15 Minute Tutorial

This tutorial describes how to create a cloud and deploy a virtual machine. For the purposes of this tutorial you will perform the tasks of the System Administrator, Enterprise Administrator and User.

Prerequisites This tutorial assumes that the Abiquo platform and the Cloud Node hypervisor have been set up. For detailed information, see the installation instructions of the Administrator's Guide.

Log in

Log in as a System Administrator using the default account with the following data:

• Username: admin
• Password: xabiquo

Add a License

In Enterprise edition, cut and paste the key from the license file into the box on the license tab of Configuration view.

Create the Infrastructure

The System Administrator creates the cloud infrastructure for the Enterprise Administrators and Users.

Open Infrastructure View

Create a Physical Datacenter

1. Click the button to create a new Datacenter.
2. Enter the Name and Location of your Datacenter.
3. Enter the IP address of Remote Services. Abiquo uses Remote Services to connect to the physical machines and manage the cloud.
   • If the Remote Services are all running on the same machine, enter the machine's address in the first box and mark the Duplicate IP Addresses checkbox.
   • Do not enter localhost or 127.0.0.1 because these will cause inter-module communication problems.
4. In Enterprise Edition, click Check for each Remote Service to confirm that Abiquo can access it.
5. Click Accept.

The following Remote Services are only available in the Enterprise Edition and will not appear on the Community Edition form: Discovery Manager DHCP Service Business Process Manager

Add a Rack

1. If the Datacenter is not open, go to Infrastructure View and click the right arrow beside the Datacenter name.
2. Click the button to create a new Rack.
3. Enter the Rack name and click Accept.

Add a Cloud Node

The cloud node is the physical machine and hypervisor host.

1. Click the button to create a new Physical Machine.
2. Enter the IP address and click Accept to open the create physical machine form.
3. Enter the Machine Name and a Virtual Switch.
4. Enable the Datastore.
   • Select the storage, click the Edit button, mark the Enabled checkbox, and click Accept.
5. In Enterprise Edition, click Check.
6. Click Accept.

For more information about this form, see the Creating Physical Machines page

Physical Machine creation form In Community Edition, you must enter all the information manually and the Virtual Switch field is a free text box. In Enterprise edition, you can enter the physical machine's IP address to automatically discover the machine information and you can click Check to confirm the state of the machine.

The Cloud Node will be attached to the selected Rack and displayed in the tree view of the Infrastructure tab.

Add Virtual Machine Images to the Appliance Library

The Appliance Library stores virtual machine images that have been downloaded from a remote repository or uploaded from a local machine. These images are made available to the Virtual Datacenters. From here an Enterprise Admin or User can add the image to a Virtual Appliance for deployment in the cloud.

Download an Image from a Remote Repository

1. Go to the [Appliance Library view].
2. Select the Datacenter, then click the button and select the Virtual Image > from Remote Repository option.
   • The Abiquo sample Remote Repository is included in the default configuration.
   • If you have custom configuration, click the button and enter the Remote Repository address.
   • The Abiquo sample image repository is at: http://abiquo-repository.abiquo.com/s3direct
3. Click on the Remote Repository to see a list of the available images.
4. Click the button to select and download an image from the list.

Download a compatible image In Community Edition, the image you download must be compatible with the target hypervisor, according to the Hypervisor Compatibility table. In Enterprise Edition, you can download any image and a background V2V process will convert it to all formats for deployment in any cloud node hypervisor.

You will see the downloaded image in the Appliance Library.

Create a Virtual Enterprise

1. Open the [User View].
2. Click the button below the Enterprises list to add a new Virtual Enterprise.
3. Click the to add a user enter the details for a Systems Administrator. Then create an Enterprise Administrator and a User.

Create a Virtual Datacenter

Create a Virtual Datacenter. Enterprise Administrators and Users create Virtual Datacenters to organize the physical infrastructure for providing the Cloud Service. From here they can create Virtual Appliances in the Virtual Datacenter and the Abiquo platform will deploy them to the physical infrastructure based on the Virtual Machine Allocation.

1. Go to the Virtual Datacenters view.
2. Click the button of the Virtual Datacenter menu.
3. Enter a name, and select the Physical Datacenter and a Hypervisor Type.

For more information about changing the default network configuration, see the VLAN customization section in the Manage Virtual Datacenters page.

DHCP configuration To view the DHCP information for assigning IPs to the Virtual Machines of the Virtual Datacenter select the Virtual Datacenter, click the button and select the Show DHCP info option. In Community Edition, you must manually copy this configuration to your DHCP server. In Enterprise Edition, DHCP is automatically configured by the DHCP Remote Service.

Create and Deploy a Virtual Appliance

Create a Virtual Appliance

Now you can create and configure a Virtual Appliance. A virtual appliance contains one or more virtual machines.

1. Select the Virtual Datacenter.
2. In the Virtual Appliances tab, click the button and enter the name of the Virtual Appliance.

The Virtual Appliance you create will appear in the Virtual Appliances list.

Add Virtual Images

1. Open your virtual appliance
2. Drag and drop images into the virtual appliance from the list of available and compatible images.
3. Save the virtual appliance.

Deploy the Virtual Appliance

Click the button to deploy the virtual appliance.

It will be powered on, and you can manage it with the control buttons in the lower right corner of the screen.