This is an interactive simulation
Drive it with your mouse... or your finger
The blue boxes show you where to click
You can also use the arrow keys to step forward or backward
Shortcuts jump to different parts of the simulation
This portion of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This simulation will enable you to navigate the software interface as if you are interacting with a live environment.
The orange boxes show where to click, and you can also use the left and right arrow keys to move through the simulation in either direction.
This simulation shows how to deploy the Cloud Foundation VIA appliance in preparation for imaging a new physical rack.
To image a new rack with VMware Cloud Foundation you use a jump host that is physically connect to the management switch in the rack. On the jump host you download the files from VMware's web site, deploy the VIA Appliance, and upload and activate the Cloud Foundation software bundle. In this example we will use a Windows jump host running VMware Workstation. Upon completion of these tasks you will be ready to image a new Cloud Foundation Rack.
Begin by logging onto the jump host and downloading the VMware Cloud Foundation software to the Downloads directory.
1. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
Note that there are four four files available for download:
At a minimum, you must download the Software Bundle, it's corresponding MD5SUM file, and the VIA appliance OVA file.
2. Click the minimize button on the browser window (within the simulation, not your browser!)
3. Click the Windows Explorer Icon on the toolbar.
Here we see that these files have been downloaded to the "Downloads" directory.
4. Click the minimize icon to minimize the Windows Explorer window
The next step is to connect the jump host to port #48 on the management switch in the physical rack and configure IPv4 connectivity using the IP address 192.168.100.250/24.
5. Click the Windows Menu
6. Click Settings
7. Click Network and Internet
8. Click Change adapter options
9. Click Ethernet0
10. Click Properties
11. Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
12. Click Properties
13. Select "Use the following IP address:"
14. Click the "IP address:" box, and type "192.168.100.250", subnet mask "255.255.255.0"
16. Click OK
17. Click Close to close the "Ethernet0 Properties" window
18. Click Close to close the "Ethernet0 Status" window
19. Click the minimize icon to minimize the Network Connections window
That completes the jump host configuration. The jump box has been physically connected to port #48 on the management switch and communication enabled using the IP address 192.168.100.250/24.
20. Click the close icon to close the Network and Internet settings window
We are new ready to deploy the OVA. You can host the VIA Appliance on VMware Player, VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion or on VMware ESXi. In this example we are using VMware Workstation running on our Windows jump host.
21. Click Workstation
22. Click Open a Virtual Machine
23. Click to select the "VCF-Imaging-Appliance-2.1.0.0-4724413_OVF10.ova" file previously saved to the Downloads directory
24. Click Open
Note the name for the new virtual machine and the storage path for the new virtual machine.
25. Click Import
26. Click Accept to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA)
The OVA is imported. Note that there is no user input or additional configuration required. The VIA deploys quickly using default settings. Once the OVA has been deployed, the next step is to mount the Cloud Foundation Software Bundle to the VIA appliance
27. Click Edit virtual machine settings
28. Click CD/DVD (IDE)
29. Select Use ISO image file
30. Click Browse
31. Click to select the "VCF-Bundle-2.1.0-4732657.iso" file saved to the Downloads directory
32. Click Open
33. Click OK
With the software bundle mounted, we are ready to power on the VIA appliance.
34. Click Power on this virtual machine
Wait for the VIA appliance to boot. After the VIA appliance boots, we will open the web browser and connect to the appliance using the URL http://192.168.100.2:8080/via.
35. Click Firefox icon in the system tray
36. Click the address bar
37. Type the URL "http://192.168.100.2:8080/via"
There is no login prompt when you connect to the VIA appliance. Once connected, the first step is to upload the software bundle. Prior to powering on the VIA we mounted the software bundle ISO file to the CDROM, all that is needed here is to provide the MD5SUM hash file so the VIA can validate integrity of the ISO image and upload the bundle.
38. Click Browse
39. Click to select the MD5SUM.txt file previously saved to the Downloads directory
40. Click Open
41. Click Upload Bundle
The software bundle is uploaded to the VIA appliance. The final step is to activate the bundle.
42. Click Activate Bundle
The software bundle is activated successfully.
This completes the demonstration on deploying the VIA appliance and uploading and activating the Cloud Foundation software bundle in preparation for imaging a new Cloud Foundation Rack. The next step is to image the physical rack.
To return to the lab, click the link in the top right corner or close this browser tab.
