Configuring Virtual Network Bridges
In order to make the Cisco UCS E vNAM accessible to the public network and to provide an interface that will accept SPAN data, you must create network bridging which reflects the local configuration and matches the bridges appropriately to the interfaces on the VM. This cannot be standardized and delivered as an automatic and simple installation due to the generic KVM environment and requires customer input.
Note You must perform this task before Cisco UCS E vNAM installation.
This section provides details on how to configure your virtual network bridges for the two or three required Cisco UCS E vNAM ports:
- Management port—Bridge to include the external physical management port. You can skip this step if you already have a network bridge configured, which can be used for the Cisco UCS E vNAM management port.
- Data port—Bridge to include the physical port receiving the SPAN traffic.
To configure the virtual network bridges to the Prime Cisco UCS E vNAM ports:
Step 1 Log into RHEL KVM as root.
Step 2 Enter the commands to add the two bridges.
For example, the commands below assume eth0 is the physical management port and eth1 is the data port, and you want to set a Cisco UCS E vNAM to monitor both management port and dataport’s traffic:
Step 3 Step 3 : Enter the commands to let the bridges work all the time:
brctl setageing bridge0 0
brctl setageing bridge1 0
To download the Prime vNAM image onto your KVM host continue to Downloading Cisco UCS E vNAM Virtual Appliance ISO File.
Deploying Cisco UCS E vNAM on KVM using CLI
You can deploy Cisco UCS E vNAM using command line interface. See KVM documentation for details. See also the Configuring Cisco UCS E vNAM to Receive Data Traffic.
To deploy the Cisco UCS E vNAM and start a console connection, use something similar to the following command.
Note Change the iso path (-disk), and network bridge names as appropriate.
virt-install -n <name>_ -c /<path to.iso file> -r 4096 --vcpus=2 --arch=x86_64
--os-type=linux --os-variant=generic26 --disk
path=</path/to/file/that/contains/disk,size=100,bus=ide --network
bridge=<management_bridge>,model=virtio --network bridge=<data_bridge>,model=virtio
This command starts a console session on the terminal. You should see the installation process and eventually the Prime vNAM login appears.
Deploying Cisco UCS E vNAM on KVM using Virtual Machine Manager
These steps assume you have already configured the virtual network bridges before starting the installation. The network bridges enable Cisco UCS E vNAM to share the KVM host system physical network connections.
To create a new Cisco UCS E vNAM virtual machine:
Step 1 Log in to the server, and launch the KVM console.
Step 2 Launch the Virtual Machine Manager, and click the Create a New Virtual Machine icon.
Step 3 Enter the unique name for this instance of Prime vNAM and select the installation option, then click Forward. In the example below, the name is vNAM_Sample.
Step 4 Under Choose how you would like to install the operating system, select Local install media (ISO image or CDROM), then click Forward.
Step 5 Select Use ISO Image, click Browse to select the location of the Cisco UCS E vNAM iso file, then click Forward.
Step 6 Enter the RAM memory size of 4096 MB and select two CPUs.
Step 7 Select Enable storage for this virtual machine and ensure the Allocate entire disk now check box is checked. Create a new volume, and choose raw format. You must also enter the maximum size for the storage unit (100GB).
Step 8 Select the new volume and click Choose Volume.
Step 9 Verify your VM settings, check the Customize configuration before install check box.
Step 10 Click Advanced Options drop-down. Make sure that the bridge you have created for management is selected.
Step 11 Click Finish.
Step 12 Before you install, make sure the following are configured correctly.
Step 13 Select Disk 1 in the installation menu panel, change the advanced option Disk Bus to IDE, then click Apply.
Step 14 Select Boot Options in the installation menu panel. Check the select hard disk, then click Apply.
Step 15 Select NIC in the installation menu panel. The NIC that displays is that of the management port for the vNAM. In the Device Model drop-down, choose virtio.
Step 16 Click Add Hardware.
Step 17 In the Add new virtual hardware window, select Network. We recommend you to select the 2 Dataports 2 vSwitches deployment model (see 2 Dataports, 2 vSwitches Model for more details), so you should add two network hardwares. Select NIC in the installation menu panel. Select the NIC that displays the bridge including the management port for newly added Network Hardware 1, to monitor the management traffic as well as the CEF traffic pass through the ISR, Select the NIC that displays the bridge including the front panel port for newly added Hardware 2, to monitor the external traffic.
Step 18 In the Device Model drop-down, choose virtio.
Step 19 From the Host device details drop-down, select the interface on which your Cisco UCS E vNAM will connect to the network. This will be the bridge you created for data.
Step 20 In the Device Model drop-down, choose virtio.
Step 21 Click Finish. Do a quick review of the NIC and other details.
Step 22 Close the window, the installation begins.
We recommend that you monitor the messages that appear in the console window to ensure that you are informed about the progress of the installation process.