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This chapter includes the following sections:
Step 1 |
If not already present, install one or more Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card adapters in each physical server that will be used for VM-FEX for KVM. For more information about installing a Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card, see the Cisco UCS 5108 Server Chassis Hardware Installation Guide. |
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Step 2 |
Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.1 or later as the hypervisor on each physical server that will be used for VM-FEX for KVM. For more information about installing RHEL as the hypervisor, see the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers Installation Guide. |
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Step 3 |
On each KVM server, verify that the Intel VT-x processor extensions for virtualization are enabled in the BIOS. For more information about configuring BIOS settings, see the Cisco UCS Manager CLI Configuration Guide. |
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Step 4 |
On each KVM server, use virsh or virt-manager to create one or more VMs. For more information about installing VMs using these libvirt-based utilities, see the documents listed in Related Cisco UCS Documentation.
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Step 5 |
For each VM, edit the domain XML descriptor file to configure a vNIC interface that is directly attached to the VIC and uses the port profile defined in UCS Manager. For more information about configuring a VM interface, see Configuring the VM Interface. |
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Step 6 |
On each VM, install the VirtIO paravirtualized network driver (virtio-net) for the guest operating system. Recent versions of most common operating systems provide default virtio-net drivers. For more information, contact Red Hat or the provider of the guest operating system. |
After creating a VM using a libvirt-based utility, you must manually edit the domain XML file of the VM to add and configure a direct attached interface for network connectivity.
For more information about the domain XML file components and attributes, see the libvirt documentation at http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNICS.
You can also compose a network XML file to specify a pool of devices. For more information about the network XML file components and attributes, see http://libvirt.org/formatnetwork.html.
This example shows an interface element added to the domain XML file of a VM for connection in SR-IOV with MacVTap (MacVTap Passthrough) topology:
<domain type='kvm'> <name>vm1-rhel6.2</name> ... <devices> ... <interface type='direct'> <mac address='01:23:45:67:89:ab' /> <source dev='eth4' mode='passthrough' /> <virtualport type='802.1Qbh'> <parameters profileid='my-port-profile-3' /> </virtualport> <model type='virtio' /> <driver name='vhost' /> </interface> ... </devices> ... </domain>
This list describes the components and attributes of the interface element:
Note |
We recommend that you do not assign a MAC address used by another VM, even if that VM is currently shut down or is no longer used. If you must reuse a MAC address from a previous VM, make sure that the retention timer has expired and ensure that the previous VM is no longer present in the Cisco UCS Manager view. |
This example shows an interface element that is added to the domain XML file of a VM for a connection in SR-IOV Passthrough topology:
<domain type='kvm'> <name>vm1-rhel6.3</name> ... <devices> ... <interface type='hostdev' managed='yes'> <source> <address type='pci' domain='0' bus='0x09' slot='0x0' function='0x01'/> </source> <mac address='01:23:45:67:89:ab' /> <virtualport type='802.1Qbh'> <parameters profileid='my-port-profile-3' /> </virtualport> </interface> ... </devices> ... </domain>
This list describes the components and attributes of the interface element that differ from those described in the SR-IOV with MacVTap mode example:
Note |
We recommend that you do not assign a MAC address used by another VM, even if that VM is currently shut down or is no longer used. If you must reuse a MAC address from a previous VM, make sure that the retention timer has expired and ensure that the previous VM is no longer present in the Cisco UCS Manager view. |
This example shows how to use a network XML file to specify a pool of devices. In RHEL 6.2 or later, create the network file in /etc/libvirt/qemu/networks. List the devices and define a portgroup:
<network> <name>macvtap_passthru_network</name> <forward mode='passthrough'> <interface dev='eth2' /> <interface dev='eth3' /> </forward> <portgroup name='engineering'> <virtualport type='802.1Qbh'> <parameters profileid='my-port-profile-3' /> </virtualport> </portgroup> </network>
Edit the domain XML file of the VM to reference the network file and portgroup:
<domain type='kvm'> <name>vm1-rhel6.2</name> ... <devices> ... <interface type='network'> <mac address='01:23:45:67:89:ab' /> <source network='macvtap_passthru_network' portgroup='engineering' /> <model type='virtio' /> </interface> ... </devices> ... </domain>
Use the virsh net-define <new-xml-filename> command to create the new network from the new network XML file.
Tip |
You can find the network-related virsh commands with virsh help | grep net- You can view help on any virsh command with virsh help <command-name> |
This list describes the components and attributes of the interface element that differ from those described in the SR-IOV with MacVTap mode example: