Create Test Environment Alongside Production Environment | Nutanix Community
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Hello Everyone!



I am using AHV and would like to create a duplicate of my production environment alongside the actual production environment.

The point is that we have some highly specialised network software that needs to be tested as though in the actual environment before we actually deploy it there.

This software is frequently updated and occasionally an update creates havoc, requiring lots of downtime and restoration of significant portions of the network.

So what i am looking for is to have a protected space in AHV that thinks and behaves identically to our production environment (but with no actual interaction with the real network or the internet ... just via AHV consoles.)



Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!
If I understand what you are asking, you are looking for a way to run an AHV cluster nested under your production AHV cluster? The only way to get close to it would be to use Nutanix CE but it won't be a mirror of your prod environment because it lags behind the customer AHV cycle. But if



I would suggest maybe a small cluster on a seperate vlan that is firewalled away. A 1365S might be a place to start if you don't need a lot of CPU/Storage.
What I am looking for is how to create a seperate environment (container?) within my cluster using (commercial) AHV (we have NX-1365 with 3 nodes and a small virtual network (8 servers only)).

This would allow me to clone pieces of my production environment into a 'safe space' for testing changes before implimenting them in the production environment.

I would like the IP addresses and domain names in this area to be exactly the same as they are in the production environment, but have no connection with the production environment ... therefore no IP conflicts etc...

This area would be accessible only via console.
I would think cloning the VM and changing the VM's network to a non-routeable vLAN would be the easiest. If it's the same VM's every time a script should make it very easy.
I have done this:

Create non routable VLAN (192.168.229.x)

clone two servers

strip their NICs

Add new NIC each in the Test VLAN

give relevant addresses.

they cannot ping each other :(



Seems simple but somehow is not working.
Are the vm'a on the same host or different. Is the vlan created on the switches as well as hosts?
BermudaJames does it mean both your prod and "safe space" run on same Nutanix cluster ?
we only have one cluster ... so yes ... on a seperate VLAN from our production environment.

Our production is VLAN 0

the test environment is VLAN 219
BermudaJames have you configure the switch as per patrbng suggest?vlan and port config
Is it a problem if all of your test-VMs live on the same host (will they fit)?If you can put them all on the same host - I would create a new Private switch an connect the test-VMs to this private switch. On Hyper-V, this is a switch that allows VMs on the same host to talk to each other but not anything else on the network. I assume AHV has a similar offering.



In this case, you don't have to reIP because the traffic never leaves the Private switch.
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