Installing Virtual Core
This chapter describes how to install and configure Virtual Core. It includes the following sections:
Overview of Virtual Core
Virtual Core is a virtualized edition of Core that runs on VMware ESX, ESXi 5.1, ESXi 5.5, and ESXi 6.0. Virtual Core has the same functionality and performance as Core, depending on how you provision your virtual machine (VM).
Note: ESXi 5.0 is no longer supported and will not work with Virtual Core. The minimum version is ESXi 5.1.
Note: Virtual Core can run on ESXi 5.5; however, certain ESXi features are not supported such as larger LUNs and the SATA driver.
VMware ESX and ESXi are virtualization platforms that enable you to install and run Virtual Core as a virtual appliance. For details about VMware ESX and ESXi, see
http://www.vmware.com.
The hardware must support virtual technology. To ensure hardware compatibility, see
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
Note: VM snapshots are not supported by SteelHead (virtual edition) for ESX.
Hardware and software requirements
This section describes the hardware and software requirements for installing and running Virtual Core.
Hardware requirements for VGC-1000 and VGC-1500
It is important to know the number of branches you plan to support before you allocate resources for your Virtual Core installation. This table lists the resources Riverbed recommends for the indicated maximum number of branches.
Model | Memory | Disk space | Recommended CPU | Data set size | Branches |
VGC-1000-U | 2 GB | 25 GB | 2 @ 2.2 GHz | 2 TB | 5 |
VGC-1000-L | 4 GB | 25 GB | 4 @ 2.2 GHz | 5 TB | 10 |
VGC-1000-M | 8 GB | 25 GB | 8 @ 2.2 GHz | 10 TB | 20 |
VGC-1500-L | 32 GB | 350 GB | 8 @ 2.2 GHz | 20 TB | 30 |
VGC-1500-M | 48 GB | 350 GB | 12 @ 2.2 GHz | 35 TB | 30 |
By default, Virtual SteelFusion Core for ESX is configured to support 100 endpoints. To support additional endpoints, provision appropriately.
Virtual SteelFusion Core for ESX uses hard disk 1 for management and hard disk 2 for stats. When the size of hard disk 2 is increased to accommodate additional endpoints, Virtual SteelFusion Core resizes hard disk 2 nondestructively. The contents of hard disk 2 are deleted if the size of the disk is decreased.
If you do not allocate memory, data storage, and CPU resources sufficient for the maximum number of endpoints, you trigger the Virtual Machine Configuration alarm, Raise Alarm When Virtual Machine is Detected to be Underprovisioned. This alarm displays a specific message for each underprovisioned resource.
VM resource | Alarm message |
Memory | Not enough memory (available = X MB, required = X MB) |
Storage | Not enough disk2 storage (available = X MB, required = X MB) |
CPU | Not enough cumulative CPU (available = X MHz, required = X MHz) |
For example you might receive the following alarm message:
Not enough cumulative CPU (available = 1861.260000 MHz, required = 2000.000000 MHz)
For information on Virtual SteelFusion Core alarms, see the SteelFusion Design Guide.
Recommendations for optimal performance
VM configuration is central to Virtual Core performance. Follow these tips for best results:
• Use a Gigabit link for the auxiliary interface - For optimal performance, connect the auxiliary virtual interfaces to physical interfaces that are have a capacity of at least 1 Gbps.
• Do not share physical NICs - Assign a physical NIC to a single auxiliary interface. Do not share physical NICs destined for other virtual interfaces with other VMs running on the ESX host; otherwise, bottlenecks might result.
• Always reserve virtual CPU cycles - For best performance, it is important that Virtual Core receives sufficient CPU resources. This resource requirement can be enforced by reserving the number of virtual CPUs that the model is supposed to function with. Also remember to reserve the number of clock cycles in terms of CPU MHz; for example, for a model VGC-1000-UL installed on a quad core (Xeon-based system running at 2.6 GHz), you would reserve two vCPUs and 2 x 2.6 GHz CPU cycles using vSphere.
• Do not over-provision the physical CPUs - Do not run more VMs than there are CPUs. For example, if an ESX host is running on a quad-core CPU, all the VMs on the host should use not more than four virtual CPUs.
• Use a server-grade CPU for the ESX host - We recommend Xeon or Opteron.
• Do not over-provision physical RAM - The total virtual RAM needed by all running VMs should not be greater than the physical RAM on the system.
• Do not use low-quality storage - Make sure that the Virtual Core disk used for the Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) is located on a physical disk medium that supports a high number of I/O operations per second (IOPS). For example, use NAS, storage array, or dedicated SATA disks.
Installing and configuring Virtual Core for ESX
This section provides an overview of the basic steps to install and configure a Virtual Core for ESX, followed by detailed procedures.
Task | Reference |
1. Verify your hardware requirements, to ensure that the hardware you have set aside is sufficient to run Virtual Core for ESX. | |
2. Obtain the Virtual Core package from Riverbed Support. | |
3. Gather network settings for the configuration wizard. | |
4. Deploy the Virtual Core image. | |
5. Power on the VM, start Virtual Core, and log in. | |
6. Complete the Virtual Core configuration. | |
7. Exit the configuration wizard. | |
8. Purchase a token from Riverbed Sales. | |
9. Refer to the SteelFusion Core Management Console User’s Guide for configuration specifics and other Riverbed product documentation for additional information. | SteelFusion Command-Line Interface Reference Manual Riverbed Command-Line Interface Reference Manual SteelFusion Design Guide |
Obtaining the Virtual Core VM image
Virtual Core is provided by Riverbed as an image that contains the VMX and VMDK files necessary to create the VM.
The Virtual Core image is an installable open virtual appliance (OVA) package. OVA is a platform-independent, efficient, extensible, and open packaging distribution format. The OVA package provides a complete specification for Virtual Core for ESX, including its required virtual disks, CPU, memory, networking, and storage. The following OVA packages are available:
• image.ova for the VGC-1000 series
• image-vgc.ova for the VGC-1500 series
Note: Model upgrades from a VGC-1000 series to a VGC-1500 series are not supported through licensing. You must deploy the correct OVA package.
The OVA file is a compressed .tar package that quickly creates a VM with predefined settings. It contains the following files:
• OVF file - The XML description of Virtual Core.
• VMDK file - This file contains the management system.
• Manifest file - The checksum of the OVF and VMDK.
• VMX file - The primary configuration that is created when the OVA is deployed.
To obtain the OVA package, log in to your customer account at https://support.riverbed.com.
Gathering information
Before you begin, read the release notes for the product at https://support.riverbed.com. They contain important information about this release. Next, gather the following information:
• Hostname
• Domain name
• IP address
• DNS server
• Interface IP addresses
• Netmask
• Default gateway
Opening the vSphere client
Each package contains a predefined virtual hardware configuration for a Virtual Core. Do not open or modify any of the files in the package. The package files require approximately 25 GB of disk space.
Installation procedures vary depending on whether you are using the VMware VI or vSphere client. The examples in this document are created using vSphere.
Virtual Core on ESX is provided by Riverbed as an OVA file on 4.1 and newer systems.
Deploying the OVF template
This section describes how to install and configure the default Virtual Core on a VMware ESX host using the vSphere client.
The standard installation puts both VMDKs in a single local storage location. The local storage holds the VM files and is referred to as a datastore during OVF deployment, but it is not used for the RiOS datastore, which is used for network optimization.
Make sure the local storage datastore you select has enough capacity for the OVA package to be installed. You need at least 25 GB. The larger VMDK containing the management system can be installed on any datastore type. The smaller VMDK contains the Virtual Core statistics. The datastore must have enough room to expand to the required size of the Virtual Core. Do not share host physical disks (such as SCSI or SATA disks) between VMs.
To deploy the OVA template
1. Open VMware vSphere, type the hostname IP address or name, type your username and password, and click Login.
2. Choose File > Deploy OVF template.
3. Click Deploy from file, and then click Browse.
4. Select the OVA file (filename ending in .ova), and click Open.
5. Click Next.
6. Verify that the OVA file is the one you want to deploy.
7. Click Next.
8. Type a name for the VM.
9. Click Next.
10. Select Thick provisioned format unless you have a specific reason for requiring thin provisioning.
Note: We recommend thick provisioning. In some cases, thin provisioning could impact application performance. If ESXi storage becomes full, the Core appliance could crash.
11. Click Next.
12. Select the destination network name and select a network from the drop-down list to map the source network to a destination network.
The primary and ETH interfaces are used for data connection, while AUX is used primarily for management. The physical ESXi interfaces that you are connecting to should have GigE capability.
13. Click Next.
14. Verify the deployment settings and click Finish.
A message shows the amount of time before the deployment is finished. When the deployment finishes, a message tells you the deployment was successful. You can edit disk size and provisioning settings later by right-clicking the name of your VM.
15. Click Close.
The new VM appears under the hostname or host IP address to the VM inventory.
Logging in to Virtual Core
This section describes how to log in to Virtual Core.
You can connect to Virtual Core through any supported web browser. To connect to Virtual Core you must know the host, domain, and administrator password that you assigned during the initial setup.
Note: Cookies and JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.
To log in to Virtual Core
1. Enter the URL for Virtual Core in the location box of your browser:
<protocol>://<host>.<domain>
Where:
– <protocol> is http or https. The secure HTTPS uses SSL protocol to ensure a secure environment. If you use HTTPS to connect, you are prompted to inspect and verify the SSL key.
– <host> is the IP address or hostname you assigned to Virtual Core during the initial configuration. If your DNS server maps the IP address to a name, you can specify the DNS name.
– <domain> is the full domain name for Virtual Core.
Virtual Core interface appears, displaying the Login page.
2. In the Username text box, the default account admin appears.
You must specify the account admin when you first log in.
Optionally, at a later time, you can configure the monitor username, RADIUS users, or TACACS+ users. For detailed information, see the SteelFusion Core Management Console User’s Guide.
3. In the Password text box, type the password you assigned in the Virtual Core configuration wizard.
4. Click Log In to log in and display the Home page.
Purchasing the token and receiving the licenses
Before you can add licenses to a Virtual Core, you must first purchase a token from Riverbed. The token has a model number assigned to the new Virtual Core after you complete its licensing. To view your purchased token, log in to your account at
https://support.riverbed.com.
After you receive a token you are ready to install the licenses.
To activate the token and install the license
1. Log in to Virtual Core.
2. Choose Settings > Maintenance: Licenses to display the Licenses page.
3. Under License Request, type the token and click Generate License Request Key.
When you enter the token, RiOS returns a license request key.
The license keys include the GCBASE license as well as any other licenses needed for Virtual Core.
The Licensing Portal is a public website; the Riverbed Support website requires registration.
After your licenses are generated, they appear online and are also emailed to you for reference.
5. Copy and paste the license key into the text box. Separate multiple license keys with a Space, Tab, or Enter.
6. Click Add License(s).
Virtual Core status should change to Healthy, indicated in green, a few seconds after you add the GCBASE and Model GCMSPECV licenses.
7. Click Config Save Required, next to the Healthy status indicator, to save your configuration.