Installation: How to setup Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server in Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 for SAP installation - Part 1

Trying to set up SAP IDES, Solution Manager or ECC6 in an virtual environment?

In this example we'll set up RHEL in Microsoft Hyper-V platform.

The configuration including:
A) Creating new VM in Hyper-V
B) Perform RHEL installation in VM
C) Setup VM integration service
D) Setup VM network connectivity
E) Patch management of the VM

System used:

No	Type	Descriptions
1	Host	Windows Server 2012 Data Center
2	RAM	16GB
3	Hard disk	2TB
3	Processor	Intel Core i7
4	VM	Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6.0 (REHL)
5	RAM	12GB
6	Hard disk	500GB

Assumptions:
1) The host already installed with Hyper-V manager and update with the latest patch
2) 2 physical network ports: 1 for the host and 1 for the Linux VM
3) Hyper-V virtual switch been configured to link with the second network adapter of the host


Steps:

A) Creating new VM in Hyper-V

1) Click "New" -> "Virtual Machines" on the right menu

2) Enter the server name and path where the vm file will be stored

3) Enter the memory size (recommended 4GB above)

4) Using the default option, click "Next"

5) Network to be configure at the later stage

6) Specify the hard disk size, vhdx filename and location

7) Locate the RHEL installation media (iso been used in this example)

8) Confirm the details and click "Finish"

9) VM being created

10) Once the VM created, right click and select "Settings"

11) Remove the default network adapter and click "Apply"

12) Click "Start" to startup the VM

13) Click "Connect" to begin the installation

B) Perform RHEL installation in VM

1) Once VM started, enter the "tab" key while the option "Install or upgrade and existing system" being selected. Enter "append expert" as shown below and press enter

2) Select "Skip"

3) Select "Next"

4) Using the default option.

5) Using the default option.

6) Using the default option.

7) Select "Re-initialize all"

8) Enter the server name

9) Select relevant location

10) Enter root password

11) Ignore the warning and click "Use Anyway"

12) Select the last option

13) Option to set up the hard disk partition

14) Create "Standard Partition"

15) Sample screen of the add partition

16) Configure the relevant partition accordingly
       / = 30GB
       /sapmnt = 25GB
       /usr/sap = 25GB
       /oracle = 350GB
       /sapmnt = 40GB
       swap = 40GB

17) Select "Format"

18) Select "Write changes to disk"

19) Partition being create

20) Using default option

21) Select "customize now"

22) Select "printing client"

23) Select "print server"

24) Select "sys admin tools"

25) Select "desktop"

26) Select "desktop platform"

27) Select "graphical admin tools"

28) Select "X window"

29) Select "browser"

30) Select "Tex suport"

31) Select all except "Eclipse"

32) Installation begin

33) Wait for the installation process

34) Click "Reboot"

35) System rebooting

36) Wait for the startup

37) System starting up

38) Click "forward"

39) Click "Forward"

40) Click "Forward"

41) Click "Forward"

42) Create a new user

43) Enter the correct date and time

44) Disable the "kdump"

45) Click "Yes"

46) Click "OK"

47) Wait for the system restart

48) Login as "root"

49) Close the warning

50) Drag the terminal console to desktop and create a new folder for the Microsoft Hyper-V Integration services (linuxic34)

51) Shutdown the VM

52) Wait for the shutdown

C) Setup VM integration service

1) Select "Settings"

2) Select the downloaded integration services iso (LinuxICv34.iso)

3) Start up linux VM, login as root and run these command to install the integration services
    # mount /dev/cdrom /media
    # cd /media/RHEL63
    # ./install.sh

4) Copy the integration files to desktop folder (linuxic34) for future usage and shutdown the system for the next step

D) Setup VM network connectivity

1) Add a Legacy Network Adapter and change the virtual switch to LAN2 (assuming LAN2 being configure in the Virtual Switch to map with one of the physical network adapter with fix IP)

2) Start up VM and click "System eth0"

3) Execute ifconfig to ensure external IP being assigned

4) Try pinging the external world (Ex: 8.8.8.8)

5) Disconnect the network to configure fix IP

6) Right click the network icon and select "Edit Connectiion"

7) Select "Edit"

8) Change Method to "Manual"

9) Enter the relevant IP information

10) Click "System eth0" to enable the network

11) Try pinging again to ensure network is alright

12) For remote desktop connectivity, change the display resolution

13) Change the resolution accordingly

14) click the "Keep" option

E) Patch management of the VM

1) Before the system is ready for SAP installation, patch to the latest upgrade by registration with RHN

2) Click "Forward"

3) Click "Forward"

4) Enter the RHN details

5) Wait for the verification

6) Click "Forward"

7) Click "Finish"

8) Click "Software Update"

9) Click "Continue"

10) The update screen

11) Click "Install updates" and wait for the installation

12) Click "Yes"

13) Click "Install" for the additional updates

14) Click "OK" once the install finish

15) Continue the "Software updates" option again and this time there should be more updates required

16) If there are similar error during the install update process, proceed with step below.

17) Open a terminal console session and enter "yum clear all" to refresh the updates

18) Enter "yum upgrade --skip-broken" to ignore/bypass the error during upgrade process

19) WAit for the list of upgrades required

20) Enter "y" to begin the download and installation of patches

21) Installation of the patches

22) Wait for the upgrades and reboot the VM after all the installation

That's all for setting up for a new linux VM in Hyper-V environment. Further configuration of linux parameters for SAP installation will be shown soon.