OVS-- Oracle VM Server 3.3.1 installation process --things to consider

I implemented the new release OVS 3.3.1 in one of my clients..

The need of the OVS arose by the the license aggrements..

The underlying machine was a powerful one, with several CPUs on it, on the other hand; the license of the customer was just for few CPUs and this made us use the OVM and  to meet the license constraints.. We have used a virtual machine created from OVM to restrict the cpu usage of this physical machine..

This Oracle Virtual Server implementation was my third Oracle Virtual Server implementation, and again I needed the overcome some boring challenges..
Actually, after your second implementation , you become familiar with the product and difficulties which may arise during the way... However; these implementations are so rare, so the actions for overcoming these difficulties are usually forgotten, and they cause distress during the installations..
That's why, I m here today, and I m writing down these difficulties ...

Firstly, I must say that the installation of OVS 3.3.1 and OVM 3.3.1 are similar to the OVS 3.2.8 and OVM 3.2.8 installations, which I have document in one of previous posts.
http://ermanarslan.blogspot.com.tr/2014/05/ovm-oracle-vm-server-328-installation.html

The difficulties actually depends on your installation type.. Will you import an ova template or will you use Oracle VM Manager which is a license-free management console? Will you use a NFS share for your repository, or do you have enough physical disks to place your repository?

All these implementations types brings their different actions plans to follow, and all have their own little difficulties during the way.

Okay. I will keep it short and make a list of the difficulties you may face as follows;

• After the installation, vm machines can not be created manually.. In OVS 3.3.1 , we need VM Manager to do this kind activities. On the other hand, you can use the "xm commands" to import templates.
• VM Manager must be installed to manage the VM environment effectively.. To install VM manager, we need to use a dedicated server.. Actually, it can be installed in to the dom0, but I dont recommend it. It is also tricky. The problem is, the OVS is there for the consolidation, and customers dont want to dedicate a machine for its Management console (VM Manager) To overcome this problem, you may import a Linux template using "xm commands" and use that template to place your vm manager..
• VM Manager wants Redhat Release 5.5 to be written in /etc/redhat-release.. So before the installation you may want to use the following;
cp -rp /etc/redhat-release ~/redhat-release.orig echo "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Tikanga)" > /etc/redhat-release
•  VM Manager wants you to present your template files from an ftp or http server. So keep that in mind , you ll need an ftp or http server to serve your template files for the use of VM Manager..
• VM Manager wants you to present your .iso files from an ftp or http server.. So , in order to make a new OS installation, you need to put your .iso files into a http or ftp server, which is accessible from the VM Manager host.
• After you will install OVS and install&configure VM Manager , you may realize you may not connect to VM Console using VM Manager.. (show console, show serial console).. In order to fix this, download ovm-console-1.0.0-2.i386.rpm , or ovm-console-1.0.0-2.x86_64.rpm according to your Arch, and install them.
To enable the console button in Oracle VM Manager, the following rpms need to
be installed depending on which browser you use to access Oracle VM Manager:
The rpms are located at http://oss.oracle.com/oraclevm/manager/RPMS
If you use a Mozilla/Firefox browser on Linux, download the ovm-console rpm and
install it on the machine where your browser is running:
rpm -i ovm-console-1.0.0-2.i386.rpm (if on an x86 browser)
or rpm -i ovm-console-1.0.0-2.x86_64.rpm (if on an x86-64 browser)
This installs an ovm-console plugin into your browser.
If you are not using a Mozilla browser or are not using a browser from Linux
(e.g. you are using a browser on Windows), download and install the
tightvnc-java rpm on the host running Oracle VM Manager:
rpm -i tightvnc-java-1.3.9-3.noarch.rpm
Please install the tightvnc-java rpm *after* installing Oracle VM Manager.
src rpms for these packages are located at:
http://oss.oracle.com/oraclevm/manager/SRPMS
• If you install a new machine/import a template manually.. I mean copy , unzip & and use xm create, then you will end up an orphan server discovered in your VM manager console, and it seems you will need to live with that.
• If the server dedicated for OVS install does not have a CD/DVD Rom, then you need to boot the server with usb. and it as little challenge.. I mean To format the usb and import the iso into it, you have to use the program called unetbootin and alsoyou need to create a directory in the usb and put the iso file in to that directory.. This was the most important trick of the installation, as Oracle VM server's installer cant find the needed drivers without that directory.. During the installation, when the installer will ask the drivers, you may choose the hard drive and then choose the usb drive and point that directory for the requested drivers..
• Creating the repository is another challenge, I mean -- if you have only one disk.. (For example: one raid 5 consists of 5 disks)  "Oracle VM doesnt accept a partition.."It wants to have a completely free disk to create its repository.. In short  it want /dev/sdb , not /dev/sdb1 :) --as an example
• Importing the assembly, creating template from it, creating a VM from that template ... These are all time consuming activities.. So keep that in mind, too.
• Even if you dont need clustering, and even if you dont choose clustering, you need to specify an Virtual IP address for the server pool.

After all, once you deploy and configure Oracle VM Server properly , it is stable.. It satisfies the need as a virtualized platform, and VM Manager is a featured tool for managing it.