5.3 Importing the Forge Appliance Virtual Machine

After you install VMware on the PlateSpin Forge hardware, you are ready to import the Forge Management VM using an OVF file.

5.3.1 Preparing a PlateSpin Administrative Computer

To continue with the installation and configuration of the PlateSpin Forge components, you must connect directly to the Forge hardware appliance through another computer, the PlateSpin administrative computer. You should consider using a Windows laptop for this purpose because of its flexibility and mobility. You must configure the administrative computer with a static IP address in the same subnet as Forge, then connect it to the Forge Appliance.

To prepare the administrative computer:

  1. Ensure that the administrative computer has a wired connection to the network.

  2. Log in to the administrative computer as the local Administrator user.

  3. Access the TCP/IPv4 properties of the administrative computer’s wired LAN adapter.

    In the Network and Sharing Center, select the wired network adapter and open its Ethernet Properties dialog. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.

  4. On the General tab, select Use the following IP address, then assign the following values:

    • IP address: 192.168.1.205

    • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

    NOTE:Do not use the following IP addresses:

    • 192.168.1.200 - used by the hypervisor

    • 192.168.1.210 - used by the Forge Management VM (assigned by an automatic appliance configuration utility).

  5. Click OK and close the dialog.

  6. Continue with Section 5.3.2, Establishing a Physical Connection to the Appliance.

5.3.2 Establishing a Physical Connection to the Appliance

To establish a physical connection between the administrative computer and the Forge Appliance:

  1. Connect the administrative computer to the Forge Appliance using either of the following methods. Ensure that you connect to NIC0 port on the Forge Appliance. Typically, the NIC0 port is labeled GB1 on the Dell PowerEdge.

    Connection through a Network Switch: Connect both units to an Ethernet network switch or a hub through an Ethernet network cable.

    Direct Connection: Connect your PlateSpin Forge Appliance and the computer directly through an Ethernet crossover cable.

  2. Ensure that the Forge Appliance is powered on. Wait at least 10 minutes for the system to fully start before you try to connect.

  3. Continue with Establishing a Management Connection through VMware vSphere Web Client.

5.3.3 Establishing a Management Connection through VMware vSphere Web Client

After the administrative computer has been connected physically, you need to establish the management connection between the administrative computer and the ESXi hypervisor. Use a web browser on the administrative computer to connect to the VMware vSphere Web Client.

NOTE:VMware supports the vSphere Web Client on the latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer 11. See the VMware Knowledgebase article vSphere Client (HTML5) and vSphere Web Client 6.5 FAQ (2147929).

You will use the vSphere Web Client to import the Forge Management VM to the VMware host and configure aspects of the Forge Appliance software. After you import the VM, you will use the vSphere Web Client to manage the ESXi host, to power on and off the Forge Management VM, and to access the Console for the Forge Management VM.

To access the VMware vSphere Web Client:

  1. On the administrative computer, launch Mozilla Firefox (58.0.1 (64-bit) or later) web browser.

  2. Specify the ESXi hypervisor URL to open the VMware vSphere Web Client on the Forge Appliance:

    https://192.168.1.200

  3. When you are prompted, add the security exception for the VMware ESXi server on the Forge Appliance. Click Add Exception, review the Certificate information, then click Confirm Security Exception.

  4. Log in to the VMware vSphere Web Client using the default credentials:

    User name: root

    Password: Password1

  5. If you are prompted in browser pop-up dialog to save credentials, do not select to save credentials.

  6. In the Help Us Improve the VMware Host Client dialog, deselect the check box to Join the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program, then click OK.

  7. Continue with Deploying the Forge Management VM from an OVF File.

5.3.4 Deploying the Forge Management VM from an OVF File

Included in the PlateSpin Forge 11.3 Appliance Rebuild Kit files is the VM .ovf file used in the PlateSpin Forge 11.3.0 release build. You will access this .ovf file during the installation process to import the Forge Management VM into VMware ESXi.

NOTE:Before you begin, mount the USB drive with the downloaded PlateSpin Forge 11.3 Appliance Rebuild Kit files on the PlateSpin administrative computer.

You can use the VMware vSphere Web Client or the VMware OVF Tool utility to deploy the Forge Management VM.

Deploying the VM with vSphere Web Client

To deploy the Forge Management VM by using vSphere Web Client:

  1. On the PlateSpin administrative computer, log in with the default credentials to the vSphere Web Client.

    See Establishing a Management Connection through VMware vSphere Web Client.

  2. In the vSphere Web Client, select Virtual Machines in the left Navigator pane, and then select Create/Register VM.

  3. In the New Virtual Machine wizard, complete the following information:

    New Virtual Machine Wizard

    Action

    1. Select creation type.

    1. Select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file.

    2. Click Next.

    1. Select OVF and VMDK files.

    1. Browse to the path on your administrative computer where you copied down the OVF template and corresponding data files.

    2. Select the OVF file and corresponding .vmdk files from your local path.

    3. Specify PLATESPINFORGE01 as the name of the virtual machine.

    4. Click Next.

    1. Select storage.

    1. Select the ForgeSystem datastore as the destination storage location for virtual machine files.

    2. Click Next.

    1. Deployment options.

    1. For Disk provisioning, select Thick.

    2. For Power on automatically, do one of the following:

      • No VMware updates needed: Select the check box. The VM is powered on automatically after the VM setup.

      • VMware updates needed: Deselect the check box. After the VM setup completes, you will install VMware updates in before you manually power on the VM.

    3. Click Next.

    1. Ready to complete.

    1. Ignore the alert message: A required disk image was missing.

    2. Click Finish.

  4. On the vSphere Web Client, view the progress messages for the OVF import in the Recent Tasks panel.

    The VM deployment takes about 30 minutes.

  5. Continue with Section 5.3.5, Renaming the Forge Management VM.

Deploying the VM with VMware OVF Tool

If the import of the PlateSpin OVF file fails using the vSphere Web Client, it might be necessary to use the VMware OVF Tool CLI (ovftool) to deploy the Forge Management VM.

IMPORTANT:Internet access is required to download the VMware OVF Tool.

To deploy the Forge Management VM by using VMware OVF Tool CLI:

  1. On the PlateSpin administrative computer, use a web browser to download the latest version of the VMware OVF Tool to the administrative computer.

    To download VMware OVF Tool 4.2.0, see Download VMware Open Virtualization Format Tool 4.2.0.

  2. Install the VMware OVF Tool, according to the VMware instructions.

    For information about installing and using the tool, refer to the VMware OVF Tool Documentation.

  3. On the administrative computer, launch a Command Prompt, then navigate to the VMware OVF Tool default installation directory. Enter

    cd C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool

  4. Enter

    ovftool.exe --name=PLATESPINFORGE01 --datastore=ForgeSystem --network="VM Network" --allowExtraConfig <Windows path to OVF file>\PLATESPINFORGE01.ovf vi://root@<ip address of ESXi host>

    For example, if you mounted the USB drive with the PlateSpin Forge 11.3 Appliance Rebuild Kit files to drive letter F:, the path to the OVF file is F:\PLATESPINFORGE01.ovf. The IP address of the ESXi host is 192.168.1.200. You would enter:

    ovftool –name=PLATESPINFORGE01 –datastore=ForgeSystem –network="VM Network" –allowExtraConfig F:\PLATESPINFORGE01.ovf vi://root@192.168.1.200

  5. When you are prompted to log in to the VMware host, provide the default credentials.

    User name: root

    Password: Password1

  6. Wait until the deployment is complete.

    The VM deployment takes about 30 minutes.

  7. Continue with Section 5.3.5, Renaming the Forge Management VM.

5.3.5 Renaming the Forge Management VM

After you deploy the Forge Management VM, you must rename the Forge Management VM from PLATESPINFORGE01 to PlateSpin Forge Management VM.

  1. On the PlateSpin administrative computer, log in with the default credentials to the vSphere Web Client for the Forge Management VMware host.

  2. Rename the Forge Management VM:

    1. In the vSphere Web Client, right-click the Forge Management VM (PLATESPINFORGE01), then select Rename.

    2. In the New Name field, remove the PLATESPINFORGE01 name and type PlateSpin Forge Management VM.

    3. Click Rename.

  3. Continue with one of the following: