Installing XClarity Management Hub 2.0

Lenovo XClarity Management Hub 2.0 is set up as virtual appliance on a host system on premises in your local datacenter.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have reviewed the prerequisites, including hardware requirements and recommendations, for XClarity Management Hub 2.0 (see Hardware and software requirements for XClarity Management Hub 2.0).

Ensure that the devices that you intend to manage are supported and are at the required version levels (see XClarity Management Hub 2.0 Support for Servers webpage).

For optimal performance, consider installing the management hub instance in the same location as the devices that you intend to manage. If you have devices in multiple locations, you can install a management hub in each location.

You can set up XClarity Management Hub 2.0 on any device that meets the requirements, including a managed server. If you use a managed server for the management-hub host:

Ensure that the host server is set to automatically power on.
Do not use the XClarity One portal to apply firmware updates to the host server. Even when only some firmware is applied with immediate activation, XClarity One forces the host server to restart, which would restart the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 and make the management-hub unavailable to complete the updates on the host system. When applied with deferred activation, only some firmware is applied when the host server is restarted.

About this task

You can assign the virtual-appliance IP address using a static IP address on the eth0 port during configuration.

If you do not assign the IP address during configuration, IP settings are assigned using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) by default when you initially start the virtual appliance. You can configure the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 IP settings when you initially start the virtual appliance. Ensure that you have the required IP information before starting. You have a maximum of 60 seconds to enter settings at each prompt.

For static IPv4 settings, you can change the IP address, subnet mask, gateway IP address, DNS 1 IP address (optional), and DNS 2 IP address (optional).
For DHCP settings, you can change the primary and loopback interface settings (auto lo, iface lo inet loopback, auto eth0, and iface eth0 inet dhcp).

Attention

Changing the IP address of the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 virtual-appliance after the management hub is up and running will cause connectivity issues with the XClarity One portal and all managed devices. If you need to change the IP address, disconnect management hub from the portal, and unmanage all managed devices before changing the IP address. After the IP address change is complete, reconnect management hub to the portal and re-manage the devices. For more information about setting IP addresses, see Configuring the management hub network.

Procedure

To install the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 virtual appliance, complete the following steps.

Download the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 image to a client workstation from the XClarity One portal.
1. From the XClarity One portal, click the Organization management view to display the Overview page.
2. Click the Add icon () on the Management Hub panel to display the Add hub dialog.
3. Click Download XClarity Management Hub to download the hub image to your local system.
4. Copy the image to the host system where you want to install the management hub.
Install and configure the virtual appliance on the host system.
- For ESXi using VMware vSphere
  1. Connect to the host through VMware vSphere Client.
  2. Right-click Virtual Machines > Create/Register VM > Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file.
  3. Complete each step in the VM creation wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
    - Appliance Name. Choose a name that is unique to this host.
    - Storage. Choose a datastore that has at least 420 GB storage available.
    - Disk Format. Choose the disk format that meets the needs of your organization. If you are not sure which format to choose, select Thin Provision.
    - Additional Settings. Optionally update the network configuration for the virtual-appliance to set the static IP address for the eth0 interface.
- For ESXi using VMware vCenter
  1. Connect to the host through VMware vCenter.
  2. Under "Hosts and groups" or "VMs and Templates," right-click the host, and click File > Deploy OVF Template.
  3. Complete each step in the VM creation wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
    - Appliance Name. Choose a name that is unique to this host.
    - Storage. Choose a datastore that has at least 420 GB storage available.
    - Disk Format. Choose the disk format that meets the needs of your organization. If you are not sure which format to choose, select Thin Provision.
    - Customize template. Optionally update the network configuration for the virtual-appliance to set the static IP address for the eth0 interface.
  4. If you chose to set the static IP address for the virtual appliance, complete the following steps.
    1. Select the VM in the Inventory.
    2. Click Configure > vApp, and then select Enable vApp Options.
    3. After it is enabled, select OVF environment for the IP allocation scheme.
    4. On the OVF Details tab, select “VMware Tools” for the OVF environment transport.
- For Hyper-V
  1. From the Server Manager Dashboard, click Hyper-V.
  2. Right-click the server, and click Hyper-V Manager.
  3. Under Actions, click New > Virtual Machine to start the VM creation wizard.
  4. Complete each step in the virtual-appliance deployment wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
    - Specify Name and Location. Enter a name for the new virtual machine (for example, xc1h-v<version>).
    - Specify Generation. Select Generation 1.
    - Assign Memory. Select at least 8 GB of memory to use for this virtual machine.
    - Configure Networking. Choose the virtual switch that you created when you installed and configured the host.
    - Connect Virtual Hard Disk. Click Use an existing virtual hard disk, browse to the location where you downloaded the XClarity Management Hub 2.0 VHDX disk and select it (for example, lnvgy_sw_lxmh_<version>-1.0.0_winsrvr_x86_64.vhdx).
  5. Right-click on the virtual machine that you just created, and click Settings.
  6. Configure the number of processors to assign to the virtual machine. Select Processor, and specify at least 1 virtual processors to use for this virtual machine (see Hardware and software requirements for XClarity Management Hub 2.0 in the online documentation). Click Apply, and then click OK.
  7. (Optional) You can optionally set a static MAC address for each network adapter by expanding Network Adapter for the virtual switch, clicking Advanced Features, clicking Static under MAC address, and then specifying the MAC address.
- For Proxmox Virtual Environment
  1. Copy the qcow2 image to a storage location that is attached to the Proxmox VE node using your favorite utility. The follow example uses the scp command from KVM.
```
scp lnvgy_sw_lxmh_1886-1.0.2_kvm_x86_64.qcow2 root@192.0.2.10:/var/lib/vz/template/qemu
```
    Note
    Ensure that you are singed in using an account with administrative privileges. If not, ask your system administrator to help.
  2. From the Server View panel on the Proxmox VE host, select and expand the cluster, and then select the node where you want to deploy the virtual appliance.
  3. Right-click the node, and click Create VM to start the VM creation wizard.
  4. Complete each step in the VM creation wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
    - General. Enter a name for the new virtual machine (for example, xchub-v<VERSION>), and then choose the resource pool if applicable.
      Proxmox VE allocates the VM automatically to a default resource pool that is associated with your user account.
      Node and VM ID are filled in automatically. You can leave them unchanged.
    - OS. Choose Other for the Guest OS Type, and select Do not use any media.
    - System. Choose VirtIO SCSI for the SCSI Controller, and select the Qemu Agent.
    - Disk. Choose the storage location and disk size (in GB). You can select any size as the disk is deleted in the next steps.
    - CPU. Choose host for the processor Type, and specify at least 1 virtual processor cores to use for this virtual machine.
    - Memory. Choose at least 8 GB of memory to use for this virtual appliance
    - Network. Clear Firewall, choose VirtIO (paravirtualized) for the Model, and leave the remaining values unchanged.
  5. Click the newly created VM.
  6. Click Hardware, click Hard Disk, and then click Detach. The disk will show as Unused.
  7. Select the unused Hard Disk and CD/DVD Drive, and then remove them.
  8. From the node console, go to the location where you downloaded the .qcow2 image, and run the following command to import the image to the VM.
```
qm importdisk <VM-ID> <QCOW2-DISK-NAME> <NODE-STORAGE-LOCATION>
```
    Confirm that the disk was imported successfully by checking the storage location.
  9. Attach the imported disk to the VM.
    - Click the newly created VM, click Hardware, click Unused Disk, and then click Edit.
    - Select SCSI for the Bus/Device.
    - Click Add.
  10. Make the attached disk bootable.
    - Click Options, click Boot Order, and then click Edit.
    - Drag the imported disk on the 1st position.
    - Select the Enabled checkbox for the imported disk.
    - Click OK.
- For KVM (Ubuntu and Nutanix)
  1. Copy the qcow2 image to the host server.
  2. From the Virtual Machine Manager window, click File > New Virtual Machine start the VM creation wizard.
  3. Complete each step in the VM creation wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
    - Installation Method. Select Import existing disk image.
    - Disk Image. Click Browse Local, find the location where you copied the cqow2 image, and select that image.
    - OS type. Select Generic for the OS type.
      Tip
      If you receive a warning that the emulator might not have search permissions, click Yes to correct the issue.
    - Memory. Select at least 8 GB of memory to use for this virtual machine
    - CPUs. Select at least 1 virtual processor core to use for this virtual machine.
    - Name. Enter a name for the new virtual machine (for example, xc1h-v<VERSION>).
    - Network. Configure the network settings as appropriate.
Power on the virtual appliance.
When the virtual appliance is started, the IPv4 address that was assigned by DHCP is listed for the eth0 network interface, as shown in the example below.
The eth0 management port uses a DHCP IP address by default. At the end of the management-hub boot process, you can choose to set a static IP address for the eth0 management port by entering 1 when prompted. The prompt is available for 150 seconds, until the login prompt is displayed. To proceed to the login prompt without delay, enter x at the prompt.
Important
- If you specify invalid values when changing an option, an error is returned. You have up to four attempts to enter valid values.
- When changing the static IP address settings, you have a maximum of 60 seconds to enter the new settings. Ensure that you have the required IP information before continuing (IPv4 address, subnet mask, and gateway IP address).
- If you change the IP address settings from the console, XClarity Management Hub 2.0 is restarted to apply the new settings.
- By default, XClarity Management Hub 2.0 uses subnet 192.168.255.0/24 for its internal network (CNI). If this subnet overlaps with the host network, change the subnet to one of the following choices to avoid networking issues.
  192.168.252.0/24
  172.31.252.0/24
  10.255.252.0/24
- No action is required to log in from the console. Ignore the console login message. The console interface is not for customer use.
Welcome to Lenovo XClarity Management Hub 2.0 Version x.x.x VM Information: --------------- - IPV4: 192.0.2.151 - Netmask: 255.255.255.0 - Gateway: 192.0.2.1 - Internal CNI: 192.0.2.0/24 - UUID: E9D28B3B901A4E399E9D7D8876F787C1 System Information: ------------------- - CPU # Cores: 2 - CPU Utilization: 18.48 % - Memory Utilization: 33.91 % (1331 MB of 3925 MB) - Storage Utilization: 10.36 % (24.86 GB of 240 GB) =========================================================================== =========================================================================== You have 150 seconds to change IP settings. Enter one of the following: 1. To set a static IP address for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance eth0 port 2. To use a DHCP address for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance eth0 port 3. To select subnet for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance internal network x. To continue without changing IP settings ... ...
Optional: Configure the virtual-appliance IP settings. If you do not make a selection within the specified time or if you enter x, the initial startup continues using the IP settings that are assigned by default.
- Assign static IP addresses for the eth0 port. Enter 1, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
- Assign new IP addresses for the eth0 port using DHCP. Enter 2, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
- Select the subnet for the virtual appliance internal network. Enter 3, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
Important
If you specify invalid values, an error is returned. You have up to four attempts to enter valid values.
Log in and configure XClarity Management Hub 2.0 (see Configuring XClarity Management Hub 2.0).

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