In regards to deploying ESXi 5.5 or 6.x hypervisor in the field.

  • 10 January 2016
  • 6 replies
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In regards to deploying ESXi 5.5 or 6.x hypervisor in the field. The most recent version of Phoenix available for ESXi appears to be 2.0.4. Does that mean I need to download Foundation components 2.0 and not 3.x? Also, the file name for Phoenix version 2.0.4 is "phoenix-2.0.4_ESX_NOS-4.1.1.4.iso". Does that mean it is for ESXi 4.1, and is not supported for ESXi 5.x or 6.x? Thank you.

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6 replies

Userlevel 3
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Hi,

If you filter by version 3.0 you will see all the 3.0 Phoenix images. Including 3.0.4, which includes NOS / Acropolis Base Software 4.5.1.2. ESXi 5.5 U3a and ESXi 6.0 u1a are both supported.
Userlevel 3
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Also there is no Nutanix system that supports ESXi 4.x at all. The ealiest version that was supported was ESXi 5.0, which very few environments run on these days. The vast majority of environments are on ESXi 5.1 and 5.5, with people starting to look at 6.0.
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Hello, thank you for the very fast response. So which version of Foundation will I need for my installation workstation? I'd like to use my existing VM Workstation but I will be in a secure area and believe I will need to install and use VirtualBox. So I assume i will need VirtualBox installer for Windows, the OVF for the Foundation VM, and the Foundation VMDK for the Foundation VM. It appears that those are only available in Foundation 2.0. Is that correct? Thank you.
Userlevel 6
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Hey  thanks for reaching out.

Note that as of Foundation 3.0, you dont need a separate Phoenix file anymore

All you need is Foundation 3.0 OVF, and the NOS "tarball" (basically just the upgrade file off of portal.nutanix.com).

If you read through the field install guide for Foundation 3.0, it covers some of the differences, and will walk you through whats up.

Feel free to keep asking questions here though, happy to help
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Hi Jon, Thank you for the reply. Just to confirm, i would need the Hypervisor ISO as well if I were going to deploy a different Hypervisor, such as ESXi, correct?

I read through a lot of the Field Install Guide 3.0, and am going to read more this evening.

The first thing In the guide it talks about (page 10) is running the Foundation Discovery Applet. i do this and nothing is discovered. my laptop is on a personal switch with the Nutanix nodes also connected to that switch. Though it does say in the guide, "This method is limited tofactory prepared nodes running Acropolis base software version 4.5 or later. If you want to imagediscovered nodes without creating a cluster, image factory prepared nodes running an earlierAcropolis base software (NOS) version, or image bare metal nodes, see Imaging Bare MetalNodes on page 23."

The DOM date on the nutanix unit is 10/3/2015. I am wondering if this unit is not running a base software of 4.5 or later and that is why the Discovery Applet is not discovering anything? The only other thing I read was something about needing Bonjour installed if running on Windows. I installed Bonjour but that didn't make a difference. the Discovery Applet doesn't appear to run in the Foundations VM.

Also, this is a NX-1365-GH. We won't be using the 10GbE NICs because customer does not have a 10GbE switch or network. So we will need to leverage the two 1Gb NICs. D

Jon wrote:Hey @mwerne01 thanks for reaching out.

Note that as of Foundation 3.0, you dont need a separate Phoenix file anymore

All you need is Foundation 3.0 OVF, and the NOS "tarball" (basically just the upgrade file off of portal.nutanix.com).

If you read through the field install guide for Foundation 3.0, it covers some of the differences, and will walk you through whats up.

Feel free to keep asking questions here though, happy to help
Userlevel 6
Badge +29
We haven't started shipping 4.5 from the factory yet (Factory intentionally lags, like all orgs), that will be happening soon.

Even then the idea is to avoid having to use the foundation in virtual box, since in 4.5 foundation is built right into nos (very cool)

That means that the applet wont work right now, basically.

You'll have to treat it like a regular ole install, do the discovery using the foundation VM.

Anyhow, definitely dont want to leave you out to dry, so I'd really recommend contacting the federal SE Assigned to that account, so they can help you out in a more real time fashion,