Nutanix AHV

Installing the CTERA Edge Filer in a Nutanix AHV Environment

Installing the CTERA Edge Filer involves creating and configuring a virtual machine and then performing an initial configuration, described in First Time Setup.

The CTERA Edge Filer can be installed in a Nutanix AHV environment.

Contact CTERA, and request the latest qcow2 CTERA Edge Filer disk image. Add this image to the machine where you run the Nutanix Prism Central console.

To install the CTERA Edge Filer in a Nutanix AHV environment:

1. Log in to the Nutanix Prism Central console.
   The dashboard is displayed.
2. Select the Admin Center application from Application Switcher, and navigate to Projects in the navigation pane.
   You store the images for the portal and edge filer in the project.
3. Optionally, create a project to store the CTERA resources for the portal and edge filer:
   1. Click Create Project.
   2. Enter the following:
      Project Name – Type a unique name for the project.
      Description – Enter a brief purpose for the project.
   3. Click Save.
4. Select the Infrastructure application from Application Switcher, and navigate to Compute > Images in the navigation pane.
5. Click Add Image.
6. Enter the name of the project you use for the portal and edge filer resources.
7. Make sure the Select Source option is Image File and click Upload File.
8. Browse to the location of the QCOW2 image file, and then click Open.
9. Specify the details for the edge filer image.
   Name – A unique name to identify the image.
   Description – An optional description of the image.
   Type – Select Disk.
10. Choose the Upload a file option and browse to the qcow2 image file from CTERA support.
11. Click Next and then Save.
    The progress of the image upload is displayed in the page under the top bar.
12. Navigate to Compute > VMs in the navigation pane
13. Click Create VM.
14. Specify the details for the VM.
    Name – A unique name to identify the edge filer.
    Description – An optional description of the edge filer.
    Project – If you have projects defined, enter the name of the project you use for the portal and edge filer resources.
    Cluster – Leave the default value.
    Number of VMs – Leave the default value.
    CPUs – The number of vCPUs. CTERA recommends that the number vCPUs is the license number/4. For example, an edge filer with an EV32 license should start with 8 vCPUs.
    Cores Per CPU – The number of cores per vCPU.
    Memory – The minimum RAM requirement is 8GB (8192MB). CTERA recommends that the amount of RAM is the license number/2. For example, an edge filer with an EV32 license should start with 16GB RAM.
15. Click Next.
16. Click Attach Disk.
17. Leave all the values with the defaults, except for the following:
    Operation – Select Clone from Image to add a disk for the CTERA Edge Filer software.
    Image – Select the CTERA Edge Filer image from the drop-down list.
    Capacity – The minimum recommended disk size is 16GB.
18. Click Save.
19. Click Attach Disk.
20. Leave all the values with the defaults, except for the following:
    Operation – Select Allocate on Storage Container to add a data disk for the edge filer.
    Capacity – The data disk size. CTERA recommends storage of at least 20% of the CTERA Portal Global Namespace. The maximum storage is dependent on the license.
    • For an EV16 license, the maximum is 16TB.
    • For an EV32 license, the maximum is 32TB.
    • For an EV64 license, the maximum is 64TB.
    • For an EV128 license, the maximum is 128TB.
    • For an EV256 license, the maximum is 256TB.
21. Click Save.
22. Click Attach to Subnet to specify the network subnet.
23. Click Next.
24. Optionally, follow your site best practices to ensure optimal performance of the VM. For example, set the Timezone for the VM. The default is the local timezone..
25. Click Next.
26. Review the settings and click Create VM.
    The VM is created.
27. From the list of virtual machines (Table view), select the new virtual machine and scroll down to display details of the VM.
28. Click Power On.
    The VM is powered on and the Launch Console option is enabled.
29. Click Launch Console to open the console to get the IP address for the CTERA Edge Filer.
30. Login in with the username setup and no password, as instructed.
    Using DHCP, after a few seconds, the IP address to access the CTERA Edge Filer is displayed in the top right of the console.
    
    Otherwise, set a static IP address, as described below.
31. Continue with First Time Setup.

To set the virtual machine static IP address:

1. Access the virtual machine.
   The following login screen is displayed:
   
2. Login in with the username setup and no password, as instructed.
   Using DHCP, after a few seconds, the IP address to access the CTERA Edge Filer is displayed in the top right of the console.
   
3. Click in the console to transfer the keyboard control to the console and, if necessary, use the arrow keys to scroll to Network settings.
4. Press Enter.
   
5. Select Static IP mode and press OK.
6. Complete the configuration for static mode by entering the static IP, netmask, default CTERA Edge Filer IP and the primary and secondary DNS server IPs.
7. Press OK.