Home » The Underground Oracle VM Manual

Chapter 5: Oracle VM Manager Sizing and Installation

Last update 08-25-2010
 
Chapter 5 covers the following topics:
  • Oracle VM Manager Introduction
  • Oracle VM Manager Resource Requirements
  • Oracle VM Manager Prerequisites
  • Oracle VM Manager Installation
Table of Contents
 
Oracle VM Manager is a bare bones stand-alone management solution for Oracle VM servers, Oracle VM server pools and Oracle VM guests. Oracle VM Manager is a private source cluster ready Oracle Application Development Framework 10g (ADF) application that installs on Enterprise Linux. Oracle VM Manager also has a command line interface that allows Oracle VM Manager administrative tasks to be perform from the command line or executed using scripts.
 
Note: Oracle VM Manager is not supported and should not be installed in Oracle VM server's dom0.
 
List 1 shows the supported Enterprise Linux operating systems for Oracle VM Manager.
  • Oracle Enterprise Linux 4 update 5 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 or later
Oracle VM Manager is distributed in three formats; a) as an ISO file that installs on Enterprise Linux b) as a pre-packaged Oracle VM template and c) as the Oracle VM Management Pack plug-in.
 
Oracle VM Manager is considered the leading edge development platform for the Oracle VM Management Pack, which is an Oracle Enterprise Manager plug-in. Oracle VM Manager 2.1.2 was ported to Oracle Enterprise Manager 10.2.0.5 and Oracle VM Manager 2.2 was ported to Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g R1. Expect at least a six month lag for Oracle to port a new Oracle VM Manager release to the Oracle VM Management Pack.
 
Note: The Oracle VM Management Pack is licensed software; Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Manager are not licensed software.
 
Figure 1 highlights the Oracle VM Manager 2.2 user interface.
 

The next chart shows the matrix of supported Oracle VM Manager and Oracle VM server combinations.

   OVM 2.1.0  2.1.1  2.1.2 2.1.5  2.2.0
OVS --------+------+------+-----+------
2.1.0     O |    O |   O  |  O  |  O
2.1.1     X |    O |   O  |  O  |  O
2.1.2     X |    X |   O  |  O  |  O
2.1.5     X |    X |   X  |  O  |  O
2.2.0     X |    X |   X  |  X  |  O
2.2.1     X |    X |   X  |  X  |  O

Note: The Oracle VM Manager can manage many server pools, e.g. Oracle VM Manager 2.2 can manage one pool of Oracle VM 2.1.x servers, another pool of Oracle VM 2.2 servers, and many more server pools; But within the same server pool, all the servers must have the same version of Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Agent. You can not mix Oracle VM 2.1.x and 2.2.x servers in the same pool. 

Oracle's recommends 2 GB of memory and one 1.83 GHz CPU for VM Manager. Oracle's minimum resource recommendations for VM Manager is appropriate for a small Oracle VM pool with a hand full of Oracle VM servers without the Command Line Interface.
 
Oracle VM Manager resource requirements can be quickly tested with Oracle VM Manager user interface (UI) page response times. For example, if the Oracle VM Manager user interface is painfully slow or if you experience page timeouts adding memory and CPUs will speed up the user interface and eliminate page timeouts.
 
Tip: Oracle VM Manager on VMware is performance challenged and will need substantially more CPU and memory than the minimum recommendations.
 
Table 1 lists Oracle's recommended minimum resource requirements for Oracle VM Manager 2.x.

Description
Minimum Resources
Memory
2 GB
Processor
1 1.83 GHz CPU
Swap Space
2 GB
Hard Disk Space
4 GB
The memory and CPU requirements for Oracle VM Manager 2.x scales up as the number of Oracle VM pool members grow.
 
Table 2 shows the recommended CPU and memory allocation for three different Oracle VM Manager deployments.

Number of Oracle VM Server Pool Members
Memory
CPU
Swap
< 10
2 GB
1 1.83 GHz
2 GB
> 10
4 GB
2 2 GHz
8 GB
> 32
8 GB
4 2 GHz
8 GB
Oracle VM Manager uses the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition as the default data repository. The Oracle Database 10g Express Edition requires the libaio package release 0.3.96 or above.
 
To validate if your Enterprise Linux system has the libaio 0.3.96 or above package, as root “type rpm -q libaio” as shown in the next example.
# rpm -q libaio
libaio-0.3.106-3.2
If you get no result from typing “rpm -q libaio” you will need to install the libaio package. To install libaio from the Oracle Unbreakable Linux network type “up2date -i libaio” as shown in the next example.

# up2date -i libaio
Before you install Oracle VM Manager ensure that the Oracle VM Manager server's host name is properly entered in the /etc/hosts file. The host name, i.e. fully qualified domain name (FQDN) must be associated with the public IP address. 
 
The next example shows an “improper” Enterprise Linux /etc/hosts file entry. 

127.0.0.1 servername.com servername localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.4.8 servername.com servername
The next example shows the proper syntax for an Enterprise Linux /etc/hosts file entry.

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.4.8 servername.com servername
Oracle VM Manager will reserve tcp ports 8888, 8899 and 4443 for the Oracle VM Manager application. Before installing Oracle VM Manager on the Oracle VM Manager host, check that ports 8888 and 8899 are free. As root type “netstat -na |grep 8888” and then type “netstat -na |grep 8899”. If you do not get a response by typing “netstat -na |grep 8888” and “netstat -na |grep 8899” the ports are free. If you do get a response the ports must be released before you can install Oracle VM Manager.
 
If your Enterprise Linux host uses iptables you will need to allow tcp traffic on ports 8888, 8899 and 4443 to allow access to the Oracle VM Manager portal.
 
To allow tcp traffic on ports 8888, 8899 and 4443 on the Oracle VM Manager host, as root or with sudo type the following three commands:

# system-config-securitylevel-tui -q -p 8888
# system-config-securitylevel-tui -q -p 8899
# system-config-securitylevel-tui -q -p 4443
Oracle VM Manager has several user notification features that require the use of an SMTP server. During the Oracle VM Manager installation you will be asked to a) enter the SMTP server IP address or fully qualified domain name and b) the SMTP port and c) a valid email address and password for the Oracle VM Manager admin account.
 
Entering the SMTP details during the installation is optional and can be configured after the installation by using the “update_email.sh” script on the Oracle VM Manager host or by editing the values in Oracle VM Manager repository database table ovs_sys_value under the OVS schema.
 
The semi integrated Oracle VM Manager guest console requires the Oracle VM Manager host to have the TightVNC package installed. The TightVNC package allows non-Linux users, i.e.Windows or MAC clients to use the TightVNC guest console.
 
The TightVNC package can be downloaded from: http://oss.oracle.com/oraclevm/manager/RPMS/
 
The next example shows how to download and install the TightVNC package on the Oracle VM Manager host as root. The TightVNC package can be downloaded and installed in any directory, i.e. /tmp on the Enterprise Linux host.

# wget http://oss.oracle.com/oraclevm/manager/RPMS/tightvnc-java-1.3.9-3.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh tightvnc-java-version.noarch.rpm
 
Note: If you use Firefox on Linux to access the Oracle VM Manager user interface and would like to use the TightVNC guest console you will also need to install the Oracle VM Manager console plug in (ovm-console) on your Linux workstation. The ovm-console package is available at http://oss.oracle.com/oraclevm/manager/RPMS/.
 
During the Oracle VM Manager Installation you will be prompted for a total of four required passwords.
 
List 2 shows the four required passwords.
  • The password for the Oracle XE SYS and SYSTEM accounts.
  • The password for the Oracle VM Manager OVS database schema.
  • The password for the OC4J oc4jadmin account.
  • The password for the Web Service keystore file.
List 3 shows the password complexity requirements for the required passwords.
  • The password must begin with an uppercase or lowercase letter.
  • The password may include the following characters:
    • Numbers (such as 1, 2, 3, and so on), letters (from a to z, A to Z), and underscores (_).
  • Examples of valid passwords: Password01, Password_123, password.
Tip: Select and write down all the passwords before you start the installation. Unfortunately you may not be able to use the same password for all four services because each service has a slightly different password policy.
 
An Oracle VM Manager installation takes approximately 5-15 minutes depending on the performance of the Oracle VM Manager host.
 
During the Oracle VM Manager installation, you are required to set the following ports. Please note that the installer program will provide defaults.
  • The Oracle XE HTTP port. The default port number is 8080.
  • The Oracle XE listening port. The default port number is 1521.
1. Download the Oracle VM Manager ISO file from the Oracle eDelivery Linux portal.
2. Log in to the Oracle VM Manager host as root.
3. Copy the Oracle VM Manager ISO file to a directory on the Oracle VM Manager host, i.e. to the /tmp directory.
4. Create a directory to mount the ISO file, i.e. mkdir -p /tmp/mount-point.
5. Mount the ISO file by typing “mount -o loop,ro OracleVM-Manager-version.iso mount-point”
6. Change into the directory where the ISO file is mounted, i.e. “cd /tmp/mount-point.
7. Type “sh runInstaller.sh” to start the Oracle VM Manager installation and then type “1” to select the “Install Oracle VM Manager” option as shown in the next example.
# sh runInstaller.sh
Welcome to Oracle VM Manager 2.2
 
Please enter the choice: [1|2|3]
1. Install Oracle VM Manager
2. Uninstall Oracle VM Manager
3. Upgrade Oracle VM Manager
1
 
Starting Oracle VM Manager 2.2 installation …
 
8. From the ”Do you want to install a new database or use an existing one? [1|2]” prompt type ”1” to select the ”Install a new Oracle XE database on localhost” option as shown below.
Do you want to install a new database or use an existing one? [1|2]
1. Install a new Oracle XE database on localhost
2. Use an existing Oracle database in my network
1
 
Prepare to install the Oracle XE database ...
Checking the supported platforms ... Done
 
Checking the prerequisite packages are installed ... Done
 
Checking the available disk space ... Done
 
Installing the oracle-xe-univ package (rpm) now ...
Done
 
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Configuration
-------------------------------------------------
This will configure on-boot properties of Oracle Database 10g Express
Edition. The following questions will determine whether the database should
be starting upon system boot, the ports it will use, and the passwords that
will be used for database accounts. Press <Enter> to accept the defaults.
Ctrl-C will abort.
 
9. Press the enter key to select the default HTTP port 8080 for Oracle Application Express.
Specify the HTTP port that will be used for Oracle Application Express [8080]:
 
10. Press the enter key to select the default database listener port 1521.
Specify a port that will be used for the database listener [1521]:
 
11. Type a secure password for the database accounts.
Specify a password to be used for database accounts. Note that the same
password will be used for SYS and SYSTEM. Oracle recommends the use of
different passwords for each database account. This can be done after
initial configuration:
Confirm the password:
 
12. Type y and press enter to configure the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition to start on boot.
Do you want Oracle Database 10g Express Edition to be started on boot (y/n) [y]:y
 
Starting Oracle Net Listener...Done
Configuring Database...Done
Starting Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance...Done
Installation Completed Successfully.
To access the Database Home Page go to "http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex"
 
Checking the availability of the database …
 
Set default database schema to 'OVS'.
 
12. Type a secure password for the OVS account.
Please enter the password for account 'OVS':
Confirm the password:
 
Creating the Oracle VM Manager database schema ...Done
 
Installing the ovs-manager package (rpm) ...
Done
 
Installing the oc4j package (rpm) ...
Done
 
Please enter the password for account 'oc4jadmin':
Confirm the password:
 
Starting OC4J ... Done.
To access the OC4J Home Page and change the password go to http://127.0.0.1:8888/em
 
Deploying Oracle VM Manager application to OC4J container.
Creating connection pool ... Done
Creating data source ... Done
Deploying application help ... Done
Deploying application ... Done
 
13. Type a secure password for the keystore password for the Web Service.
Please enter the keystore password for the Web Service:
Confirm the password:
 
Setting keystore password for Web Service ... Done
 
14. You can enable HTTPS for the Oracle VM Manager user interface by typing Y, or n if you do not want to enable HTTPS. If you select Y a private SSL certificate will be generated and used to secure the Oracle VM Manager user interface. In the example we typed Y to enable HTTPS.
 
Do you want to use HTTPS access for Oracle VM Manager (Y|n)?y
 
Configuring OC4J to use HTTPS ... Done
Stopping OC4J ... Done
Starting OC4J ... Done
 
15. Type a secure password for the default Oracle VM Manager admin account. You will use the admin user name and the admin password to log into the Oracle VM Manager user interface.
 
Please enter the password for the default account 'admin':
Confirm the password:
 
Configuring SMTP server …
 
16. Type the outgoing SMTP mail server IP address or the fully qualified domain name (optional).
Please enter the outgoing SMTP mail server (e.g. - mail.abc.com, mail.abc.com:25): mail.my.domain.net:25
Mail server checking, may need some time, please wait...
Setting the SMTP server to mail.my.domain.net...
Done
 
17. Type the e-mail address for the admin account.
Please enter an e-mail address for account 'admin': my.admin.account@my.domain.com
Confirm the e-mail address: my.admin.account@my.domain.com
 
The console feature is not enabled by default.
For detailed setup, refer to Oracle VM Manager User's Guide
 
Installation of Oracle VM Manager completed successfully.
 
To access the Oracle VM Manager 2.2 home page go to:
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVS
 
To access the Oracle VM Manager web services WSDL page go to:
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/LifecycleService.wsdl
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/ResourceService.wsdl
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/PluginService.wsdl
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/ServerPoolService.wsdl
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/VirtualMachineService.wsdl
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVSWS/AdminService.wsdl
 
To access the Oracle VM Manager help page go to:
https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/help/help
 
The Oracle VM Manager application was successfully installed and can be accessed by typing https://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:4443/OVS in a web browser. Enter the admin user name and the admin password to log into the Oracle VM Manager portal.
 
List 2 shows the supported Web browsers for the Oracle VM Manager user interface.
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later
  • Firefox 1.0.4 or later (Linux and Windows)
  • Safari 2.x (Mac)
If you configured the SMTP server the admin account will receive the following email:
 
OVM Administrator
Figure 2 shows the Oracle VM Manager Log in page.
 
The Oracle Database Express Edition portal can be accessed from the Oracle VM manager server locally by entering http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex or remotely by entering the ip address or the FQDN followed by :8080/apex, i.e. http://<Oracle VM Manager Host>:8080/apex in a web browser. You can use the SYS, SYSTEM or the OVS user account and the associated password to log in to the Oracle Database Express Edition portal.
 
Figure 3 shows the Oracle Database Express Edition portal login page.
 
The Application Server Control portal is also part of the Oracle VM Manager install. The oc4jadmin account can be maintained from the Application Server Control portal. The Application Server Control portal can only be access locally from the Oracle VM Manager host by typing http://127.0.0.1:8888/em. Use the oc4jadmin account and password to access the Application Server Control portal.
 

Figure 4 shows the Application Server Control login page. 

‹ Chapter 4: Oracle VM Server Sizing, Installation and UpdatesupChapter 6: Oracle VM 2.2 SAN, iSCSI and NFS Back-end Storage Configurations ›

Related stories

LATEST WHITEPAPERSWHITEPAPERS RSS

Whitepaper Search Results:

Whitepaper Search Results:

Whitepaper Search Results: