Upgrading to the latest Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager release just got easier with Leapp!
What is Leapp?
The Leapp utility is a Linux community framework for updating operating systems, and it is used to simplify an in-place upgrade between major Oracle Linux releases. In addition, Leapp also performs pre-upgrade checks to help ensure a successful upgrade. In April 2021, the Oracle Linux team introduced Leapp support for upgrades from Oracle Linux 7 to Oracle Linux 8 – and with the same Oracle Linux upgrade in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Now, the Leapp technology has been extended to offer support for your Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager upgrade to the latest 4.4 release.
Leapp support now available for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager upgrades
A standard upgrade process to Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.4 is documented in the Administrator’s Guide. This upgrade process for both the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.3 engine and the Oracle Linux 7 KVM hosts requires new installations of Oracle Linux 8. The Leapp utility can help you save time, ease administrative workloads, and lower operational expenses when performing an in-place upgrade of an Oracle Linux Virtualization 4.3 system. The Leapp utility can also upgrade the Oracle Linux operating systems used by both the manager and the KVM compute host. Customers with a valid support contract can access the detailed information on the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Leapp upgrade process in My Oracle Support (MOS) Doc ID 2900355.1.
This blog post outlines the process to upgrade the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager host operating system from Oracle Linux 7 to Oracle Linux 8, and it also outlines the process to upgrade Oracle Linux Virtualization compute hosts from Oracle Linux 7 KVM to Oracle Linux 8 KVM.
To upgrade from Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.3 to Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.4 with Leapp, the basic steps are as follows:
- Backup the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.3 engine
- Install the Leapp RPM packages
- Run the pre-upgrade phase to confirm that the operating system can be upgraded
- Run the upgrade phase
- Restore the ovirt-engine database backup
- Run the
engine-setupcommand to configure the 4.4 engine
Using Leapp allows the upgrade to be done in-place on the existing server, and there is no need to directly install Oracle Linux 8 or Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.4.
To upgrade the compute hosts from Oracle Linux 7 KVM to Oracle Linux 8 KVM with Leapp, the following steps must be completed:
- Put the Oracle Linux KVM host into maintenance mode
- Install the Leapp RPM packages
- Run the pre-upgrade phase to confirm that the operating system can be upgraded
- Run the upgrade phase
- Activate the KVM host
- Repeat steps 1-5 for all Oracle Linux KVM hosts
With the Leapp upgrade process for the compute host, the benefits over the standard upgrade are even greater. There is no need to directly install Oracle Linux 8, and all of the server configurations are retained with the in-place upgrade.
Why upgrade to Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.4?
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager customers should upgrade to the latest 4.4 release if they have not done so already. There are a number of new features available with the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.4 release, including:
- Oracle Linux 8 support for both the engine and KVM host
- Enhanced VM auto-start configurations
- Copy host networking from one host to another
- Snapshot operation is now asynchronous
- Allow full customization when cloning a VM
More information on these features can be found in the 4.4 Release Note in the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Documentation.
Where to start
The detailed information on the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Leapp upgrade process can be found in My Oracle Support (MOS) Doc ID 2900355.1. The full Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Documentation Library can also be referenced to access the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Getting Started Guide and the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Administrator’s Guide.
Visit the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Training website for videos, documents, and other useful links and further information on setting up and managing this solution.
For the latest information on Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager visit https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/.