Deploying the OVA on ESXi Server

Follow these instructions to deploy a new CML VM on a VMware ESXi server. You should have already downloaded a copy of the CML controller OVA and refplat ISO files to your local machine.

These instructions assume that you are familiar with deploying and managing virtual machines in VMware ESXi. If not, we recommend that you select a different deployment option. Please refer to the VMware documentation for best practices and for detailed instructions. The details may vary, depending on the ESXi version, whether you’re using vCenter server, and other details of your ESXi deployment.

Procedure

Upload the refplat ISO file to a datastore or content library that is co-located with the ESXi host where the CML VM will run.

Deploy the controller OVA file to your ESXi host to create a new CML VM.

Attention

Do not start the virtual machine!

After you have imported the OVA to VMware, you must configure the CML VM’s settings before you start it.

Configuring the Virtual Machine

Upgrade the VM’s virutal hardware compatibility, selecting the highest / latest version that is compatible with the ESXi hosts where you plan to run the CML VM.

For backwards compatibiility purposes, the CML OVA’s virtual hardware compatibility may be set to an older or lower version number than the compatibility value supported by your ESXi server. If you do not upgrade the VM compatibility, some of the features supported by your ESXi version may not be available with the CML VM.

Edit or confirm the settings of the CML VM based on the following recommendations:

Category

Property

Setting

CPU

Allocated vCPU Cores

Set the number of virtual cores allocated to the CML VM. The default value from the OVA file is an absolute minimum and is generally not appropriate for ESXi deployments.

CPU

Cores per Socket

Choose a value so that the number of sockets matches the ESXi server’s underlying hardware. For example, if the ESXi server where the CML VM runs has 2 processors, ensure that Sockets shows a value of 2 after you choose the cores per socket value.

CPU

Shares

Choose High from the dropdown.

CPU

Hardware Virtualization

Check the checkbox to enable hardware-assisted virtualization.

CPU

Performance Counters

Check the checkbox to enable virtualized CPU performance counters.

Memory

Allocated Memory

Set the amount of memory allocated to the CML VM.

Memory

Reservation

We recommend reserving and locking the entire memory allocation for the CML VM. For example, check the Reserve all guest memory (All locked) check box in vCenter. If you do not reserve the memory for the CML VM, then ESXi will create a swap file with a size equal to the amount of memory allocated to the VM. If you run CML on a dedicated ESXi host, no other guest needs the ESXi host’s memory, and reserving memory avoids wasting this disk space. If you are running the CML VM on an ESXi host with other VMs, then reserving the memory also prevents ESXi from reclaiming memory that was allocated to the CML VM and causing nodes in lab simulations to crash.

Memory

Shares

Choose High from the dropdown.

Hard Disk 1

Disk size

Increase the default disk size. The default hard disk capacity is set to 32 GB, and 10 GB of that space is reserved for the underlying operating system. Such a small disk size is not appropriate for an ESXi deployment. The CML VM will automatically resize its filesystem to the initial hard disk size that you set before you start the CML VM the first time. Therefore, the best practice is to over-provision the disk space for the CML VM, and a value of 100 GB or more recommended. Expanding the disk after you boot the CML VM the first time is also possible: see Adding or Editing Storage Volumes.

In planning for disk space, note that each node in every lab for every user will also consume some space even when the lab is not running. The disk usage for each node ranges from 1 MB to more than 1 GB, depending on the node type and use case. Some custom VM images, such as the Cisco vManage VM, are known to consume 20 GB or more of disk space per node.

In CML version 2.3.0 and higher, the reference platform VM images must be copied to the local disk of the CML instance. If you plan to add custom VM images for alternate versions of a Cisco reference platform or for third party VM images, those .qcow2 files will consume additional disk space.

In provisioning disk space for the CML VM, we recommend prioritizing high I/O throughput. Faster read speeds will make starting labs faster. Fast sustained write speeds are important because some VMs, such as the NX-OS 9000/9300/9500 VMs, are sensitive to write performance during their initial start-up. In general, we recommend using SSD disks and preferring RAID0 or RAID1 to RAID5.

CD/DVD Drive 1

Location

Select the option from the dropdown that matches the location where you uploaded the refplat ISO file in Step 1 above.

CD/DVD Drive 1

CD/DVD Media

Click Browse and choose the refplat ISO file.

CD/DVD Drive 1

Status

Check the checkbox to connect the CD/ROM at power on.

CD/DVD Drive 1

Virtual Device Node

We recommend using the first (lowest number) IDE device.

Network Adapter 1

Network Adapter

Select a network adapter that will permit your users to access the web-based UI that runs on the CML VM.

Network Adapter 1

Status

Check the checkbox to connect the network adapter at power on.

Network Adapter 1

DirectPath I/O

Check the Enable checkbox.

VM Options

Advanced / Latency Sensitivity

Choose High from the dropdown.

To use External Connectivity with bridged networking, you should also configure the port group and vSwitch that’s used by the CML VM to set:

  • Promiscuous Mode = Accept

  • Forged Transmits = Accept

Additionally, on the ESXi host where the CML VM runs, configure the Advanced System Settings to set

  • Net.ReversePathFwdCheck = 1

  • Net.ReversePathFwdCheckPromisc = 1

For more information on the Net.ReversePathFwdCheckPromisc setting, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/59235.

(Optional) If you are deploying a cluster compute VM, you may want to clone the compute VMs from the first compute VM that you deploy. Note that you must clone the compute VM now and before you start this VM for the first time. Cloning a VM after it has been started will cause conflicts and faults in cluster formation.

Start the virtual machine.

You now have a CML virtual machine that is defined and configured in VMware ESXi.

Once you have configured the VM settings and started the VM, you are ready to complete the Initial Set-up within the running VM.