App Layering

Nutanix AHV

To install the App Layering service, you deploy the appliance to a virtual machine on your hypervisor.

  • Requirements. Make sure you have the required Nutanix accounts, settings, and resources.
  • Install the App Layering appliance in Nutanix. - To install the appliance, you download the installation package and deploy the appliance in Nutanix.
  • If the appliance needs a Static IP address. - You can set a Static IP address by accessing the appliance configuration utility.
  • Next steps. - Links to steps for installing the App Layering agent and configuring the App Layering service.

Requirements

If you are installing the appliance and building your Layers on Nutanix VMs, or you are publishing Layered Images that will be used in a Nutanix environment, you need the following settings and resources.

  • Nutanix account and privileges

    • An existing or new Nutanix AHV account to use for App Layering.
    • The account must have Nutanix AHV privileges to:
      • Create and remove virtual disks.
      • Copy and delete layers on virtual disks using Nutanix file APIs.
  • Nutanix software and settings - Access to the Nutanix Tools to install on the layer.

  • Nutanix resource information - The info listed in the Nutanix AHV Connector Configuration.

Install the App Layering appliance in Nutanix AHV

To deploy the App Layering appliance to Nutanix:

  • Verify the contents of the installation package.
  • Deploy the appliance.

Installation package

The installation package, citrix_app_layering_nutanix_4.x.x, includes:

File Description
Nutanix_x.x.x.zip IMG files for the appliance VM
citrix_app_layering_agent_installer.exe App Layering Agent installer
citrix_app_layering_os_machine_tools.exe OS Machine Tools

Deploy the appliance in Nutanix

  1. Extract the download package, citrix_app_layering_nutanix_4.x.x.zip. The files included are listed above.

  2. Next, unzip the nutanix_4.x.x zip file, containing two IMG files.

  3. In the Nutanix Prism console, select the Tools menu in the top right corner of the UI, and choose Image Configuration.

  4. Click the Upload Image button, and name the disk.

  5. Select the Disk Image Type.

  6. Select the Upload a File option, browse to your file share, and choose the App Layering Boot Disk (the “system” IMG). Wait for the upload to complete.

  7. Repeat steps 3–6 for the Local Storage Disk (the “repository” IMG).

  8. Select Tasks and make sure that for each of the disks, both the Image Create and Image Update tasks are complete. Once this is done, you can create the virtual machine.

  9. Select the VM(Virtual Machine) tab on the top left drop-down menu, and click the Create VM button.

  10. Complete the Name and Description of the new VM.

  11. Set VCPU(S) to 1.

  12. Set the Number of Cores per vCPU to 4.

  13. Set Memory to 8 GB.

  14. To add the Disks to the virtual machine, click Add new disk and choose type Disk.

  15. In the Operation drop-down menu, choose Clone from Image Service.

  16. In the Bus Type drop-down menu select IDE.

  17. In the Image Box select the Boot disk that you uploaded, and click Add.

  18. Repeat steps 14–17 for each of the following disks:

    Boot Disk: citrix_applayering_nutanix-system.img

    Repository Disk: citrix_applayering_nutanix-repository.img

    Add NIC by clicking on Add new NIC.

  19. Click Save to create the VM.

  20. Power on the VM.

Add the Citrix App Layering appliance to the Nutanix allow list

Be sure to add the appliance to the Nutanix allow list, so that the appliance is allowed to connect to Nutanix.

If the appliance needs a Static IP address

You can change the appliance’s IP address and its DNS servers. When the appliance is first deployed, the DNS settings are retrieved through DHCP. If DHCP is not available and you are using Static IP addresses, once you select Static, you are prompted to enter the IP addresses for your DNS servers.

  1. Log in to the Appliance Configuration utility, using the steps and default password described in Appliance settings.
  2. At the Action prompt, enter C (for Configure Networking), and press Return.
  3. At the next prompt, type D for Dynamic (DHCP) or S for Static. If you choose Static, you are prompted for the IP address and Subnet mask, along with the default addresses for the Gateway and DNS addresses.
  4. When prompted, enter Y to save settings.
  5. At the Action prompt, enter Q to quit.
  6. Restart the appliance.

Next steps

Once the appliance is installed and the IP address is configured as you want it to be, you can install the App Layering agent, if necessary, and configure the App Layering service. See When the agent is required.

Nutanix AHV