Install a NetScaler VPX instance on VMware ESX
Before installing NetScaler VPX instances on VMware ESX, make sure the VMware ESX Server is installed on a machine with adequate system resources. To install a NetScaler VPX instance on VMware ESXi, you use the VMware vSphere client. The client or tool must be installed on a remote machine that can connect to VMware ESX through the network.
This section includes the following topics:
- Prerequisites
- Installing a NetScaler VPX instance on VMware ESX
Important:
You can’t install standard VMware Tools or upgrade the VMware Tools version available on a NetScaler VPX instance. VMware Tools for a NetScaler VPX instance are delivered as part of the NetScaler software release.
Prerequisites
Before you begin installing a virtual appliance, do the following:
- Install VMware ESX on hardware that meets the minimum requirements.
- Install VMware Client on a management workstation that meets the minimum system requirements.
- Download the NetScaler VPX appliance setup files.
- Create a virtual switch and attach the physical NIC to the virtual switch.
- Add port group and attach to the virtual switch.
- Attach the port group to the VM.
- Obtain VPX license files. For more information about NetScaler VPX instance licenses, see Licensing overview.
VMware ESX hardware requirements
The following table describes the minimum system requirements for VMware ESX servers running NetScaler VPX nCore virtual appliance.
Table 1. Minimum system requirements for a VMware ESX server running a NetScaler VPX instance
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| CPU | 2 or more 64-bit x86 CPUs with virtualization assist (Intel-VT) enabled. To run a NetScaler VPX instance, hardware support for virtualization must be enabled on the VMware ESX host. Make sure that the BIOS option for virtualization support isn’t disabled. For more information, see your BIOS documentation. From the NetScaler 13.1 release onwards, the NetScaler VPX instance on VMware ESXi hypervisor supports AMD processors. |
| RAM | 2 GB VPX. For critical deployments, we do not recommend 2 GB RAM for VPX because the system operates in a memory-constrained environment. This might lead to scale, performance, or stability related issues. Recommended is 4 GB RAM or 8 GB RAM. |
| Disk space | 20 GB more than the minimum server requirements from VMware for setting up ESXi. See VMware documentation for minimum server requirements. |
| Network | One 1-Gbps NIC (NIC); Two 1-Gbps NICs recommended |
For information about installing VMware ESX, see http://www.vmware.com/.
For the SR-IOV network interface or PCI passthrough support, ensure that the following processors and settings are enabled:
- Intel processors supporting Intel-VT
- AMD processors supporting AMD-V
- I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU) or SR-IOV is enabled in BIOS
The following NICs are supported in SR-IOV mode:
- Mellanox ConnectX-4 NIC, starting from NetScaler release 13.1-42.x onwards
- Intel 82599 NIC
The following table lists the virtual computing resources that the VMware ESX server must provide for each VPX nCore virtual appliance.
Table 2. Minimum virtual computing resources required for running a NetScaler VPX instance
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Memory | 4 GB |
| Virtual CPU (vCPU) | 2 |
| Virtual network interfaces | In ESX, you can install a maximum of 10 virtual network interfaces if the VPX hardware is upgraded to version 7 or higher. |
| Disk space | 20 GB |
Note:
This is in addition to any disk requirements for the hypervisor.
For production use of VPX virtual appliance, the full memory allocation must be reserved. CPU cycles (in MHz) equal to at least the speed of one CPU core of the ESX must be reserved.
VMware vSphere client system requirements
VMware vSphere is a client application that can run on Windows and Linux operating systems. It can’t run on the same machine as the VMware ESX server. The following table describes the minimum system requirements.
Table 3. Minimum system requirements for VMware vSphere client installation
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | For detailed requirements from VMware, search for the “vSphere Compatibility Matrixes” PDF file at http://kb.vmware.com/. |
| CPU | 750 MHz; 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster recommended |
| RAM | 1 GB. 2 GB recommended |
| NIC (NIC) | 100 Mbps or faster NIC |
OVF Tool 1.0 system requirements
OVF Tool is a client application that can run on Windows and Linux systems. It can’t run on the same machine as the VMware ESX server. The following table describes the minimum system requirements.
Table 4. Minimum system requirements for OVF tool installation
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | For detailed requirements from VMware, search for the “OVF Tool User Guide” PDF file at http://kb.vmware.com/. |
| CPU | 750 MHz minimum, 1 GHz or faster recommended |
| RAM | 1 GB Minimum, 2 GB recommended |
| NIC (NIC) | 100 Mbps or faster NIC |
For information about installing OVF, search for the “OVF Tool User Guide” PDF file at http://kb.vmware.com/.
Downloading the NetScaler VPX setup files
The NetScaler VPX instance setup package for VMware ESX follows the Open Virtual Machine (OVF) format standard. You can download the files from the Citrix website. You need a Citrix account to log on. If you do not have a Citrix account, access the home page at http://www.citrix.com, click the New Users link, and follow the instructions to create a Citrix account.
Once logged on, navigate the following path from the Citrix home page:
Citrix.com > Downloads > NetScaler > Virtual Appliances.
Copy the following files to a workstation on the same network as the ESX server. Copy all three files into the same folder.
- NSVPX-ESX-<release number>-<build number>-disk1.vmdk (for example, NSVPX-ESX-13.0-71.44_nc_64-disk1.vmdk)
- NSVPX-ESX-<release number>-<build number>.ovf (for example, NSVPX-ESX-13.0-71.44_nc_64.ovf)
- NSVPX-ESX-<release number>-<build number>.mf (for example, NSVPX-ESX-13.0-71.44_nc_64.mf)
Install a NetScaler VPX instance on VMware ESX
After you have installed and configured VMware ESX, you can use the VMware vSphere client to install virtual appliances on the VMware ESX server. The number of virtual appliances that you can install depends on the amount of memory available on the hardware that is running VMware ESX.
To install NetScaler VPX instances on VMware ESX by using VMware vSphere Client, follow these steps:
- Start the VMware vSphere client on your workstation.
- In the IP address / Name text box, type the IP address of the VMware ESX server that you want to connect to.
- In the User Name and Password text boxes, type the administrator credentials, and then click Login.
- On the File menu, click Deploy OVF Template.
- In the Deploy OVF Template dialog box, in Deploy from file, browse to the location at which you saved the NetScaler VPX instance setup files, select the .ovf file, and click Next.
- Map the networks shown in the virtual appliance OVF template to the networks that you configured on the ESX host. Click Next to start installing a virtual appliance on VMware ESX. When installation is complete, a pop-up window informs you of the successful installation.
- You are now ready to start the NetScaler VPX instance. In the navigation pane, select the NetScaler VPX instance that you have installed, and from the right-click menu, select Power On.
- After the VM is booted, from the console, configure the NetScaler IP, Netmask, and Gateway addresses. When you complete the configuration, select the Save and Quit option in the console.
- To install another virtual appliance, repeat from Step 6 through Step 8.
Note:
By default, the NetScaler VPX instance uses E1000 network interfaces.
After the installation, you can use the vSphere client or vSphere Web Client to manage virtual appliances on VMware ESX.
To enable VLAN tagging on VMware ESX, configure the port group’s VLAN ID to All (4095) on the vSwitch. For detailed instructions on setting a VLAN ID on the vSwitch, refer to the VMware documentation.
Migrate a NetScaler VPX instance by using VMware vMotion
You can migrate a NetScaler VPX instance by using VMware vSphere vMotion.
Follow these usage guidelines:
- VMware does not support the vMotion feature on virtual machines configured with PCI Passthrough and SR-IOV interfaces.
- Supported interfaces are E1000 and VMXNET3. To use vMotion on your VPX instance, ensure that the instance is configured with a supported interface.
- For more information about how to migrate an instance by using VMware vMotion, see the VMware documentation.