Creating virtual appliances with VMBC requires certain tools and files. In addition, compiling the HTTP example service used in this tutorial requires the Rhino SDK and Apache Ant to be installed.

Prerequisites

You will need a VM host (referred to as the VNFI) to host the VMs created in this tutorial. Supported VM host platforms are VMware vSphere version 6.5 or later, or OpenStack release Newton or later.

You will also need:

  • A UNIX development environment. We recommend a Ubuntu 20.04 installation.

    Note Native, virtual, and WSL2 environments are all supported.

  • At least 20GB of free disk space in the development environment.

  • At least version 20 of Docker installed and available in the PATH.

  • A Java Development Kit (JDK) of at least Java version 11. We recommend the Microsoft JDK.

    Note This JDK must be installed in the development environment and available in the PATH.

  • Apache Ant version 1.10.7 or later installed and available in the PATH.

  • Access to the Metaswitch Manuals site. Contact your Metaswitch Customer Care representative if you need access.

You will need the following, which can be obtained from your Metaswitch Customer Care representative:

  • The VMBC software package

  • A (development) Rhino license

  • A SIMPL VM image appropriate for your VNFI

Create a directory called resources to store these files.

Preparation

Set up the VNFI

Ensure you have an operational VNFI and networking set up as detailed above.

Configure a new or existing user on your VNFI to have sufficient permissions for SIMPL VM to create VMs. Refer to the SIMPL VM manual for more information:

Ensure there are two non-overlapping IPv4 subnets configured on your VNFI, one for management and one for signaling. Reserve an IPv4 address on the management subnet for the SIMPL VM, and three IPv4 addresses on both the management and signaling subnets for the VMs. These addresses must not already be in use.

Upload the SIMPL VM image to the VNFI.

Set up the development environment

Download and install Docker, the JDK, and Apache Ant as detailed above and ensure their executables (docker, java, javac and ant) are available in the PATH.

Create an empty directory named resources somewhere in your development environment. This will be your base directory for all tutorial files, and is referred to hereafter as the resources directory.

Download source files for the virtual appliance

Download the following and save them to the resources directory:

  • The Rhino SDK, version 3.2, from here.

    Caution Ensure you download the SDK, not a production Rhino package.

  • The HTTP RA version 3.0.0.3 and the example service files, which are all contained in a .zip file available here.

  • The example hook scripts and node-parameters.yaml, which are all contained in the vm-build-container-tutorial.zip file available here.

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