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Set Up Your VMware Virtual Machine for a Single On-premises Server

Follow these steps to setup and configure your VM on a single server in an on-premises deployment:

  1. Verify that your system meets the VM requirements.

    When using a VM, the following system resources must be allocated:
    ResourceMinimum Requirement
    ProcessorSixteen (16) virtual CPUs
    Memory64 GB RAM
    Local disk storage500 GB (2 TB max) SSD with minimum disk IOPS of 1000 for a standard 4kb block size
    (Note: This must be an SSD; use of other storage options can lead to system instability and are not supported.)
    Network interface speed1 Gb NIC
    HypervisorVMware ESXi™ 6.5 or later (OVA image) for servers running Cumulus Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu and RedHat operating systems

  2. Confirm that the needed ports are open for communications.

    You must open the following ports on your NetQ Platform:
    Port or Protocol NumberProtocolComponent Access
    8443TCPAdmin UI
    443TCPNetQ UI
    31980TCPNetQ Agent communication
    32708TCPAPI Gateway
    22TCPSSH
    179TCPCalico networking (BGP)
    4IP ProtocolCalico networking (IP-in-IP Protocol)
    4789UDPCalico networking (VxLAN)
    6443TCPkube-apiserver
    2379TCPetcd datastore

    Port 32666 is no longer used for the NetQ UI.

  3. Download the NetQ Platform image.

    1. On the NVIDIA Licensing Portal, log in to your account.
    2. Select Software Downloads from the menu.
    3. Click Product Family and select NetQ.
    4. Locate the NetQ SW 4.2 VMWare image and select Download.
    5. If prompted, agree to the license agreement and proceed with the download.

    The Documentation option lets you download a copy of the user manual. Ignore the Firmware and More files options as these do not apply to NetQ.

  4. Setup and configure your VM.

    Open your hypervisor and set up your VM. You can use this example for reference or use your own hypervisor instructions.

    VMware Example Configuration This example shows the VM setup process using an OVA file with VMware ESXi.

    1. Enter the address of the hardware in your browser.

    2. Log in to VMware using credentials with root access.

    3. Click Storage in the Navigator to verify you have an SSD installed.

    4. Click Create/Register VM at the top of the right pane.

    5. Select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file, and click Next.

    6. Provide a name for the VM, for example NetQ.

      Tip: Make note of the name used during install as this is needed in a later step.

    7. Drag and drop the NetQ Platform image file you downloaded in Step 2 above.

    8. Click Next.

    9. Select the storage type and data store for the image to use, then click Next. In this example, only one is available.

    10. Accept the default deployment options or modify them according to your network needs. Click Next when you are finished.

    11. Review the configuration summary. Click Back to change any of the settings, or click Finish to continue with the creation of the VM.

      The progress of the request is shown in the Recent Tasks window at the bottom of the application. This may take some time, so continue with your other work until the upload finishes.

    12. Once completed, view the full details of the VM and hardware.

  5. Log in to the VM and change the password.

    Use the default credentials to log in the first time:

    • Username: cumulus
    • Password: cumulus
    $ ssh cumulus@<ipaddr>
Warning: Permanently added '<ipaddr>' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS
cumulus@<ipaddr>'s password:
You are required to change your password immediately (root enforced)
System information as of Thu Dec  3 21:35:42 UTC 2020
System load:  0.09              Processes:           120
Usage of /:   8.1% of 61.86GB   Users logged in:     0
Memory usage: 5%                IP address for eth0: <ipaddr>
Swap usage:   0%
WARNING: Your password has expired.
You must change your password now and login again!
Changing password for cumulus.
(current) UNIX password: cumulus
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Connection to <ipaddr> closed.

    Log in again with your new password.

    $ ssh cumulus@<ipaddr>
Warning: Permanently added '<ipaddr>' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS
cumulus@<ipaddr>'s password:
  System information as of Thu Dec  3 21:35:59 UTC 2020
  System load:  0.07              Processes:           121
  Usage of /:   8.1% of 61.86GB   Users logged in:     0
  Memory usage: 5%                IP address for eth0: <ipaddr>
  Swap usage:   0%
Last login: Thu Dec  3 21:35:43 2020 from <local-ipaddr>
cumulus@ubuntu:~$

  6. Verify the platform is ready for installation. Fix any errors indicated before installing the NetQ software.

    cumulus@hostname:~$ sudo opta-check

  7. Change the hostname for the VM from the default value.

    The default hostname for the NetQ Virtual Machines is ubuntu. Change the hostname to fit your naming conventions while meeting Internet and Kubernetes naming standards.

    Kubernetes requires that hostnames are composed of a sequence of labels concatenated with dots. For example, “en.wikipedia.org” is a hostname. Each label must be from 1 to 63 characters long. The entire hostname, including the delimiting dots, has a maximum of 253 ASCII characters.

    The Internet standards (RFCs) for protocols specify that labels may contain only the ASCII letters a through z (in lower case), the digits 0 through 9, and the hyphen-minus character ('-').

    Use the following command:

    cumulus@hostname:~$ sudo hostnamectl set-hostname NEW_HOSTNAME

    Add the same NEW_HOSTNAME value to /etc/hosts on your VM for the localhost entry. Example:

    127.0.0.1 localhost NEW_HOSTNAME

The final step is to install and activate the NetQ software using the the CLI: