Fabric Services System deployer VM creation

After you have downloaded the OVA or QCOW2 image and prepared the deployer node, follow the installation steps to create the deployer VM.

The Fabric Services System nodes contained in the cluster (worker nodes) and the node hosting the deployer VM must communicate with each other. Both the worker nodes and the deployer VM must be able to initiate connections.

Use one of the following procedures to configure networking for the deployer VM using a bridged network:

Creating the VM on a bridged network on KVM

This section provides an example script used to create a VM in a KVM-based hypervisor. You can use this script or you can use your own procedure as long as the resulting VM meets the requirements for the Fabric Services System VM.

  1. Create an fssvm_create.sh file, then copy the following contents into the file: 
    create_fssvm() {
    BRIDGE="breth0:1"
    VM=fss-deployer
    VMDIR=/var/lib/libvirt/images/$VM
    FSSIMAGE=<path to fss-installer qcow2 image>
    sudo mkdir -vp $VMDIR
    sudo cp $FSSIMAGE $VMDIR/$VM.qcow2
    sudo virsh pool-create-as --name $VM --type dir --target $VMDIR
    sudo virt-install --import --name $VM \
    --memory 8096 --vcpus 1 --cpu host \
    --disk $VMDIR/$VM.qcow2,format=qcow2,bus=virtio \
    --network bridge=$BRIDGE,model=virtio \
    --os-variant=centos7.0 \
    --noautoconsole --debug
}
VMDIR=.
create_fssvm
  2. In the script, modify the FSSIMAGE=<path to fss-installer qcow2 image> field to show the actual path to the Fabric Services System image on your system. 
    FSSIMAGE=./fss-deployer-x.y.qcow2
  3. Modify the permissions of the shell script file. 
    chmod 755 fssvm_create.sh
  4. Execute the shell script. 
    ./fssvm_create.sh

Creating the VM on VMware vSphere

You can use one of the following methods to deploy the VM on VMware vSphere:
  • the VMware vSphere vCenter or ESXi UI

    For instructions, see Deploy an OVF or OVA Template in the VMware vSphere documentation.

  • the VMware Open Virtualization Format Tool CLI

    The following section provides an example of how to use the VMware OVF Tool CLI.

  1. Download and install the latest version of the VMware OVF Tool from the VMware Developer website.
  2. Display details about the OVA image.
    Execute the ovftool command with just the OVA image name as the argument. 
    $ ovftool fss-deployer_v23.4.1-18.ova
OVF version:   1.0
VirtualApp:    false
Name:          fss-deployer

Download Size:  9.47 GB

Deployment Sizes:
  Flat disks:   40.00 GB
  Sparse disks: 12.57 GB

Networks:
  Name:        OAM
  Description: The Fabric Services System OAM (UI and API) network

  Name:        FABRIC
  Description: The Fabric Services System Fabric Management network

Virtual Machines:
  Name:               fss-deployer
  Operating System:   centos7_64guest
  Virtual Hardware:
    Families:         vmx-14
    Number of CPUs:   2
    Cores per socket: 1
    Memory:           7.91 GB

    Disks:
      Index:          0
      Instance ID:    4
      Capacity:       40.00 GB
      Disk Types:     SCSI-lsilogic

    NICs:
      Adapter Type:   VmxNet3
      Connection:     OAM

      Adapter Type:   VmxNet3
      Connection:     FABRIC

References:
  File:  fss-deployer-disk1.vmdk
  3. Deploy the OVA image using the OVF Tool.

    For details about command line arguments, see the OVF Tool documentation from the VMware website.

    Note: Ensure that you use thick provisioning for the disk and to connect all the interfaces to a network. The secondary interface can be disconnected and disabled after the deployment and before you power on. 
    $ ovftool --acceptAllEulas -dm=thick -ds=VSAN -n=fss-deployer --net:"OAM=OAM-network" --net:"FABRIC=Fabric-network" fss-deployer_v23.4.1-18.ova vi://administrator%40vsphere.local@vcenter.domain.tld/My-Datacenter/host/My-Cluster/Resources/My-Resource-Group

Opening OVA source: fss-deployer_v23.4.1-18.ova
The manifest validates
Enter login information for target vi://vcenter.domain.tld/
Username: administrator%40vsphere.local
Password: ***********
Opening VI target: vi://administrator%40vsphere.local@vcenter.domain.tld/My-Datacenter/host/My-Cluster/Resources/My-Resource-Group
Deploying to VI: vi://administrator%40vsphere.local@vcenter.domain.tld/My-Datacenter/host/My-Cluster/Resources/My-Resource-Group
Transfer Completed