Installing SD-WAN Virtual Appliances on XenServer
To install NetScaler SD-WAN virtual appliances on Citrix XenServer, you must first install XenServer on a machine with adequate system resources. To perform the SD-WAN VPX installation, you use Citrix XenCenter, which must be installed on a remote machine that can connect to the XenServer host through the network.
Before you begin installing a virtual appliance, do the following:
- Install a supported version of XenServer® on hardware that meets the minimum requirements. See the SD-WAN release notes for the supported versions of XenServer.
- Install XenCenter® on a management workstation that meets the minimum system requirements.
- Obtain VPX license files.
With the prerequisites met, you are ready to import the virtual appliances and configure them.
To import an SD-WAN virtual appliance to XenServer by using XenCenter
- Start XenCenter on your workstation.
- On the Server menu, click Add.
- In the Add New Server dialog box, in the Hostname text box, type the IP address or DNS name of the XenServer server that you want to connect to.
- In the User Name and Password text boxes, type the administrator credentials, and then click Connect. The XenServer name appears in the navigation pane with a green circle, which indicates that the XenServer is connected.
- In the navigation pane, click the name of the XenServer server on which you want to install SD-WAN VPX.
- On the VM menu, click Import.
- In the Import dialog box, in Import file, browse to the location at which you saved the SD-WAN VPX.xva image file. Make sure that the Exported VM option is selected, and then click Next.
- Select the XenServer server on which you want to install the virtual appliance, and then click Next.
- Select the local storage repository in which to store the virtual appliance, and then click Import to begin the import process.
- Add, modify, or delete virtual network interfaces as required. Attach virtual network interfaces, interface 0, and interface 1 to the two different virtual adapters (called Networks on this screen). These two interfaces are used as the accelerated bridge of the virtual appliance. If virtual network interface 2 exists, it can be assigned as well, and used as a management interface (equivalent to the Primary port). When finished, click Next.
- Clear the Start the VM after Import check box.
- Click Finish to complete the import process. To view the status of the import process, click the Log tab. The newly created virtual machine appears under the server list in the XenCenter interface.
Important
Do not attach both virtual adapters to the same network. Doing so creates forwarding loops, which can cause network outages. Also, do not attach the two physical Ethernet ports associated with SD-WAN VPX to the same Ethernet switch.
To configure the virtual SD-WAN appliance
- In XenCenter, select the icon for the SD-WAN VPX virtual machine. Then, on the Storage tab, select Properties and, in the Properties dialog box, adjust the disk allocation to the desired level.
Note:
- Changing the disk allocation on the SD-WAN VPX virtual machine resizes and reinitializes the compression history. Any accumulated history is lost.
- Do not attempt to change resource allocation while SD-WAN VPX is running.
- Do not use the Force Shutdown or Force Reboot commands. They might not work and can cause problems. Use the Shutdown and Reboot commands instead.
- Right-click the SD-WAN VPX icon and select the Properties option. Under CPU and Memory, select the number of VCPUs and the amount of VM memory corresponding to a supported configuration.
- In the SD-WAN VPX Properties dialog box, click Startup Options, and then select the Auto-start on server boot check box. (The OS Boot Parameters are not used).
- Set the basic network parameters. Depending on which release you are running, do one of the following:
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After the virtual machine starts, go to the virtual machine console, log into the command-line interpreter, and set the IP parameters for the accelerated bridge, using the following example as a guide:
pre codeblock Login: admin Password: password admin> set adapter apa -ip 172.16.0.213 -netmask 255.255.255.0 -gateway 172.16.0.1 admin> restart <!--NeedCopy--> -
When an SD-WAN VPX virtual machine is started for the first time, it automatically runs the Deployment Wizard. Follow the wizard to set the IP parameters.
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- After the SD-WAN VPX has restarted, log on to the browser-based UI (Default credentials: admin and password) at the IP address that you assigned to apA
- From the Command menu, select Quick Installation.
- On the Quick Installation page, perform a quick installation as you would for a physical SD-WAN appliance.
- Complete the configuration.
NOTE
From 10.2.6 and 11.0.3 release onwards, it is mandatory to change the default admin user account password while provisioning any SD-WAN appliance or deploying a new SD-WAN SE VPX. This change is enforced using both CLI and UI.
A system maintenance account - CBVWSSH, exists for development and debugging and has no external login permissions. The account can only be accessed through a regular administrative user’s CLI session.