Installation

Installing Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist on VMware vSphere

Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is distributed as a deployable virtual machine contained in an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file format, ZIP file format, or a TAR file format. Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance supports VMware High Availability (VMHA) to ensure non-disruptive operation of the virtual appliance. For more information about VMHA, please refer to the documentation on vmware.com.

Attention

Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist OVA must be deployed using VMware vCenter. The OVA cannot be directly deployed on ESXi servers.

By default, VMware vCenter does not include a Certificate Authority (CA) that validates the Cisco digital signature on the Intersight Virtual Appliance OVA file. The VMware vCenter GUI will indicate that the OVA’s certificate is invalid and is not trusted. Although possible, it is recommended that you do not ignore this warning and proceed with the installation. Instead, download and install the appropriate root CA from the table below that will validate the digital signature on the Intersight Virtual Appliance OVA file. Validating the signature ensures that the OVA was both issued by Cisco and has not been modified by a 3rd party.

The root CA certificates listed in the following table are available on Cisco's PKI page.

OVA version

CA Issuer

CA Serial Number

CA Expiration

1.1.0-0 and later

TrustID EV Code Signing CA 4

40:01:7f:9e:01:04:d0:f0:da:98:8d:43:d8:97:43:03

March 18, 2030

1.0.9-630

TrustID EV Code Signing CA 4

40:01:7f:9e:01:04:d0:f0:da:98:8d:43:d8:97:43:03

March 18, 2030

1.0.9-588

DigiCert Trusted G4 Code Signing 2021 CA1

08:ad:40:b2:60:d2:9c:4c:9f:5e:cd:a9:bd:93:ae:d9

April 28, 2036

1.0.9-499

None

None

None

1.0.9-342

DigiCert Trusted G4 Code Signing 2021 CA1

08:ad:40:b2:60:d2:9c:4c:9f:5e:cd:a9:bd:93:ae:d9

April 28, 2036

Use the steps in the following task to install and deploy the appliance on VMware vSphere. To install and deploy a multi-node cluster for high availability for Intersight Virtual Appliance on VMware vSphere, repeat the steps in the following task three times.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have downloaded the latest Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance software package from the Intersight Software Downloads Portal. For more information, see Downloading Software Packages from Intersight Virtual Appliance.


Attention

  • Before installing and setting up Intersight Virtual Appliance, it is strongly recommended that you read the information provided in the System Requirements section.

  • Setting up a single-node Intersight Virtual Appliance requires an IP address and two DNS records for that IP address. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node for advantage tier metrics data collection in Intersight Virtual Appliance (two-node cluster) requires an IPv4 address and 2 DNS records for that IP address for the single-node (appliance management node) and requires an IPv4 address and one DNS record for that IP address for the metrics node. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node cluster for high availability in Intersight Virtual Appliance requires three hostnames, three IP addresses, and one DC-CNAME for each hostname. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node for advantage tier metrics data collection in Intersight Virtual Appliance (four-node cluster) requires three hostnames, three IP addresses, and one DC-CNAME for each hostname for the HA management cluster. It also requires an IPv4 address and one DNS record for that IP address for the metrics node. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Use only HTTPS protocol and fully qualified domain name to access the appliance via the Web user interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to VMware vSphere Web Client with administrator credentials.

Step 2

Right-click on the appropriate vCenter object (datacenter, cluster or ESXi host), and select Deploy OVF Template.

Step 3

On the Deploy OVF Template wizard Select template page, specify the source location, and click Next. You can specify a URL or browse to any accessible location..

Step 4

On the OVF Template Details page, verify the OVF template details and click Next. No input is necessary.

Step 5

On the Select a name and location page, add/edit the Name and Location for the Virtual appliance and click Next.

Step 6

On the Select a resource page, select the specific Host (ESX station), Cluster, or Resource Pool on which you want to deploy and click Next.

Each VM must be assigned to a specific host on clusters that are configured with vSphere HA or Manual mode vSphere DRS.

Step 7

On the Review details page, verify the OVA template details and click Next.

Step 8

On the Configuration page, select a deployment configuration and click Next.

Step 9

On the Select storage page, select a destination storage for the VM files in the selected ESX host and click Next. Select the Disk Format for the virtual machine virtual disks.

Cisco recommends that you use thick provisioning. While it is possible to use thin provisioning, over-commitment of storage can lead to a lack of storage capacity resulting in degradation and loss of service and might require a restore from backup.

Step 10

On the Select networks page, select a source network and map it to a destination network, and click Next.

Step 11

On the Customize Template page, customize the deployment properties of the OVF template, and click Next.

OVF Property

Description

Enable DHCP (only for single-node appliance)

Enables the appliance to obtain IP addresses from the DHCP server running on the same network to avoid using static IP addresses. If you select this option, all static parameters will be ignored. For more information about DHCP, see the Enabling DHCP section after this table.

IP Address(Values you input will be ignored if you Enable DHCP)

Enter the IPv4 address of the node. For example: 10.0.0.100

Net Mask(Values you input will be ignored if you Enable DHCP)

This field is pre-populated with the IPv4 Net Mask 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway(Values you input will be ignored if you Enable DHCP)

Enter the IPv4 Default Gateway. For example: 10.0.1.254

DNS Domain(Values you input will be ignored if you Enable DHCP)

Enter the DNS Search Domain.

DNS Servers(Values you input will be ignored if you Enable DHCP)

Enter a comma-separated list of IPv4 addresses for your DNS servers. A maximum of two DNS servers are supported.

Admin Password

Enter the admin password. This is the same password that you use to log in to the appliance.

Set Password—Before you register the appliance with Intersight, you must create an admin password. The password can contain 0-9, A-Z, a-z, and all special characters except a colon (:) and space.

NTP Servers

Enter a comma-separated list of hostnames or IPv4 addresses for your NTP servers. You may add up to three unauthenticated NTP servers at this stage. Once the appliance is fully installed, you can edit the NTP server settings to include any combination of authenticated and unauthenticated NTP servers (up to three total). This setting is required even if you use DHCP to obtain IP addresses.

Disk Size

Attention: Do not change the value of the disk size as it is computed based on the deployment configuration.

Attention

 

If the password you set at the time of registering your appliance is weak, Intersight prompts you to change your password to a stronger one. After a successful reset to a strong password, you are directly logged into the appliance. For more information about logging in, see Logging In to Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Enabling DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance VM to obtain an IP address through a DHCP server running on the network that it is installed on. When this option is enabled, the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is equipped to handle IP address updates through DHCP, subject to lease requirements.

Attention

 

DHCP is not supported on multi-node Intersight Virtual Appliance.

For a single-node appliance, ensure that the following requirements are met for using DHCP:

  • If you use DHCP, ensure that the IP address returned to the appliance VM resolves to the same FQDN you use to set up the appliance. Cisco strongly recommends configuring DHCP to assign a static IP address to the Appliance VM. Although the Appliance can handle changes when its DHCP lease is renewed, it operates more efficiently—especially when communicating with claimed devices—if its IP address remains constant.

  • The appliance only reads the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS-Servers from the DHCP lease information. NTP information is mandatory and must be input into the OVF parameters at the time of deployment.

Limitations

  • Frequent lease renewal could impact the VM configuration settings and could render the appliance unusable.

Step 12

On the Ready to Complete page, select Power On After Deployment and click Finish.

Step 13

Proceed to <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> to complete the post-install set-up of your appliance.

For information on how to complete the set-up of your appliance, see Setting Up Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Troubleshooting Tip: After providing the OVF parameters, if you notice that your VM does not respond when you visit <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> after about 15 minutes since power-on, you may use the Intersight Appliance Maintenance Shell to troubleshoot networking or misconfiguration issues.

Troubleshooting Tip: If the diag shell displays a hostname such as 192:, then it is possible that while deploying the appliance, the input for one or more network parameters (such as IP address, netmask, gateway, DNS servers, etc.) was entered incorrectly. It is also possible that the appliance VM is connected to a portgroup/vswitch that does not allow it to connect to the network and perform a successful DNS lookup. If you encounter this issue, check the inputs to the OVA as well as other network parameters. You can rectify the incorrect inputs using the maintenance shell.

The diagnostic tool aims to:

  • Detect and display issues with the installation prerequisites.

  • Enable editing the inputs that are provided during OVA deployment.

  • Assist with continuing the installation after you fix the settings, or set network interface properties such as IP addresses, subnet mask, and default gateway during the OVA deployment.

For more information, see Maintenance Shell for Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist and Intersight Virtual Appliance Console UI.

For a demonstration of the Intersight Virtual Appliance Installation and troubleshooting, watch Cisco Intersight Appliance Installation and Debug.

Installing Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist on Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is distributed as a deployable virtual machine contained in an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file format, ZIP file format, or TAR file format. Install the appliance on Microsoft Hyper-V Server using the ZIP file format. For more information about Microsoft Hyper-V Server, refer to the Microsoft documentation.

Note

Use the steps in the following task to install and deploy the appliance on Hyper-V Server Manager.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have downloaded the latest Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance software package from the Intersight Software Downloads Portal. For more information, see Downloading Software Packages from Intersight Virtual Appliance.


Attention

  • Before installing and setting up Intersight Virtual Appliance, it is strongly recommended that you read the information provided in the System Requirements section.

  • Setting up a single-node Intersight Virtual Appliance requires an IP address and two DNS records for that IP address. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node cluster for Intersight Virtual Appliance is NOT supported on Microsoft Hyper-V.

  • Use only HTTPS protocol and fully qualified domain name to access the appliance via the Web user interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Hyper-V Server Manager with administrator credentials and select a server where you want to install the appliance.

Step 2

From the Actions pane, select Import Virtual Machine, and click Next.

  1. Select the folder that contains the extracted virtual machine, for example, onprem_vms, and click Next.

  2. Select the virtual machine to import and click Next.

  3. In the Choose Import Type screen, select the Copy the virtual machine (create a new unique ID) option, and click Next.

  4. Make your selection in the Choose Destination screen and click Next.

  5. Make your selection in the Choose Storage Folders screen and click Next.

  6. Verify your selections in the Summary screen and click Finish.

After the import is completed, you will see the imported virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager.

Step 3

Right-click on the imported virtual machine and select Settings.

  1. Navigate to Network Adapter and select a virtual switch from the drop-down list.

  2. Click Apply.

Step 4

In the Actions pane, select Start to power-on the virtual machine.

Step 5

In the Actions pane, select Connect to connect to the virtual machine.

The Virtual Machine Connection console is displayed.

Step 6

On the Virtual Machine Connection console, customize the password configuration and IP properties.

Property

Description

Set password for user admin

Set a new password for the admin user.

Note

 

Ensure that you remember this password as you will use the same one to log into the appliance.

Choose IP Assignment

Type in S for static IP assignment or D for DHCP

Selecting DHCP for your IP assignment enables the appliance to obtain IP addresses from the DHCP server running on the same network to avoid using static IP addresses.

IP Address

Enter the IP address of the node. For example: 10.0.0.100

Subnet Mask

Enter the IP Net Mask. For example: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway

Enter the IP Default Gateway. For example: 10.0.1.254

DNS Servers

Enter a comma-separated list of IP addresses for your DNS servers. A maximum of two DNS servers are supported.

DNS Domain

Enter the DNS Search Domain.

NTP Servers

Provide NTP information when configuring a static IP address.

Enter a comma-separated list of hostnames or IPv4 addresses for your NTP servers. You may add up to three unauthenticated NTP servers at this stage. Once the appliance is fully installed, you can edit the NTP server settings to include any combination of authenticated and unauthenticated NTP servers (up to three total). This setting is required even if you use DHCP to obtain IP addresses.

You cannot provide NTP information if you configured DHCP for your IP assignment.

Attention

 

If the password you set at the time of registering your appliance is weak, Intersight prompts you to change your password to a stronger one. After a successful reset to a strong password, you are directly logged into the appliance. For more information about logging in, see Logging In to Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Enabling DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance VM to obtain an IP address through a DHCP server running on the network that it is installed on. When this option is enabled, the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is equipped to handle IP address updates through DHCP, subject to lease requirements.

Attention

 

For a single-node appliance, ensure that the following requirements are met for using DHCP:

  • If you use DHCP, ensure that the IP address returned to the appliance VM resolves to the same FQDN you use to set up the appliance. Cisco strongly recommends configuring DHCP to assign a static IP address to the Appliance VM. Although the Appliance can handle changes when its DHCP lease is renewed, it operates more efficiently—especially when communicating with claimed devices—if its IP address remains constant.

  • The appliance only reads the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS-Servers from the DHCP lease information. NTP information for the Hyper-V Server must be input into the Virtual Machine Connection console when configuring static IP.

Limitations

  • Frequent lease renewal could impact the VM configuration settings and could render the appliance unusable.

Step 7

Proceed to <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> to complete the post-install set-up of your appliance.

For information on how to complete the set-up of your appliance, see Setting Up Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Troubleshooting Tip: After providing the password and IP property parameters, if you notice that your VM does not respond when you visit <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> after about 15 minutes, you can use the Intersight Appliance Maintenance Shell to troubleshoot networking or misconfiguration issues.

The diagnostic tool aims to:

  • Detect and display issues with the installation prerequisites.

  • Enable editing the inputs that are provided during the OVA deployment.

  • Assist with continuing the installation after you fix the settings, or set network interface properties such as IP addresses, subnet mask, and default gateway during the OVA deployment.

For more information, see Maintenance Shell for Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist and Intersight Virtual Appliance Console UI.

For a demonstration of the Intersight Virtual Appliance Installation and troubleshooting, watch Cisco Intersight Appliance Installation and Debug.

Installing Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist on KVM Hypervisor

Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is distributed as a deployable virtual machine contained in an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file format, ZIP file format, or a TAR file format. Install the appliance on KVM hypervisor using the TAR file format.

Note

Software Requirements:

  • Linux operating system with support for KVM hypervisor or Linux operating system pre-configured with KVM hypervisor. Ensure that you have the latest version of all the essential virtualization utilities such as qemu-kvm, libvirt, and virt-manager for your Linux distribution. It is important to verify that these utilities are compatible with the Linux kernel version running on your host system.

  • A virtual network bridge to provide network connectivity to VMs.

Use the steps in the following task to install and deploy the appliance on KVM hypervisor using Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

Before you begin

Ensure that you have downloaded the latest Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance software package from the Intersight Software Downloads Portal. For more information, see Downloading Software Packages from Intersight Virtual Appliance.


Attention

  • Before installing and setting up Intersight Virtual Appliance, it is strongly recommended that you read the information provided in the System Requirements section.

  • Setting up a single-node Intersight Virtual Appliance requires an IP address and two DNS records for that IP address. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node cluster for Intersight Virtual Appliance is NOT supported on KVM hypervisor.

  • Use only HTTPS protocol and fully qualified domain name to access the appliance via the Web user interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Launch the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) client.

Step 2

Select File > New Virtual Machine on the menu bar to install a new virtual machine on a KVM hypervisor.

The New VM dialog box appears and displays Step 1 of 4 of the New VM installation.

Step 3

Under Choose how you would like to install the operating system, select Import existing disk image, and click Forward.

Step 2 of 4 is displayed.

Step 4

Under Provide the existing storage path, click Browse.

Step 5

Under Choose storage volume, browse your directories to locate and select the first disk of the Intersight Virtual Appliance image file (for example, intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.0-0-1.qcow2) that you have extracted on your system.

  1. Under Advanced options, select VirtIO.

Note

 

VirtIO is the only supported disk bus for storage while installing Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist on KVM Hypervisor.

Step 6

Under Choose an operating system type and version, select Linux for OS type and AlmaLinux 9 for Version, and click Forward.

Step 3 of 4 is displayed.

Step 7

Under Choose Memory and CPU settings, do the following for medium deployments, and click Forward.

  • Select or enter 64 GB for Memory (RAM)

  • Set vCPU at 24

Step 4 of 4 is displayed.

For more information about resource requirements and supported configuration limits, see VM Resource Requirements for New Intersight Virtual Appliance Deployments and Supported Configuration Limits for Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Step 8

In the dialog box, complete the following configuration:

  • Under Ready to begin the installation, in the Name field, enter a name for the Intersight Virtual Appliance software. For example, intersight-appliance-1.1.0-0.

  • Ensure that you have selected the Customize configuration before install option.

  • Under Network selection, ensure that you select the appropriate virtual network bridge.

Step 9

Click Finish.

You have now completed the process of adding the first disk of the Intersight Virtual Appliance image.

Starting with release version 1.1.0-0, Appliance uses UEFI for the firmware. Under the Overview tab on the VMM console, click on Firmware and select the path to the OVMF firmware file such as /usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd for RedHat and AlmaLinux 9. The name and location of this file depend on the Linux distribution. On Ubuntu, the file is located at /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd.

You will need to add disks 2 through 8, one by one, before you can begin the installation process.

Step 10

On the VMM console, complete the following configuration:

  1. Click Add Hardware that you can find at the bottom of the left navigation panel.

  2. Under Storage, ensure that Select or create custom storage is selected.

  3. Browse your directories to locate and select the second disk of the Intersight Virtual Appliance image file (for example, intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.0-0-2.qcow2) that you have extracted on your system and click Choose volume.

  4. Click Finish.

Repeat this step until you have added disk3 through disk8. Ensure that all eight disks appear on the left navigation panel.

Step 11

Click Begin installation.

Step 12

On the VMM console, customize the password configuration and IP properties.

Property

Description

Set password for user admin

Set a new password for admin user.

Note

 

Ensure that you remember this password as you will use the same one to log into the appliance.

Choose IP Assignment

Type in S for static IP assignment or D for DHCP

Selecting DHCP for your IP assignment enables the appliance to obtain IP addresses from the DHCP server running on the same network to avoid using static IP addresses.

IP Address

Enter the IPv4 address of the node. For example: 10.0.0.100

Note

 

You must have an IPv4 address configured in order for the appliance to be functional.

It is recommended that you configure IPv6 addresses subsequent to completing the initial installation and deployment of the appliance using an IPv4 address.

Subnet Mask

Enter the IP Net Mask. For example: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway

Enter the IP Default Gateway. For example: 10.0.1.254

DNS Servers

Enter a comma-separated list of IP addresses for your DNS servers. A maximum of two DNS servers are supported.

DNS Domain

Enter the DNS Search Domain.

NTP Servers

Provide NTP information when configuring a static IP address.

Enter a comma-separated list of hostnames or IPv4 addresses for your NTP servers. You may add up to three unauthenticated NTP servers at this stage. Once the appliance is fully installed, you can edit the NTP server settings to include any combination of authenticated and unauthenticated NTP servers (up to three total). This setting is required even if you use DHCP to obtain IP addresses.

You cannot provide NTP information if you configured DHCP for your IP assignment.

Attention

 

If the password you set at the time of registering your appliance is weak, Intersight prompts you to change your password to a stronger one. After a successful reset to a strong password, you are directly logged into the appliance. For more information about logging in, see Logging In to Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Enabling DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance VM to obtain an IP address through a DHCP server running on the network that it is installed on. When this option is enabled, the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is equipped to handle IP address updates through DHCP, subject to lease requirements.

Attention

 

For a single-node appliance, ensure that the following requirements are met for using DHCP:

  • If you use DHCP, ensure that the IP address returned to the appliance VM resolves to the same FQDN you use to set up the appliance. Cisco strongly recommends configuring DHCP to assign a static IP address to the Appliance VM. Although the Appliance can handle changes when its DHCP lease is renewed, it operates more efficiently—especially when communicating with claimed devices—if its IP address remains constant.

  • The appliance only reads the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS-Servers from the DHCP lease information. NTP information for the KVM hypervisor must be input into the VMM console when configuring static IP.

Limitations

  • Frequent lease renewal could impact the VM configuration settings and could render the appliance unusable.

Step 13

Proceed to <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> to complete the post-install set-up of your appliance.

For information on how to complete the set-up of your appliance, see Setting Up Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Troubleshooting Tip: After providing the password and IP property parameters, if you notice that your VM does not respond when you visit <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> after about 15 minutes, you can use the Intersight Appliance Maintenance Shell to troubleshoot networking or misconfiguration issues.

The diagnostic tool aims to:

  • Detect and display issues with the installation prerequisites.

  • Enable editing the inputs that are provided during the appliance image deployment.

  • Assist with continuing the installation after you fix the settings, or set network interface properties such as IP addresses, subnet mask, and default gateway during the appliance image deployment.

For more information, see Maintenance Shell for Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist and Intersight Virtual Appliance Console UI.

For a demonstration of the Intersight Virtual Appliance Installation and troubleshooting, watch Cisco Intersight Appliance Installation and Debug.

Installing Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist on Nutanix AHV

Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is distributed as a deployable virtual machine contained in an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file format, ZIP file format, or TAR file format. Install the appliance on Nutanix AHV using the TAR file format.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have downloaded the latest Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance software package from the Intersight Software Downloads Portal. For more information, see Downloading Software Packages from Intersight Virtual Appliance.

The qcow2 image files in the installer TAR file must be uploaded to Nutanix’s Image Service.

  • To upload files to Nutanix's Image Service from a webserver, copy the files to a directory with appropriate permissions such that they can be downloaded via unauthenticated HTTP.

  • To upload files to Nutanix's Image Service from your local computer, uncompress and expand the TAR file to a local directory.


Attention

  • Before installing and setting up Intersight Virtual Appliance, it is strongly recommended that you read the information provided in the System Requirements section.

  • Setting up a single-node Intersight Virtual Appliance requires an IPv4 address and two DNS records for that IP address. For more information about IP addresses and Hostname requirements, see IP Address and Hostname Requirements.

  • Setting up a multi-node cluster for Intersight Virtual Appliance is NOT supported on Nutanix AHV.

  • When accessing the Intersight Virtual Appliance’s web UI, only use the HTTPS protocol and the appliance’s fully qualified domain name.

Procedure

Step 1

Log into Nutanix Prism using administrator credentials.

Step 2

Navigate to Settings > Image Configuration and click Upload Image.

In the Create Image screen, enter the following information:

  • Name—Enter a name to allow for easy identification of the disk. For example, intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.1-0.

  • Image Type—Select DISK.

  • Storage Container—Select a storage container where you want to save the qcow2 images.

  • Image Source—Either input the URL to the qcow2 image on your webserver (for example, http://10.0.0.1/appliance/intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.0-0-1.qcow2), or upload the file from a disk.

Step 3

Click Save.

Step 4

Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 to upload the remaining 7 qcow2 images.

Step 5

Navigate to Home > VM > Create VM and enter the required information for creating the new VM.

  1. Under General Configuration:

    • Name

    • Description

    • Timezone

    • Use this VM as an agent VM—Leave it unchecked.

  2. Under Compute Details, enter information for the following fields based on whether you want to create a medium or a large configuration. For more information about resource requirements and supported configuration limits, see VM Resource Requirements for New Intersight Virtual Appliance Deployments and Supported Configuration Limits for Intersight Virtual Appliance.

    • vCPUs

    • Number of Cores Per vCPU

    • Memory

  3. Under Boot Configuration, select UEFI.

    Do NOT select Legacy BIOS.

  4. Under Disks, click Add New Disk, and enter the following information:

    • Type—Select DISK.

    • Operation—Select Clone from Image Service.

    • Bus Type—Select SCSI. Note that Intersight Virtual Appliance works only when bus type is set to SCSI.

    • Image—Select disk1 from the list of 8 disks. For example, if the naming convention for the files is intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.1-0-<sequence_number>.qcow2, then the first file that must be selected is intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-1.qcow2.

      Attention

       

      You must select and assign disk1 through disk8 in a numerical order. As an example, if you select intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.11.0-2.qcow2 and assign it to disk1, the VM will not boot.

    • Logical Size (GiB)—The size is automatically selected based on the disk selection.

    • Index—Default

    Click Save.

  5. Repeat Step d to add disks 2 through 8.

    Note

     

    Ensure that the files are added in numerical order. For example, if the naming convention for the files is intersight-appliance-installer-kvm-1.1.1-0-<sequence_number>.qcow2, then the files must be added in the following order:

    1. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-2.qcow2

    2. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-3.qcow2

    3. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-4.qcow2

    4. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-5.qcow2

    5. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-6.qcow2

    6. intersight-appliance-installer-1.1.1-0-7.qcow2

  6. Under Network Adapter (NIC), click Add New NIC, and enter the following information:

    • Subnet Name—Select a subnet from the configured drop-down list. Note that the subnet must have been previously created in the virtual switch. Also, the default gateway, DNS services, etc. must be reachable via this subnet.

    • Network Connection State—Select Connected.

  7. Click Add.

Step 6

Click Save.

The newly created VM appears in the VM table.

Step 7

Right-click on the newly created VM and click Power on.

The green light in the new VM row indicates that the VM is powered on.

Step 8

Click Launch Console, from the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.

Step 9

On the VM console, customize the password configuration and IP properties.

Property

Description

Set password for user admin

Set a new password for admin user.

Note

 

Ensure that you remember this password as you will use the same one to log into the Intersight Virtual Appliance web UI.

Choose IP Assignment

Type in S for static IP assignment or D for DHCP

Selecting DHCP for your IP assignment enables the appliance to obtain IP addresses from the DHCP server running on the same network to avoid using static IP addresses.

IP Address

Note

 

This field appears only if you selected Static IP assignment in the previous step.

Enter the IPv4 address of the node. For example: 10.0.0.100

You can configure an IPv6 address at the same time. For IPv6, you can choose either static assignment or Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC).

Subnet Mask

Enter the IP Net Mask. For example: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway

Enter the IP Default Gateway. For example: 10.0.1.254

DNS Servers

Enter a comma-separated list of IP addresses for your DNS servers. A maximum of two IPv4 DNS servers are supported.

DNS Domain

Enter the DNS Search Domain.

NTP Servers

Provide NTP information when configuring a static IP.

Enter a comma-separated list of hostnames or IPv4 addresses for your NTP servers. You may add up to three unauthenticated NTP servers at this stage. Once the appliance is fully installed, you can edit the NTP server settings to include any combination of authenticated and unauthenticated NTP servers (up to three total). This setting is required even if you use DHCP to obtain IP addresses.

You cannot provide NTP information if you configured DHCP for your IP assignment.

Attention

 

If the password you set at the time of registering your appliance is weak, Intersight prompts you to change your password to a stronger one. After a successful reset to a strong password, you are directly logged into the appliance. For more information about logging in, see Logging In to Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Enabling DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance VM to obtain an IP address through a DHCP server running on the network that it is installed on. When this option is enabled, the Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance is equipped to handle IP address updates through DHCP, subject to lease requirements.

Attention

 

For a single-node appliance, ensure that the following requirements are met for using DHCP:

  • If you use DHCP, ensure that the IP address returned to the appliance VM resolves to the same FQDN you use to set up the appliance. Cisco strongly recommends configuring DHCP to assign a static IP address to the Appliance VM. Although the Appliance can handle changes when its DHCP lease is renewed, it operates more efficiently—especially when communicating with claimed devices—if its IP address remains constant.

  • The appliance only reads the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS-Servers from the DHCP lease information.

Limitations

  • Frequent lease renewals can impact the VM configuration settings and render the appliance unusable.

Step 10

Proceed to <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> to complete the post-install set-up of your appliance.

For information on how to complete the set-up of your appliance, see Setting Up Intersight Virtual Appliance.

Troubleshooting Tip: After providing the password and IP property parameters, if you notice that your VM does not respond when you visit <https://fqdn-of-your-appliance> after about 15 minutes, you can use the Intersight Appliance Maintenance Shell to troubleshoot networking or misconfiguration issues.

The diagnostic tool aims to:

  • Detect and display issues with the installation prerequisites.

  • Enable editing the inputs that are provided during the appliance image deployment.

  • Assist with continuing the installation after you fix the settings, or set network interface properties such as IP addresses, subnet mask, and default gateway during the appliance image deployment.

For more information, see Maintenance Shell for Intersight Virtual Appliance and Intersight Assist and Intersight Virtual Appliance Console UI.

For a demonstration of the Intersight Virtual Appliance Installation and troubleshooting, watch Cisco Intersight Appliance Installation and Debug.