You can install the NIOS virtual software package on a host with VMware ESX or ESXi 8.0b, 7.0.3, 7.0.2, 7.0, 6.7, 6.7 Update 2 (and Upper versions), 6.5.x, 6.0.x installed and configure it as a virtual appliance. You can configure the storage either with 250 GB if the virtual appliance is running on a version of NIOS prior to 9.0.1, 500 GB from NIOS 9.0.1 onwards, or you can choose a configuration above 80 GB during the first boot.
Note
Infoblox NIOS provides core network services and a framework for integrating all the components of the modular Infoblox solution. NIOS provides integrated, secure, and easy-to-manage DNS (Domain Name System), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and IPAM (IP address management) services. In addition to DNS, DHCP, and IPAM, NIOS also provides TFTP, HTTP, NTP, and FTP file transfer services. vNIOS for VMware provides most of the features supported by NIOS but with some limitations. For information, see the Known Limitations section.
NIOS virtual appliances support the following features:
Configuration as an HA pair, hybrid HA pair (for NIOS versions 8.6.x onwards), a Grid Master, Reporting server, or a Grid Master Candidate
Anycast addressing
OSPF
BGP
Static routes
IPv6
vSphere vMotion is also supported. You can migrate NIOS virtual appliances from one ESX or ESXi server to another without any service outages. The migration preserves the hardware IDs and licenses of the NIOS virtual appliances. VMware Tools is automatically installed for each NIOS virtual appliance. Infoblox supports the control functions in VMware Tools. For example, through the vSphere client, you can shut down the virtual appliance. For information about migrating a NIOS virtual appliance, see Migrating NIOS Virtual Appliances.
Supported vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models
You can configure most NIOS virtual appliances as independent or HA Grid Masters, Grid Master Candidates, or Grid members. The table below lists NIOS virtual appliance models and their specifications. Note that each NIOS virtual appliance requires a unique hardware ID. Infoblox does not support cloned VM instances as NIOS virtual appliances.
Basic VM disk allocations include the following:
IB-V805, IB-V815, IB-V825, IB-V1405, IB-V1415, IB-V1425, IB-V2205, IB-V2215, IB-V2225, IB-V4005, IBV4015, IB-V4025, IB-V5005, ND-V805, ND-V1405, ND-V2205, ND-V4005, CP-V805, CP-V1405, and CP-V2205. NIOS virtual appliances support 250 GB hard disk allocation.
Note
To maintain high performance on your NIOS virtual appliances and to avoid not having enough resources to service all NIOS virtual appliances, do not oversubscribe physical resources on the virtualization host. Required memory, CPU, and disk resources must be adequately allocated for each NIOS virtual appliance that is running on the virtualization host.
From NIOS 8.6.x onwards, hybrid HA is supported. A hybrid HA pair can comprise a physical appliance and a virtual appliance, two physical appliances, or two virtual appliances. For more information on limitations of using HA pair combinations, see Limitations of Using a Combination of a Physical Appliance and a Virtual Appliance for HA.
For the new vNIOS for VMware models supported from NIOS 9.0.1 onwards, Infoblox recommends that you use SSDs for storage for better performance.. See the tables in this topic for the supported models.
vNIOS for VMware Appliance Models
Trinzic Virtual Appliance | Overall Disk (GB) | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
IB-V815 | 250 | 2 | 16 | Yes |
IB-V825 | 250 | 2 | 16 | Yes |
IB-V1415 | 250 | 4 | 32 | Yes |
IB-V1425 | 250 | 4 | 32 | Yes |
IB-V2215 | 250 | 8 | 64 | Yes |
IB-V2225 | 250 | 8 | 64 | Yes |
IB-V4015 | 250 | 14 | 128 | Yes |
IB-V4025 | 250 | 14 | 128 | Yes |
The below table lists the models of vNIOS for VMware appliances supported in NIOS 9.0.1 and later. These models support the cloud platform feature. To use the feature, you must install the Cloud Platform license. For more information, refer to the Managing Licenses in NIOS 9.0.1 topic in the Infoblox NIOS Documentation.
Trinzic Virtual Appliance | Overall Disk (GB) | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
IB-V926 | 500 | 8 | 32 | Yes |
IB-V1516 | 500 | 12 | 64 | Yes |
IB-V1526 | 500 | 16 | 64 | Yes |
IB-V2326 | 500 | 20 | 192 | Yes |
IB-V4126 | 500 | 32 | 384 | Yes |
Trinzic | Overall Disk (GB) | Minimum Disk Space Required | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IB-V805 | 250 | 250 GB | 2 | 32 | No |
IB-V1405 | 250 | 500 GB | 4 | 32 | No |
IB-V2205 | 250 | 1 TB | 8 | 64 | No |
IB-V4005 | 250 | 1.5 TB | 14 | 128 | No |
IB-V5005 | User defined reporting storage | User defined | User defined | User defined | No |
Network Insight Virtual Appliances | Overall Disk (GB) | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ND-V805 | 500 | 4 | 32 | No |
ND-V1405 | 500 | 8 | 32 | No |
ND-V2205 | 500 | 16 | 64 | No |
ND-V4005 | 500 | 28 | 128 | No |
Note
The overall disk space for an ND appliance is 500 GB.
The following models of vNIOS for VMware appliances are supported in NIOS 9.0.1 and later:
Network Insight Virtual Appliance | Overall Disk (GB) | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ND-V906 | 500 | 8 | 32 | No |
ND-V1606 | 500 | 16 | 64 | No |
ND-V2306 | 500 | 20 | 192 | No |
ND-V4106 | 500 | 32 | 384 | No |
Cloud Platform Virtual Appliance | Overall Disk (GB) | # of CPU Cores | Memory Allocation | Supported as Grid Master and Grid Master Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CP-V805 | 250 | 2 | 16 | No |
CP-V1405 | 250 | 4 | 32 | No |
CP-V2205 | 250 | 8 | 64 | No |
Requirements
The requirements to install the NIOS virtual appliance on a VMware ESX/ESXi server are as follows:
NIOS software package:
You can download the NIOS software from the Infoblox Technical Support site. To download the software, you must have a valid login account on the Infoblox Support site. Register your product at https://support.infoblox.com if you do not already have an account. The NIOS software package consists of a template file with .ova extension for all supported NIOS appliance models. Make sure that you download the file with .ova extension.
After you download the .ova file, you can run the
tar -xvf nios-xxx.ovacommand to untar the .ova and separate .ovf and .vmdk files.You can deploy the NIOS virtual appliance from a remote web server or from a local file system accessible from your management system.
A management system that has an installed vSphere client. To manage multiple hosts, the vSphere client must be connected to the vCenter server system.
Known Limitations
NIOS virtual appliance for VMware support most of the features of the Infoblox NIOS appliances, with the following limitations:
If you are using NIOS versions earlier than 8.6.x, if you configure an HA pair, both nodes in the HA pair must be NIOS virtual instances. You cannot configure a physical NIOS appliance and a NIOS virtual instance in an HA pair in versions earlier than 8.6.x.
NIOS virtual appliances run on virtual hardware. They do not have sensors to monitor the physical CPU temperature, fan speed, and system temperature.
Changing the NIOS virtual appliance settings through the VMware vSphere or vCenter console may violate the terms of the NIOS virtual licensing and support models. The NIOS virtual appliance may not join the Grid or function properly.