Rackspace VM Management for Public Cloud

VM Management is a patching service with multi-platform compatibility that automates traditionally manual virtual machine (VM) management tasks. The VM Management tool can handle custom patching for a fleet of VMs or an individual VM.

This user guide provides information about VM Management, including getting started, configuring, and getting help.

Overview

VM Management is a patching service with multi-platform compatibility that automates traditionally manual virtual machine (VM) management tasks. The VM Management tool can handle custom patching for a fleet of VMs or an individual VM.

This section provides an overview of VM Management features and compatible clouds.

• Features
• Compatibility

Features

The following table describes the main features of VM Management:

Compatibility

Rackspace designed VM Management to be compatible with the following Rackspace-supported cloud providers:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• VMware
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Getting started

This section provides information about getting started with VM Management such as enrollment and prerequisites.

Review the following sections for more information:

• Prerequisites
• Enroll in VM Management

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, verify that you have the necessary resources to complete integration between your cloud and Rackspace.

Review the following list of prerequisites:

• You have administrator access at your cloud provider.
• You have administrator access to your Rackspace Customer Portal.
• You have any necessary permissions at your company.
• Design your patching groups, patching schedule, and patching policies before starting an integration with VM Management.

You should complete patching customizations before integrating with VM Management. Discuss and plan your patching goals with your Rackspace Account Manager and support team.

Enroll in VM Management

You must enroll in VM Management before you can begin integration with your virtual machines.

Use the following steps to enroll in VM Management:

1. Log in to your Rackspace account at manage.rackspace.com.
2. Open the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of the portal and select VM Management.
3. Read the information provided about VM Management and click Learn more about VM Management.

These steps create a ticket instructing Rackspace support to enable VM Management on your account. After Rackspace processes your ticket, your Rackspace Account Manager notifies you when VM Management has been enabled on your account.

Configure Rackspace VM Management

This section provides information about configuring your cloud with VM Management.

• Configure VM management for Amazon Web Services
  • Prerequisites
  • Access the AWS Console
  • VM Management integration with AWS
  • Integrate VMM with a new AWS EC2 instance
  • Integrate VMM with an existing AWS EC2 instance
  • Locate your Rackspace Patch Groups in AWS
• Configure VM management for Google Cloud Platform
  • Prerequisites
  • Access the Google Cloud Platform Console
  • VM Management integration with Google Cloud Platform
  • Integrate VMM with a new GCP VM instance
• Rackspace patch groups

Configure VM management for Amazon Web Services

This guide provides steps for setting up VM Management to manage your EC2 instances on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

• Prerequisites
• Access the AWS Console
• VM Management integration with AWS
• Integrate VMM with a new AWS EC2 instance
• Integrate VMM with an existing AWS EC2 instance
• Locate your Rackspace Patch Groups in AWS

Prerequisites

Ensure you have satisfied the following list of requirements before proceeding:

• You must enable VM Management on your account before you can proceed with an EC2 integration. See Enroll in VM Management for instructions on activating VM Management on your account.
• You must configure your AWS Patching Group before you integrate with VM Management.

Access the AWS Console

To configure VM Management for AWS, you must first access the AWS Console. Use the following steps to access the AWS console:

1. Log in to manage.rackspace.com with your Rackspace administrator credentials.
2. Open the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner and select Amazon Web Services.
3. If you have multiple AWS accounts, find the account you plan to integrate with VM Management and click that AWS Console.

VM Management integration with AWS

To integrate with VM Management, you must add the appropriate tags when creating a new EC2 instance or modifying an existing instance. This section describes the necessary details to ensure successful integration, but it doesn’t provide instructions for any other aspect of the EC2 creation process.

Integrate VMM with a new AWS EC2 instance

Use the following steps to integrate your newly created EC2 instances with VM Management:

1. Begin the process of creating a new EC2 instance within your AWS console.

2. At the Add Tags step in the EC2 creation process, create two tags by using the following details for each tag:

   Key	Value
   rackspace-addon-patching	true
   Patch Group	See Rackspace patch groups for available patch groups.

3. Finish configuring your EC2 instance.

Allow two hours for the integration to appear in your Rackspace VM Management Dashboard.

Integrate VMM with an existing AWS EC2 instance

Use the following steps to integrate your existing EC2 instances with VM Management:

1. Log in to your AWS console.

2. Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard within the AWS Console.

3. Click Instances.

4. Click the Instance ID of the instance you are integrating with VM Management.

5. Select the Tags tab and then click Manage Tags.

6. Create two tags by using the following details for each tag:

   Key	Value
   rackspace-addon-patching	true
   Patch Group	Rackspace patch groups

7. Click Save.

Allow two hours for the integration to appear in your Rackspace VM Management Dashboard.

Locate your Rackspace Patch Groups in AWS

By default, Rackspace creates four different Patch Group targets in AWS after you enroll in VM Management. These Patch Group targets, which are specific to the Operating System (OS) with which you should pair them, create a tag to use with VM Management.

Use the following steps to find your Rackspace Patch Group targets:

1. Access your AWS console.
2. Navigate to Systems Manager within your AWS console.
3. Find and click the Maintenance Window option within the Change Management section in the left-side drop-down menu.
4. Click the Maintenance Window ID that you plan to integrate with VM Management.
5. Click the Targets tab.

You now see a table that includes the Rackspace Patch Group Targets. Each target name includes the name of the OS with which you should use it.

Configure VM management for Google Cloud Platform

This guide provides steps for setting up VM Management to manage your Google Cloud Engine (GCE) virtual machine (VM) instances on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

• Prerequisites
• Access the Google Cloud Platform Console
• VM Management integration with Google Cloud Platform
• Integrate VMM with a new GCP VM instance

Prerequisites

Ensure you have satisfied the following list of requirements before proceeding:

• You must enable VM Management on your account before you can proceed with a VM integration. See Enroll in VM Management for instructions on activating VM Management on your account.
• You should complete patch group customizations before integrating with VM Management.

Your account manager and support team can help you create a plan that best fits your patching service needs.

Access the Google Cloud Platform Console

To configure VM Management for GCP, you must first access the GCP Console. Use the following steps to access the GCP Console:

1. Log in to manage.rackspace.com with your Rackspace administrator credentials.
2. Open the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner and select Google Cloud Platform.
3. If you have multiple GCP accounts, find the account you plan to integrate with VM Management and click that GCP Console.

VM Management integration with Google Cloud Platform

To integrate with VM Management, you must add the appropriate tags when creating a new GCE VM instance or modifying an existing instance. This section describes the necessary details to ensure successful integration, but it doesn’t provide instructions for any other aspect of the VM creation process.

Integrate VMM with a new GCP VM instance

Use the following steps to integrate your newly created GCE VM instances with VM Management:

1. Begin the process of creating a new VM instance within your GCP console.

2. Locate the Labels section, click Add label, and then enter the following details:

   Key	Value
   rackspace-addon-patching This value is case-sensitive and must match exactly.	true
   rackspace-addon-patching-patchgroup	See Rackspace patch groups for available patch groups.

3. Locate the Management, security, disks, networking, sole tenancy sections and expand the drop-down menu.

4. Locate the Metadata section and enter the following details:

VMM for GCP startup script

5. Finish creating your GCE VM instance.

Allow two hours for the integration to appear in your Rackspace VM Management Dashboard.

Rackspace patch groups

To integrate a cloud instance with VM Management, you must use a Rackspace patch group. Patch groups give specific instructions to Rackspace about when to initiate patching and what type of OS you are patching. These details are critical to ensuring that your patch executes on your intended schedule.

The table in this section contains all available OS and patch interval options.