H-Sphere VPS 2.0 With FreeVPS/OpenVZ Support: Installation and Configuration

WARNING:
This version is under private alpha testing! We strictly recommend NOT installing it on production servers! Please refer to H-Sphere VPS latest stable version.

New H-Sphere VPS 2.x version allows to choose FreeVPS or OpenVZ solutions for the creation of Virtual Private Servers. The version includes new XML based templates and improved configuration.

This document describes H-Sphere VPS installation and host configuration on the basis of FreeVPS/OpenVZ.

1. Prepare the server for H-Sphere VPS host installation.
2. Install and configure yum, RedHat automatic package updater. RedHat Enterprise Linux version 3 and 4 operating systems family do not provide yum by default. You need to download and install it.

   1) Download and install yum:

   • For RHEL 3 family:
     1. download the yum package from http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/download/2.0 (the latest available 2.0.* package recommended)
     2. install yum version 2.0.* package

        # rpm -ivh yum-2.0.*.noarch.rpm

   • For RHEL 4 family:
     1. download the yum package and its dependencies from http://www.freevps.com/download/yum/RHEL4
     2. install yum version 2.6.* package and dependencies:

        # rpm -ivh yum-2.6.*.noarch.rpm sqlite-2.8.*.i386.rpm python-urlgrabber-2.9.*.noarch.rpm python-sqlite-1.0.*.i386.rpm python-elementtree-1.2.*.i386.rpm

   2) Configure yum repositories:

   • For RHEL 3 and its clones, insert the following strings into the /etc/yum.conf file:

     [freevps]
     name=FreeVPS kernel and tools
     baseurl=http://yum.freevps.com/3/$basearch/
     #Please use our yum mirror at freevps.kalou.net if yum.freevps.com is down:
     #baseurl=http://freevps.kalou.net/yum.freevps.com/3/$basearch/

     gpgcheck=0
     

     [hsphere-vps]
     name=H-Sphere VPS scripts
     baseurl=http://yum.freevps.com/3/noarch/
     gpgcheck=0
     #Please use our yum mirror at freevps.kalou.net if yum.freevps.com is down:
     #baseurl=http://freevps.kalou.net/yum.freevps.com/3/noarch/

     For RHEL3 OSs (not for CentOS3 and other RHEL clones), it's quite possible that you should comment pregenerated [base] and [updates] repositories configuration in the /etc/yum.conf file. These repositories can be invalid because RHEL3 native system packages are not available via yum.

   • For RHEL 4 and its clones, add the freevps.repo file into the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory:
     

     # cd /etc/yum.repos.d
     # wget http://yum.freevps.com/4/freevps.repo
     Important: The freevps.repo file is also available for download from our yum mirror at freevps.kalou.net Please download it (and correct it to let yum use the mirror) if yum.freevps.com is down.

   Now you are ready to use yum to install/update FreeVPS kernel and tools and H-Sphere VPS packages.

3. Install and configure OpenVZ or FreeVPS kernel and tools.

   • OpenVZ.

     OpenVZ installation is possible only for RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 operating systems family or its clones. Follow the OpenVZ Quick Installation guide, skipping the last Step 8 ("Next Steps").

   • FreeVPS.

     Install FreeVPS kernel and tools using yum:

     Important: If required during the installation, please meet any external requirements and dependencies of the packages to be installed.

     1. Install FreeVPS kernel package:

        For single CPU and RAM <= 4096 MB, run:

        # yum install kernel-freevps

        For SMP and RAM <= 4096 MB, run:

        # yum install kernel-freevps-smp

        For single CPU or SMP and RAM >= 4096 MB, run:

        # yum install kernel-freevps-hugemem

     2. Install FreeVPS tools:

        # yum install freevps-tools

     3. Configure boot loader to boot with FreeVPS kernel installed.
     4. Reboot the server:

        # shutdown -r now

4. Install Perl modules needed for new H-Sphere VPS:

   Important: If required during the installation, please meet any external requirements and dependencies of the modules to be installed.

   # yum install perl-Graph perl-Heap perl-RPM2 perl-RPM-VersionSort perl-XML-NamespaceSupport perl-XML-SAX perl-XML-Simple perl-IPC-Run3

5. Install new H-Sphere VPS version 2.0:

   # yum install hsphere-vps

6. VPS Host Configuration

   To configure your virtual servers, run the configuration script:

   # /hsphere/shared/scripts/vps-configure.pl

   With the further steps, you'll perform basic configuration of your virtual servers according to the VPS Host Configuration document.

7. Configure Network Gateways

   Follow instructions on adding VPS network gateways to configure network gateways in H-Sphere Control Panel or configure them manually by means of H-Sphere VPS scripts.