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The HxBench application is delivered in the form of an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) package. Setting up an application involves deploying a virtual machine, configuring the virtual machine, and configuring the HxBench application.
Deploy the vCenter Controller as follows:
Step 1 |
From the vSphere Web Client Navigator, select . ![]() |
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Step 2 |
Select the OVA file you want to deploy from the disk. |
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Step 3 |
Read the summary in OVF Template Details and click Next. |
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Step 4 |
Specify a Name for the VM. Click Next. The name can contain up to 80 characters and it must be unique within the inventory folder. |
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Step 5 |
Select the Host / Cluster where you want to deploy the VM. Click Next. |
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Step 6 |
Under Storage, select the datastore where you want to deploy the VM. Click Next. |
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Step 7 |
Select the Disk Format. Click Next. |
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Step 8 |
Under Network Mapping, select HxBench Private. |
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Step 9 |
Select Network Properties to configure the IP address. Either DHCP or Static IP address can be configured for the VM.
Review the selected options to start deploying the OVA. Click Next. |
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Step 10 |
Select Power on after deployment and click Finish. |
Wait for the deployment task to complete.
After completion, a success message is displayed.
To deploy the Hyper-V controller:
Step 1 |
Extract the zip file Cisco-HXBench-1.3.8.zip and copy the vhdx file Cisco-HXBench-1.3.8.vhdx to the HyperV server. |
Step 2 |
From the HyperV Manager, select the HyperV server where HxBench Controller is to be deployed and select New > Virtual Machine. ![]() |
Step 3 |
Specify the Name of the VM, then click Next. |
Step 4 |
Select Generation 1 for the VM generation. |
Step 5 |
Specify 8192 MB as the memory size, then click Next. |
Step 6 |
Select Network connection Public Network for HxBench VM, then click Next. |
Step 7 |
Select Use an existing virtual hard disk, browse and select the copied Cisco-HXBench-1.3.8.vhdx, then click Next. |
Step 8 |
Review the selected options to start deploying the vhdx, then click Finish. |
Step 9 |
After the completion of the VM deployment, click VM Settings. Under the Add Hardware tab, select Network Adapter, then click Add. |
Step 10 |
Choose Public Network for HXBench VM under the Virtual Switch. |
Step 11 |
Click Apply, then click OK. |
Step 12 |
Assign a VLAN ID to both the networks, if enabled. |
Step 13 |
Power on the VM by clicking Start. |
To assign an IP address to the Hyper-V Deployment Controller:
Step 1 |
Connect to the console by clicking the Connect option. |
Step 2 |
Log in using the login credentials. |
Step 3 |
Using your preferred editor, modify the interfaces file sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces. |
Step 4 |
Enter the VM password when prompted. |
Step 5 |
Add the following line to set the Dynamic IP Address for the Controller:
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Step 6 |
Add the following line to set the Static IP Address for the Controller:
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Step 7 |
Execute the following command: |
Step 8 |
Use the same IP address assigned to access the HxBench Controller and the HxBench Web Interface. |
Step 1 |
Power on the virtual machine. |
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Step 2 |
Log in to the virtual machine from the HxBench Web Interface using administrator credentials.
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Step 3 |
If you selected DHCP during deployment, the HxBench Application starts running when the VM boots up with the assigned DHCP address. Make a note of the IP address assigned to the VM. If you selected static IP address, use the same to access the HxBench Controller and the HxBench Web Interface. |
To access the HxBench Web Interface, enter http://<IP address of the VM>:8000 or http://<IP address of the VM>:8000/hxbench/index.html in your browser.
Log in to the HxBench Web Interface using administrator credentials.
Username |
appadmin |
Password |
<admin> password |
Before running the test, configure the host as follows:
Note |
Perform the following steps on all hosts. |
Step 1 |
From the Powershell CLI, enter:
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Step 2 |
Copy and Run the following file: “/home/appadmin/host_configuration.ps1” from the deployed HXBench Controller to all Windows HyperV Host and in Powershell execute the following: ./host_configuration.ps1. |
Step 3 |
Use the same to access the HXBench Controller and the HXBench Web Interface. HX Bench picks up the hostname and tries to deploy VMs on the same. If it fails to resolve the hostname, then VM deployment fails. If this occurs, perform the following steps: |
HxBench picks up the hostname and tries to deploy VMs on the same. If it fails to resolve the hostname, then VM deployment fails.
Add DNS IP and FQDN of the host to
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During initial login to the HxBench application after the installation, perform the following steps.
Step 1 |
Upload Vdbench software to the HxBench controller. |
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Step 2 |
Upon successful completion of Vdbench software upload, click Next. Provide your server details (vCenter or Hyper-V, shown as follows) where the tests should run. Complete the following fields and click Save.
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After adding the vCenter server, validate the network setup by performing the following checks:
Query the network port group details of NIC2 in the HxBench controller.
Check the type of switch to which the port group is associated.
If the port group is connected to Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS), check whether all the hosts in the cluster are connected to the VDS and NIC2 port group.
![]() Note |
If the hosts are not connected to the VDS, you will see a warning that the network setup is partial. In such case, test VMs will be deployed to hosts only after the network setup is complete. You can manually update the configuration to connect all the hosts to a specific port group and VDS. |
If the port group is connected to the Virtual Standard Switch (VSS), the validation check will query the network and VLAN details of all the host switches.
If all the hosts are configured with the same port group and VLAN ID, the validation is successful and HxBench controller redirects to the Run Test workflow.
If some of the hosts are not configured with same port group and VLAN ID, the validation status is marked as PARTIAL. You can either continue to use the partial setup or alternatively, or you can create a new network setup on all hosts. Click Cancel to use the partial setup.
If you choose to create a new network setup on all hosts, provide the following details and click Create Network.
Field |
Description |
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VLAN ID |
If the network switch is configured to allow traffic from specific VLAN IDs, make sure to update this VLAN ID to the configuration. |
Host Name |
For example, 10.11.1.xxx |
Switches |
Choose vSwitch from the drop-down list. |
The HxBench controller assigns static IP addresses to all the test virtual machines. The static IP address is assigned from a private IP address range of 169.254.0.xxx.