oVirt Deployment Options

Install oVirt using package manager

oVirt 4.2 is intended for production use and is available for the following platforms:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 or later
• CentOS Linux 7.5 or later
• Scientific Linux 7.5 or later

Our recommended method of installing oVirt is to use the pre-built packages for a supported Enterprise Linux 7 distribution, such as CentOS Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This makes installing oVirt very easy.

Important: Please note you can not skip a version. If you are updating from e.g. 3.6, you first need to update to 4.0, then to 4.1 and finally to 4.2. If you're upgrading from a previous version, please update ovirt-release42 and verify you have the correct repositories enabled by running the following commands before upgrading with the usual procedure.
# yum install https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/yum-repo/ovirt-release42.rpm

You should also read the Release Notes for oVirt 4.2.5.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS Linux

1. Ensure that you have required repositories for your distribution.

   On CentOS the Base, Optional and Extras repositories are already enabled by default and must be enabled.

   On Red Hat Enterprise Linux you'll need a valid subscription and the following repositories enabled:

   • rhel-7-server-rpms
   • rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
   • rhel-7-server-extras-rpms

2. Add the official oVirt repository.

   sudo yum install https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/yum-repo/ovirt-release42.rpm
   

   • This will add repositories from ovirt.org to your host allowing you to get the latest oVirt rpms.
   • It will also enable any other needed repository

3. Install oVirt Engine.

   sudo yum install -y ovirt-engine
   

4. Set up oVirt Engine.

   sudo engine-setup
   

5. Follow the on screen prompts to configure and install the engine
6. Once you have successfully installed oVirt Engine, you will be provided with instructions to access oVirt's web-based management interface.
7. Congratulations! oVirt Engine is now installed!

Experienced users can also compile from source, using the guides for the oVirt Engine and oVirt Node.

Install Hosts

oVirt Engine manages Hosts, and Hosts are where virtual machines run. Now that oVirt Engine is installed, you must install at least one Host to have a fully functional environment.

You can use either oVirt Node, Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS Linux as Hosts.

Supported Guest Distributions

Once oVirt is running and you have configured a Host, you can proceed to install any number of supported operating systems as guest virtual machines.

[1] select Other Linux for the guest type in the user interface
[2] SPICE drivers (QXL) are not supplied by Red Hat. Distribution's vendor may provide SPICE drivers.
[3] 64-bit only. SPICE upstream drivers are also available

Version Releases of oVirt

• ovirt-4.2 Recommended

Older unsupported version releases of oVirt

• ovirt-4.1
• ovirt-4.0
• ovirt-3.6
• ovirt-3.5
• ovirt-3.4
• ovirt-3.3

Nightly builds of oVirt

• ovirt-4.3 Nightly
• ovirt-4.2 Nightly

Mirrors for oVirt Downloads

Europe

• NLUUG ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)
• Plus.line AG ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)
• SNT - University of Twente ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)

North America

• Duke University ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)
• Georgia Institute of Technology ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly FTP Site)
• ibiblio ( oVirt 4.2 oVirt 4.1 oVirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)

Asia

• Hamakor ( ovirt 4.2 ovirt 4.1 ovirt 4.0 oVirt 4.2 Development Nightly)

GPG Keys used by oVirt

Important: We are going to sign RPMs only from next release. Please wait for the announcement email

How does oVirt Project use GPG keys to sign packages? Each stable RPM package that is published by oVirt Project is signed with a GPG signature. By default, yum and the graphical update tools will verify these signatures and refuse to install any packages that are not signed or have bad signatures. You should always verify the signature of a package before you install it. These signatures ensure that the packages you install are what was produced by the oVirt Project and have not been altered (accidentally or maliciously) by any mirror or website that is providing the packages. Nightly repositories wont be signed.

Importing Keys Manually

For some repositories, such as repositories with stable in default configuration, yum is able to find a proper key for the repository and asks the user for confirmation before importing the key if the key is not already imported into the rpm database.

To get the public key:

$ gpg --recv-keys FE590CB7
$ gpg --list-keys --with-fingerprint FE590CB7
---
pub   2048R/FE590CB7 2014-03-30 [expires: 2021-04-03]
      Key fingerprint = 31A5 D783 7FAD 7CB2 86CD  3469 AB8C 4F9D FE59 0CB7
uid                  oVirt <infra@ovirt.org>
sub   2048R/004BC303 2014-03-30 [expires: 2021-04-03]
---
$ gpg --export --armor FE590CB7 > ovirt-infra.pub
# rpm --import ovirt-infra.pub

Importing keys Automatically

yum install https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/yum-repo/ovirt-release42.rpm

Important: yum will prompt sysadmin to acknowledge import of key, make sure key id is FE590CB7.

Verifying a package

When using default configuration of yum package updating and installation tool in stable releases, signature of each package is verified before it is installed. Signature verification can be turned off and on globally or for specific repository with gpgcheck directive. Do not override the default setting of this directive unless you have a very good reason to do so. If you do not use yum, you can check the signature of the package using the following command

rpm {-K|--checksig} PACKAGE_FILE ...

Currently used keys

Now that you have oVirt running, check out the documentation section for more information and be sure to join our community!

Help develop the software, take part in discussions on the mailing lists and join us on IRC.