Step 6. Set up and configure the Lenovo XClarity Administrator virtual appliance (Hyper-V)

Set up the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance on the Hyper-V host, and configure the XClarity Administrator.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to install the virtual appliance.

  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 Hyper-V, download the image in virtual-disk image (VHD) format.

    Note: Ensure that the client workstation is on the same network as the host.
  2. Copy the XClarity Administrator virtual disk to the host.
    1. Log in to the server.
    2. Copy the virtual disk image to the server.
    3. From the Server Manager Dashboard, click Hyper-V.
    4. Right-click the server, and click Hyper-V Manager.
    5. Under Actions, click New > Virtual Machine to begin the New Virtual Machine Wizard, and click Next.
    6. On the Specify Name and Location page, enter a name for the new virtual machine, such as XClarity Administrator.
    7. On the Specify Generation page, select Generation 1.
    8. On the Assign Memory page, enter 8192 MB.
    9. On the Configure Networking page, choose the virtual switch that you created when you installed and configured the host.
    10. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, click Use an existing virtual hard disk, and browse to the location where you copied the XClarity Administrator virtual disk image. Select that image.
    11. Complete the wizard.
  3. Configure the virtual machine.
    1. Ensure that the virtual machine is turned off.
    2. Right-click on the virtual machine that you just created, and click Settings.
    3. Select Processor, and change the number of virtual processors to 2.
    4. Select Network Adapter, select Enable Virtual LAN Identification, and specify the management VLAN ID (in this scenario, the VLAN ID is 10).
    5. Select Add Hardware > Network Adapter, and click Add.
    6. Connect to the same virtual switch.
    7. Select Network Adapter, select Enable Virtual LAN Identification, and specify the data VLAN ID (in this scenario, the VLAN ID is 20).
    8. Click Apply, and then click OK.
    Note: You can optionally set a static MAC address for each network adapter by expanding the Network Adapter selection for the virtual switch, clicking Advanced Features, clicking Static under the MAC address, and then specifying the MAC address. Ensure that the MAC address for the data VLAN has a value that is higher than the MAC address that is specified for the management VLAN.
  4. Power on the virtual machine:
    1. Right-click the virtual machine, and click Power > Power on.
    2. Click the Console tab.

      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 using the Datastore Browser.

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

    Important: The virtual machine must be powered off before mounting the ISO image.
    1. In the Hyper-V Manager window, right-click the virtual appliance, and click Connect to display the Virtual Machine Connection window.

    2. Click Media > DVD Drive > Insert Disk.

    3. Select the ISO image, and click Open.

    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).