Advanced Rocky Linux Lab Setup: A Complete Guide for Virtualization, Automation, and Networking

This guide takes you from a minimal installation of Rocky Linux to a fully equipped, advanced lab environment. It includes virtualization, automation with Ansible, advanced networking, Python setup, and security configurations. By the end, your system will be ready to handle complex virtual machine labs, networking tasks, and resource monitoring.

Step 1: System Update and Repository Configuration

Ensure your system is fully up to date and configure the necessary repositories for development tools and virtualization software.

# Update the system
sudo dnf update -y

# Enable CodeReady Builder (CRB) repository for development packages
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

# Add HashiCorp repository for Vagrant
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.hashicorp.com/RHEL/hashicorp.repo

# Refresh metadata cache
sudo dnf makecache

Step 2: Install Required Tools in One Command

Install all essential tools in a single command, including virtualization (KVM and libvirt), development tools, Vagrant, Ansible, Python, and monitoring utilities.

sudo dnf install -y \
  qemu-kvm \
  libvirt \
  libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu \
  libvirt-devel \
  vagrant \
  ruby-devel \
  gcc \
  ansible \
  python3 \
  python3-pip \
  bridge-utils \
  net-tools \
  wget \
  curl \
  vim \
  git \
  htop \
  iotop \
  iftop \
  firewalld \
  unzip

Step 3: Enable and Start Necessary Services

Ensure that virtualization and firewall services are enabled and running, and set up your user for libvirt management.

# Enable and start libvirt for virtualization
sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd

# Enable and start firewalld for network security
sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld

# Add your user to the libvirt group to manage VMs without root privileges
sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER
newgrp libvirt  # Refresh group membership without logging out

Step 4: Install Vagrant Plugins and Python Tools

Install the vagrant-libvirt plugin to enable VM management using libvirt, and ensure Python package management is ready.

# Install Vagrant libvirt plugin
vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt

# Ensure pip is ready for Python package management
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

Step 5: Create and Run Virtual Machines

Set up and run multiple virtual machines using Vagrant and libvirt.

Create a Vagrant project:

mkdir ~/vagrant-lab
cd ~/vagrant-lab
vagrant init generic/rocky9

Modify your Vagrantfile to set up multiple VMs with different configurations:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "generic/rocky9"

  # Web server VM
  config.vm.define "web" do |web|
    web.vm.provider "libvirt" do |libvirt|
      libvirt.memory = 2048
      libvirt.cpus = 2
    end
    web.vm.network "private_network", type: "dhcp"
    web.vm.hostname = "webserver"
  end

  # Database server VM
  config.vm.define "db" do |db|
    db.vm.provider "libvirt" do |libvirt|
      libvirt.memory = 4096
      libvirt.cpus = 2
    end
    db.vm.network "private_network", type: "dhcp"
    db.vm.hostname = "dbserver"
  end
end

Bring up the VMs:
```
vagrant up --provider=libvirt
```

Step 6: Verify Virtualization and Networking

Check that the virtual machines are running properly and verify network configuration.

List running virtual machines:
```
sudo virsh list --all
```
Check network interfaces and bridge setup:
```
ip a
```

Step 7: Test Ansible and Python Setup

Ensure Ansible and Python are correctly installed and functional.

Check Ansible version:
```
ansible --version
```
Test Python and pip:
```
python3 --version
pip3 --version
```

Step 8: Configure Security

Set up firewall and SELinux to secure your environment.

Allow web traffic on firewalld:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Enable SELinux for web services:

sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

Final Notes

Monitoring Tools: Use htop, iotop, and iftop to monitor CPU, disk, and network usage.
Networking: Advanced network configurations can be done using bridge-utils.
Storage: Use LVM inside your VMs to practice logical volume management.
Automation: Test further automation tasks using Ansible for system provisioning.

Summary of Key Commands

# System update, enabling repositories, and cache refresh
sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.hashicorp.com/RHEL/hashicorp.repo
sudo dnf makecache

# Install all necessary packages
sudo dnf install -y qemu-kvm libvirt libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu libvirt-devel vagrant ruby-devel gcc ansible python3 python3-pip \
bridge-utils net-tools wget curl vim git htop iotop iftop firewalld unzip

# Enable and start services
sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd
sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld
sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER
newgrp libvirt

# Install vagrant-libvirt plugin
vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt

# Test Python and Ansible
python3 --version
pip3 --version
ansible --version

This guide provides a fully detailed and streamlined approach for setting up an advanced lab environment on Rocky Linux, combining all necessary tools, services, and configurations into a coherent, efficient workflow. Let me know if any further adjustments are needed!

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