So in my last post I gave the address of where to get the nice and free bits to play with:
Nutanix CommunityEdition (CE) 5.10
At the moment there is no ISO to download, so we have to go with the manual installation. This is not so hard but we have to take a few extra steps.
Extract the image and rename it to ce-flat.vmdk. Then you have to make a descriptor file, VMware got you covered here: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1002511
This is rather a long post so here is a little shortcut. All credits to: https://www.virtuallifestyle.nl !
Create a text file with the name ce.vmdk and copy this in the file:
# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 encoding="UTF-8" CID=a6fec276 parentCID=ffffffff isNativeSnapshot="no" createType="vmfs" # Extent description RW 14540800 VMFS "CE-flat.vmdk" # The Disk Data Base #DDB ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "905" ddb.geometry.heads = "255" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.longContentID = "7cd3219978337481ae6b4edaa6fec276" ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 94 64 30 98 a0-5d 85 e3 5b e8 b7 c5 e5" ddb.virtualHWVersion = "14"
Then save both files to a datastore on your VMware environment.
And now we start! So fire up your VMware web client and let’s roll.
You better install this on SSD storage for best performance!
Pick a Linux version (Cent OS will also do ;-))
There are a few settings to be made:
CPU: minimal 4 Cores
Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS
Enable virtualized CPU performance counters
I/O MMU enabled
RAM: minimum of 16GB –> My minimum is 24GB 😉
The add a existing hard disk and point it to the ce.vmdk file you uploaded! So first remove the already added disk and replace it.
Then add 2 Thin Provisioned disks, 200GB – Hot Tier and 500GB – Cold Tier.
And let it go and create the machine.
Power it on.
I had to choose the Rescue version. The other one did not work for the installation.
Loading
This was my picture when I didn’t choose the Rescue install ;-(
Let’s try this one.
This looks good.
Type ‘install‘ and let the installation begin.
Give keyboard
And 2 IP addresses. The Best Practice from Nutanix is that these addresses are in the same sub-net!
You have to scroll all the way through the EULA. Didn’t do that? Well…
And off we go!
First run was not good, second run I came to this field: SUCCESS
You have to make a adjustment in VMware otherwise you can’t login to the CVM (the hart of the Nutanix eco-system!)
Set: ‘Promiscuous Mode’
Services are starting!
This is the CommunityEdition so registration is Mandatory!
And there is the management console of Nutanix named PRISM.
And the system is up-and-running. Jippie!
Problems? Feel free to contact me 🙂