Skip to main content

Step 6. Install and configure the Lenovo XClarity Administrator virtual appliance (Citrix)

Install and configure the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance on the Citrix host that was just installed.

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the Citrix hypervisor as a user with root authority to install the virtual appliance.

Ensure that the virtual network virbr0 is configured before installing XClarity Administrator.

Currently, XClarity Administrator does not support Citrix Tools. Automated functions, such as setting static IP addresses and power actions, do not work with XClarity Administrator

Procedure

To install the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance, complete the following steps.

  1. Download the XClarity Administrator virtual-appliance image from the XClarity Administrator download webpage to a client workstation. Log on to the Web site, and then use the access key that was given to you to download the image.

    For Citrix, download the image in VHD format.

    Note
    Ensure that the client workstation is on the same network as the host.
  2. Install and configure the virtual appliance on the host.
    1. From Citrix, right-click the managed Citrix hypervisor from the left navigation pane, and click Import. The Import dialog is displayed.
    2. Click Browse, select the XClarity Administrator VHD file. Then, click Next.
    3. On the Define Virtual Machine page, specify a name for the XClarity Administrator virtual machine, number of processors, and the amount of memory to initially allocate to the virtual machine. Then, click Next.
    4. On the Location page, select the Citrix hypervisor where you want to place the virtual machine. Then, click Next.
    5. On the Storage page, select the disk drive to place the virtual-machine image. Then, click Next.
      Important
      Ensure that the disk drive has a minimum of 192 GB of free space.
    6. On the Networking page, select the virtual network switch to which the XClarity Administrator eth0 port is connected. Then, click Next.
    7. On the OS Fixup Settings page, use the default settings. Click Next.
    8. On the Transfer VM Settings page, select the network to use for the transfer of the virtual machine to the disk for installation. Then, click Next.
      Important
      Do not use the static IP settings in this page.
    9. Click Finish to start XClarity Administrator virtual machine installation in the Citrix hypervisor.
    10. Wait for the import and installation to complete.
    11. Set up the second XClarity Administrator interface.

      1. Expand the virtual machine in the left navigation, and then click the Networking tab in the right content pane. The Virtual Network Interface page is displayed.

      2. Click Add interface to add the network interface to the virtual machine. The Add Virtual Interface dialog is displayed.

      3. Specify the network and MAC addresses for the virtual interface, and click Add.

    12. Configure the VLAN using the Citrix interface.
    13. From Citrix Hypervisor, right-click the virtual machine, and then click Start.

      When the virtual machine is started, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are listed for each interface, as shown in the following example.

      The XClarity Administrator eth0 management port uses a DHCP IP address by default. At the end of the XClarity Administrator boot process, you can choose to set a static IP address for the eth0 management port by entering 1 when prompted, as shown in the example below. The prompt is available for 150 seconds, until the login prompt is displayed. To proceed to the login prompt without delay, enter x at the prompt.

      Important

      • When changing the static IP address settings, you have a maximum of 60 seconds to enter the new settings. Ensure that you have the required IP information before continuing.

        • For IPv4 settings, you must have the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway IP address

        • For IPv6 settings, you must have the IP address and prefix length

      • If you are not using a DHCP server, you can use a configuration file to specify the IP settings for the XClarity Administrator eth0 management port. that you want to use to access the XClarity Administrator. For more information, see the What to do next section below.

      • If you change the IP address settings from the console, XClarity Administrator is restarted to apply the new settings.

      • No action is required to log in. Ignore the console login message. The console interface is not for customer use.

      • You might see the message TCP: eth0: Driver has suspect GRO implementation, TCP performance may be compromised on the console. The performance of the virtual machine is not impacted, and you can ignore this warning.

      Attention
      Changing the IP address of the XClarity Administrator management port after managing devices might cause the devices to be placed in offline state in XClarity Administrator. If you choose to change the IP address after XClarity Administrator is up and running, ensure that all devices are unmanaged before changing the IP address.
      ------------------------------------------
      Lenovo XClarity Administrator  Version x.x.x
      ------------------------------------------

      eth0   flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500  metric 1
               inet 192.0.2.10  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.0.2.55
               inet6 2001:db8:56ff:fe80:bea3  prefixlen 64   scopeid 0x20<link>
               ether 00:15:5d:0c:d1:92    txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
               RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

      eth1   flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500  metric 1
               inet 192.0.2.20  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.0.2.130
               inet6 2001:db8:56ff:fe80:bea3  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

      ===========================================================================
      ===========================================================================

      You have 150 seconds to change IP settings. Enter one of the following:
        1. To set a static IP address for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance eth0 port
        2. To use a DHCP address for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance eth0 port
        x. To continue without changing IP settings
        ... ...


(Optional) Using a configuration file to set the IP settings

If you are not using a DHCP server, you can optionally use a configuration file to specify the IP settings that you want to use to access the XClarity Administrator web interface using the Eth0 network interface.

The configuration file (eth0_config) is contained in an ISO file that you create and mount to the virtual machine before XClarity Administrator is started for the first time. When XClarity Administrator starts the first time, it configures the IP address for the Eth0 network using the static IP address that is defined in the eth0_config file and displays the web interface to set up initially and configure the appropriate settings (see Configuring Lenovo XClarity Administrator).

Restriction: Only the Eth0 network can be configured using this method. Creating a configuration file named eth1_config does not configure the Eth1 network.

To use a configuration file, perform the following steps before powering on the virtual appliance

  1. Create a file named eth0_config (with no file extension) that contains the following IPv4 parameters that you want the virtual machine to use at startup.

    • IPV4_ADDR=
    • IPV4_NETMASK=
    • IPV4_GATEWAY=
    • IPV6_ADDR=
    • IPV6_GATEWAY=
    You can use the echo command to create the file, for example:
    ECHO IPV4_ADDR=1.1.1.1 > ./eth0_config
    ECHO IPV4_NETMASK=255.255.255.05 >> ./eth0_config
    ECHO IPV4_GATEWAY=1.1.1.5 >> ./eth0_config
    ECHO IPV6_ADDR=1001:1002:1003:1004::2 >> ./eth0_config
    ECHO IPV6_GATEWAY=1001:1002:1003:1004::1 >> ./eth0_config
    Note
    The IPV6_ADDR and IPV6_GATEWAY parameters are supported in XClarity Administrator v1.1.1 and later.

  2. Create an ISO image that contains the eth0_config file.

    To create an ISO image on Windows, use your favorite ISO software. On Linux, use the mkisofs command, for example:

    mkisofs -V IP4ADDR -J -o ./boot.iso ./eth0_config

    where -V is the volume label, -J is for Joliet format, -o is the output file name, and ./eth0_config is the file to be included in the ISO image.

  3. Upload the ISO image to a suitable location in the Citrix.

  4. Mount the .ISO image to the virtual machine.

    1. Mount the configuration .ISO image as a physical CD drive to the virtual machine.

    2. From Citrix , select the XClarity Administrator virtual machine.

    3. Click the Console tab.

    4. Select the physical CD from the drive list.

    Note
    You can unmount the drive and delete the ISO image after you log in to the XClarity Administrator web interface and finish configuring the appropriate settings.

After you finish

Log in and configure XClarity Administrator (see Accessing the Lenovo XClarity Administrator web interface for the first time and Configuring Lenovo XClarity Administrator).