Nutanix CE in Nested VM for Lab Testing

Please refer to the steps below on how to install Nutanix CE in Nested VM for lab testing purpose

The following VM will be builded in ESXi 6.0 Host

No Name IP Address
1 LAB-NTX1 192.168.88.120
CVM (Nested VM) 192.168.88.121
2 LAB-NTX2 192.168.88.122
CVM (Nested VM) 192.168.88.123
3 LAB-NTX3 192.168.88.124
CVM (Nested VM) 192.168.88.125
  1. Download
    Nutanix CE-2018.05.01 which is around 4.2GB

  2. Extract the downloaded ce-2018.05.01-stable.img.gz with 7Zip and rename it ce-flat.vmdk

Rename-Item "ce-2018.05.01-stable.img" "ce-flat.vmdk"
  1. Create a ce.vmdk with the text below with Notepad
# Disk DescriptorFile
version=4
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=a63adc2a
parentCID=ffffffff
isNativeSnapshot="no"
createType="vmfs"

# Extent description
RW 14540800 VMFS "ce-flat.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "905"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.longContentID = "2e046b033cecaa929776efb0a63adc2a"
ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9b 69 2f c9 76-74 c4 07 9e 10 87 3b f9"
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10"
  1. Create a New Port Group called – Isolated Test with Promiscuous Mode & Forged Transmits = Accept
    NutanixCD-Install-01

  2. Connect to vCenter with PowerCLI

#Import VMware Module
Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Core

#connect to Dr vCenter
Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.200.85 -User '[email protected]' -Password 'XXXXXX' -WarningAction SilentlyContinue
  1. Provision a New VM
#Provision VM 
#Check Which Datastore for VM with "Get-Datastore"
$DataStore="VM_storage1"

#Check Port Group to use with "Get-VirtualPortGroup"
$VNet="Isolated Test"

$VMHost="192.168.200.87"
$VM ="LAB-NTX"

#Provision VM
New-VM -Name $VM `
–VMHost $VMHost `
-Datastore $DataStore `
-MemoryGB 32 `
-NumCpu 4 `
-NetworkName $VNet 

#Change NetworkAdapter to E1000
Get-VM $VM | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -Type e1000 -Confirm:$false
  1. Copy the downloaded ce.vmdk & ce-flat.vmdk to Datastore
New-PSDrive -Location (Get-Datastore $DataStore) -Name ds -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root "\"

Copy-DatastoreItem -Item E:\Nutanix\* -Destination ds:\$VM\
  1. Remove the default Hard Disk, and attached the uploaded ce.vmdk to SCSI 0:0
Get-HardDisk -VM $VM | Remove-HardDisk -DeletePermanently -Confirm:$false

$VMDisk = (Get-Datastore -Name $DataStore)
New-HardDisk -VM $VM -DiskPath "[$VMDisk] /$VM/ce.vmdk"

#change Scsi Controller to ParaVirtual
Get-ScsiController -VM $VM | Set-ScsiController -Type ParaVirtual
  1. Create 1 x 200GB SSD & 1 x 500GB SATA HDD (Thin Provisionin to save space)
#Attach to SCSI0:1
New-HardDisk -VM $VM -CapacityGB 200 -StorageFormat Thin 
#Attach to SCSI0:2
New-HardDisk -VM $VM -CapacityGB 500 -StorageFormat Thin 
  1. Enter the following to treat the 200GB HDD as SSD in ESXi Host – Only Applicable if you do not have SSD HDD installed in ESXi host
New-AdvancedSetting -Entity $VM -Name Scsi0:1.virtualSSD -Value 1 -Confirm:$false
  1. Enable Intel VT for vCPU
$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$spec.nestedHVEnabled = $true

(Get-VM -Name $VM).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)
  1. Power On the VM
Start-VM -Name $VM
  1. Username = root , Password = nutanix/4u (Default Username & Password)
    NutanixCD-Install-02

  2. Edit /home/install/phx_iso/phoenix/sysUtil.py and Change SSD_rdIOPS_& SSD_wrIOPS_thresh thresh from 5000 to 10 as we are deploying Nutanix CE in Nested ESXi 6.0 wihtout SSD Hard Disk to reduce the default IOPS requirement for Nutanix CE
    NutanixCD-Install-03

If you do not modify the file above, you will enoucount error during the installation of Nutanix CE and you will NOT be proceed further

NutanixCD-Install-04

  1. Shutdown the VM
shutdown -h now
  1. Covert the VM to Template with PowerCLI
Set-VM $VM -ToTemplate -Confirm:$false
  1. Deploy 3 x New VM from Template
New-VM -Name "LAB-NTX1" -Template $VM -Datastore $Datastore -VMHost $VMHost 
New-VM -Name "LAB-NTX2" -Template $VM -Datastore $Datastore -VMHost $VMHost 
New-VM -Name "LAB-NTX3" -Template $VM -Datastore $Datastore -VMHost $VMHost

#PowerOn the VM
Start-VM -Name "LAB-NTX1"
  1. Enter Username = install with BLANK Password to start the installation
    NutanixCD-Install-10

  2. Click Proceed to continue
    NutanixCD-Install-05

  3. 2 x HDD is detected and click proceed to continue
    NutanixCD-Install-06

You might need to modify the /home/install/phx_iso/phoenix/sysUtil.py to reduce the requirement of IOPS if you VM running in Nested VM is very slow – Refer to Step 14 for more information

  1. Enter the IP Information for Nutanox CE and Scroll down to the end of the EULA. Click start to continue
    NutanixCD-Install-07

  2. Wait for the installation to complete
    NutanixCD-Install-08

  3. SSH to the Nutanix Host, and verify the CVM is running

virsh list --all

NutanixCD-Install-09

  1. SSH to one of the CVM, and ensure that you can ping all the CVM node. Start to build Nutanix Cluster with
cluster -s 192.168.88.121,192.168.88.123,192.168.88.125 create 
  1. Verfiy all the components are up and running
cluster status
  1. login to PRISM via https://192.168.88.121:9440 with Username = admin & Password = nutanix/4u and reset the default password
    NutanixCD-Install-11

You can login to one of the CVM with reset_admin_password.py to reset the admin password

  1. Enter the credential to login to Nutanix NEXT Portal – Internet Connection is required
    NutanixCD-Install-12

  2. Management console of PRISM
    NutanixCD-Install-13

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