Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 Jumpstart Quick Start Guide

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Updated:March 11, 2015

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Table of Contents

Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart 8.2.0.1 Quick Start Guide

Introduction

Prerequisites

Configuring the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

Configuring Network Information for ESXi

Configuring IP

Configuring DNS Servers

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance

Configuring CiscoPrimeIP Express to Automatically Power Up

How to Recover Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

Prerequisites

Downloading the Recovery Kit

Recovery Procedures

Recovering Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

Recovering the Licenses

Troubleshooting

Related Documentation

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart 8.2.0.1 Quick Start Guide

First Published: May 2014

OL-31955-01

Introduction

The Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart product is a complete solution for using the Cisco Prime IP Express application to manage DHCP, DNS, and Caching DNS servers. It includes the following components:

  • Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 application software
  • Linux CentOS 6.0 Operating System
  • VMware ESXi 5.1 Hypervisor
  • Cisco UCS C220 M3 Hardware

These components are integrated together into a single flexible and easy to use appliance (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart Configuration

Figure 1 shows the three primary layers in the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart appliance. Each of these layers has its own capabilities. Each of these layers can be controlled independently as well as remotely, and each requires its own independent connection to the network. Thus, three unique IP addresses are required.

You may only need to connect to the Cisco Prime IP Express Web UI to perform IP address management tasks, but you may also need to connect to one of the other layers to perform system management or troubleshooting tasks related to the appliance.

You can connect to each layer as described below:

  • Connecting to Virtual Appliance (Open Virtualization Format) Layer—You can connect to the Cisco Prime IP Express application layer using a web browser. Use http:// vaip :8080, where vaip is the virtual appliance IP address (which is also the IP address of the Linux Operating System). For a secure connection to the Cisco Prime IP Express Web UI, use https:// vaip :8443.

To access the Cisco Prime IP Express Command Line Interface (CLI), you can use an SSH connection to the virtual appliance IP address using ssh -l root vaip.

You can manage the Linux OS by connecting to it using ssh -l root vaip. There is no Windows system installed on the Cisco Prime IP Express virtual appliance, but the standard Linux commands necessary to manage a networking application are all present on the Linux OS.

  • Connecting to ESXi Hypervisor Layer—Connect to the ESXi hypervisor layer, identified by the IP address esxip, using the VMware vSphere client. esxip is the IP address designated to the ESXi layer.

Note The VMware vSphere client is supported only on systems running Microsoft Windows.

  • Connecting to Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) UCS Management Console—This allows you to configure and manage the ESXi layer. You can connect to the CIMC by using a browser using https:// ucsip /. ucsip is the IP address assigned to the Jumpstart. After you log into CIMC, you can start the KVM console to get access to the ESXi configuration screen and manage hardware (power, temperature, fan RPM).

This guide contains the following sections:

Prerequisites

You must have answers to some questions to initially configure the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart. The questions below beginning with Select require you to come up with a new value which is unique to this appliance, while the questions beginning with Determine require you to find out information that is not unique to this appliance.

You should have answers to the following questions when configuring the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart:

  • Select the IP address for the CIMC port on the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart.
  • Determine the netmask (subnetmask) for the CIMC port.
  • Determine the gateway for the CIMC port.

You should have answers to the following questions when configuring network information for ESXi:

  • Select the IP address for the ESXi installation on the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart.
  • Determine the netmask for the IP address for the ESXi installation.
  • Determine the gateway address for the ESXi installation on the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart.
  • Determine the VLAN (if any) for the ESXi installation on the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart.

You should have answers for the following questions related to configuring the Cisco Prime IP Express virtual appliance:

  • Select a virtual machine name for the deployed virtual appliance.
  • Select a root password for the Linux operating system on the virtual appliance. You will be prompted to enter and configure the root password during your first boot.
  • Select an IP address for the Cisco Prime IP Express virtual appliance.
  • Select a DNS name (hostname) for the virtual appliance. It should be placed into DNS using the IP address you selected for the virtual appliance.
  • Select a username and password for the administrator of the Cisco Prime IP Express installation.
  • Determine the netmask associated with the IP address for the virtual appliance.
  • Determine the gateway address appropriate to the IP address and netmask.
  • Determine the IP addresses of up to two DNS servers for the virtual appliance to use.
  • Determine any proxy values necessary for the virtual appliance to access the Internet.

Note Ensure that you have the Cisco Prime IP Express licenses from Cisco.com before you get started. For details, see the License Files section of Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 Installation Guide.

Configuring the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart requires you to do the following configuration steps to connect it to the network:

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

To configure the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart:

Step 1 Configure the UCS CIMC Network Connection. To configure this, follow the steps in the Connecting and Powering On the Server (Standalone Mode) chapter of the enclosed Cisco UCS C220 Server Installation and Service Guide or you can see the document available online at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220/install.html.

You have to configure NIC Redundancy as None in the Connecting and Powering On (Standalone Mode) procedure.

 

The CIMC gives you insight into the hardware as well as support for a virtual KVM console allowing remote management of the ESXi layer. For details on CIMC, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller GUI Configuration Guide available at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/sw/gui/config/guide/1-4-1/b_Cisco_UCS_C-Series_GUI_Configuration_Guide_141.html.

Configuring Network Information for ESXi

After configuring the network information for the UCS CIMC console, use the virtual KVM console that the CIMC console provides to configure the network information for the ESXi hypervisor.

Step 1 Use a browser to connect to the IP address of the CIMC console.

Step 2 Log into the CIMC console.

Note The default username is admin and default password is password, but you should change the password at your earliest convenience.

Step 3 On the Server Summary page, in the Actions pane, click Launch KVM Console. You will be asked to approve the running of the application, as this operation downloads code to run on your system. After some delay, the KVM Console window is displayed.

Note If login fails, it may be either that someone else already has a virtual KVM console already active for this UCS C220 server or that your browser is not configured to run Java Web Start.

The initial screen on the KVM console displays VMware ESXi 5.1.0.

Step 4 Press F2 to customize the system.

Note The virtual KVM console needs to capture the mouse to accept input. It may be necessary on some systems to use the mouse to select the Single Cursor option from the Tools menu of the KVM Console window. If nothing happens when you press F2, select the Session Options from the Tools menu and click OK. Usually this causes the mouse to be captured, and then the functions keys will make it through to the console. If you want the mouse back, you can press F12.

Step 5 Press F2 again to view the login window.

Step 6 Log into the host. The default username is root and the password is password.

Select the Configure Password option and reconfigure the root password after you log in.

Step 7 Using the arrow keys, select the Configure Management Network option and press Enter.

Configuring IP

Step 8 For IP configuration:

a. Use the arrow keys to select IP Configuration and press Enter.

b. Use the arrow keys to select Set Static IP address and Network Configuration.

c. Use the space bar to enable this selection.

d. Use the arrow keys to select IP Address and enter the IP address.

e. Use the arrow keys to select Subnet Mask and enter the subnet mask.

f. Use the arrow keys to select Default Gateway and enter the gateway address.

g. Press Enter to accept the IP Configuration updates.

Note If you want to use IPv6 with Cisco Prime IP Express, use the arrow keys to select IPv6 Configuration and enter the information requested on that screen.

Configuring DNS Servers

Step 9 To configure the DNS Servers:

a. Use the arrow keys to select DNS Configuration and press Enter.

b. Use the arrow keys to select Primary DNS Server and enter the IP address of the primary DNS server.

c. Use the arrow keys to select Alternate DNS Server and enter the IP address of the alternate DNS server.

d. Use the arrow keys to select Hostname and enter the hostname.

Note Ensure that you enter the entire hostname, including the domain name.

e. Press Enter to accept the DNS Configuration updates.

Step 10 If you have a VLAN configured on the switch to which the ESXi is connected, use the arrow keys to select VLAN (optional) and press Enter.

Enter the VLAN for this network connection and press Enter to accept the change.

Press Esc to exit the Configure Management Network window which you are in now.

Step 11 Use the arrow keys to select Test Management Network and press Enter.

You can see the addresses to be pinged and the hostname to be resolved. Use the arrow keys and select the address to be pinged and press Enter. The test pings your default gateway and DNS servers and tests the connectivity. Press Enter when the test is complete.

At this point, ESXi listens on the IP address that you configured.

Step 12 Use a browser to connect to the IP address configured for ESXi.

A window displaying VMware ESXi 5.1 Welcome appears.

Note If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based on your security policy.

Step 13 If you already have downloaded VMware vSphere and have it available, go to the “Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance” section.

If you have not downloaded VMware vSphere, ensure that you are connecting to the Jumpstart from a system running Microsoft Windows.

If the system on which the browser is running is connected to the Internet, you can click on the link for Download vSphere Client. This downloads the VMware vSphere installable on your system which you can then install.

Note The Jumpstart does not need access to the Internet for this to work, but the Windows system running the browser needs to have access to the Internet.

If you are not connected to the Internet, go to system that is connected to the Internet and go to the VMware website. You have to download the vSphere client installation kit. The simplest way to get the vSphere client is to connect to the Jumpstart with a browser running on a Windows machine which also has Internet connectivity.

After you install the vSphere client on your system, proceed to the “Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance” section.

 

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance

The Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance is delivered as a virtual machine installed on the ESXi hypervisor. The virtual machine name as shipped from Cisco is "NR-local-ucs".

Note You are encouraged to change the virtual machine name to something more descriptive. However, the underlying disk storage will remain under the name originally used to deploy the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), that is "NR-local-ucs".

To manage the virtual machine containing Cisco Prime IP Express, as well as manage any other virtual machines which you may deploy on the Jumpstart, use the VMware vSphere client. See Step 13 of the procedure “Configuring Network Information for ESXi” for instructions on how to acquire a copy of the VMware vSphere Client.

To configure the Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance:

Step 1 Select the virtual machine name in vSphere and right-click and open a console.

Step 2 Click the Power on button () on the console and click inside the window after clicking the Power on button. vSphere captures the mouse when you click inside the console window. If you want to release the mouse cursor, press CTRL + ALT.

During the initial boot of the newly deployed machine, you will be prompted to enter a root (system) password, which is not the Cisco Prime IP Express password.

Note This is the root password for the underlying Linux operating system on which the Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 application is installed. You will be asked to enter this password twice. You will need root access to the underlying Linux operating system later on, so make sure that you remember this password.

Step 3 Read the end user license agreement and if you agree with the terms stated, accept the agreement.

Step 4 Use the Arrow Keys to highlight the Configure Network option and press Enter. You must configure the virtual appliance to use a static address, so answer n (No) to the DHCP question and configure the following:

    • IP Address of the virtual appliance
    • Netmask of the virtual appliance
    • Gateway of the network in which you are creating virtual appliance
    • DNS Server 1
    • DNS Server 2
    • Hostname of the virtual appliance
    • Whether or not you need a proxy set

Step 5 To save the settings, select y (Yes) when prompted, after reviewing the settings. Select n (No) if you do not want to save the settings.

Step 6 Using the arrow keys, highlight Set Timezone and press Enter. Follow the instructions to set the time zone.

 

See the “Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express” subsection of Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 Installation Guide for configuring your Cisco Prime IP Express application.

Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express to Automatically Power Up

There are several layers of processing involved in running the Cisco Prime IP Express application. Each layer has choices it can make about what to do when it is first powered up after power failures.

You can configure the Cisco Prime IP Express to start automatically when power is restored to the Jumpstart.

The two places where you have to change the configurations to make this possible are:

  • UCS Hardware—The UCS hardware has to be configured to power up the ESXi hypervisor when power is restored.
  • ESXi Hypervisor—The ESXi hypervisor has to be configured to power up the Cisco Prime IP Express virtual appliance when power is restored to the ESXi hypervisor layer.

To configure the UCS Hardware to automatically power up the ESXi hypervisor:

Step 1 Connect a browser to the CIMC UCS Management Console and log into the console.

Step 2 In the Server tab on the left pane, select the Power Policies link.

Step 3 Select Power On from the Power Restore Policy drop-down list in the Power Restore Policy area in the right pane.

If you want, you can enter a delay value in the Power Delay Value field.

Step 4 Click Save Changes to save the updates.

 

To configure the ESXi hypervisor to automatically power up the Cisco Prime IP Express virtual appliance when power is restored to the ESXi hypervisor layer, see the “Configuring the Virtual Appliance to Automatically Power Up” section of Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 Installation Guide.

How to Recover Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

This section describes how to recover Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart 8.2.0.1. It includes the following sections:

Prerequisites

To start the recovery process, make sure that you have:

  • Internet connectivity—Internet connectivity is required to download the recovery images and to request Cisco Prime IP Express replacement licenses from Cisco.com. Ensure that you have the licenses with you before you start the recovery process.
  • Recovery kit—The Recovery kit is comprised of three files which must be downloaded from www.cisco.com to your local client. For more information, see “Downloading the Recovery Kit” section.
  • Connection to CIMC UCS Management Console—Ensure that the CIMC port is configured on the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart appliance. This allows you to configure and manage the ESXi layer. For more information, see “Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart” section.

Downloading the Recovery Kit

To download the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart recovery kit:

Step 1 From the appropriate server host or client workstation, do the following:

To download
Go to the following URL

Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 Jumpstart Appliance Recovery —approximately 292 MB (cpipe_8_2_0_1_jumpstart_appliance_recovery.iso)

https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=286266580&flowid=73743&softwareid=286281597&release=8.2&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 Local Virtual Appliance for VMWare —approximately 792 MB (cpipe_8_2_0_1_local_ovf.zip)

http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=286231937&flowid=49982&softwareid=286244100&release=8.2.0.1&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2.0.1 Regional Virtual Appliance for VMWare —approximately 947 MB (cpipe_8_2_0_1_regional_ovf.zip)

Step 2 To download the recovery kit, click the Download button.

Step 3 Sign in with your Cisco.com user ID and password.

Step 4 Read the Cisco End User License Agreement and accept the conditions by clicking Accept License Agreement.

Step 5 Download the.iso and.zip files to a location that can be browsed from the host that will be used to recover the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart.

Step 6 Locate the saved files and unzip the.zip files to two separate folders (local and regional folders).

 

Recovery Procedures

This section explains the following recovery procedures:

Recovering Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart

To recover the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart:

Step 1 Use a browser to connect to the IP address of the CIMC console and log into the console.

Step 2 On the Server Summary page, in the Actions pane, click Launch KVM Console. You will be asked to approve the running of the application, as this operation downloads code to run on your system. After some delay, the KVM Console window is displayed.

Step 3 Select the Virtual Media tab.

Step 4 Click Add Image and browse to select the ESXi installation ISO file (cpipe_8_2_0_1_jumpstart_appliance_recovery.iso).

Step 5 Check the check box in the Mapped column for the media that you just added.

Wait for the mapping to complete and close the KVM Console window.

Step 6 In the Server tab on the left pane, click the BIOS link and ensure that the CD/DVD is listed as the first item in Actual Boot Order.

Step 7 In the Server tab on the left pane, click the Summary link.

The Server Summary page appears.

Step 8 Click Power Cycle Server to restart the Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart appliance.

Step 9 Follow the on-screen instructions in the KVM Console window to install ESXi 5.1. This step could take several to many minutes depending on the network connection from the client where the install is being run to the server.

You may be presented with a choice to upgrade or re-install and re-partition, depending on the situation. Choose the option appropriate for your situation.

ESXi is always installed in the evaluation mode. If you do not have the ESXi 5.1 license key, call the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and ask for the Licensing Team. For your local Cisco TAC phone number, see the Cisco Worldwide Contacts page at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/tsd-cisco-worldwide-contacts.html.

Step 10 At the end of the installation, unmap the Virtual Media drive from Step 5 before you reboot Cisco Prime IP Express Jumpstart appliance.

Step 11 After the server reboots, configure ESXi 5.1 in the KVM Console window. For more information on how to configure the ESXi layer, see “Configuring Network Information for ESXi” section.

Step 12 Using VMware vSphere, connect to the IP address or hostname of the UCS (ESXi).

Step 13 From the vSphere menu, choose File > Deploy OVF Template.

The Deploy OVF Template Source window appears.

Step 14 To deploy the OVF file, click Browse and choose the OVF file (.ovf) available on the location where it was previously unpacked. Choose the appropriate Local or Regional OVF in the corresponding subdirectory.

Complete the deployment following the on-screen instructions. See the “Deploying the Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance” procedure in the Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 Installation Guide for details.

Note You might want to resize the data disk before starting the virtual machine since the Recovery DVD has the standard OVFs. For details regarding increasing the disk size, see the “Increasing the Size of Disk” procedure in the “Introduction to Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance” chapter of the Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 User Guide.

Step 15 Open the console for “NR-local-ucs” virtual machine and click the Power on button to power up the virtual machine. For more information, see “Configuring Cisco Prime IP Express Virtual Appliance” section.

Step 16 Connect to Cisco Prime IP Express using http://. It prompts you to create an admin user and password for Cisco Prime IP Express.

 

Recovering the Licenses

You can now restore your original license or request a replacement license at http://www.cisco.com/go/license.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issue for which you are not able to find a solution, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for help.

For assistance in troubleshooting, the appliance comes with a secure FTP server and a TAC tool.

Ensure that you send the data gathered by the TAC tool to the TAC team in case of issues. For more details regarding the TAC tool, see the Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2 User Guide.

You can use the FTP server (vsftpd) to transfer files to and from the virtual appliance. You have to create a user to log into the vsftpd because the 'root' user cannot be used for logging in. The vsftpd will not be up and running when you power on the appliance, so you have to manually start it.

You can start the vsftpd using the command:

/etc/init.d/vsftpd start

You can stop the vsftpd using the command:

/etc/init.d/vsftpd stop

Related Documentation

Note We sometimes update the documentation after original publication. Therefore, you should also review the documentation on Cisco.com for any updates.

The following is a list of documentation that you can refer to:

Hardware Documents

Go to the following page to see the documentation for UCS server hardware:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/
index.html

Platform-Specific Documents

The following is a list of sites with platform-specific documentation:

  • For VMware ESXi specific documentation, go the VMware website.
  • For CentOS specific documentation, go to the CentOS website.

Software Documents

The following document gives the list of documents available for Cisco Prime IP Express 8.2:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/net_mgmt/prime/ip_express/8-2/doc_overview/guide/CPIPE_8_2_Doc_Guide.html

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, using the Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST), submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html.

Subscribe to What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation, which lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation as an RSS feed and delivers content directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service.

This document is to be used in conjunction with the documents listed in the “Related Documentation” section.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)

Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.

© 2014 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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