ESXi

The FlowPro virtual appliance for ESXi is provided as an all-in-one OVA template to streamline the deployment process.

Deploying the OVA Template

To deploy the FlowPro virtual appliance in ESXi, follow these steps:

  1. Contact Plixer Technical Support and use the link they provide (https://files.plixer.com/PACKAGE_PATH_AND_FILENAME) to download the latest VMware virtual appliance package.

  2. Extract the contents of the package to a location on the ESXi server.

  3. In vSphere or vCenter, right-click the host to deploy the appliance to and select Deploy OVF Template from the menu.

  4. Select Local file and browse to the FlowPro OVF and VMDK files before clicking Next.

  5. Provide a name for the FlowPro virtual appliance and continue to follow the deployment wizard.

  6. When prompted, select the datastore, set the disk format to Thick Provision, and then click Next.

  7. Select the network to be used by the virtual appliance, and then verify the configuration in the summary before clicking Finish to import the Scrutinizer virtual appliance. This may take a few moments.

After the FlowPro virtual appliance has been successfully deployed, add the necessary monitoring interfaces (as explained below) before proceeding with the initial appliance configuration.

Adding new interfaces

After the appliance is deployed, at least one additional interface will need to be created for monitoring.

To add a new interface to the FlowPro virtual appliance, follow these steps:

  1. In vCenter, right click on the FlowPro VM, and then select Edit Settings….

  2. Select Add New Device, and then select Network Adapter from the dropdown.

Available interfaces can be verified by checking Flowpro.Interfaces in ~/flowpro/flowpro-settings.yaml after the initial appliance configuration is completed.

Note

  • The virtual appliance will be configured with one network adapter (MGMT) by default.

  • To monitor a different network, a mirror port of a virtual distributed switch or a mirror port using a physical NIC on the ESXi server will need to be configured.

  • Monitoring interfaces can also be created at a later time. Follow these steps to register and connect additional interfaces.