Installing and configuring cloud-init on AIX®

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Cloud-init is a script that enables virtual machine activation and initialization, and is widely used for OpenStack.

About this task

Before you capture a virtual machine, install the cloud-init initialization package.
Note: If you are installing the cloud-init package for capturing a virtual machine, and already have the activation engine installed, you must uninstall the activation engine. To check if the activation engine RPMs are installed, run # rpm -qa | grep activation on the virtual machine. If the RPMs are present, refer to the Uninstalling the activation engine topic for details to remove them.

Procedure

  1. To set up cloud-init, install dnf.
    dnf or dandified yum, which is the next-generation version of Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM) is available in the AIX toolbox.
  2. To set up and run dnf on AIX, download and run the dnf_aixtoolbox.sh script.
  3. If yum is not installed in the AIX VM, run the ./dnf_aixtoolbox.sh -d command. If yum is installed in the AIX VM, run the ./dnf_aixtoolbox.sh -y command.
    Option explanation from the script for more information.
    -d
    Install and set up dnf if yum is not installed. Run the dnf command as yum will not be available.
    -y
    Installs dnf and updates yum3 to dnf yum4 if yum3 is installed. If yum3 is not installed, then dnf and yum4 are installed. The yum command is also available along with the dnf command.
  4. Run the dnf update command to update packages to the latest toolbox version instead of using packages that come from the dnf bundle.
    Running the dnf update command updates to the latest Python 3.9 version and the default python 3 version becomes a soft link to Python 3.9.
  5. Run the dnf update cloud-init command if the previous Python 2 compatible version of cloud-init is already installed.
    Or, run the dnf install cloud-init command to download the latest Python 3 compatible version of cloud-init.
    Space and system requirements.
    • 500 MB of free space is required for /tmp and /opt.
    • AIX 7.1 TL3 and higher versions is required for dnf.
    • The minimum version requirement for OpenSSL is 1.1.x. A higher version must be installed if AIX 7.1 VM is used.
  6. Compared to community cloud-init, PowerVC provides additional modules that must be configured in the cloud-init config file for proper functioning of RMC and hostname.
    You can enable and configure cloud-init custom modules and control the way cloud-init sets your hostname by modifying the cloud.cfg file, available here: 
    /opt/freeware/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg
    For more information about cloud-init, including usage examples, refer to the cloud-init documentation.