Configure Nodes for VMware ESXi

This section provides step-by-step instructions on how to deploy Nodes in VMware vCenter Monitoring Domain.

To deploy Nodes using , follow these steps:

  1. Go to the VMware Fabric Launch Configuration page using one of the following options:

  2. On the VMware Fabric Launch Configuration page, enter or select the following details:

    Field

    Description
    Datacenter vCenter Data Center with the ESXi hosts to be provisioned with GigaVUE V Series Nodes.

    Cluster

    		 Cluster where you want to deploy the Nodes.

    V Series Node Image

     

    From the drop-down menu, select the OVA file uploaded in the Upload GigaVUE V Series Node Image into GigaVUE-FM.

    You can also add OVA files when launching the fabric.

    To add OVA files:

    1. Select Add.The Upload Image dialog box opens. 
    2. In the Upload Image dialog box, select Browse and then select the gigamon-gigavue-vseries-node-x.x.x-0-xxxxxx.ova file.
    3. Select Upload to Server.
      The OVA image file is uploaded to the server.
    Form Factor

    Instance size of the Node. For details, refer to Prerequisites for V Series nodes on ESXi Integration.

    Small Form Factor is not supported when using applications like Application Visualization, Application Metadata, Application Filtering.

    Enable Custom Certificates

    Enable this option to validate the custom certificate during SSL Communication. validates the Custom certificate with the trust store.

    • If the certificate is unavailable in Trust Store, communication does not happen, and a handshake error occurs.

    • If the certificate expires after the successful deployment of the fabric components, then the fabric components move to the failed state.

    Certificate

    This field appears only when Enable Custom Certificates field is enabled.

    Select the custom certificate from the drop-down menu. You can also upload the custom certificate for Nodes, Proxy, and s.

    For more information, refer to Install Custom Certificate.

    Hosts

    Select the ESXi hosts for Node deployment.

    Select Import Host Info from file or Add Host Info Manually.

    Import Host Info from file:

    To import host details from a .csv file:

    1. Download the .csv template file.
    2. Enter the required values in the Excel sheet and save the file.
    3. Select Browse and select the .csv file saved in the previous step.

    • To deploy more than one Node on the same host, add more rows in the Excel sheet with the same host value for each extra Node you want to deploy.

    • If your version is above 6.5 and Nodes are on a version below 6.5, Name Server and MTU are not supported. Therefore, these fields in the .csv file must be empty.

    Add Host Info Manually:

    Select the ESXi hosts for Node deployment.

    The Common Configuration drop-down wizard appears. Expand it and update the following details to apply the configuration to all the selected hosts.

    You can expand the individual hosts and add or delete Node. You can expand the individual Node and modify the configurations applied in the Common Configuration.
    Common Configuration

    Datastore

    Network datastore shared among all ESXi hosts.

    V Series Node Name Prefix

    Enter a prefix for the Node name.

    V Series Node Name Suffix

    Enter a suffix for the Node name.

    Name Server

    The server that stores the mapping between the domain names and the IP addresses. 

    • Enter a maximum of three name servers. 

    • Enter valid IPv4 addresses, separated by a comma.
    Management
    Network

    Management network for Nodes.
    IP Type

    Select the management network IP type as Static or DHCP.

    Gateway IP

    This field appears only when the Management IP type is Static.

    Gateway IP address of the Management Network.

    Netmask Length

    This field appears only when the Management IP type is Static.

    Management network's subnet mask value in CIDR format. For example, 21 for /21.

    MTU

    The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is the maximum size of each packet you can transfer as a single entity in a network connection. Enter a value between 1280 and 9000.
    Tunnel
    Network

    Tunnel Network for the V Series nodes.
    IP Type

    Select the tunnel network IP address type as Static or DHCP.
    Gateway IP (optional)

    Gateway IP address of the Tunnel Network.

    Netmask Length

    This field appears only when the Tunnel IP type is Static.

    Tunnel network's subnet mask value in CIDR format. For example, 21 for /21.

    MTU

    The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is the maximum size of each packet you can transfer as a single entity in a network connection. Enter a value between 1280 and 9000.
    Use IPv6

    Enable to use IPv6.
    Virtual Disk Format

    Select the Virtual Disk Format from the drop-down menu
    Deployment Folder

    Enter the folder name in vCenter where you can deploy Nodes.
    Username

    Enter the default username - gigamon
    Password

    Enter the password you wish to use for the Node.
  3. Select Deploy. After deployment in vCenter, Node appears on the Monitoring Domain page under the Monitoring Domain.

can process a maximum of ten Node deployment requests in parallel on VMware vCenter. Each deployment request can have multiple Node for deployment.