VMware: Installing Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC

  • Published on Apr 18, 2025
  • 26 minute(s) read
  • Migration Team
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Overview

This chapter explains how to download the software and perform the initial installation of the Nasuni Edge Appliance on a virtual platform.

For additional information on the initial configuration of the Nasuni Edge Appliance, see Nasuni Edge Appliance Initial Configuration Guide.

Warning: IF YOU EVER NEED TO TRANSITION FROM ONE HYPERVISOR PLATFORM TO A DIFFERENT HYPERVISOR PLATFORM, DO NOT USE ANY OF THE MIGRATION TOOLS OF EITHER HYPERVISOR PLATFORM. INSTEAD, PERFORM A RECOVERY PROCEDURE, USING THE NEW HYPERVISOR PLATFORM AS THE DESTINATION. FOR DETAILS, SEE NEA RECOVERY OR NMC RECOVERY GUIDE.

Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

Caution: Nasuni advises that customers do not change the Hardware Version of an Edge Appliance without consulting Nasuni Support.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Important: Do not install or upgrade the VMware Tools on an Edge Appliance. The VMware Tools in the Nasuni virtual appliances are updated as part of the normal Nasuni product release cycle.

Tip: In the Nasuni model, customers provide their own cloud accounts for the storage of their data. Customers should leverage their cloud provider's role-based access and identity access management features as part of their security strategy. Such features can limit or prohibit administrative access to the cloud account, based on customer policies.

Installing from the VMware Marketplace

You can install Nasuni from the VMware Marketplace ™. On the marketplace.cloud.vmware.com Web site, Sign in to your account, search for “Nasuni”, then select the product to install, and follow the online instructions.

Important: Edge Appliances and the NMC must be configured with operational DNS servers and a time server (internal or external) within your environment.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

“Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

Downloading the Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC Software

Alternatively, you can download and install the Nasuni software.

The Nasuni Edge Appliance can run as a virtual appliance on your network and is distributed as a downloadable image. You need to register on the Nasuni Web site for a user account and password to access the download page.

To download the Nasuni Edge Appliance software from the Nasuni Web site:

  1. Log in to your Nasuni account Web site ( https://account.nasuni.com/) and click Downloads.

    The Downloads page appears.

    Figure 2-1: Downloads page.

  2. Select the appropriate format for your virtual environment from these choices:

    • AMAZON EC2: Scroll down to the “Appliance AMIs on EC2” area, and follow the instructions to continue installation using appliance AMIs.

    • AZURE FORMAT: A .vhd file, appropriate for Microsoft Azure environments.

    • GOOGLE CLOUD FORMAT: A disk.raw file contained in a .tar.gz file, appropriate for Google Cloud environments.

    • HYPER-V FORMAT: Hyper-V format is appropriate for Microsoft Hyper-V environments:

      versions 2019 and later.

    • NUTANIX FORMAT: A .qcow2 file appropriate for Nutanix AHV environments.

    • SCALE FORMAT: A file appropriate for Scale HyperCore environments.

    • OVF FORMAT: OVF format is appropriate for VMware ESXi 7.0 and above environments.

  3. From the drop-down list, select an available release for the Edge Appliance or NMC. The list of available releases can change.

    Figure 2-2: Sample release drop-down list

Note: If you are running a recovery procedure, select the same version family as your existing Edge Appliance to ensure software compatibility. For example, if the existing Edge

Appliance is running version 9.5.1, you could select version 9.5.4 (which is in the same 9.5.x version family), but not version 9.7.1 (which is in a different version family). If you need to use a different version than those offered, contact Nasuni Customer Support.

Tip: For update paths, see Compatibility and Support.

Note: You can perform the Recovery process to the same version of the software that you were running, or to a newer version than you were running, but not to an older version.

Note: If you already have the software installation file, you do not have to download it again. However, the software installation file must not be older than the version you are recovering.

  1. Save the Nasuni Edge Appliance software .zip file to a location on your local drive. The amount of time to download the Nasuni Edge Appliance software file depends on your Internet connection. The file is approximately 900 MB in size.

    The amount of time to download the NMC software file depends on your Internet connection. The file is approximately 800 MB in size.

  2. Unzip the Nasuni Edge Appliance software file.

  3. To continue, see “Installing the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi” on page 27.

Installing the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi

You can install the Nasuni Edge Appliance in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using either the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client. We provide instructions for both methods.

Note: Nasuni supports VMware ESXi 7.0 and above.

Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

Important: If multiple cache disks are provided before the first boot, Nasuni automatically provisions them as a striped set for best performance. Multiple cache disks must all be the same size, or the size of the smallest cache disk determines how much of each disk can be used. To add additional cache disks after the first boot, see Adding Cache Disks.

Important: Edge Appliances and the NMC must be configured with operational DNS servers and a time server (internal or external) within your environment.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Installing using the vSphere Web Client

You can install the Nasuni Edge Appliance in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Web Client enables you to connect to a vCenter Server system to manage an ESXi host through a browser.

The vSphere Web Client uses the OVF virtual appliance format for installing the Nasuni Edge Appliance.

Tip: If you install the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi using the vSphere Web Client, instead of using the vSphere Client, ensure that the ESXi Embedded Host Client is running version 1.24 or higher.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

For further information, also see:

Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

“Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

To install the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi using vSphere Web Client:

  1. Download and unzip the Nasuni Edge Appliance software in OVF format, as explained in “Downloading the Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC Software” on page 24.

  2. Open a web browser and log into the vCenter Server or ESXi host.

  3. In the left-hand browser pane, right-click the host or cluster onto which the OVF is to be deployed. A drop-down menu appears.

    Figure 2-3: Drop-down menu.

  4. From the drop-down menu, select Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template page appears.

    Figure 2-4: Deploy OVF Template page

  5. Select Local File, then click Browse, and navigate to the NasuniFiler.ovf file, located in the Filer folder of the unzipped Nasuni Edge Appliance software.

    Figure 2-5: Selecting files.

  6. Select the NasuniFiler.ovf, NasuniFiler-disk1.vmdk, NasuniFiler-disk2.vmdk, and NasuniFiler-disk3.vmdk files, then click Open.

  7. In the Deploy OVF Template window, ensure that “4 files selected” appears beside the Browse button, then click Next.

    Figure 2-6: 4 files selected.

  8. The “Select a name and folder” pane appears. Enter a name for the “Virtual machine name”. From the “Select a location for the virtual machine” list, select an installation location. Click Next.

    Figure 2-7: “Select a name and folder” pane.

  9. If deploying the OVF on a vCenter server, the “Select a compute resource” pane appears. Select a specific hypervisor or compute cluster resource, then click Next.

    Figure 2-8: “Select a compute resource” pane

  10. The “Review details” pane appears. Review the template details, then click Next.

    Figure 2-9: “Review details” pane

  11. The “Select storage” pane appears. Select a datastore onto which to deploy the Virtual Edge Appliance, then click Next.

    Figure 2-10: “Select storage” pane

  12. The “Select networks” pane appears. From the Destination Network drop-down menu, select the port group onto which to deploy the Virtual Edge Appliance.

    Figure 2-11: “Select networks” pane.

  13. As an alternative to using the default cache disk and COW disk, you can use RDM disks to configure SAN LUNs as the cache disk and COW disk. See “Using RDM disks to configure SAN LUNs as the cache disk and the COW disk” on page 43.

  14. The “Ready to complete” pane appears. Review the details.

    To change any item, click Back.

    To begin deploying the appliance, click Finish.

    Figure 2-12: “Ready to complete” pane.

  15. Two tasks appear at the bottom of the VMware browser window: Import OVF Package and Deploy OVF Template. Allow these tasks to complete.

    Figure 2-13: Recent tasks.

    The new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine is deployed.

  16. Nasuni strongly recommends disabling VMware snapshots, because attempting to restore from a VMware snapshot can ruin the installation and cause data loss.

    Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

    1. After the Virtual Edge Appliance has deployed, locate the virtual machine in the left-hand pane, and right-click it. The Actions drop-down menu appears.

      Figure 2-14: Actions drop-down menu.

    2. Click Edit Settings. The Edit Settings window appears.

      Figure 2-15: Edit Settings.

    3. Click the VM Options tab at the top of the window. The VM Options pane appears.

      Figure 2-16: VM Options pane

    4. Click Advanced, then scroll down to Configuration Parameters, and click Edit Configuration. The Configuration Parameters pane appears.

      Figure 2-17: Configuration Parameters pane.

    5. Click Add Configuration Params. The Add New Configuration Params section appears.

    6. In the Name field, enter snapshot.MaxSnapshots. Set the Value field to 0.

    7. To save the configuration, click OK .

  17. Right-click the new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, select Power, then Power On. This powers on the new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine.

    Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

    “Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

  18. Right-click the Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, expand Console, then select Open Browser Console. The Nasuni Edge Appliance screen appears with a plain bar on the bottom that indicates the progress of the installation.

    Figure 2-18: Nasuni Edge Appliance installation progress screen.

  19. After a few moments, the Nasuni Edge Appliance console screen appears.

    Figure 2-19: Nasuni Edge Appliance console screen.

    Tip: The first boot of a Nasuni Edge Appliance might take slightly longer than subsequent boots.

  20. If DHCP is available on the network, make note of the “Assigned IP Address” that appears on the console screen. You use this IP address to access the Nasuni Edge Appliance user interface.

    Alternatively, if DHCP is not available, log into the console service screen by pressing Enter and signing in. The default login username is service, and the default password is service.

    Note: For security, use the changepassword command to change the password for the service console.

    1. Enter the command: editnetwork.

    2. Enter the command: setall static.

    3. Enter a new IP address for the Nasuni Edge Appliance. Note this IP address. You use this IP address to access the Nasuni Edge Appliance user interface.

  21. The Nasuni Edge Appliance is now installed and ready to access using the IP address. See the Nasuni Edge Appliance Initial Configuration Guide for instructions on completing the configuration of the Nasuni Edge Appliance.

    Tip: To access the NEA or NMC appliance using the serial console, instead of using the IP address obtained when installing the appliance, follow one of these procedures:

All supported hypervisors include a serial console that works with Nasuni. For other hypervisors, consult your vendor’s documentation for connection instructions.

If necessary, you can change the size of the cache disk using the procedure in “Changing the size of the cache disk” on page 66.

Installing using the vSphere Client

You can install the Nasuni Edge Appliance in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using the vSphere Client. The vSphere Client can connect either directly to a host running VMware ESXi, or to vCenter Server, which is used to manage a group of hosts running ESXi.

The vSphere Client uses the OVF virtual appliance format for installing the Nasuni Edge Appliance.

Note: You should install the VMware vSphere Client before performing this procedure. If you need more information, see your VMware documentation.

Tip: If you install the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi using the vSphere Web interface, instead of using the vSphere Client, ensure that the ESXi Embedded Host Client is running version 1.24 or higher.

Tip: Nasuni recommends using Thick provisioning for all virtual disks for performance reasons.

On the VMware virtual platform, Nasuni recommends Thick Provision Eager Zeroed.

On the vSphere platform, Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is not available. Nasuni recommends Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed. Any performance difference is only for the first write. After that, Eager Zeroed and Lazy Zeroed perform identically.

Thin provisioning is not supported, because acceptable performance is unlikely

Important: Edge Appliances and the NMC must be configured with operational DNS servers and a time server (internal or external) within your environment.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

“Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

For further information, also see:

To install the Nasuni Edge Appliance into VMware ESXi using vSphere Client:

  1. Download and unzip the Nasuni Edge Appliance software in OVF format, as explained in “Downloading the Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC Software” on page 24.

  2. Launch the VMware vSphere Client. The Login window appears.

  3. Log in to the vSphere Client with a valid IP address and your user name and password.

  4. From the File menu, select Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template window appears.

  5. Navigate to the NasuniFiler.ovf file located in the Filer folder of the unzipped Nasuni Edge Appliance software. Click Next.

  6. Continue with the Deploy OVF Template wizard, accepting all default values. When prompted, enter a Name for the virtual machine.

    Note: If necessary, at a later point, you can change the cache disk, the copy-on-write (COW) disk, the memory, the number of CPU processors, and the pass-through disks. See Chapter 3, “Configuring the Virtual Platform,” on page 60.

  7. On the last Deploy OVF Template wizard screen, click Finish. The Deploying dialog box appears.

  8. When the message “Completed Successfully” appears, click Close. The new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine appears in the Inventory list in the left pane.

  9. Nasuni strongly recommends disabling VMware snapshots, because attempting to restore from a VMware snapshot can ruin the installation and cause data loss.

    Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

    1. To disable VMware snapshots, right-click the Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine and click Edit Settings.

    2. Click the Options tab, click General, then select Configuration Parameters.

    3. Click Add Row. In the Name and Value columns, type these values: snapshot.MaxSnapshots 0

    4. Click OK to save the changes.

      Figure 2-20: Configuration Parameters screen.

  10. In the Inventory list in the left pane, select the name that you specified for the new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine.

  11. Right-click the new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, select Power, then Power On. This powers on the new Nasuni Edge Appliance virtual machine.

    Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

    “Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

  12. Click the Console tab. The Nasuni Edge Appliance screen appears with a plain bar on the bottom that indicates the progress of the installation.

    Figure 2-21: Nasuni Edge Appliance installation progress screen.

  13. After a few moments, the Nasuni Edge Appliance console screen appears.

    Figure 2-22: Nasuni Edge Appliance console screen.

    Tip: The first boot of a Nasuni Edge Appliance might take slightly longer than subsequent boots.

  14. If DHCP is available on the network, make note of the “Assigned IP Address” that appears on the console screen. You use this IP address to access the Nasuni Edge Appliance user interface.

    Alternatively, if DHCP is not available, log into the console service screen by pressing Enter and signing in. The default login username is service, and the default password is service.

    Note: For security, use the changepassword command to change the password for the service console.

    1. Enter the command: editnetwork.

    2. Enter the command: setall static.

    3. Enter a new IP address for the Nasuni Edge Appliance. Note this IP address. You use this IP address to access the Nasuni Edge Appliance user interface.

  15. The Nasuni Edge Appliance is now installed and ready to access using the IP address. See the Nasuni Edge Appliance Initial Configuration Guide for instructions on completing the configuration of the Nasuni Edge Appliance.

    Tip: To access the NEA or NMC appliance using the serial console, instead of using the IP address obtained when installing the appliance, follow one of these procedures:

All supported hypervisors include a serial console that works with Nasuni. For other hypervisors, consult your vendor’s documentation for connection instructions.

If necessary, you can change the size of the cache disk using the procedure in “Changing the size of the cache disk” on page 66.

Using RDM disks to configure SAN LUNs as the cache disk and the COW disk

As an alternative to using the default cache disk and COW disk, you can use RDM disks to configure SAN LUNs as the cache disk and COW disk.

To use RDM disks for the cache disk and the COW disk, follow these steps:

  1. Use the Edit Settings pane to remove Hard disk 2 (the existing COW disk) and Hard disk 3 (the existing cache disk).

    Figure 2-23: Edit Settings pane.

  2. To add the COW disk, follow these steps:

    1. Click Add New Device.

    2. Select RDM Disk.

    3. From the Select Target LUN dialog box, select the COW disk for hard disk 2.

  3. To add the cache disk, follow these steps:

    1. Click Add New Device.

    2. Select RDM Disk.

    3. From the Select Target LUN dialog box, select the cache disk for hard disk 3.

  4. Continue with the procedure at step 14 on page 33.

Installing the Nasuni Management Console (NMC) into VMware ESXi

You can install the Nasuni Management Console (NMC) in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using either the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client. We provide instructions for both methods.

Note: Nasuni supports VMware ESXi 7.0 and above.

Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

Important: Edge Appliances and the NMC must be configured with operational DNS servers and a time server (internal or external) within your environment.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Installing using the vSphere Web Client

You install the Nasuni Management Console (NMC) in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Web Client enables you to connect to a vCenter Server system to manage an ESXi host through a browser.

The vSphere Web Client uses the OVF virtual appliance format for installing the Nasuni Edge Appliance.

Tip: If you install the NMC into VMware ESXi using the vSphere Web Client, instead of using the vSphere Client, ensure that the ESXi Embedded Host Client is running version 1.24 or higher.

For further information, also see:

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

“Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

To install the NMC into VMware ESXi using vSphere Web Client:

  1. Download and unzip the NMC software in OVF format, as explained in “Downloading the Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC Software” on page 24.

  2. Open a web browser and log into the vCenter Server or ESXi host.

  3. In the left-hand browser pane, right-click the host or cluster onto which the OVF is to be deployed. A drop-down menu appears.

    Figure 2-24: Drop-down menu.

  4. From the drop-down menu, select Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template page appears.

    Figure 2-25: Deploy OVF Template page.

  5. Select Local File, then click Browse, and navigate to the NasuniNMC.ovf file, located in the NMC folder of the unzipped NMC software.

    Figure 2-26: Selecting files.

  6. Select the NasuniNMC.ovf and NasuniNMC-disk1.vmdk files, then click Open.

  7. In the Deploy OVF Template window, ensure that “2 files selected” appears beside the Browse button, then click Next.

    Figure 2-27: 4 files selected.

  8. The “Select a name and folder” pane appears. Enter a name for the “Virtual machine name”. From the “Select a location for the virtual machine” list, select an installation location. Click Next.

    Figure 2-28: “Select a name and folder” pane.

  9. If deploying the OVF on a vCenter server, the “Select a compute resource” pane appears. Select a specific hypervisor or compute cluster resource, then click Next.

    Figure 2-29: “Select a compute resource” pane

  10. The “Review details” pane appears. Review the template details, then click Next.

    Figure 2-30: “Review details” pane.

  11. The “Select storage” pane appears. Select a datastore onto which to deploy the Virtual Edge Appliance, then click Next.

    Figure 2-31: “Select storage” pane.

  12. The “Select networks” pane appears. From the Destination Network drop-down menu, select the port group onto which to deploy the Virtual Edge Appliance.

    Figure 2-32: “Select networks” pane.

  13. The “Ready to complete” pane appears. Review the details.

    To change any item, click Back.

    To begin deploying the appliance, click Finish.

    Figure 2-33: “Ready to complete” pane

  14. Two tasks appear at the bottom of the VMware browser window: Import OVF Package and Deploy OVF Template. Allow these tasks to complete.

    Figure 2-34: Recent tasks.

    The new NMC virtual machine is deployed.

  15. Nasuni strongly recommends disabling VMware snapshots, because attempting to restore from a VMware snapshot can ruin the installation and cause data loss.

    Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

    1. After the Virtual Edge Appliance has deployed, locate the virtual machine in the left-hand pane, and right-click it. The Actions drop-down menu appears.

      Figure 2-35: Actions drop-down menu.

    2. Click Edit Settings. The Edit Settings window appears.

      Figure 2-36: Edit Settings.

    3. Click the VM Options tab at the top of the window. The VM Options pane appears.

      Figure 2-37: VM Options pane.

    4. Click Advanced, then scroll down to Configuration Parameters, and click Edit Configuration. The Configuration Parameters pane appears.

  16. Click Add Configuration Params. The Add New Configuration Params section appears.

  17. In the Name field, enter snapshot.MaxSnapshots. Set the Value field to 0.

  18. To save the configuration, click OK.

  19. Right-click the new NMC virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, select Power, then Power On. This powers on the new NMC virtual machine.

    Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

    “Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

  20. Right-click the NMC virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, expand Console, then select Open Browser Console. The NMC screen appears with a plain bar on the bottom that indicates the progress of the installation.

    Figure 2-39: NMC installation progress screen.

  21. After a few moments, the NMC console screen appears.

    Figure 2-40: NMC console screen.

    Tip: The first boot of a NMC might take slightly longer than subsequent boots.

  22. If DHCP is available on the network, make note of the “Assigned IP Address” that appears on the console screen. You use this IP address to access the NMC user interface.

    Alternatively, if DHCP is not available, log into the console service screen by pressing Enter and signing in. The default login username is service, and the default password is service.

    Note: For security, use the changepassword command to change the password for the service console.

    1. Enter the command: editnetwork.

    2. Enter the command: setall static.

    3. Enter a new IP address for the NMC. Note this IP address. You use this IP address to access the NMC user interface.

  23. The NMC is now installed and ready to access using the IP address. See the Nasuni Management Console Guide for instructions on completing the configuration of the NMC.

    Tip: To access the NEA or NMC appliance using the serial console, instead of using the IP address obtained when installing the appliance, follow one of these procedures:

All supported hypervisors include a serial console that works with Nasuni. For other hypervisors, consult your vendor’s documentation for connection instructions.

Installing using the vSphere Client

You can install the NMC in VMware ESXi 7.0 and above, using the vSphere Client. The vSphere Client can connect either directly to a host running VMware ESXi, or to vCenter Server, which is used to manage a group of hosts running ESXi.

The vSphere Client uses the OVF virtual appliance format for installing the NMC.

Note: You should install the VMware vSphere Client before performing this procedure. If you need more information, see your VMware documentation.

Tip: If you install the NMC into VMware ESXi using the vSphere Web interface, instead of using the vSphere Client, ensure that the ESXi Embedded Host Client is running version 1.24 or higher.

Important: Edge Appliances and the NMC must be configured with operational DNS servers and a time server (internal or external) within your environment.

Important: Installing third-party software on Nasuni appliances is not allowed.

For further information, also see:

Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

“Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

To install the NMC into VMware ESXi using vSphere Client:

  1. Download and unzip the NMC software in OVF format, as explained in “Downloading the Nasuni Edge Appliance or NMC Software” on page 24.

  2. Launch the VMware vSphere Client. The Login window appears.

  3. Log in to the vSphere Client with a valid IP address and your user name and password.

  4. From the File menu, select Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template window appears.

  5. Navigate to the NasuniNMC.ovf file, located in the NMC folder of the unzipped NMC software. Click Next.

  6. Continue with the Deploy OVF Template wizard, accepting all default values. When prompted, enter a Name for the virtual machine.

    Note: If necessary, at a later point, you can change the memory, the number of CPU processors, and the pass-through disks. See Chapter 3, “Configuring the Virtual Platform,” on page 60.

  7. On the last Deploy OVF Template wizard screen, click Finish. The Deploying dialog box appears.

  8. When the message “Completed Successfully” appears, click Close. The new NMC virtual machine appears in the Inventory list in the left pane.

  9. Nasuni strongly recommends disabling VMware snapshots, because attempting to restore from a VMware snapshot can ruin the installation and cause data loss.

    Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP. ATTEMPTING TO RESTORE FROM A VIRTUAL MACHINE SNAPSHOT OR BACKUP PUTS THE EDGE APPLIANCE IN AN UNKNOWN STATE IN RELATION TO THE NASUNI ORCHESTRATION CENTER (NOC), AND REQUIRES A DISASTER RECOVERY PROCESS TO BE RECOVERED. THIS MIGHT RESULT IN DATA LOSS.

    1. To disable VMware snapshots, right-click the NMC virtual machine and click Edit Settings.

    2. Click the Options tab, click General, then select Configuration Parameters.

    3. Click Add Row. In the Name and Value columns, type these values: snapshot.MaxSnapshots 0

    4. Click OK to save the changes.

      Figure 2-41: Configuration Parameters screen.

  10. In the Inventory list in the left pane, select the name that you specified for the new NMC virtual machine.

  11. Right-click the new NMC virtual machine, then, from the drop-down menu, select Power, then Power On. This powers on the new NMC virtual machine.

    Important: When using virtual machine Edge Appliances or NMCs, Nasuni recommends running under a hypervisor that is still supported by its vendor. If a customer runs an Edge Appliance or NMC on an unsupported hypervisor version, a warning is logged at boot time. The warning is of the form:

    “Nasuni recommends running the Management Console on ESX 7.0 or later.”

  12. Click the Console tab. The NMC screen appears with a plain bar on the bottom that indicates the progress of the installation.

    Figure 2-42: NMC installation progress screen.

  13. After a few moments, the NMC console screen appears.

    Figure 2-43: NMC console screen.

    Tip: The first boot of a NMC might take slightly longer than subsequent boots.

  14. If DHCP is available on the network, make note of the “Assigned IP Address” that appears on the console screen. You use this IP address to access the NMC user interface.

    Alternatively, if DHCP is not available, log into the console service screen by pressing Enter and signing in. The default login username is service, and the default password is service.

    Note: For security, use the changepassword command to change the password for the service console.

    1. Enter the command: editnetwork.

    2. Enter the command: setall static.

    3. Enter a new IP address for the NMC. Note this IP address. You use this IP address to access the NMC user interface.

  15. The NMC is now installed and ready to access using the IP address. See the Nasuni Management Console Guide for instructions on completing the configuration of the NMC.

    Tip: To access the NEA or NMC appliance using the serial console, instead of using the IP address obtained when installing the appliance, follow one of these procedures:

All supported hypervisors include a serial console that works with Nasuni. For other hypervisors, consult your vendor’s documentation for connection instructions.

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