Configuring SoftLayer images

Before you can use SoftLayer® images with the blueprint designer, you must install cloud-init on those images. Cloud-init is a set of scripts and utilities that cloud systems use to initialize and configure instances.

Procedure

On the Linux image, install the cloud-init package, version 0.7.5 or version 0.7.6. If you use a image, This package is available from the Red Hat Network (RHN) common channel. On Linux images, you can often install cloud-init with the package manager. For example, if you are using a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 7 image, you can enable the common repository and install cloud-init with the following command:
```
yum install --enablerepo rhel-7-server-rh-common-rpms cloud-init
```
You might need to adapt this command for your distribution of Linux. For example, for RHEL version 6, substitute the repository rhel-6-server-rh-common-rpms in this command. If you have a problem enabling the common repository, you might need to subscribe to the common channel with a command that is similar to the following example:
```
subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-rh-common-rpms
```
Then, try running the install command again.
The following instructions assume that cloud-init was installed by the yum package manager. You might need to adapt these instructions to work with other package managers or other distributions of Linux.
On the image, provide the Heat types that are necessary for cloud-init. Copy the file DataSourceSL.py to the folder /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/cloudinit/sources/. This file is provided with the installation files for the heat engine and is available at the following location: ibm-ucd-patterns-install/engine-install/resources/cloud-init/softlayer/linux
Update the configuration file for cloud-init:
1. Open the file /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg in a text editor.
2. Remove any lines of code that begin with datasource_list.
3. Add the following line of code:
```
datasource_list: ['SL']
```
4. To enable password access through SSH for the root user, set the value of disable_root to 0. If the disable_root configuration value is not present, then add the following line of code to the file:
```
disable_root: 0
```
5. Save your changes to the file.

Optional: If you want to run Chef roles on the image, run the automated script to install the heat-config toolchain on the image.

Note: Chef roles are supported only on RHEL version 7 images.

Download and extract the file os-chef-config-hook.tgz. This file is provided in the heat engine installation media and is in the following location: /installation_files_location/ibm-ucd-patterns-install/engine-install/resources
Copy the file install.sh to a temporary folder, such as /tmp/install_chain.
On the command line, move to the temporary folder.
Run the following command:
```
./install.sh > install.log 2>&1
```
This command might take several minutes to complete.

Verify that the command ran successfully by looking at the end of the file install.log. The end of this file should show the output of the os-collect-config command, as in the following example:

+ cat /etc/os-collect-config.conf
[DEFAULT]
command = os-refresh-config
+ os-collect-config --one-time --debug
2015-08-14 13:51:30.764 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.ec2 [-] ('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))
2015-08-14 13:51:30.765 27527 WARNING os-collect-config [-] Source [ec2] Unavailable.
2015-08-14 13:51:30.765 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.cfn [-] No Access Key ID configured.
2015-08-14 13:51:30.766 27527 DEBUG os-collect-config [-] Source [cfn] Not configured. collect_all /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/os_collect_config/collect.py:153
2015-08-14 13:51:30.766 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.heat [-] No auth_url configured.
2015-08-14 13:51:30.766 27527 DEBUG os-collect-config [-] Source [heat] Not configured. collect_all /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/os_collect_config/collect.py:153
2015-08-14 13:51:30.767 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.request [-] No metadata_url configured.
2015-08-14 13:51:30.767 27527 WARNING os-collect-config [-] Source [request] Unavailable.
2015-08-14 13:51:30.767 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.local [-] /var/lib/os-collect-config/local-data not found. Skipping
2015-08-14 13:51:30.767 27527 WARNING os_collect_config.local [-] No local metadata found (['/var/lib/os-collect-config/local-data'])
2015-08-14 13:51:30.768 27527 DEBUG os-collect-config [-] No changes detected. __main__ /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/os_collect_config/collect.py:274

Optional: Verify that the Chef client and the knife command line tool are running.
- To confirm that the Chef client is running, on the command line, run the following command:
```
chef-client -v
```
  The version number is displayed. If the Chef client is not running, manually install it. See Chef Downloads: Chef Client.
- To confirm that the knife command line tool is running, on the command line, run the following command:
```
knife -v
```
  The version number is displayed. If the knife command line tool is not running, manually configure the Chef development kit. See Install the Chef DK.

Capture the image as a template for the cloud system:
1. Shut down the image with the following command:
```
shutdown -h now
```
2. From the SoftLayer Customer Portal, find your instance by clicking Devices > Device List.
3. Click the instance to select it.
4. From the Actions list, click Power On/Off. The system warns you that the image is already powered off. This step is necessary to ensure that SoftLayer knows that the image is powered off.
5. From the Actions list, click Create Image Template and follow the steps to create a template from your image.
For more information about creating images from the SoftLayer Customer Portal, see Create a Standard Image.

What to do next

You can use the image in blueprints that you create on the blueprint designer. See Modeling environments for SoftLayer.

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