Third-Party Integrations 1.

Red Hat Satellite with

AHV Integration Guide
February 10, 2021
Contents

1.  Overview...................................................................................................................... 3

2. AHV Cluster to Satellite Server Registration................................................4

Preparing to Register an AHV Cluster with Satellite Server.................................................................... 4
Installing the Nutanix virt-who Agent...............................................................................................................5
Creating the Nutanix virt-who Configuration File........................................................................................5
Modifying Update Intervals (Optional)............................................................................................................. 7

3. Upgrading the Nutanix virt-who Agent......................................................... 8

4.  Troubleshooting....................................................................................................... 9

Copyright................................................................................................................... 10
License.......................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Conventions................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Default Cluster Credentials.................................................................................................................................. 10
Version............................................................................................................................................................................11
1
OVERVIEW
The Red Hat Satellite integration with Nutanix (Nutanix virt-who agent) simplifies the
subscription and patch management of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux infrastructure. You can
easily register subscriptions and apply patches and updates to Red Hat Enterprise Linux VMs
running on AHV hosts by using Satellite Server (Red Hat Satellite).

Nutanix virt-who Agent

Nutanix has added support for AHV to the open source virt-who service through the Nutanix
virt-who agent. The Nutanix virt-who agent uses the Prism Central or Prism Element APIs
to automate the generation of the VM-to-host mapping in your AHV cluster and posts
the mapping to Satellite Server. The Nutanix virt-who implementation thus simplifies OS
subscription compliance and allows Satellite Server to provide consistent updates and patching
to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux VMs running on AHV hosts. The Nutanix virt-who agent
works with both an AHV cluster using Prism Central, or an unmanaged AHV cluster that is not
registered to Prism Central.

Third-Party Integrations |  Overview | 3

2
AHV CLUSTER TO SATELLITE SERVER
REGISTRATION
To register your AHV cluster with Satellite Server, download the Nutanix virt-who agent from
the Nutanix Support Portal, install the agent, and create a Nutanix virt-who configuration file
that includes details to access Satellite Server and the Nutanix cluster.

Preparing to Register an AHV Cluster with Satellite Server

About this task
Before you register your AHV cluster with Satellite Server, ensure that you perform the
following tasks:

Procedure

1. Install Red Hat Satellite (Satellite Server).

Nutanix supports Red Hat Satellite 6. See the Red Hat documentation for instructions about
how to install Red Hat Satellite.

2. Note the following details of Satellite Server:

• Organization Name as registered in Satellite Server.

You must type the organization name as entered in Satellite Server in the Nutanix virt-
who configuration file described later in the document.
• FQDN of Satellite Server.
• User name and password of Satellite Server.

3. Note the credentials of the Prism Central or Prism Element web console.

Note: Red Hat offers an option to configure the virt-who agent with an encrypted password.
See the Red Hat documentation for more information.

4. Perform the following subscription management tasks:

a. Create subscriptions in Red Hat Customer Portal.

b. Add the subscriptions to an allocation.
c. Export the subscription manifest file to your local system.
d. Import the subscription manifest file to your Satellite Server.
See the Red Hat documentation for instructions about how to perform these tasks.

Third-Party Integrations |  AHV Cluster to Satellite Server Registration | 4

Installing the Nutanix virt-who Agent
Download the Nutanix virt-who agent from the Nutanix Support Portal and install the agent on
a system that has access to the Nutanix cluster and Satellite Server over your network.

Before you begin

You can install the Nutanix virt-who agent on Satellite Server or any RHEL VM that is registered
to either Satellite Server or Red Hat Portal.
Ensure that the system you want to install the agent on has the following:

• Has access to the AHV hosts and Satellite Server on the TCP port 443.
• Is on the same network as the Nutanix cluster and Satellite Server.
• Is registered to either Red Hat Network directly or Satellite Server and subscribed to the
RHN Tools channel.
Nutanix recommends that you have the Subscription Asset Manager (SAM) system for your
RHEL infrastructure.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to install the Nutanix virt-who agent.

Procedure

1. Download the latest version of the Nutanix virt-who agent (for example, nutanix-virt-who-
v1.2.rpm) from the Nutanix Support Portal.
Select Virt-Who from the drop-down menu.

2. Log on to the system on which you want to install the Nutanix virt-who agent.

Note: Ensure that the system on which you want to install the agent has access to the
Nutanix cluster and Satellite Server.

3. Upload the .rpm file of the Nutanix virt-who agent to the system.

4. Install the Nutanix virt-who agent.

$ yum install rpm-file

Replace rpm-file with name of the RPM file. For example, nutanix-virt-who-v1.0.rpm.
Alternatively, you can run the following command.
$ rpm -Uvh rpm-file

Replace rpm-file with name of the RPM file. For example, nutanix-virt-who-v1.0.rpm.

Creating the Nutanix virt-who Configuration File

To complete the registration of an AHV cluster with Satellite Server, create a Nutanix virt-who
configuration file that includes details about the AHV cluster and Satellite Server.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to create a Nutanix virt-who configuration file.

Procedure

1. Log on to the system on which you installed the Nutanix virt-who agent.

Third-Party Integrations |  AHV Cluster to Satellite Server Registration | 5

2. Go to the /etc/virt-who.d/ directory.

3. Create a new configuration file for the Nutanix virt-who configuration by using an editor. The
file must end with the .conf extension. For example, ahv.conf.
Following is a sample configuration file.
[ahv] # This is the new AHV section. Each server configuration must have its own section.
type=ahv
server=Prism Element or Prism Central IP address # If you are configuring for Prism Central,
ensure the prism_central flag is set to true.
username=Prism Element or Prism Central server username
password=Prism Element or Prism Central server password
owner=Organization name # Check your organization name in your Red Hat Satellite server and
ensure the name matches here.
env=Library # Default is Library
hypervisor_id=hostname
prism_central=true or false
update_interval = 60 # Default is 1800. This is the interval to wait for the new tasks.
is_hypervisor=True
rhsm_hostname=Red Hat Satellite Server FQDN
rhsm_username=Red Hat Satellite Server user name
rhsm_password=Red Hat Satellite Server password
rhsm_prefix=/rhsm
internal_debug=true or false # If set, REST call outputs will be printed.

Replace the variables in the sample configuration with the appropriate values as follows:

• Prism Element or Prism Central IP address: Type the IP address of either the Prism Element
or Prism Central web console.
• Prism Element or Prism Central server username: Type the user name of either the Prism
Element or Prism Central web console.
• Prism Element or Prism Central server password: Type the password of either the Prism
Element or Prism Central web console.
• Organization name: Type the organization name as entered in Satellite Server.
Ensure that the value of Organization name matches the value specified in Satellite
Server. Note that if the names do not match, you configuration does not succeed.
• prism_central:true or false: Set this value to true if you are connecting to Prism Central.
Set this value to false if you are connecting to Prism Element.
• Red Hat Satellite Server FQDN: Type the FQDN or the IP address of the Red Hat Satellite
server.
• Red Hat Satellite Server user name: Type the user name of the Red Hat Satellite server.
• Red Hat Satellite Server password: Type the password of the Red Hat Satellite server.
• internal_debug:true or false: If you set this value to true, the output of the REST API calls
are printed.
See Modifying Update Intervals (Optional) on page 7 if you want to update how often
Nutanix updates the VM-to-host mapping and how often the Nutanix virt-who agent reports
the new data to Satellite Server.

Third-Party Integrations |  AHV Cluster to Satellite Server Registration | 6

 4. Run the Nutanix virt-who agent. You can run the agent in one of the following modes.

» Run the agent in the one shot mode to report the VM-to-host mapping to Satellite Server
once only at that time.
$ virt-who -o

» Run the agent in the continuous mode if you want to move the VMs among the hosts over
time.
$ virt-who

Modifying Update Intervals (Optional)

You can update how often Nutanix updates the VM-to-host mapping and how often the
Nutanix virt-who agent reports the new data to Satellite Server.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to modify the update intervals.

Procedure

1. Log on to the system on which you installed the Nutanix virt-who agent.

2. Open the configuration file (for example, ahv.conf) for edit by using an editor.

3. Set how often you want the VM-to-host mapping to be updated.

update_interval=interval_in_seconds

Replace interval_in_seconds with the interval time in seconds.

Note that this value does not change how often the new data is reported to Satellite Server.
See the next step to update how often the new data is reported to Satellite Server.

4. Set how often you want the Nutanix virt-who agent to report the new data to Satellite
Server.

a. Open the /etc/virt-who.conf file for edit.

b. Go to the [global] section of the /etc/virt-who.conf file.

c. Update the following parameter.

interval=interval_in_seconds

Replace interval_in_seconds with the interval time in seconds.

Third-Party Integrations |  AHV Cluster to Satellite Server Registration | 7

3
UPGRADING THE NUTANIX VIRT-WHO
AGENT
Download the latest version of the Nutanix virt-who agent from the Support Portal and
upgrade your existing Nutanix virt-who agent to the latest version.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to upgrade the Nutanix virt-who agent.

Procedure

1. Download the latest version of the Nutanix virt-who agent (for example, nutanix-virt-who-
v1.2.rpm) from the Nutanix Support Portal.
Select Virt-Who from the drop-down menu.

2. Log on to the system on which the Nutanix virt-who agent is installed.

3. Upload the .rpm file to the system.

4. Upgrade the Nutanix virt-who agent.

$ yum install rpm-file

Replace rpm-file with name of the RPM file. For example, nutanix-virt-who-v.1.1.rpm.
4
TROUBLESHOOTING
If any of the following issues occur, see the Red Hat Satellite Server documentation for
instructions about how to resolve these issues. You must have the login credentials to access
the Red Hat Customer Portal.

• If you are unable to auto-attach subscription entitlements, see How to add or remove
subscriptions from a content host in the Satellite webUI.
• If the subscription status of the VMs in the Satellite Server web UI is displayed as Partially
entitled, see Newly registered virtual server shows partially entitled in Red Hat Satellite 6
WebUI.

Third-Party Integrations |  Troubleshooting | 9

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2021 Nutanix, Inc.
Nutanix, Inc.
1740 Technology Drive, Suite 150
San Jose, CA 95110
All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual
property laws. Nutanix and the Nutanix logo are registered trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other brand and product names mentioned herein
are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective holders.

License
The provision of this software to you does not grant any licenses or other rights under any
Microsoft patents with respect to anything other than the file server implementation portion of
the binaries for this software, including no licenses or any other rights in any hardware or any
devices or software that are used to communicate with or in connection with this software.

Conventions
Convention Description

variable_value The action depends on a value that is unique to your environment.

ncli> command The commands are executed in the Nutanix nCLI.

user@host$ command The commands are executed as a non-privileged user (such as

nutanix) in the system shell.

root@host# command The commands are executed as the root user in the vSphere or
Acropolis host shell.

> command The commands are executed in the Hyper-V host shell.

output The information is displayed as output from a command or in a

log file.

Default Cluster Credentials

Interface Target Username Password

Nutanix web console Nutanix Controller VM admin Nutanix/4u

vSphere Web Client ESXi host root nutanix/4u

vSphere Client ESXi host root nutanix/4u

SSH client or console ESXi host root nutanix/4u

SSH client or console AHV host root nutanix/4u

Third-Party Integrations | 
 Interface Target Username Password

SSH client or console Hyper-V host Administrator nutanix/4u

SSH client Nutanix Controller VM nutanix nutanix/4u

SSH client Nutanix Controller VM admin Nutanix/4u

IPMI web interface or Nutanix node ADMIN ADMIN

ipmitool

SSH client or console Acropolis OpenStack root admin

Services VM (Nutanix OVM)

SSH client or console Xtract VM nutanix nutanix/4u

SSH client or console Xplorer VM nutanix nutanix/4u

Version
Last modified: February 10, 2021 (2021-02-10T15:43:41+05:30)

Third-Party Integrations |