16 Managing an Oracle Database Appliance KVM Deployment

KVM virtualization uses a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) to create a virtualized environment for your Linux applications

Understand the Oracle Database Appliance KVM architecture, and procedures to deploy a guest virtual machine, manage high availability, manage CPU pools, and configure network settings for Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

See Also:

For more about Oracle Linux KVM on Oracle Database Appliance, see the KVM series in the Oracle Database Appliance blog at https://blogs.oracle.com/oda/kvm.

About Oracle Database Appliance KVM Deployment

You can use Oracle KVM to optimize your system resource use for databases and applications.

You can deploy a KVM-based virtual platform on Oracle Database Appliance. With Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployments, you can use the capabilities of Oracle KVM to effectively allocate resources to databases and applications running on the same physical Oracle Database Appliance. Rather than simply disabling unnecessary server cores, you can use the excess capacity to host other workloads. This enables consolidation of both databases and applications, while retaining the ease of deployment and management associated with Oracle Database Appliance.

The Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) feature provides a set of modules that enable you to use the Oracle Linux kernel as a hypervisor. KVM supports both x86_64 and aarch64 processor architectures. By default, KVM is built into the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) release. KVM features are actively developed and may vary depending on platform and kernel release. If you are using Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, you should refer to the release notes for the kernel release that you are currently using to obtain information about features and any known issues or limitations that may apply. KVM is supported on Oracle Linux 7.

What are the differences between KVM and Oracle VM Virtualization?

Oracle KVM makes it easy to setup and manage the virtualized environment with little virtualization expertise. With the KVM deployment, you can consolidate entire multi-tier environments within a single Oracle Database Appliance system.

The following are some of the advantages of deploying Oracle Database Appliance with the KVM option:

  • Deploy database and applications in a single hardware environment.

  • Use your CPU cores (and memory) efficiently.

  • Use virtual local area networks (VLANs) to provide separate networks to different virtual machines.

  • Use VM storage to grow storage for the virtual machine repository.

  • Enables easy resource management per VM and maintainence of quality of service (QoS)
  • Provides solution-in-a-box with application, middleware, and databases.
  • Improves data center efficiency by increasing space utilization and reducing energy consumption and cooling costs.

  • Oracle KVM virtualization is available on bare metal deployments of Oracle Database Appliance, whereas Oracle VM virtualization on Oracle Database Appliance requires Virtualized Platform setup.
  • Oracle Database Appliance supports KVM on all hardware models, whereas Virtualized Platform deployments using Oracle VM are supported on only Oracle Database Appliance High-Availability models.
  • Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployments use Type 2 host operating system-based hypervisor, whereas Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform deployments use Type 1 bare metal hypervisor.
  • KVM is the virtualization technology used in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), where as Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform is based on Xen technology.

About Oracle Database Appliance KVM Virtualization Architecture

Review this topic to understand how Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment works with Oracle Database Appliance hardware.

Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment provides virtualization technology that enables multiple applications to share the same physical server. The Oracle Database Appliance KVM architecture is engineered specifically to leverage the Oracle Database Appliance hardware capabilities. Oracle Database Appliance KVM stack is integrated with Oracle Clusterware. The KVM resources such as VM storages and Virtual Machines are registered as CRS resources and are automatically managed by CRS for high availability.

The Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform architecture uses the virtual machine components shown in the following illustration:

About Virtual Machines and Oracle Database Appliance KVM Deployments

Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment is designed to run and deploy virtual machines to manage system resources.

Configure virtual machines on Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment to manage your application use of resources, such as the CPU pool, memory, and other shared resources.

Understand the terminlogy of the various components you need to set up for an Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment. The ODACLI tooling handles all the required configuration for your Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

VM Storage

A vm storage is a central location for storing resources that are essential to creating and managing virtual machines. These resources include ISO files (virtual DVD images), virtual machine configuration files, and virtual disks. Virtual storage is configured on an Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) and then presented to the Oracle Database Appliance nodes that need access to those resources. Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform uses virtual storage to optimize available disk space usage in the environment, and for easy reallocation of virtual machines if a physical server fails. The virtual machine files can be stored on shared disks, providing shared storage for the virtual machines. You can:

  • Create one or more virtual machines on the virtual storage.

  • Use ODACLI commands to create and manage virtual storage, virtual disks, and their virtual machines, and the underlying architecture shown in the illustration.

Virtual Networks

Oracle Database Appliance KVM virtual network supports two type of networks, bridged and bridged-vlan. The above figure is an example of the KVM virtual network on Oracle Database Appliance X8-2 hardware models.

In a bridged network, a Linux bridge is created and the network interface or bond interface, is attached to the bridge. The bridged vnetwork can be created on other interfaces that is not used for the host or Oracle Grid Infrastructure public network. It cannot be created on the existing interface that is already used by the host or Oracle Grid Infrastructure public network. In the above diagram, the "mgmtNet" bridged network is created with btbond2. eth0 of VMs are attached to this mgmtNet vnetwork. A bridge network cannot be created on btbond1 which is already used by the host or Oracle Grid Infrastructure public network.

In a bridged-vlan network, VLAN can be created on all available public interfaces, including the interface where public network is already configured. For example, you can create a VLAN on both btbond1 and btbond2. Follow proper procedures to configure the VLAN on the switch before creating the bridged-vlan network. In the figure above, backupVLan and AppsVlan1 are created from btbond1 and attached to eth1 and eth2 of VM1 and VM2 respectively.

vnetwork is not supported on private interfaces and secondary interfaces of the bond interface.

Virtual Disks

In addition to virtual machines, you can create virtual disks in virtual storage. Virtual disks provide additional storage options for virtual machines by enabling you to attach additional block storage to your virtual machines. Similarly, you can detach the disk if you no longer need the additional space. You can use virtual disks to expand existing file system storage inside the virtual machine by extending the storage volume onto a virtual disk, or by creating a new file system on a virtual disk. Virtual disks can optionally be attached to multiple virtual machines.

Virtual Machines

A virtual machine is granted virtual resources, and can be started, stopped, cloned, and restarted independently. By default, virtual machines are created with autostart and failover enabled for high-availability models. During failover, the VM is automatically started during the reboot, and there will be attempt to restart once before failing over to a different node on high-availability models. You can enable or disable autostart and failover using the odacli modify-vm command options. The option to autostart is also available on single-node Oracle Database Appliance models.

Setting Up and Configuring a KVM Deployment

Understand the steps to set up and configure KVM deployment.

Follow these steps to set up a KVM deployment on Oracle Database Appliance
  1. Create a VM storage.
  2. Create a virtual network.
  3. Create virtual disks.
  4. Create virtual machines.

The following links provide information about performing these steps:

Managing VM Storage in KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI to create, view, modify, and delete VM storage in an Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

Creating a VM Storage in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to create a VM storage in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Create VM Storage

Use the command odacli create-vmstorage to create a VM Storage.

Create a VM storage named share1 of 8 GB.
# odacli create-vmstorage -n share1 -s 8G

Using Browser User Interface to Create VM Storage

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click Show VM Instances to display the VM Instances page.
  4. In the page, select the Create VM Storage option and click Next.
  5. In the Create VM Storage page, specify the following:
    • Storage Name: Name of the VM storage
    • Storage Size: Size of the storage to be allocated
  6. Click Create.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Viewing VM Storage in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to view all VM storage or details about a VM storage in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to View VM Storage

The command odacli describe-vmstorage displays details about VM storage. Use the command odacli list-vmstorages to view all VM storages in the deployment.
# odacli list-vmstorages
# odacli describe-vmstorage

Using Browser User Interface to View VM Storage

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Storage tab to view the list of all configured virtual storages.
  5. Click on a VM Storage to view the details of the virtual storage.

Modifying a Virtual Storage in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to modify a virtual storage in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Modify Virtual Storages

Use the command odacli modify-vm to modify VM storage.

Increase the size of a VM storage named share1 by 10 gigabytes.
# odacli modify-vmstorage -n share1 -i 10G

Using Browser User Interface to Modify VM Storage

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Storage tab.
  5. In the page, select a Virtual Storage, select the Modify option and click Next.
  6. In the Modify VM Storage page, specify Increment in size and click Modify.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Deleting a VM Storage in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to delete a VM storage in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Delete VM Storage

Use the command odacli delete-vmstorage to delete a VM storage.

Delete a VM storage named vs1.
# odacli delete-vmstorage -n vs1

Using Browser User Interface to Modify VM Storage

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Storage tab.
  5. In the page, select a VM Storage, select the Delete option.
  6. Click Yes to confirm your choice.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Managing Virtual Networks in KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI to create, view, start, stop, and delete virtual networks in an Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

Creating a Virtual Network in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to create a virtual network in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Create Virtual Network

Use the command odacli create-vnetwork to create a virtual network.

Create a VM network of type bridged using the interface btbond2.
# odacli create-vnetwork --name mgmtNet --bridge mgmtNet --type bridged --interface btbond2 --ip 192.168.120.26 --gateway 192.168.120.1 --netmask 255.255.255.0
Create a VM network of type bridged-vlan using the interface btbond1.
# odacli create-vnetwork --name backupvlan --bridge backupvlan --type bridged-vlan --vlan-id 12 --interface btbond1 --ip 192.168.100.10 --gateway 192.168.100.1 --netmask 255.255.255.0

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Network

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click Show VM Instances to display the VM Instances page.
  4. In the page, select the Create Virtual Network option and click Next.
  5. In the Create Virtual Network page, specify the following:
    • Name: Name of the virtual network
    • IP Address: Virtual network IP address
    • Subnet Mask and Gateway: Virtual network subnet mask and gateway
    • Network Type: Virtual network type
    • Interface: Virtual network interface
    • Bridge Name: Name of the network bridge
    • VLAN ID: ID of the VLAN network
  6. Click Create.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Viewing Virtual Networks in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to view all virtual networks or details about a virtual network in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to View Virtual Networks

The command odacli describe-vnetwork displays details about a virtual network. Use the command odacli list-vnetworks to view all virtual networks in the deployment.
# odacli list-vnetworks
# odacli describe-vnetwork -n vnet1

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Networks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Networks tab to view the list of all configured virtual networks.
  5. Click on a Virtual Network to view the details of the virtual network.

Starting and Stopping Virtual Networks in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to start or stop virtual networks in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Start and Stop Virtual Networks

The command odacli start-vnetwork starts a virtual network. Use the command odacli stop-vnetwork to stop a virtual network in the deployment.
# odacli start-vnetwork -n vnet1
# odacli stop-vnetwork -n vnet1

Using Browser User Interface to Start and Stop Virtual Networks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Networks tab to view the list of all configured virtual networks.
  5. To start a virtual network, click on a Virtual Network, and then click Start.
  6. To stop a virtual network, click on a virtual network, and then click Stop.

Modifying a Virtual Network in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to modify a virtual network in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Modify Virtual Network

Use the command odacli modify-vnetwork to modify a virtual network.

# odacli modify-vnetwork -n vnet1 -g 10.11.44.41

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Network

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Networks tab.
  5. In the page, select a Virtual Network, select the Modify option and click Next.
  6. In the Modify Virtual Network page, specify any changes in the Subnet Mask, Gateway, or IP Address, and click Modify.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Deleting a Virtual Network in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to delete a virtual network in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Delete Virtual Networks

Use the command odacli delete-vnetwork to delete a virtual network.

Delete a virtual network named vnet1.
# odacli delete-vnetwork -n vnet1

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Networks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Networks tab.
  5. In the page, select a virtual network, select the Delete option.
  6. Click Yes to confirm your choice.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Managing Virtual Disks in KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI to create, view, clone, modify, and delete virtual disks on Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

Creating a Virtual Disk in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to create a virtual disk in a KVM deployment.

Ensure that a VM storage exists before you create a virtual disk.

Using ODACLI to Create Virtual Disks

Use the command odacli create-vdisk to create a virtual disk.

Specify the name of the virtual disk in the command odacli create-vdisk -n name. Identify the storage in which you create the virtual disk by using the -st storage option. Use the option -s size to specify the virtual disk size. If you want to configure the virtual disk as a shared disk, then use the option -sh.

Create a 2 GB non-sparse and shareable virtual disk named vdisk1 inside the VM storage vms1.
odacli create-vdisk -n vdisk1 -st vms1 -s 2G -sh

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Disks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the Virtual Disk page.
  4. Click Create Virtual Disk.
  5. In the page, select the Create Virtual Disk option and click Next.
  6. In the Create Virtual Disk page, specify the following:
    • Virtual Disk Name: Name assigned to the virtual disk that is unique within the name repository
    • VM Storage Name: Name of the VM storage where the virtual disk will be created
    • Disk Size: Size of the virtual disk
    • Shared: Specify if you want to share the virtual disk
    • Sparse or Shared: Specify if the virtual disk is sparse
  7. Click Create.
  8. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  9. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Viewing Virtual Disks in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to view all virtual disks or details about a virtual disk in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to View Virtual Disks

The command odacli describe-vdisk displays details about a virtual disk. Use the command odacli list-vdisks to view all virtual disks in the deployment.
# odacli list-vdisks
# odacli describe-vdisk -n vdisk_name

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Disks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Disks tab to view the list of all configured virtual disks.
  5. Click on a virtual disk to view the details of the virtual disk.

Cloning a Virtual Disk in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to clone a virtual disk in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Clone Virtual Disks

Use the command odacli clone-vdisk to clone an existing virtual disk.

Specify the source vdisk from which you want to clone with the -n option, and specify the name of the cloned virtual disk with the -cn option.

Create a clone of a virtual disk named vdisk1, with the name vdisk1_clone. The cloned disk is created on the same storage as vdisk1.
# odacli clone-vdisk -n vdisk1 -cn vdisk1_clone

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Disks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the Virtual Disk page.
  4. Click Create Virtual Disk.
  5. In the page, select the Clone Virtual Disk option and click Next.
  6. In the Clone Virtual Disk page, specify the following:
    • Select the Source Virtual Disk you want to clone
    • Specify the name of the cloned virtual disk
  7. Click Create.
  8. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  9. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Modifying a Virtual Disk in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to modify a virtual disk in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Modify Virtual Disks

Use the command odacli modify-vdisk to increase the size of a virtual disk.

Increase the size of a virtual disk named vdisk1 by 4 gigabytes.
# odacli modify-vdisk -n vdisk1 -i 4G

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Disks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Disks tab.
  5. In the page, select a Virtual Disk, select the Modify Virtual Disk option and click Next.
  6. In the Modify Virtual Disk page, specify Increment in size and if you want to share the virtual disk.
  7. Click Modify.
  8. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  9. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Deleting a Virtual Disk in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to delete a virtual disk in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Delete Virtual Disks

Use the command odacli delete-vdisk to delete a virtual disk.

Delete a virtual disk named vdisk1.
# odacli delete-vdisk -n vdisk1

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Disks

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show Virtual Disks tab.
  5. In the page, select a Virtual Disk, select the Delete option.
  6. Click Yes to confirm your choice.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Managing Virtual Machines in KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI to create, view, clone, modify, start, stop, and delete virtual machines in an Oracle Database Appliance KVM deployment.

Creating a Virtual Machine in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to create a virtual machine in a KVM deployment.

Ensure that a VM storage exists before you create a VM instance.

Using ODACLI to Create Virtual Machine Instance

Use the command odacli create-vm to create a VM instance. Specify the preferred node on which to start the virtual machine after creation (-pn option).

Following is an example command to create a VM named vm1 with 8 vcpus and 8 GB memory. The VM is stored in the VM Storage vms1. The source used for the installation is located on /u01/OL7.iso.
# odacli create-vm -n vm1 -c 8 -m 8G -vms vms1 -src /u01/OL7.iso

To use a kickstart configuration file to create the VM instance, include the file in the --extra-args parameter. Create a kickstart configuration file, including the network configuration for the guest VM. Ensure that the kickstart configuration file is available over the network that guest VM can access.

For example:
odacli create-vm --name odaksvm --memory 4G --source /u01/kvm/images/OL77_x86_64.iso --vmstorage myvms --size 10G --vcpus 2 --extra-args "console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200 ks=http://test:portnumber/ks.txt"
If you do not use a kickstart configuration file to create the VM instance, then complete the VM instance creation as follows:
  1. Run the odacli create-vm command and check that it completes successfully.
  2. Use the odacli describe-vm command to check the VNC port.
  3. Log in to the VM instance using the VNC port: host:vncport.
  4. Complete the installation process by providing your values for the installation screens.
  5. Log in again to the VM instance using the VNC port: host:vncport.
  6. If you specified --vnetwork in the odacli create-vm command, then you can run ifconfig -a to view the network interface in the VM. Configure the network as you would on a Linux system.
  7. After the network is configured, log into the VM using the network and customize the VM instance.
  8. If you did not specify --vnetwork in the odacli create-vm command, then the VM network is created using the default Network Address Translation (NAT) based KVM bridge virbr0. eth0 is configured as DHCP inside the VM.

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Machine Instance

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click Show VM Instances to display the VM Instances page.
  4. In the page, select the Create VM Instance option and click Next.
  5. In the Create Virtual VM page, specify the following:
    • VM Name: Name assigned to the VM instance that is unique within the name repository
    • VM Storage Name: Name of the VM storage where the VM instance will be created
    • Source Installation: The source from which you want to create the VM
    • Preferred Node: Node where you want to run the VM instance
    • Memory Size: Size of the memory to be allocated
    • CPU Pool Name: Select the CPU Pool
    • Number of vCPUs to Use: Number of virtual CPUs to be allocated
  6. Click Create.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Cloning a Virtual Machine in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to clone a virtual machine instance in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Clone Virtual Machine Instance

Use the command odacli clone-vm to clone an existing virtual machine.

The name of the VM you create is defined by the command odacli clone-vm -cn name. Specify the source VM from which you want to clone.

Create a clone of a virtual machine named vm1, with the name vm1_clone. The cloned VM is created on the same storage as vm1.
# odacli clone-vm -n vm1 -cn vm1_clone

Using Browser User Interface to Clone Virtual Machine Instance

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Instance page.
  4. Click Create VM Instance.
  5. In the page, select the Clone VM Instance option and click Next.
  6. In the Clone VM Instance page, specify the following:
    • Select the Source VM you want to clone
    • Specify the name and description of the cloned VM instance
  7. Click Create.
  8. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  9. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Modifying a Virtual Machine in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to modify a virtual machine in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Modify Virtual Machines

Use the command odacli modify-vm to modify a virtual machine.

Update the configuration of a VM named vm1, setting the CPU count to 6 and the maximum memory to 6 gigabytes on both the running VM and subsequent boots.
# odacli modify-vm -n vm1 -c 6 -mm 6G --live --config

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Machines

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Instances tab.
  5. In the page, select a Virtual Machine, select the Modify option and click Next.
  6. In the Modify VM page, specify Increment in size and if you want to Auto Start or Set Failover.
  7. You can also modify the CPU Pool, Number of vCPUs to use, Memory Size, and attach and detach virtual disks and virtual networks.
  8. Select if you want to save the configuration or apply the configuration to a running VM.
  9. Click Modify.
  10. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  11. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.

Viewing Virtual Machines in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to view all virtual machines or details about a virtual machine in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to View Virtual Machines

The command odacli describe-vm displays details about a virtual machine. Use the command odacli list-vms to view all virtual machines in the deployment.
# odacli list-vms
# odacli describe-vm -n vm_name

Using Browser User Interface to Create Virtual Machines

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Instances tab to view the list of all configured virtual machines.
  5. Click on a VM Instance to view the details of the virtual machine.

Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to start or stop virtual machines in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Start and Stop Virtual Machines

The command odacli start-vm starts a virtual machine. Use the command odacli stop-vm to stop a virtual machine in the deployment.

If pref-node is defined for the VM, then the VM starts on the pref-node. If pref-node is not defined for the VM, then the VM can start on any node, in a high-availability deployment. However, if you specify the node name -n, then the VM starts on the specified node, even if the preferred node is defined.

# odacli start-vm -n vm1
# odacli stop-vm -n vm1

Using Browser User Interface to Start and Stop Virtual Machines

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Instances tab to view the list of all configured virtual machines.
  5. To start a virtual machine, click on a VM Instance, and then click Start and select the node to start the virtual machine.
  6. To stop a virtual machine, click on a VM Instance, and then click Stop to stop the virtual machine. Click Force Stop to close all running processes and stop the virtual machine.

Deleting a Virtual Machine in a KVM Deployment

Use ODACLI commands or the Browser User Interface to delete a virtual machine in a KVM deployment.

Using ODACLI to Delete Virtual Machines

Use the command odacli delete-vm to delete a virtual machine.

Delete a virtual machine named vm1.
# odacli delete-vm -n vm1

Using Browser User Interface to Modify Virtual Machines

Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the Browser User Interface:
    https://host-ip-address:7093/mgmt/index.html
  2. Click the Appliance tab.
  3. Click VM Instances to display the VM Details page.
  4. Click the Show VM Instances tab.
  5. In the page, select a VM Instance, select the Delete option.
  6. Click Yes to confirm your choice.
  7. When you submit the job, the job ID and a link to the job appears. Click the link to display the job status and details.
  8. Validate that the job completed. You can track the job in the Activity tab in the Browser User Interface, or run the command odacli describe-job with the job ID.