1 Introduction

The Virtual LoadMaster (VLM) is a version of the LoadMaster that runs as a Virtual Machine (VM) in a hypervisor and can provide all the features and functions of a hardware-based LoadMaster.

This document describes the installation of the VLM in a Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor Virtualization (AHV) environment. The VLM has been tested with Nutanix AHV and has been certified as Nutanix Ready.

Nutanix AHV is a license-free virtualization solution included with Acropolis that delivers enterprise virtualization ready for a multi-cloud world. With Acropolis and AHV, virtualization is tightly integrated into the Enterprise Cloud OS rather than being layered on as a standalone product that must be licensed, deployed, and managed separately. Common tasks such as deploying and protecting VMs are managed centrally through Nutanix Prism, rather than utilizing disparate products and policies in a piecemeal strategy.

There are several different versions of the VLM available. Full details of the currently supported versions are available on our website: www.kemptechnologies.com.

For the latest supported Nutanix versions for LoadMaster, refer to the Progress Kemp page on the Nutanix website.

The Nutanix virtual machine guest environment for the VLM, at minimum, must include:

• 2 x virtual processors
• 2 GB RAM
• 16 GB virtual hard disk capacity

There may be maximum configuration limits imposed by Nutanix such as maximum RAM per VM, Virtual Network Interface Controllers (NICs) per VM, and so on. For further details regarding the configuration limits imposed by Nutanix, refer to the relevant Nutanix documentation.

2 Installing a VLM

The following instructions describe how to install a VLM in a Nutanix AHV environment using Prism Central.

2.1 Static MAC Addresses must be Configured

If you move a VLM system to a different VM, ensure that the MAC addresses of the VMs NICs stay the same. Static Media Access Control (MAC) addresses must be configured for all NICs in VMs.

For further information on configuring static MAC addresses, refer to the relevant Nutanix AHV documentation.

2.2 Download the VLM

The VLM is packaged in a .disk file for ease of deployment. This file can be freely downloaded from Progress Kemp for a 30-day evaluation period. To download the VLM, follow the instructions below:

1. Go to http://www.Kemptechnologies.com/try.

2. Click Download Now.

3. Log in using your Kemp ID. If you do not have one, sign up for one using the form provided.

4. In the Hypervisor section, select Nutanix AHV.

5. Select your country from the drop-down list provided.

6. Read the End User License Agreement.

7. To proceed with the download, ensure you select the I agree to the End User License Agreement terms check box.

8. Click Download Now.

9. Unzip the contents of the file to an accessible location.

2.3 Extract the KVM Disk Image

The Linux disk image has been tar gzipped as a sparse file. You must unzip it as a sparse file to ensure proper operation. For example:
tar xzSf LoadMaster-VLM.7.1.34.0.12345.RELEASE.tgz:

2.4 Add Image to Nutanix AHV Using Prism Central

You must upload the LoadMaster KVM image (.disk) into the Nutanix AHV environment. 

In some cases, the upload into Nutanix Prism fails due to the image size. In these environments, you can use SFTP to successfully upload the image.

The steps in this section are being executed in Nutanix Prism Central:

1. In the top navigation, click Explore.

2. In the left-hand navigation, click Images.

3. Click Add Image.

4. Select Image File and click + Add File.

5. Select the extracted LoadMaster KVM disk image and select Disk as the IMAGE TYPE.

6. Enter an IMAGE DESCRIPTION and click Save.

2.5 Deploy the LoadMaster from an Image Using Prism Central

When the image is uploaded, you can deploy a new LoadMaster from Prism Central.

1. In the top navigation, click Explore.

2. In the left-hand navigation, click VMs.

3. Click Create VM.

4. Enter the following under General Configuration:

a) NAME – A unique name for the LoadMaster.

b) DESCRIPTION – A brief description of the LoadMaster.

c) TIME ZONE – The time zone in which this is being deployed.

d) Clear the Use this VM as an agent VM check box.

5. Enter the following under Compute Details:

a) VCPU(S) – At a minimum, you should allocate two VCPUs.

b) Number of Cores per VCPU – At a minimum, you should allocate 2 cores.

c) Memory – At a minimum, you should allocate 2 GB of memory.

You may require more resources based on the workload (or workloads) being published through the LoadMaster.

6. Under Disks, remove/delete the CD-ROM by clicking x.

7. Click + Add New Disk to add the LoadMaster disk.

8. Enter the following in the Add Disk screen:

a) TYPE – DISK

b) OPERATION – Clone from Image Service

c) BUS TYPE – IDE

d) IMAGE – The name of the uploaded image

e) INDEX = Next Available

IDE must be selected for bus type. The LoadMaster only utilizes the disk for config changes and logging, therefore there is no performance impact with this setting.

9. Click Add.

10. Under Network Adapters (NIC), click Add New NIC.

11. Select an existing VLAN NAME and click Add.

12. (Optional) – In multi-arm configurations, you can add additional NICs.

13. (Optional) – Click Set Affinity to create an affinity between the VM and multiple hosts. Nutanix recommends you select at least two hosts in an Affinity.

14. Click Save to complete the deployment.

2.6 Start the LoadMaster

When the LoadMaster deploys, you must manually start it to complete the configuration:

1. In the top navigation, click Explore.

2. In the left-hand navigation, click VMs.

3. Scroll down, find the newly deployed LoadMaster, and click the block to select it.

4. Click Actions and Power On.

2.7 License and Configure the LoadMaster

You must now configure the LoadMaster to operate in the network configuration.

1. When using DHCP, the IP address is displayed in the list of VMs.

2. In an internet browser, enter the IP address that you previously noted.

Ensure to enter https:// before the IP address.

3. A warning may appear regarding website security certificates. Click the continue/ignore option.

4. The LoadMaster End User License Agreement screen appears. Read the license agreement and, if you are willing to accept the conditions, click Agree to proceed.

5. If using the Online Licensing method, fill out the fields and click License Now.

6. If you entered an Order ID, a screen appears that provides a list of available licenses for that Order ID, in addition to any licenses registered for the Kemp ID based on the LoadMaster platform type. Select the license type you want to apply to this LoadMaster.

If the license type you want is not displayed, contact your Progress Kemp representative.

7. Click Continue.

8. The login screen appears. Enter the bal user name and the password.

9. In the screen informing you that the password has changed, click Continue. If you licensed your machine with a temporary license, you should get a warning informing you that a temporary license has been installed on your machine and for how long the license is valid.

10. The Home screen of the LoadMaster appears.

11. Go to System Configuration > Network Setup in the main menu.

12. Click the eth0 menu option in the Interfaces section.

13. In the Network Interface 0 screen, enter the IP address of the eth0 interface (the network facing interface of the LoadMaster) in the Interface Address text box.

14. Click Set Address.

The Speed in the Link Status section may show as Unknown!. This is because it is a virtual interface and there is no maximum speed associated with it. You can see the speed (if under load) in Statistics > Real Time Statistics in the User Interface (UI). The speed on the UI and Application Programming Interface (API) changes depending on how much load is put through the interface.

15. Click the eth1 menu option in the Interfaces section.

16. In the Network Interface 1 screen, enter the IP address of the eth1 interface (the farm-side interface of the LoadMaster) in the Interface Address text box.

17. Click Set Address.

This interface is optional, depending on the network configuration.

18. Click the Host & DNS Configuration menu option.

19. Enter the hostname into the Hostname text box.

20. Click Set Hostname.

21. Enter the IP address (or addresses) of the DNS Server (or servers) which is used to resolve names locally on the LoadMaster into the IP Address text box in the Add Nameserver section .

22. Click Add.

23. Enter the domain name that is to be prepended to requests to the DNS nameserver into the Domain text box.

24. Click Add.

25. Click the System Configuration > Network Setup > Default Gateway menu option.

26. Enter the IP address of the default gateway into the IPv4 Default Gateway Address text box.

If you have an IPv6 Default Gateway, enter the value in the IPv6 Default Gateway Address text box.

27. Click Set IPv4 Default Gateway.

The LoadMaster is now fully installed and ready to use. For further information on how to configure and implement the VLM, refer to the LoadMaster documentation which you can access here: http://kemptechnologies.com/documentation.

3 Troubleshooting

3.1 Configuring the LoadMaster Using the Console

If the LoadMaster does not automatically obtain an IP address using DHCP, or if you prefer to configure the LoadMaster using the console, then you can complete the following configuration steps before starting the LoadMaster:

1. Log in into the LoadMaster in the console using the following credentials:

- lb100 login: bal

- Password: 1fourall

2. Enter the IP address of the eth0 interface (the network facing interface of the LoadMaster) in the input field in the Network Side Interface Address dialog box.

3. Press OK.

4. Enter the IP address of the default gateway in the input field of the Default Gateway dialog box.

5. Press OK.

6. Once these are set, a prompt appears asking to connect to the web interface at the newly configured IP address. In an internet browser, enter the IP address of the eth0 interface which was entered in a previous step.

Ensure to enter https:// before the IP address.

7. A warning may appear regarding website security certificates. Click the continue/ignore option.

8. The LoadMaster End User License Agreement screen appears.

9. Read the license agreement and, if willing to accept the conditions, click Agree to proceed.

10. If the machine has shipped with a temporary license, a warning appears informing that a temporary license has been installed on the machine and for how long the license is valid.

11. Click OK.

12. The Home screen of the LoadMaster should appear.

The LoadMaster is now fully installed and ready to use. For further information on how to configure and implement the VLM, refer to the LoadMaster documentation at: https://kemptechnologies.com/documentation.

3.2 Nutanix Cloning

If you use the cloning features in Nutanix, it is possible an IP conflict may occur. This may be caused by the DHCP address obtained, a static IP address configured on the LoadMaster, or Virtual Services that are configured on the LoadMaster before cloning. Therefore, we recommends not using the Nutanix cloning feature in production environments.

3.3 Factory Reset

If you perform a factory reset on the VLM, all configuration data, including the VLMs IP address is deleted. During the subsequent reboot, the VLM attempts to obtain an IP address using DHCP. If the VLM is on a different subnet to the DHCP server then an IP address is not obtained and the IP address is set to the default 192.168.1.101.

The VLM may not be accessible using this address. If this is the case then you must run through the quick setup using the console as described in the Configuring the LoadMaster Using the Console section.

3.4 Preventing agetty##: ttyS0: ioctl: Input/output Errors

The LoadMaster expects a serial port connection. However, not having a serial port connection does not cause problems, other than causing the following log message:

agetty##: ttyS0: ioctl: Input/output error

To prevent these errors from appearing in the logs, enable a virtual serial port on Nutanix AHV by following these steps:

1. Turn off the VM.

2. SSH into one of the Controller VMs (CVMs) in the AHV cluster.

3. Run the following command to add the serial port to the VM:

acli vm.serial_port_create <VMName> type=kServer index=0

Replace <VMName> with the name of the VM.

References

Unless otherwise specified, you can find the below documents at http://kemptechnologies.com/documentation.

Licensing, Feature Description

Last Updated Date

This document was last updated on 29 November 2022.