OVM series part 1: Getting started with OVMCLI

Intro

I have been introduced to Oracle OVM rather accidentally. I was more familiar with the traditional vmware or hyper-V but when I was asked to help a client to implement their ovm backups, I got more curious about it. This post is the first of a series of 3.

I will try to show some basic examples on how to create resources like a vm using OVMCLI, since the web Console equivalent is overrated 🙂. OVM Manager CLI supports the same functions as those on the browser interface but can be scripted & fully automated to enable flexibility to help deploy and manage your OVM environment. CLI changes are reflected in real time in the OVM Manager Console.

Concepts

OVM Server is based upon Xen hypervisor technology, and includes Oracle VM Agent. Its Linux kernel is run as Dom0 to manage one or more DomU virtual machines, each of which could be Linux/ Solaris, or Microsoft Windows.

OVM Manager is a server side component that allows you to configure and manage your Oracle VM environment. It includes both a CLI and a web-based user interface. Users can create server pools and virtual machines, as well as manage networking and storage.

All right, let’s see how these commands work.

CLI examples

First let’s get acquainted with the CLI environment. How to connect to it and how its commands look like.

Create user
Admin user is created by default during the installation of ovm manager but additional users can be created.

[root@ovm-manager01 bin]# cd  /u01/app/oracle/ovm-manager-3/bin/
[root@ovm-manager01 bin]# ./ovm_admin --createuser    

Connection to OVMMCLI

 It can be done through  ovm manger’s hostname or IP
[ovm-mgr01]# ssh -l admin localhost -p 10000
           # export ovmmhost=`hostname -s`
[ovm-mgr01]# ssh -l admin $ovmmhost -p 10000
           # export ovmip=10.10.30.60
[ovm-mgr01]# ssh -l admin $ovmip -p 10000

     Known connection issue:
         Error “ OVMM CLI connection is not available on port 10000 host ovm-mgr01”
        Workarounds


Check /start ovmcli service if stopped
[ovm-mgr01]#  service ovmcli status|start  


If Both “diffie-hellman-group1-sha1“ key exchange and “ssh-dss” host keys used by OVMMCLI ssh-server are disabled. Try them explicitly during the connection (openssh-client 7+) :
# ssh -oKexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-dss -l admin  localhost -p 10000


Likely Solution:

 Upgrade OVMM to 3.4.5 release or higher (i.e 3.4.6 ) if the version is older.




OVMMCLI commands 


Like any CLI linked to an API CRUD like commands are available


create <objectType> [(attribute1)="value1"] ... [on <objectType> <instance>]
delete <objectType> <instance>
edit   <objectType> <instance>  (attribute1)="value1" ...
list   <objectType>
show   <objectType> <instance>
-- For Most Object Types with Children:
add    <objectType> <instance> to <objectType> <instance>
remove <objectType> <instance> from <objectType> <instance>

- Object types: ServerPool/vm/Vnic/Repository/Fileserver/network/Vdisk/physicaldisk …etc.
- Instance: { id=value | name=value }



Client Session Commands


set alphabetizeAttributes=[Yes|No]  ---> display output in alphabetical order.
set commandMode=[Asynchronous|Synchronous] --->  default CLI run mode is Synchronous.
set commandTimeout=[1-43200]               ---> in seconds.
set endLineChars=[CRLF,CR,LF]       ---> end of line character to use for your SSH client.
set outputMode=[Verbose,XML,Sparse] --->  output mode for command results.
showclisession                      ---> list CLI session options and their settings


Other Commands:


showallcustomcmds             ---> list all commands and the objects that they relate to.
showcustomcmds <objectType>   ---> list all commands for an objectType (i.e vm)
showobjtypes                  ---> list all object types.
showversion                   ---> Shows the version of OVMM and its CLI.
exit

Our environment 

1. Create a VM


Syntax


create Vm [ memory=value ] [ memoryLimit=value ] [ cpuCount=value ] 
[ cpuCountLimit=value ] [ cpuPriority=value ] [ cpuUtilizationCap=value ] 
[ highAvailability= { Yes | No } ] [ hugePagesEnabled= { Yes | No } ] [ osType=value ] 
[ restartActionOnCrash= { RESTART | STOP | RESTART_AFTER_DUMP | STOP_AFTER_DUMP } ] 
[ mouseType= { OS_DEFAULT | PS2_MOUSE | USB_MOUSE | USB_TABLET } ] 
domainType= { XEN_HVM | XEN_HVM_PV_DRIVERS | XEN_PVM| LDOMS_PVM | UNKNOWN } 
[ keymapName= { en-us |..| fr } ] [ bootOrder= { PXE | DISK | CDROM } ] 
[ networkInstallPath=value ] repository=value [ server=value ] 
[ startPolicy= { BEST_SERVER | BALANCE_SERVER | CURRENT_SERVER | USE_POOL_POLICY } ] 
[ viridian= { Yes | No } ] name=value [ description=value ] on ServerPool instance 


Example


OVM> create Vm name=My_server memory=8192 memoryLimit=8192 cpuCount=3 cpuCountLimit=4 
     osType="Microsoft Windows Server 2012" repository=OVM_repo1 domainType=XEN_HVM 
    server=ovs-01 startPolicy=BEST_SERVER on ServerPool name=OVM-Lab ;
Time: 2021-03-28 02:47:35,332 EDT
Data:id:0004fb0000060000549e161d2ea0400b  name:My_server


Note: You can always edit the vm’s attributes after creation (i.e below domain Type has windows drivers) 


OVM> edit Vm name=My_server domainType=XEN_HVM_PV_DRIVERS 

 


2. Create a virtual disk to use as the boot disk


Syntax


 Create VirtualDisk size=value shareable= { Yes | No } sparse= { Yes | No } name=value 
[ description=value ] on Repository instance


Example


OVM> create VirtualDisk name=My_disk size=60 sparse=Yes  shareable=No on Repository 
     name=OVM_repo2 
 Time: 2021-03-28 02:48:17,120 EDT
 Data: id:0004fb0000120000edae47c4bf5252c8.img  name:My_disk

3. Map the virtual disk to the virtual machine


 Syntax


OVM> create VmDiskMapping slot=value
     { physicalDisk=value | virtualDisk=value | virtualCd= { value | EMPTY_CDROM } } 
      name=value [ description=value ] on Vm instance


Example


OVM> create VmDiskMapping slot=0 virtualDisk=My_disk name="My server Boot Disk"  
     on Vm name=My_server

Time: 2021-03-28 02:49:10,135 EDT
Data:id:0004fb0000130000dce7093f1fb141c4  name:My_server Boot Disk


4. Map an ISO file to the virtual machine


Syntax


 create VmDiskMapping slot=value  { physicalDisk=value | virtualDisk=value | virtualCd= { value | EMPTY_CDROM } } 
  name=value [ description=value ] on Vm instance


Example (here the Iso is located in the same repository than the vm config file OVM_repo1)


OVM> create VmDiskMapping slot=1 virtualCd=WINDOWS_2012R2.iso  name="DVDROM Drive" 
    on Vm name=My_server
Time: 2021-03-28 02:49:42,553 EDT
Data:id:0004fb00001300004693d433aafceca7  name:DVDROM Drive
       with 100% completion but a warning that wasn’t impactful .
5. Set up the disk boot order


Example


OVM> edit Vm name=My_server bootOrder='CDROM,DISK' startPolicy=BEST_SERVER
Status: Success   Time: 2021-03-28 02:50:30,114 EDT             
JobId: 1585378228467
6. Create a VNIC and add it to the virtual machine


 Syntax


create Vnic network=value name=value [ macAddress=value ] [ description=value ] on Vm instance


Example


OVM> create Vnic name=Ethernet1 network=OVM-LAB-NET on Vm name=My_server
Status: Success  Time: 2021-03-28 02:51:46,227 EDT                                        JobId: 1585378294963                                                       Data: id:0004fb0000070000e6d766a1ce769034  name:Ethernet1 
7- Start the vm
OVM> start vm name=My_server         
  -- Restart a vm  
OVM> restart { Server | Vm }   name =value 
  -- Resume 
OVM> resume  Vm   name=My_server
  -->  Miscellaneous <--
  -- Kill a server or a vm 
OVM> kill { Server | Vm } name =value 
  -- Migrate a vm
OVM> migrate Vm name=My_server destServer=MyServer 
OVM> migrate Vm name=My_server destServerPool=MyServerPool  




List Commands


Repositories


OVM> list repository 
      Command: list repository  Status: Success
      Time: 2020-03-19 19:47:16,227 EDT
 Data:
 id:0004fb0000030000d6744a0a7e3649db  name:OVM_repo1
 id:0004fb0000030000394dd4b78643b4b5  name:OVM_repo2


Servers


OVM> list server
     Command: list server     Status: Success
     Time: 2020-02-24 18:08:27,900 EST
Data:
    id:ff:20:00:08:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:00:21:28:e7:df:8e  name:ovs-01
    id:08:00:20:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:a0:df:e7:28:21:00  name:ovs-02


Fileserver


OVM> list fileserver
     Command: list fileserver     Status: Success
     Time: 2020-02-24 18:10:27,634 EST
     Data:
       id:0004fb0000090000033d51d61b4a92fa  name:Oracle ZFS 
Show Commands


VM


OVM> show Vm name=My_Server
Data:
 Status = Stopped
 Memory (MB) = 4096
 Max. Memory (MB) = 4096
 Processors = 2
 Max. Processors = 2
 VmDiskMapping 1 = 0004fb00001300002b1908da5ee6c251  [Mapping for disk Id


Virtual disk


OVM> show virtualdisk name=0004fb0000120000ed4b60a8dea41e5d.img                            
Data:                                                                                 
Absolute Path = /dev/mapper/3600144f08e../VirtualDisks/0004fb0000120000ed4b60a8dea41e5d.img
Mounted Path = /OVS/Repositories/0004fb../VirtualDisks/0004fb0000120000ed4b60a8dea41e5d.img
VmDiskMapping 1 = 0004fb000..  [Mapping for disk Id (0004fb0000120000ed4b60a8dea41e5d.img)]

 Max (GiB) = 300.0                                                                      
 Used (GiB) = 278.45                                                                  
 Shareable = No        
Repository Id = 0004fb00000300007292ef76d1746897  [VM Storage]     
Add a server to the server pool


In case the server is unassigned to a pool 


OVM> add Server name=ovs-03 to ServerPool name=OVM-LaB




CONCLUSION
I didn’t want to put too much in one post but you get the gist of how the CLI interface works in OVM. The list of object types and the related commands is quite long. However, If you want to explore them in detail you can refer to the below document.

Next we will be talking about the logs available for OVM and some diagnostic tools required for SRs . 


Manager Command Line Interface User’s Guide for Release 3.4


Thank you for reading


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