Updating KVM Hosts

Caution:

If you're upgrading the environment, see Before You Beginin the Upgrading Your Environment to 4.5 section.

Before you update a KVM host, here are a few considerations.

  • If migration is enabled at the cluster level, virtual machines are automatically migrated to another host in the cluster.

  • The cluster must contain more than one host before performing an update.

  • Don't try to update all hosts at the same time because one host must remain available to perform Storage Pool Manager (SPM) tasks.

  • The cluster must have enough memory reserve in order for its hosts to perform maintenance. If a cluster lacks enough memory, the virtual machine migration hangs and then fails. You can reduce the memory usage of virtual machine migration by shutting down some or all virtual machines before updating the host.

  • You can't migrate a virtual machine using a vGPU to a different host. Virtual machines with vGPUs installed must be shut down before updating the host.

To update a KVM host, follow the instructions below.

Connect to the KVM host:

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Connect to the KVM host.

  3. Update the release rpm.

    Update Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager to the latest 4.5 release by running the following command, where n is the major version of Oracle Linux on the KVM host: 

    dnf update oracle-ovirt-release-45-eln

After you're connected to the KVM host, complete the following steps in the Administration Portal:

  1. In the Administration portal, go to Compute and then select Hosts.

  2. In the Hosts pane, select a blank or non-linked cell for a host.

  3. Select Installation and then Check for Upgrade.

  4. From the Upgrade Host window, select OK.

    The engine checks the KVM host to see if it requires an update.

  5. Using the mouse, hover over the icon next to the host name to see if an update is available.

  6. To proceed with the update, select Installation and then Upgrade.

  7. From the Upgrade Host window, select OK to begin the update process.

    On the Hosts pane you can watch the host transition through the update stages: Maintenance, Installing, Up. The host is rebooted after the update and displays a status of Up if successful. If any virtual machines were migrated off the host, they're migrated back.

    Note:

    If the update fails, the host’s status changes to Install Failed and you must select Installation and then Upgrade again.

  8. (Optional) Repeat the previous steps for any KVM host in the environment that you want to update.