Showing posts with label nested. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nested. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Installing Nutanix CE on nested ESXI 5.5 without using SSD

This is a great way to test/ learn Nutanix using the community edition (CE) which is totally free with Nutanix software based controller VM (CVM) and Acropolis hypervisor. This article will help you install Nutanix CE on a nested ESXI 5.5 without using SSD drives.

-Download links :


-Extract the downloaded *.gz file and you will get a *.img file. Rename that file to ce-flat.vmdk.


Files
-Now create a descriptor file as given below :

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=4
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=a63adc2a
parentCID=ffffffff
isNativeSnapshot="no"
createType="vmfs"

# Extent description
RW 14540800 VMFS "ce-flat.vmdk"
# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "905"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.longContentID = "2e046b033cecaa929776efb0a63adc2a"
ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9b 69 2f c9 76-74 c4 07 9e 10 87 3b f9"
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10" 

-Copy the above content, paste it in a text file and save it as ce.vmdk.
-Create a VM on ESXI 5.5

VM properties
-RAM (min) 16 GB
-CPU (min) 4 (here I used 2 virtual sockets * 6 cores per socket)
-Network adapter E1000
-VM hardware version 8
-Guest OS selected as Linux CentOS 4/5/6 (64-bit)
-Initially the VM is created without a hard disk
-Enable CPU/ MMU virtualization


CPU/ MMU Virtualization
-Upload ce.vmdk and ce-flat.vmdk to the datastore

Datastore


-Add hard disk (ce.vmdk) to the VM
 
-Add 2 more hard disks to the VM of size 500 GB each. So now we have total 3 hard disks.

Hard disk 1 - ce.vmdk - SCSI (0:0)
Hard disk 2 - 500 GB - SCSI (0:1) (this drive will be emulated as SSD drive)
Hard disk 3 - 500 GB - SCSI (0:2)

-Download *.vmx file from the datastore and add line vhv.enable = "TRUE" to it and upload it back to the datastore. This is to enable nested hypervisor installation over ESXI 5.5.

-To emulate SSD, edit VM settings - options - advanced - general - configuration parameters - add row and add name scsi0:1.virtualSSD with value 1

-Power up the VM and Nutanix will start the installation wizard
-Login as root and password : nutanix/4u
-vi /home/install/phx_iso/phoenix/sysUtil.py
-Click insert and then edit SSD_rdIOPS_thresh = 50 and SSD_wrIOPS_thresh = 50
-And save it (press Esc button then :wq! to save the file) and reboot
-Login in with 'install' and hit enter (no password)
-Click proceed
-The installer will now verify all prerequisites and then you can enter the following details
-Host IP, subnet mask, gateway
-CVM IP, subnet mask, gateway
-Select create single-node cluster and enter DNS IP (8.8.8.8)
-Scroll down through the license agreement and select accept and click proceed
-Set promiscuous  mode in vSwitch to Accept
-Once the installation is complete, you can access the PRISM dashboard with the CVM IP address and NEXT account credentials


PRISM dashboard