Planning for the procedure

Background knowledge

This procedure assumes that:

  • You are installing into an existing VMware vCloud deployment which has pre-configured networks and VLANs; this procedure does not cover setting up a VMware vCloud and Cloudify deployment from scratch.

  • You know the IP networking information (IP address, subnet mask in CIDR notation, and default gateway) for the custom nodes.

  • You have read the installation guidelines at Initial Setup and have everything you need to carry out the installation.

  • You have loaded the csar-utils image and created the appropriate directories.

Reserve maintenance period

This procedure does not require a maintenance period. However if you are integrating into a live network then it is recommended to implement measures to mitigate any unforeseen events.

Plan for service impact

This procedure does not impact service.

People

Anyone can perform these MOP steps.

Tools and access

This document references an external document: the SIMPL VM Documentation. Ensure you have a copy available before proceeding.

Installation Questions

Question

More information

Do you have the correct custom CSAR?

All custom virtual appliances use the naming convention - [image name]-<full-version>-vcloud-csar.zip. For example, [image name]-1.0.0-vcloud-csar.zip where 1.0.0 is the software version. In particular, ensure you have the VMware vCloud CSAR.

Do you have a list of the IP addresses that you intend to give to each node?

Each node requires an IP address for each interface. You can find a list of the VM’s interfaces on the Network Interfaces page.

Do you have DNS and NTP Server information?

It is expected that the deployed nodes will integrate with the IMS Core NTP and DNS servers.

Method of procedure

Step 1 - Extract the CSAR

Extract the CSAR using the following command:

docker run -v <absolute path to csar utils base dir>:<absolute path on the container> \
           -e CSAR_HOME_DIR=<absolute path to the csar home dir on the container> \
           -e CSAR_LOG_DIR=<absolute path to the csar log dir on the container> \
           art-docker.metaswitch.com/orchestration/csar-utils:{csar-utils-version} \
           csar unpack <absolute path to the CSAR on the container>

For example:

docker run -v /home/admin/csar_utils_base_dir:/my_new_csar_dir \
           -e CSAR_HOME_DIR=/my_new_csar_dir/csar \
           -e CSAR_LOG_DIR=/my_new_csar_dir/logs \
           art-docker.metaswitch.com/orchestration/csar-utils:{csar-utils-version} \
           csar unpack /my_new_csar_dir/custom-vmware-vcloud-csar.zip

Where /home/admin/csar_utils_base_dir contains the csar and logs subdirectories, and the CSAR file. For the example above, it will unpack the CSAR to /home/admin/csar_utils_base_dir/csar/.local/share/csar/[image name]/<version>.

Step 2 - Write the SDF

The Solution Definition File (SDF) contains all the information required to set up your custom node cluster. It is therefore crucial to ensure all information in the SDF is correct before beginning the deployment.

Documentation on how to write an SDF is available in the 'Write an SDF' section of the SIMPL VM Documentation.

The format of the SDF is common to all Metaswitch products, so information can be reused as necessary. There are some RVT specific configuration settings in the SDF.

  • cds-addresses : Required by all Rhino TAS node types. This element lists all the Config Data Store addresses. Must be set to all the signaling IPs of the nodes serving as CDS. These are the TSN nodes in the deployment.

  • secrets-private-key : Required by all node types. Contains the private key to encrypt/decrypt passwords generated for configuration. The rvtconfig tool should be used to generate this key. More details can be found in the rvtconfig page.

It is recommended to start from a template SDF and edit it as desired instead of writing an SDF from scratch.

An example SDF is included in the CSAR, or can be found here.

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