Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests, May 2013

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Technical white paper

Using HP Serviceguard for Linux

with Red Hat KVM Guests

Table of contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

KVM terminology used in this document ................................................................................................................................. 3

Introduction to KVM ...................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Red Hat KVM System requirements, limitations ................................................................................................................ 4

Creating and launching KVM host and guests .................................................................................................................... 4

Supported cluster configuration with KVM guests ................................................................................................................ 5

Cluster with KVM guests from a single host as cluster nodes ........................................................................................ 5

Cluster with KVM guests from multiple hosts as cluster nodes ..................................................................................... 5

Cluster with KVM guests and physical machines as cluster nodes ................................................................................ 6

Network topology for Serviceguard cluster using KVM guests ........................................................................................... 6

Host Network Configuration ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Guest Network Configuration ............................................................................................................................................... 10

Storage requirements for Serviceguard cluster on KVM guests ....................................................................................... 12

Restrictions and exclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Supported host and guest operating systems ..................................................................................................................... 12

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

References .................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Summary of content (13 pages)

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Technical white paper Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Table of contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 KVM terminology used in this document ................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction to KVM .............................
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests About this technical white paper Virtual machine technology is a powerful capability that can reduce costs and power usage while improving utilization of resources. HP is also applying virtualization to other aspects of the data center and uniting virtual and physical resources to create an environment suitable for deploying mission-critical applications.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Introduction Virtual machines are increasingly being deployed for server consolidation and flexibility. Virtual machine technology allows one physical server to simulate multiple servers, each concurrently running its own OS.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Red Hat KVM System requirements, limitations Supported architecture • Intel 64—An Intel processor with the Intel VT-x and Intel 64 extensions for x86-based systems • AMD64—An AMD processor with the AMD-V and the AMD64 extensions Minimum system requirements • 6 GB free disk space • 2 GB of RAM Recommended system requirements • 6 GB plus the required disk space recommended by the guest operating system per guest.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Supported cluster configuration with KVM guests The supported HP Serviceguard for Linux cluster configuration when using KVM guests as cluster nodes are as follows: Cluster with KVM guests from a single host as cluster nodes In this configuration a cluster is formed with KVM guests all of which are carved out of a single host (cluster in a Box). Though this configuration provides consolidation of resources this is not ideal.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Cluster with KVM guests and physical machines as cluster nodes In this configuration a cluster can be formed with KVM guests and physical machines. Serviceguard is installed on the KVM guests, physical machines and a cluster is formed among them. Serviceguard provides high availably to the applications running as packages in the VMs, physical machines and fails over the application to stand by nodes in case of failures.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Figure 4. Typical network configurations for KVM host and guest Table 2.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests The bridge network configuration can be performed in two parts: 1. Configuring the host network 2. Configuring the guest network Note The below listed steps are based on Red Hat documentation, for any updates or alternatives for these steps refer to the latest versions of “Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Virtualization Host Configuration and Guest Installation Guide.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests 3. Add the physical interface to the bridge by modifying the network interface script of the given physical interface.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Guest Network Configuration Network access is provided to the guest VMs using the underlying bridged network interfaces configured in the host as shown in the previous steps. To achieve this, add the required virtual interfaces to the guest and configure the appropriate “Source device” and “Device model” for each of them. Step 1: Open virt-manager by executing the command “virt-manager.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Step 4: Click on the “Network” Tab, choose the “Host device” and “Device model” and click finish. “Host device” should be the appropriate bridge interface created on the host. The “Device model” must be one of the Serviceguard supported device models as listed below. Ensure that all interfaces across the KVM guests cluster nodes have the same “Device model.” Table 3.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Storage requirements for Serviceguard cluster on KVM guests The applications managed by Serviceguard require shared storage across all the cluster nodes for their data. As of writing this white paper, only iSCSI as shared storage is supported in a Serviceguard cluster with KVM guests as cluster nodes. For details on how to discover and login to iSCSI targets from the KVM guests refer to the below documents.
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Technical white paper | Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with Red Hat KVM Guests Summary This guide describes best practices for deploying HP Serviceguard for Linux cluster in a KVM environment. It is not the intent of this guide to duplicate the strategies and best practices of other HP or Red Hat technical white papers. The strategies and best practices offered here are presented at a very high level to provide general knowledge.