Using SteelHead-c for VMware ESX/ESXi : Installing the SteelHead-c virtual appliance for ESX/ESXi
  
Installing the SteelHead-c virtual appliance for ESX/ESXi
Riverbed provides the SteelHead-c for ESX/ESXi as an image that contains the VMX and VMDK files necessary to create the virtual machine.
The SteelHead-c 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 of the SteelHead-c, including its virtual disks, CPU, memory, networking, and storage. To install a SteelHead-c model other than the base model, first install the base model and then upgrade it to a higher model.
The OVA is a compressed package that quickly creates a virtual machine with predefined settings.
To obtain the OVA package, log in to your customer account at https://support.riverbed.com.
Each package contains predefined hardware requirements and configuration for the base model
SteelHead-c. Do not open or modify any of the files in the package. The package files take up several gigabytes of disk space (the package itself is less than 1 GB).
Note: A SteelHead-c for ESX/ESXi requires a 440-GB virtual disk. This size is bigger than the 256 GB maximum virtual disk size deployable in an ESX cluster when you use the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) default block size of 1 MB. Therefore, before installing a SteelHead-c, ensure that the target data store (VMFS) has a block size greater than 1 MB. This limitation is not valid if you use Network File System (NFS).
To install a SteelHead-c for ESX/ESXi
1. Obtain the VM package from https://support.riverbed.com and download it locally.
2. Extract the contents of the OVA package using the tar -xvf command or a freeware application such as 7-zip.
3. Open VMware vSphere, enter the hostname or host IP address, enter your username and password, and click Login.
4. Choose File > Deploy OVF template.
5. Click Deploy from file, click Browse, select the OVA file, and click Open.
6. Click Next to display the OVF Template Details page.
7. Verify that the OVA file is the one you want to deploy, and click Next to display the Name and Location page.
8. Enter a name for the virtual machine.
9. Click Next to display the Datastore page.
10. Select a data store in which to store the virtual machine and its virtual disk files. The following are some tips about the data store:
•  The standard installation puts both VMDKs on a single data store.
•  The data store holds the virtual machine files and is not used for the Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS) data store.
•  Make sure the data store you select has enough capacity for the OVA package to install.
•  Riverbed recommends that you put the larger VMDK containing the RiOS data store on the fastest available data store. The data store should have enough room to expand to the required size of the SteelHead-c model.
•  The smaller VMDK containing the management system can be installed on any data store type.
•  Do not share host physical disks (such as SCSI or SATA disks) between VMs. Select an unshared disk for the data store disk.
•  Do not delete data store disk 1 (DS1).
11. Click Next to display the Disk Format page.
12. On the Disk Format page, select Thick provisioned format.
Thick provisioning preallocates all storage.
13. Click Next to display the Network Mapping page.
14. Select the destination network name and choose a network from the drop-down list to map the source network to a destination network.
Ensure that the LAN and WAN interfaces (NIC3 and NIC4 in ESXi) are not connected to the same virtual switch. Otherwise, the system displays the error message:
Failed to apply configuration change(s) Internal error: module commit apply function of the module rbt.
Note: Make sure that you map each source network to a unique destination network. If a source network is mapped to the same destination as another source, an error message appears. Mapping source networks to the same destination network can create a loop in the system and might make your ESX host unreachable.
15. Click Next to display the Ready to Complete page.
16. Verify the deployment settings and click Finish.
A dialog box shows the amount of time it will take for the deployment to complete.
When the deployment finishes, a dialog box tells you that the deployment was successful.
17. Click Close.
The new virtual machine appears under the hostname or host IP address to the virtual machine inventory.