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Provisioning the NetScaler Virtual Appliance by using the Virtual Machine Manager

Mar 22, 2016

The Virtual Machine Manager is a desktop tool for managing VM Guests. It enables you to create new VM Guests and various types of storage, and manage virtual networks. You can access the graphical console of VM Guests with the built-in VNC viewer and view performance statistics, either locally or remotely.

After installing your preferred Linux distribution, with KVM virtualization enabled, you can proceed with provisioning virtual machines.

Provisioning the NetScaler Virtual Appliance using the RAW Image

Using the Virtual Machine Manager, you can provision the NetScaler VPX using the RAW image.

To provision a NetScaler VPX by using Virtual Machine Manager

  1. Open the Virtual Machine Manager (Application > System Tools > Virtual Machine Manager) and enter the logon credentials in the Authenticate window.
  2. Click the icon or right-click localhost (QEMU) to create a new NetScaler VPX instance.

  3. In the Name text box, enter a name for the new VM (for example, NetScaler-VPX).
  4. In the New VM window, under "Choose how you would like to install the operating system," select Import existing disk image, and then and click Forward.

  5. In the Provide the existing storage path field, navigate the path to the image. Choose the OS type as UNIX and Version as FreeBSD 6.x. Then, click Forward.

  6. Under "Choose Memory and CPU settings," select the following settings, and then click Forward:
    • Memory (RAM)— 2048 MB
    • CPUs— 2

  7. Select the Customize configuration before install check box. Optionally, under "Advanced options," you can you can customize the MAC address. Make sure the Virt Type selected is kvm and the Architecture selected is x86_64. Click Finish.

  8. Select a NIC and provide the following configuration:
    • Source device— ethX macvtap or Bridge
    • Device model— virtio
    • Source mode— Bridge

  9. Click Apply, and then click Begin Installation. After you have provisioned the NetScaler VPX on KVM, you can add additional interfaces

Provisioning the NetScaler Virtual Appliance by using the QCOW2 Image

Using the Virtual Machine Manager, you can provision the NetScaler VPX using the QCOW2 image.

Note: You can also convert the NetScaler VPX RAW image to QCOW2 image and provision  the NetScaler VPX. For instructions to convert the RAW image to QCOW2, see Converting the RAW Image Format to a QCOW2 Image Format.

To provision the NetScaler VPX using QCOW2 image:

  1. Follow step 1 to step 8 in Provisioning the NetScaler Virtual Appliance by using the RAW Image.
    Note: Make sure that you select qcow2 image in step 5.
  2. Select Disk 1 and click Advanced options. Select qcow2 from the Storage format drop-down list.
localized image
     4. Click Apply, and then click Begin Installation. After you have provisioned the NetScaler VPX on KVM, you can add additional interfaces. 

Adding Additional Interfaces to NetScaler VPX by using Virtual Machine Manager

Updated: 2015-03-11

After you have provisioned the NetScaler VPX on KVM, you can add additional interfaces.

To add additional interfaces

  1. Shut down the NetScaler VPX instance running on the KVM.
  2. Right-click the VPX instance and choose Open from the pop-up menu.
  3. Click the icon in the header to view the virtual hardware details.
  4. Click Add Hardware. In the Add New Virtual Hardware window, select Network from the navigation menu.

  5. In Host Device field, select the physical interface type. The host device type can be either Bridge or MacVTap. In case of MacVTap, four modes possible are VEPA, Bridge, Private and Pass-through.
    1. For Bridge
      1. Host device— Select the "Specify shared device name" option.
      2. Provide the Bridge name that is configured in the KVM host.
        Note: Make sure that you have configured a Linux bridge in the KVM host, bound the physical interface to the bridge, and put the bridge in the UP state.

      3. Device model—virtio.
      4. Click Finish.
    2. For MacVTap
      1. Host device—Select the physical interface from the menu.
      2. Device model—virtio.

      3. Click Finish. You can view the newly added NIC in the navigation pane.

      4. Select the newly added NIC and select the Source mode for this NIC. The available modes are VEPA, Bridge, Private, and Passthrough. For more details on the interface and modes, see Source Interface and Modes.
      5. Click Apply.
  6. Start the NetScaler VPX VM.

Important

Limition: Interface parameter configurations such as speed, duplex, and autonegotiation are not supported.

Converting the RAW Image Format to a QCOW2 Image Format

You can convert the NetScaler VPX RAW image to QCOW2 image and provision the NetScaler VPX. To convert the RAW image to QCOW2 image. At the command prompt, enter the following command:

qemu-img convert -O qcow2 original-image.raw image-converted.qcow

For example:
qemu-img convert -O qcow2 NSVPX-KVM-11.1-12.5_nc.raw NSVPX-KVM-11.1-12.5_nc.qcow