Step 3. Install and configure the Lenovo XClarity Administrator virtual appliance

Install and configure the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance on the Nutanix AHV host.

Before you begin

You must be logged in to Nutanix AHV as a user with admin authority to install the virtual appliance.

Ensure that the network is configured before installing XClarity Administrator.

Procedure

To install the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance, complete the following steps.

Download the XClarity Administrator virtual-appliance image from the XClarity Administrator download webpage to a client workstation. Log on to the Web site, and then use the access key that was given to you to download the image.
For Nutanix AHV, download the image in QCOW2 format.
Install and configure the virtual appliance on the host.
1. Log in to the Nutanix AHV cluster.
2. If you are not using a DHCP server, upload the virtual disk image and eth0_config.iso image to the Nutanix AHV cluster.
  1. Click the Settings menu (), and then click Image configuration to display the Image Configuration dialog.
  2. Click Upload Image to display the Create Image dialog.
    1. Specify a name for the virtual disk image, such as XClarity Administrator.
    2. Select DISK for the image type.
    3. Select Upload a file, click Choose File, and select the virtual disk image.
    4. Click Save to upload the file.
  3. Click Close to close the Image Configuration dialog.
3. Wait until the upload processes are completed before continuing. The status circle in the menu indicates when the processes are complete.
4. Create the virtual machine.
  1. Click Home > VM.
  2. Click +Create VM in the upper-right corner to display the Create VM dialog.
  3. Specify a name for the virtual machine.
  4. Specify at least 2 for the number of VCPUs.
  5. Specify least 8192 MB or the memory.
  6. Scroll down to the Disk section.
  7. Add a disk for the virtual disk image:
    1. Click the Add New Disk to display the Add Disk dialog.
    2. Select Clone from Image Service for the operations.
    3. Select the virtual disk image in the image list.
    4. Click Add.
  8. Scroll down to the Network Adapters NIC section and add the data/management network:
    1. Click Add New NIC to display the Create NIC dialog.
    2. Select the appropriate VLAN for the network.
    3. Click Add.
  9. Click Save in the Create VM dialog.
  10. Wait until the virtual machine is created before continuing. The status circle in the menu indicates when the process is complete.
  11. Start the virtual machine.
    1. Select the Table view in the upper left corner.
    2. Select the virtual machine that you just created.
    3. Click Power On Actions.
    4. Click Launch Console.
  When the virtual machine is started, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are listed for each interface, as shown in the following example.
  The XClarity Administrator eth0 management port uses a DHCP IP address by default. At the end of the XClarity Administrator boot process, you can choose to set a static IP address for the eth0 management port by entering 1 when prompted, as shown in the example below. 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
  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.
  For IPv4 settings, you must have the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway IP address
  For IPv6 settings, you must have the IP address and prefix length
  If you are not using a DHCP server, you can use a configuration file to specify the IP settings for the XClarity Administrator eth0 management port. that you want to use to access the XClarity Administrator. For more information, see the What to do next section below.
  If you change the IP address settings from the console, XClarity Administrator is restarted to apply the new settings.
  No action is required to log in. Ignore the console login message. The console interface is not for customer use.
  You might see the message TCP: eth0: Driver has suspect GRO implementation, TCP performance may be compromised on the console. The performance of the virtual machine is not impacted, and you can ignore this warning.
  Attention
  Changing the IP address of the XClarity Administrator management port after managing devices might cause the devices to be placed in offline state in XClarity Administrator. If you choose to change the IP address after XClarity Administrator is up and running, ensure that all devices are unmanaged before changing the IP address.
  ------------------------------------------ Lenovo XClarity Administrator Version x.x.x build xxx ------------------------------------------ eth0 flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 metric 1 inet 192.0.2.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.0.2.55 inet6 2001:db8:56ff:fe80:bea3 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link> ether 00:15:5d:0c:d1:92 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet) RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 eth1 Disabled =========================================================================== =========================================================================== 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 x. To continue without changing IP settings ... ...

(Optional) Using a configuration file to set the IP settings

If you are not using a DHCP server, you can optionally use a configuration file to specify the IP settings that you want to use to access the XClarity Administrator web interface using the Eth0 network interface.

The configuration file (eth0_config) is contained in an ISO file that you create and mount to the virtual machine before XClarity Administrator is started for the first time. When XClarity Administrator starts the first time, it configures the IP address for the Eth0 network using the static IP address that is defined in the eth0_config file and displays the web interface to set up initially and configure the appropriate settings (see Configuring Lenovo XClarity Administrator).

Restriction: Only the Eth0 network can be configured using this method. Creating a configuration file named eth1_config does not configure the Eth1 network.

To use a configuration file, perform the following steps before powering on the virtual appliance

Create a file named eth0_config (with no file extension) that contains the following IPv4 parameters that you want the virtual machine to use at startup.

IPV4_ADDR=
IPV4_NETMASK=
IPV4_GATEWAY=
IPV6_ADDR=
IPV6_GATEWAY=

You can use the echo command to create the file, for example:

ECHO IPV4_ADDR=1.1.1.1 > ./eth0_config
ECHO IPV4_NETMASK=255.255.255.05 >> ./eth0_config
ECHO IPV4_GATEWAY=1.1.1.5 >> ./eth0_config
ECHO IPV6_ADDR=1001:1002:1003:1004::2 >> ./eth0_config
ECHO IPV6_GATEWAY=1001:1002:1003:1004::1 >> ./eth0_config

Note

The IPV6_ADDR and IPV6_GATEWAY parameters are supported in XClarity Administrator v1.1.1 and later.

Create an ISO image that contains the eth0_config file.
To create an ISO image on Windows, use your favorite ISO software. On Linux, use the mkisofs command, for example:
```
mkisofs -V IP4ADDR -J -o ./boot.iso ./eth0_config
```
where -V is the volume label, -J is for Joliet format, -o is the output file name, and ./eth0_config is the file to be included in the ISO image.
Upload the ISO image to a suitable location using the Datastore Browser.
Mount the .ISO image to the virtual machine.
1. Click the Settings menu (), and then click Image configuration to display the Image Configuration dialog.
2. Upload the eth0_config.iso image.
  1. From the Image Configuration dialog, click Upload Image to display the Create Image dialog again.
  2. Specify a name for the ISO image.
  3. Select ISO for the image type.
  4. Select Upload a file, click Choose File, and select the eth0_config.iso image.
  5. Click Save to upload the file.
  6. Click Close to close the Image Configuration dialog.
3. Wait until the upload processes are completed before continuing with the setup steps. The status circle in the menu indicates when the processes are complete.
4. Add a disk for the eth0_config.iso image.
  1. From the VM, click Update from the bottom menu bar.
  2. Click the Edit icon for the CDROM disk to display the Edit Disk dialog.
  3. Select Clone from Image Service for the operations.
  4. Select the ISO image that you created earlier from the image list.
  5. Click Update.
  6. Click Save.
Note
You can unmount the drive and delete the ISO image after you log in to the XClarity Administrator web interface and finish configuring the appropriate settings.

After you finish

Log in and configure XClarity Administrator (see Accessing the Lenovo XClarity Administrator web interface for the first time and Configuring Lenovo XClarity Administrator).

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