Using the Hypervisor Installer
The Hypervisor Installer guides you through setting up your hostname, password, network settings, local datastore, and vCenter license (if applicable) and pushes these settings to the hypervisor configuration. Depending on your configuration, this process can take up to 30 minutes to complete. The hypervisor status must be Ready to Install, Normal, or Limited Support - VSP Managed before running the installer.
As shipped, the hypervisor is initialized but not installed. You must install the hypervisor before it can host virtual machines. The installer configures these settings:
Task | Overview | Procedure |
Administration | — | |
Storage | | |
| | |
Network | — | |
Advanced Administration, Storage and Network Settings | | |
Exiting the installer before completion will lose all changed settings. Changes are not committed until the installer finishes. You can cancel and restart the installer at any time during the process to redo any steps.
To configure the hostname, password, and license
1. Choose Virtualization > Installer: Installer to launch the installer. You can also click Hypervisor Installer in the Dashboard if a hypervisor has not been installed.
The Hypervisor Installer opens and displays the Welcome page. The Welcome page displays the available dedicated hypervisor node resources and the hypervisor status.
2. Click Next.
The Hypervisor page appears.
3. Select the hypervisor version you would like to install and click Next.
If you do not see the hypervisor version in the list, exit the Hypervisor Installer and add the image before proceeding. For details, see
Adding a new image.
4. If you have previously installed a hypervisor, you are prompted to confirm reinstallation. Select Reinstall hypervisor and click Next. In the Installer Default Settings page that appears next, click Previous Settings to continue using existing settings from the latest installation or click Factory Settings to reset the hypervisor to the original factory settings.
5. Click Next.
If you have not configured a Core and would like to, click
SteelFusion Core Storage on the SteelFusion Core page. For details, see
Configuring Edge connectivity to a Core. After the Edge is connected to a Core, relaunch the Hypervisor Installer. If you choose not to use a Core, click
Direct Attached Storage.
The Administration Overview page appears. The installer will guide you through configuring direct attached storage after you configure the password, hostname, and license.
6. Click Next.
The Password Configuration page appears.
7. Specify the password that will be used to log in to the root user account of the hypervisor through vSphere or vCenter client. The password must have a maximum of six characters and meet the default vSphere password complexity requirements. Confirm the password in the Password Confirm text box.
8. Click Next. Click Back to return to a previous page.
The Hostname Configuration page appears.
9. Specify the hostname that maps to the IP address of your hypervisor.
10. Click Next. Click Back to return to the previous page.
The License Configuration page appears.
11. Select the Riverbed license or select Specify an alternate license with additional features and specify your own license.
The Riverbed VMware vSphere 5 license, VSPESXI, enables basic hypervisor functions without support for more advanced vSphere features such as vCenter, vMotion, high availability, and so on. If you need additional features beyond what the embedded VSPESXI level licensing provides, you must purchase a license upgrade through your VMware reseller.
After installing the Riverbed hypervisor license, if you add functionality later, you can override the Riverbed license with your own by entering it through vSphere Client.
12. Click Next. Click Back to return to the previous page.
A summary of your administration settings appears.
13. Review the settings and click Next to configure the storage settings, or click Back to change any settings.
Configuring hypervisor storage
All hypervisor storage is provided by RiOS through iSCSI using Riverbed BlockStream technology. A hypervisor has no local disks for storage. Edge provides two storage methods:
• When a SteelFusion Core is connected to the Edge, you can use it to manage remote storage at your data center. This configuration allows future expandability.
• When a SteelFusion Core is not connected to the Edge, you can:
– create a single, pinned, local LUN on the Edge to be used by the hypervisor for storage.
– use existing direct-attached storage.
– delete existing direct-attached storage and create a new single, pinned, local LUN on the Edge.
To use remote storage for the hypervisor through a Core
When a Core is connected to the Edge, the Storage Overview page appears, and BlockStream provides a list of LUNs. From this page, you can make remote storage at your data center available to the hypervisor. If you are not using Core for storage, skip to
Configuring storage without a Core.
1. To make remote storage at your data center available to the hypervisor, select the LUN(s) to expose to the hypervisor.
2. Click Next. Click Back to change any settings.
The Storage Summary page lists the LUNs selected to expose to the hypervisor.
When the hypervisor installation is finished, the system maps the iSCSI initiator to any selected LUNs, adds the iSCSI Edge target, and rescans the system to discover these LUNs.
The installer does not format any datastore on the selected LUNs.
If you do not select any LUNs, you will need to add them manually after the hypervisor installation is complete. Adding the LUNs manually includes mapping the iSCSI initiator to the LUN, adding the iSCSI Edge target, and rescanning the system.
Note: For LUNs that are configured before installing the hypervisor, the default path selection MPIO policy is set to Round Robin (VMware). When the hypervisor installation completes, the policy is reset to Most Recently Used (VMware). For best performance, you might want to reset the policy to Round Robin (VMware). For details, see
https://supportkb.riverbed.com/support/index?page=content&id=S26418. Configuring storage without a Core
We recommend configuring the SteelFusion Core for storage before running the Hypervisor Installer. Running the installer before configuring the Core requires more manual steps, such as adding initiators, setting MPIO policies, and configuring the LUNs from the Core. However, if you are running the installer to install the hypervisor before connecting to the Core, on the Edge you can specify the size of the local LUN. Click Direct Attached Storage and choose a 0% allocation for the amount of available blockstore you want to use as local storage. This setting allocates the entire blockstore to be available to the Core. For details on adding initiators, setting MPIO policies, and configuring LUNs, see the SteelFusion Core Management Console User’s Guide or the SteelFusion Design Guide.
When a SteelFusion Core is not connected to the SteelFusion Edge, the Direct Attached Storage page appears. From this page, you can:
• create a single, pinned, local LUN on the Edge.
• use existing direct-attached storage.
• delete existing direct-attached storage and create a single, pinned, local LUN on the Edge.
Using a local LUN without connecting to a SteelFusion Core is the same as projecting a LUN through a Core connection, except that the Edge owns the configuration, whereas when you project a LUN through a Core, the Core owns the configuration. The Edge provides local storage for the VMs hosted on VSP.
The BlockStream blockstore partition exposes a single, local pinned LUN to the hypervisor as a preconfigured datastore over iSCSI. You can specify the amount of datastore space, which is allocated from the BlockStream blockstore.
In this configuration, the storage data is not synchronized back to the SteelFusion Core. These features are not available:
• Edge HA - You cannot initiate high availability (HA) on an Edge that is using LUNs for direct-attached storage.
• Blockstore Encryption - The coreless Edge cannot encrypt the blockstore.
• External Initiators - In the Edge xx00 2U series, the external MPIO interfaces are not exposed to the hypervisor initiator. In the Edge xx00 1U series, the external MPIO interfaces are exposed to allow path redundancy because this model has a single internal storage network portal. Note that the default iSCSI portals on the xx00 1U series include RIOS management interfaces. In a coreless Edge configuration, the system exposes the internal, nonconfigurable interface (or interfaces, depending on appliance model) for use by the hypervisor.
• CHAP Authentication - The coreless Edge cannot use CHAP authentication for iSCSI connections.
• Remote LUNs - The coreless Edge cannot expose remote LUNs to the hypervisor.
To use existing direct-attached storage
When the installer locates existing local LUNs, the page displays a list of LUNs.
1. Select the LUN or LUNs you would like to preserve and click Next.
The installer keeps the existing LUNs but allocates storage to a single local LUN. This is the only way to use more than one LUN in a coreless Edge configuration.
To remove existing direct-attached storage and create a new LUN
• Click Delete existing direct attached storage and continue with the following procedure.
To create direct attached storage
When there are no existing local LUNs, the page displays the total available blockstore size.
1. Select the amount of attached storage to allocate to the hypervisor. The default value is 50 percent.
By default, the installer creates a VMFS5 formatted datastore (backed by direct-attached storage), using 50 percent of the available blockstore space, named rvbd vsp datastore, available to your hypervisor. The remaining 50 percent could be used to connect to a Core and project local LUNs in the future.
You can allocate 100 percent to the datastore, but to allow for future expansion, we recommend against using the entire amount. If you allocate 100 percent and then decide later to connect a Core to project LUNs, writes to remote LUNs could experience lower throughputs and low or no space conditions.
If any local LUNs exist, they appear in this page. You can leave them as is or choose to configure a new local LUN. When you leave existing local LUNs alone, they are exposed to the hypervisor and are not reformatted in any way. When you choose to configure a new local LUN, the installer deletes any existing LUNs.
To configure advanced storage options, such as selecting a different amount of storage, specifying another name for the datastore, or changing the file system type to VMFS3, click Advanced Storage Settings.
2. Click Next.
A summary of your storage settings appears.
3. Review the settings and click Next. Click Back to change any settings.
The Network Settings or Network Overview page appears, depending on whether you have previously configured advanced network settings.
To configure network settings
1. Click
Next to accept the default settings (you will get a chance to review the settings before they are installed) or
Advanced Network Settings to configure the network settings manually. The advanced network settings include adding vSwitches, configuring VMkernel adapters with IP and tag settings, adding uplinks, teaming interfaces, or adding VMkernel (VMK) services such as vMotion. See
Configuring advanced storage and network settings for details on manual network configuration.
By default, the installer:
• creates one vSwitch called vSwitch0
• attaches all onboard hypervisor NIC uplinks to the vSwitch (the number of uplinks depend on the appliance model), but excludes add-on NICs for the hypervisor node. You can configure add-on NICs for the hypervisor node through vSphere.
• creates 1 VMkernel port group named Management Network.
• creates one VM port group called VM Network.
• enables DHCP for IPv4 addressing and tagged with management traffic.
The Network Summary page appears.
2. Review the default settings and click Next, or click Back and then Advanced Network Settings to change any settings.
3. Click Next. Click Back to change any settings.
The installer validates the network settings, and the Review page appears.
If there is an error in the configuration, an error message appears and you must dismiss the message, correct your network settings, and click Next again to proceed to the Review Changes page.
4. Click Next. Click Back to change any settings.
The confirmation page displays the configuration settings for the hypervisor. The settings include both the values you specified in the installer as well as default configuration settings optimized for the hypervisor with the Edge.
5. Click Install Hypervisor.
The system copies the settings to the hypervisor configuration. This is a one-time, one-way transfer. The changes overwrite any changes that were made directly in the hypervisor outside of the installer. You can make future changes to the hypervisor configuration through vSphere and vCenter, but if you run the installer again, it overwrites all the changes in the hypervisor with the new values from the installer.
The installer places a green check mark next to the message indicating a successful installation, which takes up to 30 minutes.
After a successful installation, if the system can determine the management IP address for the vSphere/vCenter client, it appears in the page.
The installer automatically imports the DNS and NTP settings from RiOS to the hypervisor.
6. Click Close to close the installer and return to the Dashboard.
The hypervisor restarts. The Dashboard displays the current resource allocations along with the hypervisor version and uptime.
Configuring advanced storage and network settings
This section describes how to configure advanced storage and network options. The advanced network settings include adding vSwitches, configuring VMkernel adapters with IP and tag settings, adding uplinks, teaming interfaces, or adding VMK Services such as vMotion.
To configure administration settings (advanced settings)
1. Choose Virtualization > Installer: Installer to launch the installer. You can also click Hypervisor Installer in the Dashboard if a hypervisor has not been installed.
The installer opens and displays the Welcome page. If the system detects a previously installed hypervisor, it provides options to reinstall or quit the installer.
2. Step through the administration settings and licensing.
When the installer is ready for the storage settings, the Direct Attached Storage page appears when a Core is not connected to the Edge. When a Core is connected to the Edge, the Storage Overview page appears.
To configure storage with a Core, select the LUNs to expose to the hypervisor, click
Next, and skip to
Step 6.
3. Click Advanced Storage Settings.
To configure storage without a Core (advanced settings)
1. Select the amount of attached storage to allocate to the hypervisor or keep the default value of 50 percent. You can use up to 100 percent of the datastore, but if you connect a Core to project LUNs in the future, writes to remote LUNs could experience lower throughputs and low or no space conditions.
The SteelFusion blockstore allocation changes dynamically, depending on the amount of attached storage you specify.
2. Specify the datastore name.
3. Select the datastore format from the drop-down list.
4. Click Next.
A summary of your storage settings appears.
5. Review the settings and click Next. Click Back to change any settings.
The Network Settings or Network Overview page appears, depending on whether you have previously configured advanced network settings.
6. Click Advanced Network Settings.
The Create vSwitch page appears.
A virtual switch is a logical switching component built into your hypervisor so that the Virtual Machines (VMs) can communicate. It routes traffic internally between virtual machines and links to external networks.
To create a virtual switch (advanced settings)
1. Click Create a new vSwitch.
The Configure vSwitch page appears, which updates dynamically as you configure the settings.
2. Specify the vSwitch label.
You can delete a vSwitch by clicking the x next to the vSwitch name. Click a vSwitch to change any settings.
3. Click Next.
The Configure vSwitch Uplinks page displays the active uplink in focus. Uplinks serve as bridges between physical and virtual networks.
4. Select an uplink to associate with the vSwitch. You can select more than one to team the uplinks onto the vSwitch.
5. Click Next.
The Configure VMKernel interface page appears. Creating a VMkernel interface is optional.
6. Select Continue without creating a VMKernel interface and skip to
Step 8 or select Create a VMKernel interface.
7. Specify a VLAN ID and a VMkernel port label.
8. Click Next.
The Configure IP Address page appears. From this page, you can configure VMkernel adapters with IP settings.
9. Select IPv4 (the default setting), IPv6, or both IPv4 and IPv6 from the drop-down list.
10. Click Next.
The Configure VMKernel IPvx page appears.
You must specify IP address settings for the hypervisor management interface.
11. Select Obtain IPvx Address Automatically to automatically obtain the interface IPvx address from a DHCP server. A DHCP server must be available so that the system can request the IP address from it.
Select Enable IPvx DHCP DNS to enable IPvx dynamic DNS.
Select Specify IPvx Address Manually if you do not use a DHCP server to set the interface IP address. Specify the following values:
• IPvx Address - Specify an interface IPvx address.
• IPvx Subnet Mask - Specify an IPvx subnet mask.
If you select both IPv4 and IPv6, you need to select settings for both types of addresses.
12. Click Next.
The Configure VMkernel Services page appears.
13. Select the vSphere services traffic to enable on this VMkernel interface. If you select vMotion, there are specific VMware rules and requirements that you must follow. For details, see the VMware website.
14. Click Next.
The Add Virtual Machine Port Group page appears.
15. Optionally, select Create a VM port group or select Continue without creating a VM port group.
If you are creating a port group, specify a VLAN ID and a VMkernel port group label.
If you specify a VLAN ID of 0, the port group can see only untagged (non-VLAN) traffic. If you specify a VLAN ID of 4095, the port group can see traffic on any VLAN while leaving the VLAN tags intact.
16. Click Next.
The Create a vSwitch page reappears.
You have successfully created a vSwitch. To create another vSwitch, click Create vSwitch and repeat the previous steps.
17. Click Next.
The vSwitch Review page reappears. Review the vSwitch settings.
18. Click Next.
The Configure Gateway page appears. The page displays IPv4, IPv6, or both, depending on the IP address settings.
To configure a gateway (advanced settings)
1. Select an IPv4 or IPv6 gateway, or both. The gateway field is available only for the interface that is currently selected as the hypervisor management interface. Select DHCP or specify a static IP gateway. If you select a static gateway, specify an IP address.
2. Click Next.
The installer validates the network settings, and the Review page appears.
If there is an error in the configuration, an error message appears and you must dismiss the message, correct your network settings, and click Next again to proceed to the Review Changes page.
The confirmation page displays the configuration settings for the hypervisor. The settings include both the values you specified in the installer as well as default configuration settings optimized for the hypervisor with the Edge.
3. Review the changes. Click Show more to view details that do not appear. Click Next.
4. Click Install Hypervisor.
The system copies the settings to the hypervisor configuration. This is a one-time, one-way transfer. The changes overwrite any changes that were made directly in the hypervisor outside of the installer. You can make future changes to the hypervisor configuration through vSphere and vCenter, but if you run the installer again, it overwrites all the changes in hypervisor with the new values from the installer.
The installer places a green check mark next to the message indicating a successful installation, which takes up to 30 minutes.
After a successful installation, if the system can determine the management IP address for the vSphere/vCenter client, it appears in the page.
The installer automatically:
• imports the DNS and NTP settings from RiOS to the hypervisor.
• configures the iSCSI software adapter and LUNs for optimal use with the hypervisor. If a Core is attached, the installer also updates the ACL list of the Core for the specified Core managed LUNs.
5. Click Close to close the installer and return to the Dashboard.
The hypervisor restarts with the new values. The Dashboard displays the current resource allocations along with the hypervisor version, status, uptime, and IQN.
Note: The Edge includes a host private network (HPN) virtual switch on vmnic0, called rvbd_vswitch. The switch has a kernel port and a virtual machine port. This is an internal switch used for communication within the appliance. Do not modify or delete this virtual switch.