Installing the NIOS Virtual or Reporting Virtual Appliance

This topic has instructions to install the NIOS virtual appliance and the reporting appliance. For information about supported vNIOS appliance models, see Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models.
To install the NIOS virtual appliance or the reporting appliance, complete the following steps:

Log in to the Infoblox Support site.
On the Downloads tab, complete the following steps to download the OVA package:
1. Infoblox Software: Select NIOS/vNIOS.
2. Select release type: Select the release type as General maintenance products with full engineering support for routine patches and bug fixes on all significant issues.
3. Select version: Select the vNIOS version.
4. vNIOS for VMware section: Download the .ova file.
Log in to the VMware vSphere Web Client.
Click vCenter -> Hosts and Clusters, and then select the resource pool that you used to install the NIOS virtual instance.
Right-click the resource pool and select Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template dialog is displayed.
On the Select an OVF template tab, depending on the download location of the NIOS virtual OVA package, perform one of the following:
1. Select URL, and then enter the URL for the OVA file to deploy it from a remote web server.
2. Select Local file, and then click Choose Files to locate the OVA file.
Select and open the OVA file, and then click Next.
To guide you through the deployment process, each time you click Next in the Deploy OVF Template dialog box, the corresponding step is highlighted on the left navigation bar.
Review the OVA package details, and then click Next.
Click Accept to accept the end-user license agreement, and then click Next.
On the Select a name and folder tab, you can rename the NIOS virtual instance (the default is NIOS virtual) and select a folder or data center in which the NIOS virtual instance is located. Note that you must use a unique name for the NIOS virtual instance in the folder you select. This folder is used for applying permissions to the NIOS virtual instance. Click Next after the selection.
On the Configuration tab, select the appliance model from the list, and then click Next. The number of virtual CPUs and memory is displayed for the selected appliance model.
If you are deploying a reporting appliance, select one of the following models only: TR-V805, TR-V1405, TR-V2205, TR-V4005, or IB-V5005 or Other Model. Ensure that you select the correct model for your virtual appliance. Otherwise, you may experience performance issues. For more information about supported models, see Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models.
Note that you can select the IB-V5005 or Other Model option for the following models:
- IB-FLEX appliance. An IB-FLEX instance supports VMware ESXi with or without SR-IOV enabled. For information about IB-FLEX, see the About IB-FLEX topic in the Infoblox NIOS Documentation.
- IB-V5005 reporting appliance. The IB-V5005 model is same as TR-V5005.
On the Select storage tab, to specify the storage format for the NIOS virtual instance, from the Next: Select virtual disk format: list, select Thin Provision, which allocates the storage space as needed without reserving a set amount of storage space for the NIOS virtual appliance.
On the Select networks tab, select the network that you want to assign to the NIOS virtual instance in the Destination column, and then click Next.
On the Customize template tab, complete the following settings for the NIOS virtual instance:
Note: The custom property settings for a VM customization work in a vApp options enabled environment. They do not work on a standalone ESXi server but work on VMware vCenter as long as vApp options is enabled.
1. Options (vApp required): Expand this setting and complete the following:
  1. Hardware Type: Set the hardware type.
  2. Temp License: For evaluation purpose, skip this setting. Enter the licenses you want to install on the NIOS virtual instance. Depending on whether you are deploying the Grid Master or Grid member, you may install temporary licenses for the Grid Master and dynamic licenses for the Grid member. Use a space or comma (,) to separate the licenses. For example, you can enter dns nios enterprise. Otherwise, leave this blank.
    For installing temporary licenses on the Virtual and Reporting Virtual appliances you must specify the appliance model number along with the temporary license parameters, hence the temporary license is applied for that specific appliance such as IB-V815, IB-V825, IB-V1415, IB-V1425, IB-V2215, IB-V2225, IB-V4015, IB-V4025, IB-V805, IB-V1405, IB-V2205, IB-V4005, IB-V5005, etc. Also, the OVA for these appliances remains the same.
  3. Enable Remote Console: Select the checkbox to enable remote access through SSH.
  4. Admin Password: Enter the admin password here if you want to change it. The default password is infoblox.
2. Gridmaster (vApp required): Expand this setting only if you already have a Grid set up properly and want to join the NIOS virtual instance to the Grid. For evaluation purpose, skip this setting.
  1. Certificate: Copy and paste the string of the Infoblox NIOS certificate credential generated for the Grid member token for authentication purposes.
  2. IP Address: Enter the IP address for the Grid Master.
  3. Token: Copy and paste the member token here for joining Grid Manager.
    The certificate and token are generated on the Grid Master when you pre-provision the NIOS virtual instance. The certificate and token values are valid only for a period of time. For information, see About Elastic Scaling in the Infoblox NIOS Documentation.
3. Networking (vApp required): Expand this setting and add the IP address, default gateway, and netmask for LAN1, LAN2, and MGMT accordingly. These can be either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. The LAN1 IP address is the address that you use to access the NIOS virtual appliance from a web browser. This address resides in the VLAN or network that you have selected in the Setup networks step. After you complete the networking settings, click Next.
In the Ready to complete step, review and verify the summary of your configurations. If necessary, click Back to modify your configurations. Ensure that you do not select the Power on after deployment checkbox if you are using elastic scaling for your deployment. Click Finish.
The NIOS virtual installation begins, and you can monitor the OVF deployment on the upper right-hand corner of the screen. When the installation completes, you can find the newly created NIOS virtual instance inside the folder that you selected.
Reporting appliances only: Complete this step only if you are deploying a reporting virtual appliance. Otherwise, move on to the next step.
To deploy a NIOS virtual reporting instance, you must configure two virtual hard disks. The default hard disk is used for the regular NIOS data and the second hard disk is required for storing the reporting data as reporting requires additional disk space. Complete the following to add a second hard disk drive:
1. In vCenter, select the newly created reporting appliance and click Edit virtual machine settings on the Getting Started tab.
2. In the Edit Settings dialog box, click the Add New Device button, and then select Hard Disk from the list. The newly added hard disk has 8 GB by default. Click OK to save your configuration.
  Note that you may change the size of the hard disk drive based on the virtual appliance you are using. For example, if the appliance is IB-V805, then add a new hard disk of size 250 GB. The minimum size allowed is 5 GB.
  For more information about virtual appliance models and their disk usage, see Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models.
In the left navigation panel, scroll down to the newly created NIOS virtual instance and click it.
On the Getting Started tab -> Basic Tasks section, click Power on the virtual machine to turn on the appliance.
Select the NIOS virtual instance after it has been powered on. Click the Summary tab, and then click Launch web console to launch the VM console.
After the console is launched, enter the admin user name and password. The default is admin and infoblox, respectively.
Ping the default gateway. If successful, move on to the next step. Otherwise, troubleshoot the NIOS virtual settings and the default gateway IP address.
Skip this step if you are deploying a reporting instance.
At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set temp_license. For a NIOS virtual instance, enter 2 to install the Grid (DNS, DHCP, Grid) licenses, and then enter y to proceed. Note that this configuration is for minimal evaluation purposes.
At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set temp_license and then enter 4 to add the NIOS license for your NIOS virtual or reporting instance.
Note: When selecting the NIOS virtual license from the list, ensure that you select the model for which you have provisioned your NIOS virtual instance. For example, if you are deploying a reporting instance, ensure that you select one of the following: IB-V805 (TR-V805), IB-V1405 (TR-V1405), IB-V2205 (TR-V2205), IB-V4005 (TR-4005), or IB-V5005. Otherwise, you might run into performance issues. For more information, see Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models.
Reporting appliances only: Complete this step only if you are deploying a reporting virtual appliance. Otherwise, go to the next step.
1. At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set temp_license. Enter 1 to install the NIOS license, Select the required model, and then enter y to proceed. For the list of supported reporting NIOS models, see Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models.
2. At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set temp_license. For a reporting appliance, you must install the Grid license. So, enter 2 to install the Grid (DNS, DHCP, Grid) licenses, and then enter y to proceed.
3. At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set temp_license. Install the reporting license by entering 3 and then y to proceed.
The NIOS virtual instance will now restart. Note that it might take a couple of minutes for the instance to restart. For information about how to join the NIOS virtual appliance to the Grid, see Joining NIOS Virtual Appliances to the Grid.
Reporting appliances only: Complete this step for joining a reporting virtual appliance to the Grid.
1. Log in to the VM console again.
2. At the Infoblox > prompt, enter set membership to join the reporting server to the Grid.
3. Enter the Grid Name and the Shared Secret, and then enter y to proceed.
4. The reporting service will now restart and initiate the join sequence with the Grid Master. If you see the following message, you have successfully joined the reporting server to the Grid.
After the restart has completed, you can open a web browser and enter https://<IP address of LAN1> to log in to Grid Manager to configure your NIOS virtual or reporting virtual appliance. For more information about how to configure a NIOS virtual or reporting member, refer to the Infoblox NIOS documentation.