Perform the following procedure to create a VM for the host:

  1. From vCenter Home, select Host from the navigation pane.

  2. Select the host from the navigation pane and click Create a new virtual machine under "Basic Tasks" of Getting Started tab.

    Hosts Screen - Create New VM

    The New Virtual Machine dialog displays.

    Note

    The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented image exactly.



  3. Select "Create a new virtual machine" option (New Virtual Machine, step 1a) and click Next.

    Select Creation Type

  4. In the next screen (step 2a), enter the VM name and select the datacenter as the location (in this example, DatacenterSBCSWe1), and click Next.

    Enter VM Name and Select Datacenter

  5. In the next screen (step 2b), select the host IP from the list, and click Next.

    Select Host

  6. In the next screen (step 2c), select the datastore (in this example, "datastore1 (2)") from the list and click Next.

    Select Datastore

  7. In the next screen (step 2d), select compatibility version "ESX 5.1 and later" from Compatible with drop-down list, and click Next.

    Select Compatibility

  8. In the next screen (step 2e), choose the appropriate operating system from Guest OS Family drop-down list.

    Choose Guest OS Family

  9. Choose Debian GNU/Linux 6 (64-bit) from Guest OS Version drop-down list and click Next.

    Choose Guest OS Version

    The "Customize hardware" screen appears (step 2f).

    Note

    The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented image exactly.



  10. Select/enter hardware settings (in this example, we are configuring 100 GB disk space, 4 CPUs, 4 cores per socket, and 16 GB RAM). Set CPU reservation to a value calculated by multiplying: (half of the number of vCPUs assigned to the VM) x (the physical CPU processor speed). For example, for a 4 CPUs configuration with a processor of 2.99 GHz CPU frequency, reserve "2992 * 2 = 5984 MHz".
    1. CPU: For details, see For VMware. Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:
      1. CPU: "4"
      2. Cores per Socket: "4"
      3. Reservations: "5984" MHz

      4. Limit: "Unlimited"

        Hardware Settings - CPU

    2. Memory: For details, see For VMware. Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:
      1. RAM: "16384" MB

      2. Reservation: "16384" MB

        Hardware Settings - Memory

    3. New Hard disk: For details, see For VMware. Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:
      1. New Hard disk: "100" GB
      2. Location: (select datastore from drop-down list)

      3. Disk Provisioning: "Thick provision eager zeroed"

        Hardware Settings - Hard Disk

    4. New SCSI controller: Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:
      1. Change Type: "LSI Logic Parallel"

      2. New Network: "HA", with "Connect" option enabled

        Hardware Settings - SCSI

    5. New Network: Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:
      1. New Network: "VDS-MGMT-PG (VDS-MGMT)"
      2. Status: enable "Connect At Power On"
      3. Adapter Type: "VMXNET 3"

      4. MAC Address: "Automatic"

        Hardware Settings - Network

    6. New CD/DVD Drive: Click the arrow to the left of the field to expand it and view additional settings. Click again to collapse the details. Accept defaults except for the following:

      1. New CD/DVD Drive: "Datastore ISO File".

        Note

        Prior to this step, the ISO file must be downloaded to and present on the host.

        Hardware Settings - CD/DVD Drive


        1. From the Select File dialog, select the datastore from Datastores column, and ISO file from Contents column.

          Choose ISO File

        2. Click OK to continue with the hardware settings.

      2. Connect at Power On: Select option to enable it.

        Hardware Settings - CD/DVD

    7. PKT Port NUMA Affinity: To find and modify PKT port NUMA affinity, perform the following steps:

      1. Find the PKT port NUMA affinity by executing the following command on the EXSi host:

        vsish -e get /net/pNics/<PKT port name - vmnicX>/properties | grep "NUMA"
      2. Update VM Numa affinity to be same as NIC NUMA affinity:

        1. Edit Settings -> VM options -> Configuration Parameters -> Add Parameters.

          Edit Configuration Settings

        2. Add the following parameters:

          numa.nodeAffinity' =  0 or 1 (based on PKT port NIC affinity)

numa.autosize.once = FALSE


          Add Parameters


  11. At the bottom of the New Virtual Machine screen, select "Network" from New device drop-down list.

    Add New Devices

    Tip

    Ribbon recommends configuring all four ports with different IP addresses in four different networks in the order shown:

    • Management (MGMT) port – NIC 1 Network
    • HA port – NIC 2 Network
    • PKT0 port – NIC 3 Network
    • PKT1 port – NIC 4 Network

  12. Click Add. A "New Network" field is added to the Virtual Hardware list.

    1. Select "VDS-HA" from the drop-down list.

    2. Ensure that "Connect at Power On" is enabled.

      Add "HA" Network

  13. Click Add  to add another new device to the Virtual Hardware list.
    1. Select "VDS-PKT0" from the drop-down list.

    2. Ensure that "Connect at Power On" is enabled.

      Add "PKT0" Network

  14. Click Add  to add another new device to the Virtual Hardware list.
    1. Select "VDS-PKT1" from the drop-down list.

    2. Ensure that "Connect at Power On" is enabled.

      Add "PKT1" Network

  15. Click Next. The "Ready to complete" screen displays so you can verify the settings.


  16. When you are satisfied with the VM hardware settings, click Finish.

    Ready to Complete Virtual Hardware Settings

This completes the configuration of your vSphere distributed switch.

 Continue to Preparing for SBC SWe Installation