How to configure virt-who service to communicate with Hyper-V

Environment

• virt-who
• Hyper-V

Issue

• Virtual machines are hosted on Hyper-V hypervisor and virt-who service needs to be configured to perform hosts-to-guests mapping.

Resolution

In /etc/sysconfig/virt-who make sure the following values are defined:

# Enable hyperv mode
VIRTWHO_HYPERV=1

An alternative is to configure a file in /etc/virt-who.d directory:

[hyperv]
type=hyperv
# The value under "org ID" as provided by "subscription-manager identity" command
owner=<org ID>
server=hyperv.domain.com
username=administrator
password=
env=Library
hypervisor_id=hostname

Configuring virt-who using /etc/virt-who.d files has an advantage as it is possible to configure virt-who to report using hypervisor hostname instead of its UUID (hypervisor_id=hostname). Moreover, it is possible to use encrypted password:
How to configure virt-who with encrypted password?

Additional settings are required on the Hyper-V server:

• Windows Remote Management must be enabled and HTTP or HTTPS listener must be running
• Firewall must allow Remote Administration
• Unencrypted connection must be enabled for HTTP (not required for HTTPS)
• Only Basic and NTLM authentication methods are supported
• Use "Administrator" account in virt-who. If for security concerns "Administrator" account cannot be used to authenticate to Hyper-V, then it is necessary to create an additional user and assign the user to the following groups (Windows 2012 Server): "Hyper-V Administrators" and "Remote Management Users"

These settings can be checked by running the following command (use "cmd" and not PowerShell):

C:\Users\administrator.ONE>winrm get winrm/config/service
Service
    RootSDDL = O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GR;;;IU)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GXGW;;;WD)
    MaxConcurrentOperations = 4294967295
    MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser = 1500
    EnumerationTimeoutms = 240000
    MaxConnections = 300
    MaxPacketRetrievalTimeSeconds = 120
    AllowUnencrypted = true                   <---------- virt-who required
    Auth
        Basic = true                          <---------- virt-who required
        Kerberos = true
        Negotiate = true
        Certificate = false
        CredSSP = false
        CbtHardeningLevel = Relaxed
    DefaultPorts
        HTTP = 5985                          <----- virt-who uses this  port
        HTTPS = 5986
    IPv4Filter = *
    IPv6Filter = *
    EnableCompatibilityHttpListener = true
    EnableCompatibilityHttpsListener = false
    CertificateThumbprint
    AllowRemoteAccess = true                 <---------- virt-who required
    AllowRemoteAccess = true

• Enable Windows Remote Management:

C:\> winrm quickconfig

• Check if HTTP/HTTPS listener is running:

C:\> winrm enumerate winrm/config/listener

• Enable unencrypted connection for HTTP:

C:\> winrm set winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true"}

• Enable Basic authentication mode:

C:\> winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic="true"}

Note that on Windows Server 2012 R2, the @{} part should be protected by single quotes:

C:\> winrm set winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
C:\> winrm set winrm/config/service/auth '@{Basic="true"}'

For more KB articles/solutions related to Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues

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