly portable.
>
>  I'm not sure what kind of profile configuration you are looking to do. I 
>  didn't mess around with custom variables in the ks files but I'm 
>  assuming those will work the same as with any of the other virt types.
>
>  The vmx file for VMWare is a bit hardcoded presently, limiting you to 
>  configuring just 1 disk, available RAM, the MAC address and system name 
>  (as far as VMWare is concerned).
>
>  Workstation has a few more options but for example, it assumes you are 
>  only installing Linux and picks the most generic setting it can.
>
>  I've fiddled with it about as much as I'm going to. It works ok for me 
>  and I can live with the current idiosyncrasies.
>
>  rob
>  _______________________________________________
>  cobbler mailing list
>  cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
>  https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
>

[Aaron Lippold]

Hi,

Thanks for the thoughts all. What would really help would be a  
disussion on if you are deploying to vmware, here are the pieces,  
steps and process for getting your first VM up. The docs are a bit  
thin on the details. Has anyone working this wwritten or started the  
howto?  Noted the caviares,etc? In reading the current wiki I am still  
a bit unclear on how to get my devel team going.

Thanks,

Aaron Lippod
lippold(a)gmail.com
AIM/YAHOO: aaronlippold

On Oct 30, 2008, at 18:43, Michael DeHaan <mdehaan(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:

>  Rob Crittenden wrote:
> > Aaron Lippold wrote:
> >
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler  
> >> integration
> >> could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
> >> target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
> >> developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
> >> profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list  
> >> could
> >> help just start the team.
> >>
> >> The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
> >> what is supported and what the development road map is.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Aaron
> >>
> >
> > I worked on the VMWare Workstation support a bit and the thing that  
> > is
> > going to stand in your way whether using Server or Workstation is the
> > MAC address. In order to do a PXE boot, cobbler needs to do the MAC
> > assignment in the profile so it can write the proper PXE config file.
> >
> > Cobbler is currently hardcoded to use the Xen MAC address range which
> > will not work with VMWare. If you try to pass a non-VMWare address  
> > space
> > it will ignore it and generate its own meaning that the PXE boot will
> > fail (because it can't find the config file).
> >
>
>  FWIW, I have an RFE open on this... based on the --virt-type, have the
>  "random" mac feature pull an unused MAC range from the available pool,
>  in the VMware range for VMware, in the Xen range for Xen, etc.
>
>  Koan will need similar logic, so it probably also needs to be an  
>  XMLRPC
>  call.
>
>  Until then the workaround is to know the range and manually add a  
>  MAC in
>  the range.
>
>  --Michael
>
> > On my system I simply replaced a function in the cobbler code but  
> > this
> > is hardly portable.
> >
> > I'm not sure what kind of profile configuration you are looking to  
> > do. I
> > didn't mess around with custom variables in the ks files but I'm
> > assuming those will work the same as with any of the other virt  
> > types.
> >
> > The vmx file for VMWare is a bit hardcoded presently, limiting you to
> > configuring just 1 disk, available RAM, the MAC address and system  
> > name
> > (as far as VMWare is concerned).
> >
> > Workstation has a few more options but for example, it assumes you  
> > are
> > only installing Linux and picks the most generic setting it can.
> >
> > I've fiddled with it about as much as I'm going to. It works ok for  
> > me
> > and I can live with the current idiosyncrasies.
> >
> > rob
> > _______________________________________________
> > cobbler mailing list
> > cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
> > https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
> >
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  cobbler mailing list
>  cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
>  https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

[Michael DeHaan]

Aaron Lippold wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>  Thanks for the thoughts all. What would really help would be a  
>  disussion on if you are deploying to vmware, here are the pieces,  
>  steps and process for getting your first VM up. The docs are a bit  
>  thin on the details. Has anyone working this wwritten or started the  
>  howto?  Noted the caviares,etc? In reading the current wiki I am still  
>  a bit unclear on how to get my devel team going.
>     
Steps are:

cobbler import RHEL distros as normal.

cobbler system add --name=foo --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF --profile=RHEL-5-i386w

where the MAC address above is a mac address in the defined VMware range 
(see Wiki)

koan --virt --system=foo --virt-type=vmware # for vmware server
koan --virt --system=foo --virt-type=vmwarew # for vmware workstation
(Support for ESX has not been added yet)

This will create the VMware disks and define a VMware machine using the 
MAC address chosen above. The MAC address is /required/ for VMware, we 
do not yet have the logic to randomly choose one. The size of the disk 
will also be pulled from Cobbler, as well as how much RAM to use, etc. 
(This works just like Xen and KVM setup)

The actual installation once initialized will use PXE for installation, 
so Cobbler needs to providing PXE for the network in question (DHCP 
next-server variable). This differs from Xen and KVM, because in Cobbler 
these methods do not require PXE and instead just pull down the 
kernel+initrd and kick off the install from there.

VMware setup tools are "special" in that regard.

Hope that helps -- I'm not sure how many folks are using this, so I 
would be interested in hearing from other people, and you all are 
welcome to add to the Wiki as well.

Getting random mac addresses in the VMware range is on my to-do list. 
(Technically we should also be assigning KVM mac addresses differently, 
but this doesn't cause problems, however VMware is actually pretty 
strict about that).

Generally Xen and KVM deployments will go smoother as we simply have 
better libraries for them (libvirt), so if you can use Xen or KVM, I 
would recommend those instead -- but we also want to support VMware 
because we do realize folks use it to run a fair amount of guests.

--Michael





>  Thanks,
>
>  Aaron Lippod
>  lippold(a)gmail.com
>  AIM/YAHOO: aaronlippold
>
>  On Oct 30, 2008, at 18:43, Michael DeHaan <mdehaan(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>
>    
> > Rob Crittenden wrote:
> >     
> >> Aaron Lippold wrote:
> >>
> >>       
> >>> Hello,
> >>>
> >>> I was hoping some of the folks working the VMWare Cobbler  
> >>> integration
> >>> could chat a little on the general work flow for creating VMWare
> >>> target profiles and how a development team would collaborate on
> >>> developing them. I have a team now working to develop a set of
> >>> profiles targeted at VMWare as the host and was hoping the list  
> >>> could
> >>> help just start the team.
> >>>
> >>> The wiki seems a little sparse on what is supported, how to utilize
> >>> what is supported and what the development road map is.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>>
> >>> Aaron
> >>>
> >>>         
> >> I worked on the VMWare Workstation support a bit and the thing that  
> >> is
> >> going to stand in your way whether using Server or Workstation is the
> >> MAC address. In order to do a PXE boot, cobbler needs to do the MAC
> >> assignment in the profile so it can write the proper PXE config file.
> >>
> >> Cobbler is currently hardcoded to use the Xen MAC address range which
> >> will not work with VMWare. If you try to pass a non-VMWare address  
> >> space
> >> it will ignore it and generate its own meaning that the PXE boot will
> >> fail (because it can't find the config file).
> >>
> >>       
> > FWIW, I have an RFE open on this... based on the --virt-type, have the
> > "random" mac feature pull an unused MAC range from the available pool,
> > in the VMware range for VMware, in the Xen range for Xen, etc.
> >
> > Koan will need similar logic, so it probably also needs to be an  
> > XMLRPC
> > call.
> >
> > Until then the workaround is to know the range and manually add a  
> > MAC in
> > the range.
> >
> > --Michael
> >
> >     
> >> On my system I simply replaced a function in the cobbler code but  
> >> this
> >> is hardly portable.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure what kind of profile configuration you are looking to  
> >> do. I
> >> didn't mess around with custom variables in the ks files but I'm
> >> assuming those will work the same as with any of the other virt  
> >> types.
> >>
> >> The vmx file for VMWare is a bit hardcoded presently, limiting you to
> >> configuring just 1 disk, available RAM, the MAC address and system  
> >> name
> >> (as far as VMWare is concerned).
> >>
> >> Workstation has a few more options but for example, it assumes you  
> >> are
> >> only installing Linux and picks the most generic setting it can.
> >>
> >> I've fiddled with it about as much as I'm going to. It works ok for  
> >> me
> >> and I can live with the current idiosyncrasies.
> >>
> >> rob
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> cobbler mailing list
> >> cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
> >> https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
> >>
> >>       
> > _______________________________________________
> > cobbler mailing list
> > cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
> > https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
> >     
>  _______________________________________________
>  cobbler mailing list
>  cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
>  https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
>