Generally available version. Ready to be used in production environments.

How to install an operating system in a virtual machine from an iso-image?

Let’s consider installing an operating system in a virtual machine from an iso-image, using Windows OS installation as an example.

To install the OS we will need an iso-image of Windows OS. We need to download it and publish it on some http-service available from the cluster.

  1. Create an empty disk for OS installation:

    apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: VirtualDisk
metadata:
  name: win-disk
  namespace: default
spec:
  persistentVolumeClaim:
    size: 100Gi
    storageClassName: local-path

  2. Create resources with iso-images of Windows OS and virtio drivers:

    apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: ClusterVirtualImage
metadata:
  name: win-11-iso
spec:
  dataSource:
    type: HTTP
    http:
      url: "http://example.com/win11.iso"

    apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: ClusterVirtualImage
metadata:
  name: win-virtio-iso
spec:
  dataSource:
    type: HTTP
    http:
      url: "https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso"

  3. Create a virtual machine:

    apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: win-vm
  namespace: default
  labels:
    vm: win
spec:
  virtualMachineClassName: generic
  runPolicy: Manual
  osType: Windows
  bootloader: EFI
  cpu:
    cores: 6
    coreFraction: 50%
  memory:
    size: 8Gi
  enableParavirtualization: true
  blockDeviceRefs:
    - kind: VirtualDisk
      name: win-disk
    - kind: ClusterVirtualImage
      name: win-11-iso
    - kind: ClusterVirtualImage
      name: win-virtio-iso

  4. After creating the resource, start the VM:

    d8 v start win-vm

  5. You need to connect to it and use the graphical wizard to add the virtio drivers and perform the OS installation.

    d8 v vnc -n default win-vm

  6. After the installation is complete, restart the virtual machine.

  7. To continue working with it, use the following command:

    d8 v vnc -n default win-vm

How to provide windows answer file(Sysprep)?

To perform an unattended installation of Windows, create answer file (usually named unattend.xml or autounattend.xml). For example, let’s take a file that allows you to:

  • Add English language and keyboard layout
  • Specify the location of the virtio drivers needed for the installation (hence the order of disk devices in the VM specification is important)
  • Partition the disks for installing windows on a VM with EFI
  • Create an user with name cloud and the password cloud in the Administrators group
  • Create a non-privileged user with name user and the password user
autounattend.xml 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
  <settings pass="offlineServicing"></settings>
  <settings pass="windowsPE">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <SetupUILanguage>
        <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      </SetupUILanguage>
      <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
      <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
      <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <DriverPaths>
        <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="4b29ba63" wcm:action="add">
          <Path>E:\amd64\w11</Path>
        </PathAndCredentials>
        <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="25fe51ea" wcm:action="add">
          <Path>E:\NetKVM\w11\amd64</Path>
        </PathAndCredentials>
      </DriverPaths>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <DiskConfiguration>
        <Disk wcm:action="add">
          <DiskID>0</DiskID>
          <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
          <CreatePartitions>
            <!-- Recovery partition -->
            <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>1</Order>
              <Type>Primary</Type>
              <Size>250</Size>
            </CreatePartition>
            <!-- EFI system partition (ESP) -->
            <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>2</Order>
              <Type>EFI</Type>
              <Size>100</Size>
            </CreatePartition>
            <!-- Microsoft reserved partition (MSR) -->
            <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>3</Order>
              <Type>MSR</Type>
              <Size>128</Size>
            </CreatePartition>
            <!-- Windows partition -->
            <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>4</Order>
              <Type>Primary</Type>
              <Extend>true</Extend>
            </CreatePartition>
          </CreatePartitions>
          <ModifyPartitions>
            <!-- Recovery partition -->
            <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>1</Order>
              <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
              <Label>Recovery</Label>
              <Format>NTFS</Format>
              <TypeID>de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac</TypeID>
            </ModifyPartition>
            <!-- EFI system partition (ESP) -->
            <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>2</Order>
              <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
              <Label>System</Label>
              <Format>FAT32</Format>
            </ModifyPartition>
            <!-- MSR partition does not need to be modified -->
            <!-- Windows partition -->
            <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
              <Order>3</Order>
              <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
              <Label>Windows</Label>
              <Letter>C</Letter>
              <Format>NTFS</Format>
            </ModifyPartition>
          </ModifyPartitions>
        </Disk>
        <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
      </DiskConfiguration>
      <ImageInstall>
        <OSImage>
          <InstallTo>
            <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
          </InstallTo>
        </OSImage>
      </ImageInstall>
      <UserData>
        <ProductKey>
          <Key>VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T</Key>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
        </ProductKey>
        <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
      </UserData>
      <UseConfigurationSet>false</UseConfigurationSet>
    </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="generalize"></settings>
  <settings pass="specialize">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <RunSynchronous>
        <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>1</Order>
          <Path>powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "$xml = [xml]::new(); $xml.Load('C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml'); $sb = [scriptblock]::Create( $xml.unattend.Extensions.ExtractScript ); Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock $sb -ArgumentList $xml;"</Path>
        </RunSynchronousCommand>
        <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>2</Order>
          <Path>powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "Get-Content -LiteralPath 'C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\Specialize.ps1' -Raw | Invoke-Expression;"</Path>
        </RunSynchronousCommand>
        <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>3</Order>
          <Path>reg.exe load "HKU\DefaultUser" "C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT"</Path>
        </RunSynchronousCommand>
        <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>4</Order>
          <Path>powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "Get-Content -LiteralPath 'C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\DefaultUser.ps1' -Raw | Invoke-Expression;"</Path>
        </RunSynchronousCommand>
        <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>5</Order>
          <Path>reg.exe unload "HKU\DefaultUser"</Path>
        </RunSynchronousCommand>
      </RunSynchronous>
    </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="auditSystem"></settings>
  <settings pass="auditUser"></settings>
  <settings pass="oobeSystem">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
      <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
      <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
      <UserAccounts>
        <LocalAccounts>
          <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
            <Name>cloud</Name>
            <DisplayName>cloud</DisplayName>
            <Group>Administrators</Group>
            <Password>
              <Value>cloud</Value>
              <PlainText>true</PlainText>
            </Password>
          </LocalAccount>
          <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
            <Name>User</Name>
            <DisplayName>user</DisplayName>
            <Group>Users</Group>
            <Password>
              <Value>user</Value>
              <PlainText>true</PlainText>
            </Password>
          </LocalAccount>
        </LocalAccounts>
      </UserAccounts>
      <AutoLogon>
        <Username>cloud</Username>
        <Enabled>true</Enabled>
        <LogonCount>1</LogonCount>
        <Password>
          <Value>cloud</Value>
          <PlainText>true</PlainText>
        </Password>
      </AutoLogon>
      <OOBE>
        <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
        <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
        <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
        <HideOnlineAccountScreens>false</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
      </OOBE>
      <FirstLogonCommands>
        <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <Order>1</Order>
          <CommandLine>powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "Get-Content -LiteralPath 'C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\FirstLogon.ps1' -Raw | Invoke-Expression;"</CommandLine>
        </SynchronousCommand>
      </FirstLogonCommands>
    </component>
  </settings>
</unattend>

Create a secret from this xml file:

d8 k create secret generic sysprep-config --type="provisioning.virtualization.deckhouse.io/sysprep" --from-file=./autounattend.xml

Then you can create a virtual machine that will use an answer file during installation. To provide the Windows virtual machine with the answer file, you need to specify provisioning with the type SysprepRef. You can also specify here other files in base64 format, that you need to successfully execute scripts inside the answer file.

apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: win-vm
  namespace: default
  labels:
    vm: win
spec:
  virtualMachineClassName: generic
  provisioning:
    type: SysprepRef
    sysprepRef:
      kind: Secret
      name: sysprep-config
  runPolicy: AlwaysOn
  osType: Windows
  bootloader: EFI
  cpu:
    cores: 6
    coreFraction: 50%
  memory:
    size: 8Gi
  enableParavirtualization: true
  blockDeviceRefs:
    - kind: VirtualDisk
      name: win-disk
    - kind: ClusterVirtualImage
      name: win-11-iso
    - kind: ClusterVirtualImage
      name: win-virtio-iso

How to use Ansible to provision virtual machines?

Ansible is an automation tool that helps you to run tasks on remote servers via SSH. In this example, we will show you how to use Ansible to manage virtual machines in a demo-app project.

The following assumptions will be used:

  • There is a frontend virtual machine in a demo-app project.
  • A cloud user is set up on the virtual machine for SSH access.
  • The SSH private key for the cloud user is stored in the ./tmp/demo file on the Ansible server.

Ansible inventory file example:

---
all:
  vars:
    ansible_ssh_common_args: '-o ProxyCommand="d8 v port-forward --stdio=true %h %h %p"'
    # Default user for SSH access.
    ansible_user: cloud
    # Path to private key.
    ansible_ssh_private_key_file: ./tmp/demo
  hosts:
    # Host name in the format <VM name>.<project name>.
    frontend.demo-app:

To check the virtual machine’s uptime value, use the following command:

ansible -m shell -a "uptime" -i inventory.yaml all
# frontend.demo-app | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
# 12:01:20 up 2 days, 4:59, 0 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

If you prefer not to use the inventory file, you can specify and pass all the parameters directly in the command line:

ansible -m shell -a "uptime" \
  -i "frontend.demo-app," \
  -e "ansible_ssh_common_args='-o ProxyCommand=\"d8 v port-forward --stdio=true %h %p %p\"'" \
  -e "ansible_user=cloud" \
  -e "ansible_ssh_private_key_file=./tmp/demo" \
  all

How to redirect traffic to a virtual machine?

The virtual machine operates within a Kubernetes cluster, so directing network traffic to it is similar to routing traffic to pods. To route network traffic to a virtual machine, Kubernetes uses a standard mechanism — the Service resource, which selects target objects using labels selectors.

  1. Create a Service with the required settings.

    For example, consider a virtual machine with the label vm: frontend-0, an HTTP service exposed on ports 80 and 443, and SSH access on port 22:

    apiVersion: virtualization.deckhouse.io/v1alpha2
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: frontend-0
  namespace: dev
  labels:
    vm: frontend-0
spec: ...

  2. To route network traffic to the virtual machine’s ports, create the following Service:

    This Service listens on ports 80 and 443 and forwards traffic to the target virtual machine’s ports 80 and 443. SSH access from outside the cluster is provided on port 2211.

    apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: frontend-0-svc
  namespace: dev
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - name: ssh
    port: 2211
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 22
  - name: http
    port: 80
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 80
  - name: https
    port: 443
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 443
  selector:
    vm: frontend-0

How to increase the DVCR size?

To increase the disk size for DVCR, you must set a larger size in the virtualization module configuration than the current size.

  1. Check the current DVCR size:

    d8 k get mc virtualization -o jsonpath='{.spec.settings.dvcr.storage.persistentVolumeClaim}'

    Example output:

    {"size":"58G","storageClass":"linstor-thick-data-r1"}

  2. Set the size:

    d8 k patch mc virtualization \
  --type merge -p '{"spec": { "settings": { "dvcr": { "storage": { "persistentVolumeClaim": {"size": "59G"}}}}}}'

    Example output:

    moduleconfig.deckhouse.io/virtualization patched

  3. Check the resizing:

    d8 k get mc virtualization -o jsonpath='{.spec.settings.dvcr.storage.persistentVolumeClaim}'

    Example output:

    {"size":"59G","storageClass":"linstor-thick-data-r1"}

  4. Check the current status of the DVCR:

    d8 k get pvc dvcr -n d8-virtualization

    Example output:

    NAME STATUS VOLUME                                    CAPACITY    ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS           AGE
dvcr Bound  pvc-6a6cedb8-1292-4440-b789-5cc9d15bbc6b  57617188Ki  RWO            linstor-thick-data-r1  7d