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Setting up XClarity Orchestrator on a local system

Install and configure the Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator virtual appliance on a system in your local environment.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have reviewed the prerequisites, including hardware requirements and recommendations, for XClarity Orchestrator (see Supported hardware and software – XClarity Orchestrator).

Ensure that all appropriate ports are enabled, including ports that XClarity Orchestrator requires (see Port availability – XClarity Orchestrator).

Ensure that the resource managers that you intend to manage are supported and are at the required version levels (see Supported hardware and software – XClarity Orchestrator).

For information about updating an XClarity Orchestrator virtual appliance that is already installed, see Updating XClarity Orchestrator.

For information about setting up a high-available environment, see Implementing high availability.

Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator is a for-fee application. You can use XClarity Orchestrator for free for up to 90 days using the free-trial license; however, after the free trial expires, you must purchase and install appropriate licenses to continue using applicable XClarity Orchestrator functions and to get XClarity Orchestrator service and support. For information about purchasing licenses, contact your Lenovo representative or authorized business partner. For information about installing the license, see Applying XClarity Orchestrator licenses.

About this task

You can assign the virtual-appliance IP address using a static IP address on the eth0 port during configuration.

If you do not assign the IP address during configuration, IP settings are assigned using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) by default when you initially start the virtual appliance. You can configure the XClarity Orchestrator IP settings when you initially start the virtual appliance. Ensure that you have the required IP information before starting. You have a maximum of 60 seconds to enter settings at each prompt.

  • For static IPv4 settings, you can change the IP address, subnet mask, gateway IP address, and DNS 1 IP address (optional), and DNS 2 IP address (optional).
  • For static IPv6 settings, you can change the IP address, prefix length, and DNS 1 IP address (optional), and DNS 2 IP address (optional).
  • For DHCP settings, you can change the primary and loopback interface settings (auto lo, iface lo inet loopback, auto eth0, and iface eth0 inet dhcp).
Attention
If you change the XClarity Orchestrator virtual-appliance IP address after connecting resource managers, XClarity Orchestrator will lose communication with the managers, and the managers will appear offline. If you need to change the virtual-appliance IP address after XClarity Orchestrator is up and running, ensure that all resource managers are disconnected (deleted) before changing the IP address. For more information about setting IP addresses, see Configuring the network.

Procedure

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

  1. Download the XClarity Orchestrator image from the XClarity Orchestrator download webpage to the local system. Log in to the website, and use the access key that was given to you to download the image.

    For Hyper-V, the virtual appliance is a virtual-disk image (VHD). For VMware ESXi, the virtual appliance is an OVF template.

  2. Install and configure the virtual appliance on the local system.
    • For ESXi using VMware vSphere
      1. Connect to the host through VMware vSphere Client.
      2. Right-click Virtual Machines > Create/Register VM > Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file.
      3. Complete each step in the virtual-appliance deployment wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
        • Appliance Name. Choose a name that is unique to this host.
        • Storage. Choose a datastore that has a minimum of 551 GB of storage available.
        • Disk Format. Choose the disk format that meets the needs of your organization. If you are not sure which format to choose, select Thin Provision.
        • Additional Settings. Optionally update the network configuration for the virtual-appliance to set static IP address for the eth0 interface.
    • For ESXi using VMware vCenter
      1. Connect to the host through VMware vCenter.
      2. Under "Hosts and Clusters" or "VMs and Templates," right-click the host, and click File > Deploy OVF Template.
      3. Complete each step in the virtual-appliance deployment wizard. Keep the following considerations in mind as you progress through the wizard.
        • Appliance Name. Choose a name that is unique to this host.
        • Storage. Choose a datastore that has a minimum of 551 GB of storage available.
        • Disk Format. Choose the disk format that meets the needs of your organization. If you are not sure which format to choose, select Thin Provision.
        • Customize template. Optionally update the network configuration for the virtual-appliance to set static IP address for the eth0 interface.
      4. If you chose to set the static IP address for the virtual appliance, complete the following steps.
        1. Select the VM in the Inventory.
        2. Click on Configure > vApp, and then select Enable vApp Options.
        3. After it is enabled, select OVF environment for the IP allocation scheme.
        4. On the OVF Details tab, select “VMware Tools” for the OVF environment transport.
    • For Microsoft Hyper-V
      1. From the Server Manager Dashboard, click Hyper-V.
      2. Right-click the server, and click Hyper-V Manager.
      3. Under Actions, click New > Virtual Machine to begin the New Virtual Machine Wizard, and click Next.
      4. On the Specify Name and Location page, enter a name for the new virtual machine (for example, LXCO-{version>).
      5. On the Specify Generation page, select Generation 1.
      6. On the Assign Memory page, select at least 16 GB of memory to use for this virtual machine (see Supported hardware and software – XClarity Orchestrator).
      7. On the Configure Networking page, choose the virtual switch that you created when you installed and configured the host.
      8. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, click Use an existing virtual hard disk, browse to the location where you copied the XClarity Orchestrator VHD images, and select the *disk001*.vhd image.
      9. Click Finish.
      10. Right-click on the virtual machine that you just created, and click Settings.
      11. Configure the number of processors to assign to the virtual machine.
        1. Select Processor, and specify at least 4 virtual processors to use for this virtual machine (see Supported hardware and software – XClarity Orchestrator).
        2. Click Apply, and then click OK.
      12. Add the second hard drive to the virtual appliance.
        1. Expand IDE Controller 0, and then select Hard Drive.
        2. From the Virtual hard disk field, browse to the location where you copied the XClarity Orchestrator VHD images, and select the *disk002*.vhd image.
        3. Click Apply, and then click OK.
      13. Add the third hard drive to the virtual appliance.
        1. Expand IDE Controller 1, and then select Hard Drive.
        2. From the Virtual hard disk field, browse to the location where you copied the XClarity Orchestrator VHD images, and select the *disk003*.vhd image.
        3. Click Apply, and then click OK.
      14. (Optional) You can optionally set a static MAC address for each network adapter by expanding Network Adapter for the virtual switch, clicking Advanced Features, clicking Static under MAC address, and then specifying the MAC address.
  3. Power on the virtual appliance.

    When the virtual appliance is started, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses that were assigned by DHCP are listed for each interface, as shown in the following example.

    Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator  Version x.x.x
    ------------------------------------------

    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 2001:db8:65:12:34:56
    inet addr: 192.0.2.10 Bcast 192.0.2.55 Mask 255.255.255.0
    inet6 addr: 2001:db8:56ff:fe80:bea3/64 Scope:Link

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

    You have 118 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
    <span className="ph"> 3. To select subnet for Lenovo XClarity virtual appliance internal network</span>
    x. To continue without changing IP settings
    ... ...

  4. Optional: Configure the virtual-appliance IP settings. If you do not make a selection within the specified time or if you enter x, the initial startup continues using the IP settings that are assigned by default.
    • Assign static IP addresses for the eth0 port. Enter 1, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
    • Assign new IP addresses for the eth0 port using DHCP. Enter 2, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
    • Select the subnet for the virtual appliance internal network. Enter 3, and then follow the prompts to change the settings.
      By default, XClarity Orchestrator uses subnet 192.168.252.0/24 for its internal network. If this subnet overlaps with the host network, change the subnet to one of the other available choices to avoid networking issues.
      • 192.168.252.0/24
      • 172.31.252.0/24
      • 10.255.252.0/24
    Important
    If you specify invalid values, an error is returned. You have up to four attempts to enter valid values.

After you finish

Log in and configure XClarity Orchestrator.