How to Deploy a Cisco CSR 1000v on Microsoft Azure

Customize the Microsoft Azure Portal

You can customize the Microsoft Azure portal GUI by adding frequently used objects, such as virtual machines or virtual network to the left-hand side panel.


Note
You only need to perform these optional steps if you are going to deploy a Cisco CSR 1000v using a single interface, where the resources need to be added manually. You do not need to create these resources manually, if you are going to deploy a Cisco CSR 1000v with 2, 4 or 8 interfaces using a solution template.

Before you begin

To customize the portal, you must have a Microsoft Azure subscription.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Sign in to Microsoft Azure.
  2. Click Browse and select an object to be added to the left hand side panel.
  3. In the drop-down menu, click the star symbol for your chosen object.

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Sign in to Microsoft Azure.

Step 2

Click Browse and select an object to be added to the left hand side panel.

Step 3

In the drop-down menu, click the star symbol for your chosen object.

The details of this object are saved for future use. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add a series of objects to the left-hand side panel.

Deploy a CSR 1000v with Multiple Interfaces on Microsoft Azure

Perform the following steps to deploy a Cisco CSR1000V instance with multiple interfaces on Microsoft Azure.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.
Step 2

On the Search bar, search for Cisco CSR.

Step 3

The system displays the various offerings under Cisco CSR1000V. Select Cisco CSR1000V Solution Deployment, and click Create.

Step 4

In the Cisco CSR1000V Solution Deployment page, the Cisco CSR 1000v - XE with 2, 4 or 8 NICs solution is available in the Plan drop-down field. Click Create.

Step 5

In the Basics page, enter the following details:

  1. Subscription Name: The name of your subscription. A default subscription name is available. You can modify the subscription name, if required.

  2. Resource Group: A container that holds the resources for your solution. From this drop-down field, choose either Create New or Select Existing. You can create a Cisco CSR 1000V instance only in a new Resource Group or in a completely empty existing resource group. To remove a Resource Group, first delete the Cisco CSR 1000V VM and then delete the Resource Group.

  3. Region: The region or location where you are performing this deployment. From this drop-down field choose your region.

  4. Virtual Machine Name: The name of the cloud-based network used by Microsoft Azure to represent a private network. Enter a name for the virtual machine.

  5. Username: The username for your VM using which you can log in to the Cisco CSR 1000V instance. Enter a user name for your VM.

    Note 
    For Cisco IOS XE versions 3.16 and 16.4, if you're planning to choose SSH Key as an authentication type, enter the Username as azureuser.

  6. Authentication type: The authentication type for the administrator account. You can use a username and password or an SSH key for authentication. If you select the SSH Key option, select the SSH Public Key Source and provide the Key Pair Name. If you select the Password opition, enter a password for authentication.

  7. Cisco IOS XE Image Version: The version of the Cisco IOS XE software. From this drop-down field, choose your Cisco IOS XE version.

Step 6

Click Next and proceed to the Cisco CSR Settings page.

Step 7

In the Cisco CSR Settings page, enter the following details:

  1. Number of Network Interfaces in CSR: The number of network interfaces you want to attach to the VM. From the drop-down list, choose the number of interfaces: 2, 4, or 8.

  2. License Type: The license type. From this drop-down field, choose either BYOL or PAYG as the license type.

  3. Managed Disk: The option that allows you to specify whether you want Azure to manage the disk for you. Select Enabled.

  4. Virtual machine size: The size of the VM to provision. Select the appropriate virtual machine size. Based on the number of interfaces that you are using, select the appropriate virtual machine size. Microsoft Azure supports different image types with different performance expectations.

    To view the supported instance types and the virtual machine sizes, see the following links:

  5. Custom Data: The provisioning configuration information for your VM. Select Yes if you want to provide a bootstrap configuration file for your Cisco CSR 1000V instance. For further information about providing a bootstrap configuration file for the Cisco CSR 1000V instance, see: Deploying a Cisco CSR 1000v VM on Microsoft Azure using a Day 0 Bootstrap File and customdata-examples.

  6. Enable Accelerated Networking: The option to enable single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) to your VM. Select Yes to enable the accelerated networking feature.

  7. Availability Set: The logical grouping of resources to create an availability set. Select Yes to create a new availability set.

  8. Availability Set name: The name of your availability set. Enter a name for your availability set.

  9. Availability Set Fault Domain Count: The group of VMs that share a common power source and network switch. Availability sets arrange virtual machines across fault domains. In the field, enter the availability set fault domain count.

  10. Availability Set Update Domain Count: A group of VMs and underlying physical hardware that can be rebooted at the same time. Enter the availability set update domain count.

  11. Boot diagnostics: The option that enables you to capture the boot logs and screenshots of the virtual machine. Select True to enable boot diagnostics. For more information on boot diagnostics, see Microsoft Azure Resources.

  12. Diagnostics Storage account: The storage account for the boot diagnostics. Enter the storage account name. For more information on storage accounts, see Microsoft Azure Resources.

  13. Public IP Address: The public IP address name. For more information on the public IP address, see Microsoft Azure Resources.

  14. DNS label: The name of the public IP address to be assigned to the Cisco CSR 1000V instance. A default value for the DNS label is shown in the text box which is the VM name followed by "-dns". Change the name of the DNS label, if required.

Step 8

In the Configure Virtual Networks section, specify the following details:

  1. Virtual network: From the drop-down field, choose either Create New or Use existing. For a new virtual network, enter the name and IP address.

  2. First Subnet/Second Subnet: The name and the IP address for your subnets. For more information on subnets, see "Interfaces" in Microsoft Azure Resources.

Step 9

Click Next: Review + Create.

Step 10

The system displays the summary of all your settings. Review your settings and then click Next.

Step 11

Click Create

The VM is created and the purchase is confirmed.
Step 12

To verify the successful creation of your VM, click Virtual machines in the left hand panel. After a few minutes, the status of the recently created VM changes from “Creating” to “Running”. Make a note of the Public IP address name.

Deploy a CSR 1000v with a Single Interface on Microsoft Azure

Perform the following steps to deploy a Cisco CSR 1000v with a single interface, on Microsoft Azure.


Note
If you are deploying a Cisco CSR 1000v with a 2-, 4- or 8- NICs solution template, the following steps are not required. Instead, go to the Microsoft Azure portal and determine the public IP address of the Cisco CSR 1000v. Then, ssh into the Cisco CSR 1000v as described in Access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Select Virtual machines in the left hand side panel.

Step 2

Click Add.

Step 3

Enter csr. A search starts, to find any Cisco CSR 1000v VM deployments in the Azure Marketplace.

Step 4

Choose a deployment.

Example: Cisco CSR 1000v Bring Your Own License - XE 16.7.

Step 5

Click Create.

The Basics sub-menu is highlighted.

Step 6

Name—Enter the name of the virtual network.

The virtual network is a cloud-based network used by Microsoft Azure to represent the private network.
Step 7

VM disk type—Select a VM disk type.

The VM disk type is either SSD or HDD.
Step 8

User name

Username for the Cisco CSR 1000v virtual machine. This is the username that you will use to log into the Cisco CSR 1000v.

For Cisco IOS XE version 3.16 and Cisco IOS XE 16.4, to enter an SSH public key to access the CSR set the “Username” field to “azureuser”.

Step 9

Authentication type—Enter a Password (default) or SSH public key.

Step 10

Subscription—Select the name of a subscription.

A default name based on the name of the virtual machine is provided. You can change the default name.

Step 11

Resource Group—Create a new group by selecting Create new or select an existing group by selecting Use existing.

Specifies the name of a new or existing resource group.
Step 12

Click OK.

The Size sub-menu is highlighted.

Step 13

Click Virtual machine size

For further information on virtual machine size, see Sizes for Windows virtual machines in Azure.

Step 14

Click OK.

The Settings sub-menu is highlighted.

Step 15

High Availability—Select an existing availability set or create a new availability set.

To use High Availability, select an existing availability set or create a new availability set.
Step 16

Storage—Enter the storage account name.

Enter the storage account name, if you are using Managed Disks to manage the storage accounts of VM disks.

Step 17

Virtual network—Enter the virtual network address.

Enter the address of the virtual network using Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation. Example: 10.4.1.0/16
Step 18

Subnet——Enter the subnet IP address.

Step 19

Public IP address—Enter the public IP address name.

The IP address is provided by Azure.
Step 20

Network Security groups—Enter the name of a network security group.

Step 21

Auto-shutdown

To enable auto-shutdown, set Enable to "On". To disable auto-shutdown set Enable to "Off". For more information on auto-shutdown, search for "auto-shutdown" in the Microsoft Azure Documentation.

Step 22

(Optional) Monitoring—Select "Monitoring" to enable monitoring.

Enables Cisco CSR 1000v monitoring, using boot diagnostics. If you enable monitoring, you must also enter the boot diagnostics account name.

Step 23

Click OK.

The 4 Summary sub-menu is highlighted. The summary details of the VM that is about to be deployed are displayed on the screen.

Step 24

Click Create.

The VM is created and the purchase is confirmed.

Step 25

Click Virtual machines on the left hand panel.

Verifies the VM status. After a few minutes, the VM status changes from “Creating” to “Running”. Make a note of the Public IP address name.

What to do next

Go to Access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI, which explains how to ssh into the Cisco CSR 1000v.

Access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI

Access the CLI of the Cisco CSR 1000v VM via a terminal server.

Before you begin

Before you access the CLI, perform the steps in one of the preceding deployment procedures (Deploy a CSR 1000v with a Single Interface on Microsoft Azure or Deploy a CSR 1000v with Multiple Interfaces on Microsoft Azure).

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Enter the ssh command using a command syntax from one of the two substeps below.
    • If you did not previously use an SSH public key (you did not specify a username of “azureuser”, then you can access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI using the following command: ssh –o ServerAliveInterval=60 username@csr_ip_address
    • If you did previously use an SSH public key (you did specify a username of “azureuser”), then you can access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI using the following command: ssh –ikey-o ServerAliveInterval=60 azureuser@csr_ip_address

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Enter the ssh command using a command syntax from one of the two substeps below.

  • If you did not previously use an SSH public key (you did not specify a username of “azureuser”, then you can access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI using the following command: ssh –o ServerAliveInterval=60 username@csr_ip_address
  • If you did previously use an SSH public key (you did specify a username of “azureuser”), then you can access the Cisco CSR 1000v CLI using the following command: ssh –ikey-o ServerAliveInterval=60 azureuser@csr_ip_address

Enter the ssh command in a terminal server of your choice to access the CLI .

Example

In the following example, username=“azureuser”, public IP address = 40.121.148.7 and password=xxx are used as parameters in the ssh command, before other commands such as show ip route . No ssh public key was previously specified.) 

$ ssh –o ServerAliveInterval=60  azureuser@40.121.148.7 
                The authenticity of host '40.121.148.7 (40.121.148.7)' can't be established.
                RSA key fingerprint is 94:79:e9:d2:2e:85:93:d6:52:41:cc:a3:d9:14:7f:5f.
                Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
                Warning: Permanently added '40.121.148.7' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
                Password: mypassword
# show ip int br
                Interface              IP-Address      OK? Method Status                    Protocol
                GigabitEthernet1       10.4.1.4        YES DHCP   up                        up      
                GigabitEthernet2 	unassigned     YES unset  administratively down     down	
            
# configure terminal
                Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
                # interface g2
                # ip address dh
                # ip address dhcp
                # no shutdown
                # end
                # show run interface g2
                Building configuration...
                Current configuration : 69 bytes
                !
                interface GigabitEthernet2
                ip address dhcp
                negotiation auto
                end
                # show ip interface brief
                Interface              IP-Address      OK? Method Status                Protocol
                GigabitEthernet1       10.4.0.4        YES DHCP   up                    up
                GigabitEthernet2       10.4.1.4        YES DHCP   up                    up
                
                # show ip route
                <output snipped for brevity>
                Gateway of last resort is 10.4.1.1 to network 0.0.0.0
                
                S*    0.0.0.0/0 [1/0] via 10.4.1.1
                10.0.0.0/8 is variably subnetted, 4 subnets, 2 masks
                C        10.4.1.0/24 is directly connected, GigabitEthernet1
                L        10.4.1.4/32 is directly connected, GigabitEthernet1
                C        10.4.2.0/24 is directly connected, GigabitEthernet2
                L        10.4.2.4/32 is directly connected, GigabitEthernet2
                168.63.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
                S        168.63.129.16 [254/0] via 10.4.1.1