Creating the Abiquo Virtual Machine on VMware ESX

These are the steps to install Abiquo EE in a VMware ESX virtual machine.

1. After login in to the ESX host (either via the Virtual Infrastructure Client or vCenter) select the ESX host and go to File, New, Virtual Machine (or click CTRL+N.)

2. Select the custom configuration and click Next.

3. Give the virtual machine a friendly name and click Next.

4. Select a datastore from your environment and click Next.
The particular values from your environment will differ from the image below:

5. Depending on your requirements select one of the choices below for the virtual machine version and click Next.

Virtual Machine Version: 4 Select this version if you have ESX 3.5 systems or below that need to share storage with ESX 4.x.
Virtual Machine Version: 7 Select this version if you have ESX 4.x systems only.

6. Abiquo is based on CentOS 5.4 64-bit edition (CentOS is based on Red Hat). For operating system please make the selection as the image below and click Next.

Note: ESX 4.1 has the option of using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Please use the template as the image above.

7. The default of one virtual CPU is fine for this virtual machine. Please click Next.

8. Abiquo minimum memory requirement is 2GB of memory. Abiquo recommends 4GB for the virtual machine for better performance.
Please make your selection and click Next.

9. Select how many network cards to give to the virtual machine. 1 is enough for now but an additional one will be added later.
Ensure the appropriate network is also selected and click Next.

10. The default SCSI controller is fine. Click Next.

11. Select to create a new virtual disk and click Next.

12. Abiquo requires about 10GB of space to install but it is recommended that at least 20GB of space is given.

13. The default here is fine. Please click Next.

14. The final screen is a summary of the virtual machine settings. Before clicking Finish please click the checkbox next to “Edit the virtual machine settings …”
A few more steps are required. Click Continue.

15. Click on New CD/DVD (adding), select Datastore ISO File and check the ‘Connect at power on’ checkbox.

16. Click the Browse button and browse over to the ISO repository in your environment.

17. Select the Abiquo ISO image and click OK.

Click Finish. The Abiquo virtual machine is ready for deployment.

18. Right-click on the virtual machine and select Open Console

19. Click the green play button to boot the virtual machine.

20. The virtual machine will power on. Ensure the virtual machine is capturing keystrokes by clicking the mouse inside the window,
then press the <ENTER> key to start the installation.

21. You have the option of testing the ISO image. It is recommended that this image be tested once to ensure it is not corrupt.
This process could take 10-15 minutes.

22. After continuing the Abiquo welcome screen will appear.

To continue to the next screen you have the option of using the mouse and clicking Next or using the keyboard and pressing ALT-N (or whichever key on the button is underlined.)

23. Keyboard selection

24. The next screen will display the warning message below. This is because the installation found a virtual disk that is unreadable (since it was just added to the virtual machine.)
You can press Yes at this dialog box (or press ALT-Y.)

25. Once you continue setup will search for any Abiquo installations in the virtual machine. If there aren’t any it will give you the option of preparing the virtual disk for the Abiquo installation,
as the screenshot below shows. Press Next to continue.

26. You will be asked if you’re sure you want to clear the disk. Please answer Yes.

27. The following screen allows you to enter virtual machine addressing information.

28. If your environment uses DHCP you can simply click Next. If not then please click the Edit button and enter the IP address of the Abiquo server that’s being installed, along with the netmask.
Please also disable IPv6 and click OK to continue. If at any point you have any doubt please consult with your System or Network Administrator.

29. Enter the appropriate information on this screen and click Next.

Hostname Friendly name for the Abiquo server
Gateway Default route to get to the network/internet
Primary DNS Primary Domain Name Service server
Secondary DNS Secondary Domain Name Service server, if any

30. This screen allows you to select your locale. Click Next to Continue.

System clock uses UTC:

If the system clock (BIOS) is set to your local time uncheck the value
If the system clock is set to GMT check the value

31. Enter the system password and click Next.

32. This screen allows you to select the edition of Abiquo you want to install:

The available profiles are:

Cloud in a Box This profile installs everything required to run the Abiquo Platform in one server
LVM Storage Server Abiquo LVM-based iSCSI storage server
NetApp Storage Connector Installs the NetApp connector
Abiquo Server Abiquo core, the API, MySQL, and the web client
Abiquo V2V Conversion Services Conversion services required for Abiquo V2V features
Abiquo Remote Services Installs the various Abiquo Remote Services
Abiquo KVM Installs a configured KVM virtual machine
Abiquo Xen Installs a configured Xen virtual machine
Abiquo Remote Repository Installs and configures an Abiquo Remote Repository

For more information on installation profiles you can go here: http://www.abicloud.org/display/ABI16/Types+of+Installation

The next few screens will differ depending on which profile was selected. If your screen is displayed below you can follow along.
If you don't know some of these values you might need to consult with your System or Network Administrator.

33. The value that’s needed here is the Abiquo server’s IP address. Click Next to continue.

34. The IP address/hostname of the NFS server hosting the share, along with the path to the share. The default is /opt/vm_repository for the share path.

35. The IP address/hostname of the NFS server hosting the share, along with the path to the share. The default is /opt/vm_repository for the share path.

36. The IP address/hostname of the NFS server hosting the share, along with the path to the share. The default is /opt/vm_repository for the share path.
The address for Abiquo Remote Services IP should be the address where the Remote Services profile was installed, if not using a Cloud in a Box installation.
Click Next to continue.