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Step 6. Install and configure the Lenovo XClarity Administrator virtual appliance (ESXi using VMware vSphere)

Install and configure the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance on the ESXi host that was just installed using the VMware vSphere deployment wizard.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to install the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance:

  1. 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 ESXi, download the image in OVF format.

  2. Install the virtual appliance on the host.
    1. Connect to the host through the VMware vSphere Client.
    2. Right-click the host, and click File > Deploy OVF Template.
      To deploy the virtual appliance, keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the virtual-appliance deployment wizard.

      • OVF Template Details. Select the OVA file for XClarity Administrator

      • Name and location. Choose an appliance name that is unique to this host.
      • Deployment configuration. Choose the configuration size based on the size of your environment.

        • Small (up to 100 managed endpoints). 2 CPUs and 8 GB RAM

        • Medium (up to 400 managed endpoints). 6 CPUs and 12 GB RAM

        • Large (up to 600 managed endpoints). 8 CPUs and 16 GB RAM

        • Extra Large (up to 1000 managed endpoints). 12 CPUs and 24 GB RAM

        Tip
        You can change the CPU and RAM settings in VMware. For information about more granular configuration-recommendations based on the number of devices in your environment, see XClarity Administrator: Performance Guide (White paper).
      • Storage. Choose a datastore that has a minimum of 192 GB of 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.
      • Network Mapping. Choose Bridge to VM Network. You will modify this setting when you associate the virtual machine with the network.
        Important
        XClarity Administrator includes the VMXNET 3 driver. You can ignore any VMware errors that say that the driver is not supported.
      • Properties. This page is ignored when using vSphere deployment.
      • Ready to complete. Clear the Power on after deployment option.

      The following figure show example configuration settings when the wizard is complete.


      Screen capture after deploying an OVF Template.
  3. Associate the virtual machine with the data and management networks.
    1. Click the host to display the host details in the content pane of the VMware vSphere Client.

      Screen capture showing the Host details from VMware vSphere.
    2. Click the Configuration tab.
    3. Click Networking, and then click the Add Networking link.
    4. On the Connection Types page, click Virtual Machine.
    5. Define port group 0.
      1. On the Virtual Machines - Network Access page, click Use vSwitch0, select vmnic0, and click Next to create a Port Group.
      2. Update the Port Group properties.
        • Enter a label, such as VM Management Network for the network label.
        • Optionally, enter the VLAN ID that was set up for the network.

      3. Associate the network adapters for the management VLAN to the network that you just added.

        1. In the left navigation pane, right-click the virtual machine, and then click Edit Settings.
        2. Click the Hardware tab, select each network adapter, and then select the network label that you defined as the network connection for the Port Group properties.
          Important
          Ensure that each XClarity Administrator network adapter is connected to a different port group.
      4. Set up NIC teaming to provide failover capability between the two Flex switches that are installed in the chassis.
        • From the host Configuration tab, click the vSwitch0 Properties link.
        • Click the Network Adapters tab, and then select vmnic0.
        • Click Add.

        • Follow the steps in the Add Adapter Wizard to add vmnic1.

          In the Policy Failover page, move vmnic1 down to the Standby Adapters section.
          Policy Failover order screen capture
        • Continue through the Add Adapter Wizard to complete the setup.
    6. Define port group 1.
      1. On the Virtual Machines - Network Access page, click Use vSwitch0, select vmnic1, and then click Next to create a port group.
      2. Update the Port Group properties.
        • Enter a label, such as VM Management Network for the network label.
        • Optional: Enter the VLAN ID that was set up for the network.
      3. Associate the network adapters for the management VLAN to the network that you just added.
      4. Set up NIC teaming to provide failover capability between the two Flex switches that are installed in the chassis.
        Note
        For XClarity Administrator v1.2.0 and earlier, perform the following steps before powering on the management server for the first time:

        1. Click the virtual machine, and select Edit Virtual Machine Settings. The virtual machine properties dialog is displayed.

        2. Click Network Adapter 2.

        3. Clear Connect at power on.

        4. Click OK to save.

        After XClarity Administrator is configured to use the eth1 port, repeat the previous steps to select Connect at power on.

  4. Power on the virtual machine:
    1. Right-click the virtual machine, and click Power > Power on.
    2. Click the Console tab.

      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
      ------------------------------------------

      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   flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500  metric 1
               inet 192.0.2.20  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.0.2.130
               inet6 2001:db8:56ff:fe80:bea3  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

      ===========================================================================
      ===========================================================================

      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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Upload the ISO image to a suitable location using the Datastore Browser.

  4. Mount the .ISO image to the virtual machine. The ISO file must reside in the datastore of the ESXi host so that it can be mounted as a CD/DVD drive on the XClarity Administrator virtual machine.

    1. Right click the virtual machine, and click Edit Settings.
    2. Click Add to display the Add Hardware wizard.
    3. Click CD/DVD Drive, and click Next.
    4. Select Use ISO image, and click Next.
    5. Select the ISO image, and click Next.
    6. Select the virtual device node, and click Next.
    7. Click Finish.
    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).