Hardware appliance

After removing the Plixer Scrutinizer hardware appliance from the box and verifying that there are no missing accessories (rackmount kit, appliance-locking bezel and keys, power cord), mount the appliance in a standard 19-inch rack or cabinet if desired.

Important

If your box arrives torn, dented, or otherwise damaged, the appliance itself seems damaged, or there are missing parts, contact Plixer Technical Support immediately and do not attempt to install the unit.

From there, follow these steps to set up the Plixer Scrutinizer hardware appliance:

  1. Locate the ports to be used on the rear panel of the appliance (from left to right):

    • iDRAC

    • Serial

    • VGA

    • USB Type-B x 2

    • 10GbE SFP x 2 (1 and 2)

    • 1GbE RJ45 x 2 (3 and 4)

    • Power supply x 2

    Hint

    To enable high-availability configurations and increase traffic capacity, the Ethernet port pairs are configured for bonding mode 6 (adaptive load balancing). The appliance is also equipped with two power supply units (PSUs) for redundancy.

  2. Connect the power cable to one of the power supply sockets and plug the other end to a grounded AC outlet or UPS. To take advantage of the redundant PSUs, ensure that each socket is connected to an independent power source.

  3. Depending on the bandwidth requirements of the environment, connect the appliance to the network using either RJ-45 or fiber optic cables. Unused ports may be left uncabled, but connecting both ports of either pair is recommended for high availability.

    Note

    The Plixer Scrutinizer hardware appliance comes equipped with required SFP+ transceivers to support 10 Gbps transfer rates over the SFP ports. Neither the RJ-45 nor the fiber optics cables are included in the package.

  4. [Optional] Connect the iDRAC port to a remote access controller using an RJ-45 cable to enable remote console access for hardware management and monitoring. Contact Plixer Technical Support for help with configuring alerts for hardware-related events.

  5. Using the additional ports provided, connect a monitor and keyboard to use during the appliance’s initial configuration.

    Hint

    The iDRAC Virtual Console can also be used for the initial configuration process.

Once the Plixer Scrutinizer hardware appliance has been set up and cabled, proceed to configuring the appliance by following the steps outlined in the Initial configuration guide.

Note

Depending on the model of your Plixer Scrutinizer hardware appliance, ports may be positioned differently on the rear panel. Refer to the label on each port for correct cabling.