pvc/docs/installing.md

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Installing and using the Parallel Virtual Cluster suite

Changelog

0.4

  • PVC supports manual or Ansible bootstrapping of nodes

  • PVC supports both virtual-manager-only and virtual-manager+networking operating modes

Building

The repository contains the required elements to build Debian packages for PVC. It is not handled like a normal Python package but instead the debs contain the raw files placed in Debianized places.

  1. Run build-deb.sh; you will need dpkg-buildpackage installed.

  2. The output packages for the node daemon and clients will be located in the parent directory.

  3. Copy the .deb files to the target systems or add them to a custom repository accessible to the future nodes.

Base System Setup

PVC requires Debian GNU/Linux 10.X ("Buster") or later, using systemd, to operate correctly. Before proceeding with the manual or Ansible setup, you must have prepared a set of initial hosts with the base system.

  1. Using the Debian GNU/Linux 10.X installer or a method of your choice, prepare 1, 3, or 5 physical hosts. This initial set will act as coordinators for the cluster, after which more nodes can be added. Name the hosts "[name]1", "[name]2", etc.; "name" can be anything you wish, though "node", "hv", or "pvc" are most descriptive.

  2. Create an SSH configuration and sudo-capable user for login on each node. Key-based authentication is strongly recommended to avoid entering passwords later.

  3. Configure the systems with a basic network interface conforming to the network requirements. Normally, the PVC "upstream" network will be used to configure and bootstrap the nodes, however you can use another network should you wish. For a simple deployment, an access vLAN with a single IP is sufficient. Bonding/failover is optional but recommended.

  4. Configure DNS or /etc/hosts entries for all nodes so that they may resolve each others' FQDNs. This is especially important for the Ansible installation method since the ansible_fqdn value is used extensively.

  5. Ensure you can log in to the systems, that they can access the Internet, and that the user can execute arbitrary commands with sudo.

Ansible

PVC includes a set of Ansible roles and playbooks for deploying PVC nodes. Using these automates the manual deployments steps and ends with a working set of initial coordinator nodes. It can then also be used to deploy subsequent nodes as well or update the cluster configuration. By default, the Ansible role makes use of the official PVC Debian repository, though you may use an alternate repository or locally-built .deb files via configuration options.

  1. Configure a set of group_vars and a host inventory for the role, based on the defaults/example.yml configuration. This example includes all possible options on a simple 3-node coordinator set in the most simple possible deployment. Modify the hostnames, IP addresses, passwords, and other such information as required for your deployment. Refer to the Ansible role configuration documentation for a detailed breakdown of the various options.

  2. Execute the bootstrap.yml playbook against the set of initial coordinators deployed in the last section. The playbook operates in parallel mode for the initial section to configure the base resources, then squentially to configure the actual PVC daemon and bring up the cluster.

  3. The bootstrap.yml playbook will reboot the nodes at the appropriate times. Once they return to service, the PVC cluster will be ready to use or modify further.

  4. To perform future updates to the cluster configuration, such as adding additional nodes or changing configuration variables, execute the update.yml playbook instead. This playbook is very similar to the bootstrap.yml playbook but with tweaks to prevent unneccessary disruption to the core cluster.

Manual

Virtual Manager only

  1. On the first 3 physical servers, deploy Zookeeper (Debian packages zookeeper and zookeeperd) in a cluster configuration. After this, Zookeeper should be available on port 2181 on all 3 nodes.

  2. Install the PVC packages generated in the previous section. Use apt -f install to correct dependency issues. The pvcd service will fail to start; this is expected.

  3. Create the /etc/pvc/pvcd.yaml daemon configuration file, using the template available at /etc/pvc/pvcd.sample.yaml. An example configuration for a virtual manager only cluster's first host would be:

     ---
     pvc:
       node: node1
       functions:
         enable_hypervisor: True
         enable_networking: False
         enable_storage: False
       cluster:
         coordinators:
           - node1
           - node2
           - node3
       system:
         fencing:
           intervals:
             keepalive_interval: 5
             fence_intervals: 6
             suicide_intervals: 0
           actions:
             successful_fence: migrate
             failed_fence: None
           ipmi:
             host: node1-lom # Ensure this is reachable from the nodes
             user: myipmiuser
             pass: myipmiPassw0rd
         migration:
           target_selector: mem
         configuration:
           directories:
             dynamic_directory: "/run/pvc"
             log_directory: "/var/log/pvc"
           logging:
             file_logging: True
             stdout_logging: True
    
  4. Start the PVC daemon (systemctl start pvcd) on the first node. On startup, the daemon will connect to the Zookeeper cluster and automatically add itself to the configuration. Verify it is running with journalctl -u pvcd -o cat and that it is sending keepalives to the cluster.

  5. Use the client CLI on the first node to verify the node is up and running:

     $ pvc node list
     Name  St: Daemon  Coordinator  Domain   Res: VMs  CPUs  Load   Mem (M): Total  Used   Free   VMs
     node1     run     primary      flushed       0    24    0.41            91508  2620   88888  0
    

    The Daemon mode should be run, and on initial startup the Domain mode will be flushed to prevent VMs being immediately provisioned or migrated to the new node.

  6. Start the PVC daemon on the other nodes as well, verifying their status in the same way as the first node.

  7. Use the client CLI on the first node to set the first node into ready state:

     $ pvc node ready node1
     Restoring hypervisor node1 to active service.
    

    The Domain state for the node will now be ready.

  8. Repeat the previous step for the other two nodes. The cluster is now ready to handle virtual machines.

  9. Provision a KVM virtual machine using whatever tools or methods you choose, and obtain the Libvirt .xml domain definition file. Note that virtual network bridges should use the form vmbrXXX, where XXX is the vLAN ID or another numeric identifier.

  10. Define the VM in the cluster using the CLI tool:

     $ pvc vm define --target node1 path/to/test1.xml
     Adding new VM with Name "test1" and UUID "5115d00f-9f11-4899-9edf-5a35bf76d6b4" to database.
    
  11. Verify that the new VM is present:

     $ pvc vm list
     Name     UUID                                  State  Networks  RAM (M)  vCPUs  Node     Migrated
     test1    5115d00f-9f11-4899-9edf-5a35bf76d6b4  stop   101       1024     1      node1    no
    
  12. Start the new VM and verify it is running:

     $ pvc vm start test1
     Starting VM "5115d00f-9f11-4899-9edf-5a35bf76d6b4".
     $ pvc vm info test1
     Virtual machine information:
    
     UUID:               5115d00f-9f11-4899-9edf-5a35bf76d6b4
     Name:               test1
     Description:        Testing host
     Memory (M):         1024
     vCPUs:              1
     Topology (S/C/T):   1/1/1
    
     State:              start
     Current Node:       node1
     Previous Node:      N/A
    
     Networks:           101 [invalid]
    

Congratulations, you have deployed a simple PVC cluster! Add any further VMs or nodes you require using the same procedure, though additional nodes do not need to be in the coordinators: list.

With virtual networking support

In addition to a virtual manager only setup, PVC v0.4 supports a setup with virtual networking support as well. This configuration enables management of both simple bridged and managed networking within the cluster, and requires additional setup steps.

  1. Perform the first 4 steps of the previous section.

  2. Deploy a Patroni PostgreSQL cluster among the coordinators. Follow the PowerDNS guide to create a PowerDNS authoritative database schema on the cluster.

  3. Configure the /etc/pvc/pvcd.yaml file based on the /etc/pvc/pvcd.sample.yaml file, this time not removing any major sections. Fill in the required values for the MySQL DNS database, the various interfaces and networks, and set enable_networking: True.

  4. Proceed with the remainder of the previous section.

  5. Configure networks with the pvc network CLI utility:

     $ pvc network add 1001 -p bridged -d test-net-1
     Network "test-net-1" added successfully!
     $ pvc network add 1002 -p managed -d test-net-2 -i 10.200.0.0/24 -g 10.200.0.1
     Network "test-net-2" added successfully!
     $ pvc network list
     VNI   Description  Type     Domain  IPv6   DHCPv6  IPv4   DHCPv4  
     1001  test1        bridged  None    False  False   False  False  
     1002  test2        managed  test2   False  False   True   False  
    
  6. Configure any static ACLs, enable DHCP, or perform other network management functions using the CLI utility. See pvc network -h for the high-level commands available.