Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

User Manual:

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Hive Fabric Administration Guide

Hive Fabric 7.0

Administration Guide

1. Hive Fabric Administration Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

  Hive Fabric Administration Guide  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
1   Release Notes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
2   Patching and Upgrading Fabric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
3   Requirements, Dependencies and Sizing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
4   Glossary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
5   Appliance Installation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
5.1   USB Drive  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
5.2   Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
5.2.1   Dell Remote Access Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
5.2.2   Cisco Integrated Management Controller  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
5.2.3   HP Integrated Lights-Out  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
5.2.4   Lenovo Integrated Management Module  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
5.2.5   Supermicro Intelligent Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
5.3   PXE Installation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
5.4   First Boot Wizard  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
5.5   Initial Deployment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
6   Appliance Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
6.1   Console Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
6.1.1   Status  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
6.1.2   Networking  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
6.1.3   Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
6.2   Navigating the User Interface  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
6.3   Inventory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
6.3.1   Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
6.3.2   System Graphs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
6.3.3   Network Graphs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
6.3.4   Guest Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
6.4   Publishing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
6.4.1   Storage Pools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
6.4.1.1   Local Storage  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
6.4.1.2   Shared Storage  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
6.4.2   Templates  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
6.4.2.1   Add an Existing Template  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
6.4.2.2   Create a New Template  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
6.4.2.3   Template Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
6.4.3   Realms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
6.4.4   Profiles  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  53
6.4.5   Guest Pools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
6.4.6   Standalone Guest  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
6.5   Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59
6.5.1   Convert an Image  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  60
6.6   Settings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  61
6.6.1   Appliance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  62
6.6.2   Network Settings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
6.6.3   Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  65
6.6.4   Users  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  67
7   Template Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  68
7.1   VirtIO Device Drivers Installation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  69
7.2   Desktop Image Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  70
7.3   Guest Session Scripts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  71
8   Cluster Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72
8.1   Join a Cluster  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  73
8.2   Remove Appliance from a Cluster  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  74
8.3   Cluster Dashboard  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  75
8.4   Cluster Best Practice  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  76
9   VM Broker  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
9.1   Broker  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  78
9.2   Gateway  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  79
10   Advanced Admininstration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  80
10.1   Migration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  82
10.1.1   Migrate Citrix XenServer to Fabric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  83
10.1.2   Migrate Nutanix Acropolis to Fabric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  86
10.1.3   Migrate VMware to Fabric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  88

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Hive Fabric Administration Guide

This guide outlines how to install, setup, and run Hive Fabric 7.0. Hive Fabric is a cloud compute platform that

delivers end-to-end functionality for the private and hybrid cloud. The product can integrate seamlessly into any

existing private cloud stack.

Some of the functionality included in Hive Fabric includes:

Hypervisor

Storage (Hyperconverged, Shared, Local and in RAM)

Message Bus and RESTful API

Reporting and Alerting

Virtual Server support

Cluster Resource Scheduling

High Availability

Virtual Desktop (Persistent and Stateless desktops)

Desktop Brokering

User Volumes

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Release Notes

What's New for 7.0?

Appliance Installation - Hive Fabric employs a new installer, further simplifying the appliance installation

process.

Shared Storage - (Customer Preview) A Hive Fabric shared storage pool may now be established among

members of a cluster. Clusters require a minimum of three members to be able to take advantage of this

feature.

Virtual Server Support - Run any mix of workloads - Linux, Windows, Desktop or Server. Hive Fabric now

supports a broader range of Standalone Guest VM requirements such as multi-disk support, dynamic

CD-ROM support, and modifying guest resources.

Cluster Resource Scheduler (CRS) - Provides intelligent resource management to ensure efficient use of

the infrastructure. This maximizes the resources and performance available to an application. The

algorithms used to calculate max. appliance density have been updated. These algorithms will look at the

actual resources in terms of CPU and memory assigned to a Guest. From there, the appliance makes

adjustments to the outstanding the number of Guest VMs that can be provisioned based on resource

consumption and Guest Pool settings.

First Boot Wizard - New-installed appliances are now introduced with a EULA. This EULA must be

accepted before administrators can proceed to the First Boot Wizard.

Hardware Support- Hive Fabric's base operating system has been updated to Ubuntu 18.04 with Linux

kernel 4.15.

Known Issues

APP-1554: Users cannot adjust hardocde network settings from the WebUI.

APP-1549: Guest pools fail to create when the template has a space in the filename

Workaround: Do not name template files with a space in them.

APP-1497: Users cannot build shared storage with an offline appliance.

Workaround: Ensure all appliances in the cluster are on-line.

APP-1415: When using multiple CD-ROM disk types for a Standalone Guest, the action only applies toEject

the primary CD-ROM.

APP-814: UEFI Support. Hive Fabric does not support UEFI boot for either the install or Appliance boot.

Workaround: Use BIOS boot mode.

Resolved Issues

APP-1146: First Boot Wizard: Networks may not be visible when attempting to create a bond. If this

happens use the Web-UI to create the network bond.

APP-765: UEFI Support for Guests. UEFI is now supported for Guest VMs.

Updating to 7.0

Current Hive Fabric customers who are looking to update their current deployment of Hive Fabric to

version 7.0 must perform a clean install and migrate workload.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Patching and Upgrading Fabric

Occasionally, a patch or upgrade may need to be issued for the existing version of Fabric. Upgrading the

environment is a simple process, and can be done even if guest pools cannot be shut down. The following

instructions given assume that guests are non-persistent and have user volumes attached. Make sure the

correct package files are on hand before proceeding.

If the guest pools are in a position to be shut down:

From the left-hand navigation menu, click on This displays the current inventory of GuestGuest Pools.

Pools.

Delete each Guest Pool from the inventory.

Navigate to the . Under , click on the buttonAdministration Settings Software Firmware Upload Software

and upload the patch file. Click on to stage the package for deployment. Once the package is.pkg Stage

staged, click on to deploy the package. The staging and deployment process may take a fewDeploy

moments to complete.

When package deployment completes, Fabric typically restarts Hive Services automatically and runs the

new deployment. If that does not occur, however, then click on to restart Fabric.Restart Hive Services

Return to the Guest Pools inventory. Create new Guest Pools using the updated Template.

If guest pools cannot be shut down:

From the left-hand navigation menu, click on This displays the current inventory of GuestGuest Pools.

Pools.

For each Guest Pool, set the to .Available Guests 0

For each applicable Guest Pool, the GUID for user volumes must be deleted.

Access the Templates page. Any templates that are being applied to Guest Pools must be toauthored

inject a VSS registry.

Navigate to the . Under , click on the buttonAdministration Settings Software Firmware Upload Software

and upload the patch file. Click on to stage the package for deployment. Once the package is.pkg Stage

staged, click on to deploy the package. The staging and deployment process may take a fewDeploy

moments to complete.

When package deployment completes, Fabric typically restarts Hive Services automatically and runs the

new deployment. If that does not occur, however, then click on to restart Fabric.Restart Hive Services

Return to the Guest Pools inventory and restore the size of available guests in the Guest Pool.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Requirements, Dependencies and Sizing

Supported Hardware

Hive Fabric is a bare metal install and, as a result, has certain requirements. It has a broad range of hardware

support, supporting most x86 hardware. Currently Hive Fabric mirrors the wUbuntu 18.04 hardware certification

ith Linux kernel 4.15. Hive Fabric is capable of running on other hardware. However, this is only supported on a

best-effort basis or customer by customer basis.

Sizing Hive Fabric

The key components to consider for Hive Fabric are CPU, Memory, Storage and Network. The hardware

requirements will vary based on the number of guests intended to be served and their own resource

requirements.

The following hardware specs are for illustrative purposes only and can be used to size an initial PoC or Pilot.

Sizing per server based on a Guest VM with 4GB RAM:

Option Hardware Specifications Guests Served

Small 16 core/dual socket

128GB RAM

2 x 256GB local disk

1 Gb Ethernet

up to 30

Medium 24 core/dual socket

384 GB RAM

2 x 256GB local disk

1 Gb Ethernet (shared storage or high throughput may require aggregated

links or 10GB)

up to 100

Large 40 core/dual socket

1 TB RAM

2 x 512GB local disk

1 Gb Ethernet (shared storage or high throughput may require aggregated

links or 10GB)

up to 225

Additionally, the following specs are recommended to use local shared storage among appliances:

A cluster containing three or more appliances

Recommended: 256GB (or more) local disk per appliance

An established storage network

Recommended: 10GB Ethernet

The medium size spec depicts the typical server specifications for a Hive Fabric appliance in production.

Storage

Have Fabric will consume all the storage available within the hardware during installation. Create any

necessary backups before committing hardware for appliance use.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Production Requirements

The minimum number of appliances in a cluster is two. Three appliances are required to implement shared

storage. The recommendation for production is three. This provides further resilience and always provides a

quorum to handle a "split-brain" scenario. For more information on cluster management, review the Cluster

process.Administration

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Glossary

This guide uses a series of terminology to describe certain actions and events that are consistent throughout the

use of the Hive Fabric. The following terms are referenced throughout the guide:

Authoring: The act of modifying and configuring a Guest Template so that it is ready for deployment.

Compression: Reducing the number of bits needed to store or transmit data.

Cluster esource cheduling, or , manages Guest Pool resource consumption on an appliance. IfR S CRS

system metrics hit a maximum limit within a certain period based on resources assigned to guests,

guests may be nominated as migration candidates and moved to reduce system duress.

Console A user interface that provides a direct view of the VM as if the administrator were sat in front of a:

screen directly attached to the guest. This is where administrators will be able to modify a template's

guest OS.

Deduplication: A data reduction technique for eliminating duplicate copies of repeating blocks of data.

Disaster ecovery, or , refers to the event in which a physical location is suddenly unavailable, takingR DR

the resources that were provisioned in that location offline. The remediation of this event can also fall

under the same generalization and allows for typically temporary resource to be made available in a new

or secondary location allowing users to access their guest.

High vailability, or , refers to the availability of resources in the wake of component failure such as aA HA

server within a Hive Fabric Cluster. Typically other servers in the cluster will have sufficient spare resource

to pick up the load imposed on the cluster in the event of failure.

Non-Persistent Guest: Typically none of the changes to a guest are saved upon logout or reboot of the

guest. At the end of a session, the desktop gets destroyed and the user receives a fresh image the next

time they log in. If User Volumes are enabled, it will track and save the basic user's settings, such a

Printers, Bookmarks, Internet Explorer, History, Map Drives.

Persistent Guest: Each guest runs in its own right. Any changes to the desktop persist across a reboot or

logout of the user. These types of desktops allow for more personalization, but they require more storage

and backup.

Shared Storage: A repository of shared files among clusters containing at least three members. Storage

sizing is based upon the smallest disk per group of three appliances, and expands as the cluster gains

members in multiples of three.

Virtual erver upport, or , is the support offered for various workloads and Guest VMs.S S VSS

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Appliance Installation

Once an image has been acquired from the HiveIO website through a team member, there are multiple

methods supported for installing Hive Fabric to a server. The most common method is done though the use of

the (IPMI). Users with physical access to the server may also chooseIntelligent Platform Management Interface

to create a installer to plug in. Users with advanced Linux knowledge may also opt to perform a bootable USB PX

on their server.E Install

Once the installation of Hive Fabric has been completed, the will run and prepare theFirst Boot Wizard

appliance for .deployment

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

USB Drive

Hive supports multiple ways of installing the system. These steps cover installation via USB drive.

Requirements for USB Installation

There are several methods of turning a blank USB drive into a bootable drive for the server. Any method is

acceptable. Among the recommended USB tools is , a free and effective bootable drive creatorUnetbootin

available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Users who wish to install via USB drive will need the following:

Blank USB Drive (5GB or greater)

HiveIO Fabric ISO file

Server capable of running HiveIO Fabric

Instructions for Creating a Bootable USB Drive

Insert a blank USB drive into the workstation that contains the latest Hive Fabric ISO file.

Open the bootable USB drive creator.

Follow the USB drive tool's instructions for creating a bootable USB drive. These steps vary based on the

tool used. Make sure to select the correct ISO file. Verify that the drive that corresponds to the blank USB

drive is correct before proceeding.

Confirm and allow the USB drive creator to build the bootable USB drive.

Plug the USB drive containing the latest Hive ISO into the server that will run Hive Fabric. Depending on

the server's boot options, select the option to boot from USB.

Once the boot from the USB begins, the HiveIO screen will display. Choose the optionHiveIO Installer

to run the Hive Fabric Installer.

Select the appropriate drive to install the Hive software on. Once selected, hit the key to begin theEnter

installation.

When the installation completes, the server will prompt for a reboot. Select the option to progress.Reboot

When the server reboots, the server will boot the disk image and display the EULA, designating the

beginning of the .First Boot Wizard

Bootable USB Tools

Many tools are available for use, and some tools may work better than others for certain OS distributions.

For best results on effectively using any preferred bootable USB tool, consult the appropriate product

documentation.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)

Hive supports multiple ways of installing the system. These steps cover installation via IPMI.

Requirements for IPMI Installation

Access to the IPMI of the server is required. Various web interfaces are available and are dependent on

hardware. For assistance with gaining access to the IPMI, consult the hardware manual.

Users who wish to install via IPMI will need the following:

Hive Fabric installation ISO file

Server capable of running HiveIO Fabric

Access to the IPMI of that server

The instructions given here cover some of the common management platforms used to install the Hive software

to a server. Steps may vary based on the platform and version used. For unlisted platforms, consult the IPMI's

documentation for specified instructions on installing the ISO file.

Cisco Integrated Management Controller

Dell Remote Access Control

HP Integrated Lights-Out

Lenovo Integrated Management Module

Supermicro Intelligent Management

Instructions for Installing the Hive Fabric Software

Once the boot from the CD/DVD Drive begins, the HiveIO screen will display. Choose the HiveIO

option to run the Hive Fabric Installer.Installer

Select the appropriate drive to install the Hive software on. This is the drive that was designated as the

Boot Drive in the previous steps. Once selected, hit the key to run the installation.Enter

When the installation completes, the server will prompt for a reboot. Select the option to progress.Reboot

When the server reboots, the server will boot the disk image and display the EULA, designating the

beginning of the .First Boot Wizard

Many of these platforms require that the Java plug-in is installed on the workstation. Verify that Java is

correctly installed before continuing with the system deployment.

If installation was done through the Cisco Integrated Management Controller, the Activate

option may need to be disabled again once the installation process hasVirtual Devices

completed.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Dell Remote Access Control

The following steps are for installing through the iDRAC platform. Be aware that instructions may vary based on

the version used.

Mount the latest HiveIO ISO to the workstation as a virtual drive.

Access the web interface for the IPMI and sign in.

Click on tab and select the option. Click on the Console/Media Virtual Consoles and Virtual Media Launc

button. Leave the console open for now.h Virtual Console

While remaining on the page, select the option. Under , openConsole/Media Configuration Virtual Media

the tab and select . Press to advance.Status Attach Apply

Click on . Select the option. Click on the button andVirtual Media Launch Virtual Media Add Image...

select the mounted HiveIO ISO file. Enable the checkbox next to the image.Mapped

After loading the ISO file, power on the system. At the server's POST screen, press to access the bootF11

menu. This may take a few moments to load.

When the menu is present, select the appropriate virtual CD/DVD Drive. The drive may vary based on

server hardware and drivers.

The server will boot from the CD/DVD Drive and load the Hive Fabric Installer.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Cisco Integrated Management Controller

The following steps are for installing through the Cisco IMC platform. Be aware that instructions may vary based

on the version used.

Access the web interface for the IPMI and sign in.

Click on the option.Launch KVM Console

Click on and select the option. After a brief moment, the Virtual Media Activate Virtual Devices Virtual

menu will display a few new options. Select the option.Media Map CD/DVD...

When prompted to browse for a file, locate the latest HiveIO installation ISO file.

After loading the ISO file, power on the system. At the server's POST screen, press to access the bootF6

menu. This may take a few moments to load.

When the menu is present, select the appropriate CD/DVD Drive. The drive may vary based on server

hardware and drivers.

The server will boot from the CD/DVD Drive and load the Hive Fabric Installer.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

HP Integrated Lights-Out

The following steps are for installing through the HP iLO platform. Be aware that instructions may vary based on

the version used.

Access the web interface for the IPMI and sign in.

From the option on the left side navigation menu, open a console for the server.Remote Console

Click on or a similar options and access the virtual CD/DVD drive option. Do not close theVirtual Drives

console yet.

Once prompted for a file, choose the latest HiveIO installation ISO file.

After loading the ISO file, the boot order needs to be selected. Click on the option on theVirtual Media

left side navigation menu to reveal the option.Boot Order

Under , select . Click on to save the change.One-Time Boot Status CD/DVD Drive Apply

Once the boot drive has been applied, click on the button below to restart the server.Server Reset

Once the reboot has finished, the server will boot from the CD/DVD Drive and load the Hive Fabric

Installer.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Lenovo Integrated Management Module

The following steps are for installing through the Lenovo IMM platform. Be aware that instructions may vary

based on the version used.

Access the web interface for the IPMI and sign in. If necessary, disable the timeout value to prevent the

session from timing out before deployment completes.

From the task menu, click on and select the option.Remote Control Start Remote Control

Access the window. From the Client View list, select as theVirtual Media Sessions Add image...

deployment option.

When prompted to browse for a file, locate the latest HiveIO installation ISO file. The option willRead Only

need to be enabled for this process.

After loading the ISO file, reboot the system. The Lenovo platform will detect the deployment method and

boot appropriately.

Follow the on-screen prompts to load the Hive Fabric Installer.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Supermicro Intelligent Management

The following steps are for installing through the Supermicro Intelligent Management platform. Be aware that

instructions may vary based on the version used.

Access the web interface for the IPMI and sign in.

Click on tab and select the option. Click on .Remote Control Console Redirection Launch Console

Click on and select the option. After a brief moment, the wiVirtual Media Virtual Storage Virtual Storage

ndow will launch. Access the tab.From the dropdown menu, select CDROM&ISO Logical Drive Type ISO

.File

When prompted to browse for a file, locate the latest HiveIO installation ISO file. Click to mountPlug In

the image.

After loading the ISO file, reboot on the system. At the server's POST screen, press to access the bootF11

menu. This may take a few moments to load.

When the menu is present, select the appropriate CD/DVD Drive. The drive may vary based on server

hardware and drivers.

The server will boot from the CD/DVD Drive and load the Hive Fabric Installer.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

PXE Installation

Requirements

Install and configure PXE on the server that is intended to be used as the install server. This guide uses

PXEInstallServer on an Ubuntu server. For instructions on installing and configuring PXE, consult the following: h

.ttps://help.ubuntu.com/community/PXEInstallServer

Additionally, a fairly advanced working knowledge of Linux and networking in general is recommended for

using this solution.

Users who wish to install via PXE will need the following:

Hive Fabric ISO image

Server capable of running Hive Fabric

Access to an appropriately configured PXE Server on the same network

Loading the ISO File onto the PXE Install Server

Complete the installation and configuration so that the PXE server is available to the HiveIO Fabric server.

There will be a repository for installation ISO files. Copy the Hive Fabric ISO files into the repository. Doing

so will make the files available to the server booting from the network.

When starting the server that Hive Fabric is intended to be installed on, select .boot from network

After loading the appropriate data over the network, the HiveIO installation screen will appear. Choose

the option to run the Hive Fabric Installer.HiveIO Installer

Select the appropriate boot drive to install the Hive software on. Once selected, hit the key to beginEnter

the installation.

When the installation completes, the server will prompt for a reboot. Select the option to progress.Reboot

When the server reboots, the server will boot the disk image and display the EULA, designating the

beginning of the .First Boot Wizard

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

First Boot Wizard

When the Hive Fabric boots up for the first time, the first boot wizard will run for the initial setup process. This

wizard helps to configure a variety of initial settings during the installation and setup of Hive Fabric. Users are

advised to become familiar with these settings to best implement the first boot wizard.

Before progressing, the EULA must be accepted. Once accepted, the first boot wizard begins guiding through

initial configuration. Use the and keys to read the entire EULA before proceeding. ToPage Up Page Down

navigate the first boot wizard, use the and arrow keys and the key. To configure the first runUp Down Enter

options:

On the page, enter the unique hostname for the local appliance, typically entered as Hostname Setup loc

. Press to advance to the next page.al.yourdomain.com Enter

The page is where a new password will be established for the default "admin"Admin Password Setup

Administrator account. Enter a secure new password in the appropriate field, then re-enter the password

in the following confirmation field. Use the arrow keys to select the button and press toNext Enter

advance to the next page.

Enter the HiveIO Fabric network settings in the page. The following optionsConfigure Network Settings

must be set:

Enable DHCP: When enabled, an IP address is automatically assigned to the device. Disabling this

option will allow entry of an IP Address, Netmask, and Gateway.

IP Address: Enter the IP Address to assign to this device. Verify that this IP Address is not

After installation and on the initial first boot, it may sometimes take a moment for the configuration

screen to appear on the console, indicating that the First Boot Wizard is starting. If the console asks for a

appears.

Admin Passwords

This also sets the password for the account, a separate administrator account foradmin1

navigating the Fabric console through a shell.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

IP Address: Enter the IP Address to assign to this device. Verify that this IP Address is not

currently in use before assignment.

Netmask: Enter the netmask for the network’s host.

Gateway: Enter the default gateway for the network.

VLAN: Enter the VLAN ID. if the device will be joining one. Otherwise, this can be left at the default

value.

DNS Server: Enter the DNS server address. For common setups, this will be the same as the

hostname.

DNS Search Path: Enter the DNS search path. This will typically resemble .yourdomain.com

Once the Hive services have been configured, the following pages are optional to complete. The Join

enables the Hive Fabric to gain membership to a database cluster. Cluster Setup If a cluster has already

. Otherwise, this step can bebeen established, enter the IP address of the Central Management Appliance

performed at a later time. Use the arrow keys to select the button and press to advance andNext Enter

complete the First Boot Wizard.

Once the First Boot Wizard has been completed, users will need to log in as the Administrator, using the

password set from the first boot wizard. When that has been verified, the is available toManagement Console

navigate with three options:

Status

Networking

Management

The status page also displays the server's IP address, CPU Utilization, Memory Utilization, and Clustered status.

Enter the assigned IP address into a web browser to begin using the appliance.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Initial Deployment

With installation process completed and the First Boot Wizard run, Hive Fabric is ready for deployment. Hive

Fabric is accessible through any HTML5-compliant web browser. Further configurations that could not be

performed within the First Boot Wizard are available within the appliance's Web user interface.

Instructions for Deploying the Hive Fabric Software

Ensure the appropriate media is connected to the server. Turn it on and boot from the connected boot

device.

When starting up, the GNU GRUB screen may appear with a series of options. Select the option toUbuntu

advance. Otherwise, the system will simply start without any further prompting.

Hive will indicate a successful install when the screen displays the . The bottom of theConsole Application

menu page displays the IP address of the host appliance.

Using the IP obtained on the console after installation, open a web browser and insert the IP in the format

off .https://<hiveIO-Host-IP>

The following is the default Administrator ID:

User: admin

Password: This varies based on the password entered during the First Boot Wizard

When the login is successful, configuration may begin.

Note

There may be a warning for the SSL connection. This can be safely ignored as this is a self-signed

certificate. It can be replaced later to the correct certificate for the environment.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Appliance Administration

When the appliance has been deployed, it is ready for use. To begin access and prepare configurations to guests,

review the process of .navigating the user interface

There are several sections used when navigating the appliance interface. Each one is integral to the

configuration and maintenance of both guests and the appliance itself:

Inventory

Publishing

Tools

Settings

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Console Management

An individual Hive Fabric Appliance can be managed locally through the console. This is not intended to be the

primary point of management for Hive Fabric but does allow for configuration of certain appliance operations

from the console. For example, if a machine isn't available to run the Web UI then the Management Console will

still permit access to any necessary appliance configuration. The menu will show when the console is not in

direct use and is ready for user-interaction. All commands in this tool are also available through the Web UI.

For security purposes, the Management Console automatically locks itself after a few moments of inactivity. It

can be unlocked using the current password.admin

There are three main areas to this tool:

Status: This displays the status of the Hive Fabric services and the appliance in general.

Networking: See the current configuration and update any of the production network settings. This is

particularly useful in instances where connectivity to the appliance is lost while a network settings needs

adjustment.

Management: Manage the appliance such as Cluster membership, maintenance mode and power operations on

the appliance itself.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Status

The menu displays the current health of the server and the Hive services. A Service Status list displays theStatus

current Hive services and their running state. A status indicates that the service is running withoutrunning

issues.

CPU and Memory stats are displayed beneath the Service Status. These display the current metrics of the

system. Here, the CPU usage can be monitored, as well as the current memory statistics. The status also displays

the current version of Fabric running on the server.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Networking

The menu lets users reconfigure or even reset network configurations. Many of these options mayNetworking

also be set within the appliance's web interface.

View Network Settings display the current network configuration for the Hive Fabric. The appliance's IP

address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and Network Interface are displayed here.

Configure Production Network allows users to change the network interface configurations that were

set during the initial run of the First Boot Wizard. DHCP and VLAN can both be enabled or disabled from

this menu. For more information on configuring the production network, see .Network Settings

Configure Network Bonding lets users set a Network Bond for the appliance. For more information on

configuring a Network Bond, see .Network Settings

After any network settings has been edited, the applied changes must be saved via the Restart

option. A prompt will appear, confirming the server to proceed with the restart.Networking

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Management

The menu has a variety of options that are imperative to configuring and maintaining Hive Fabric.Management

Many of these options may also be set within the appliance's web interface.

Set Admin Password to enter a new Administrator password.

Set Hostname sets a new hostname for the appliance.

Join a Cluster joins the appliance to a cluster if it does not already have a membership. This option cannot

be used to change cluster membership. The appliance must first detach itself from the cluster.

Enter/Exit Maintenance Mode toggles the appliance to a maintenance state. It is necessary to enter

Maintenance Mode in order to leave the host's cluster membership.

Restart Hive Services restarts the Hive services after certain settings have been changed.

Reboot Host restarts the host appliance. This action may be necessary to save applied settings or for

troubleshooting purposes.

Shutdown Host shuts down the host appliance.

Factory Reset reboots the appliance to factory-default settings. Once this option is deployed, the First

Boot Wizard must be run again.

Logout logs the current user out of the console. The console will automatically log out users after a brief

period of idle time for security purposes. This option is recommended for anytime an administrator must

step away from the station.

Clustering

This option only works while the appliance is a member of a cluster. Otherwise, an error will

appear.

Factory Resetting

Performing a Factory Reset will clear out all changes made to the server and restore the appliance

to its initial settings. Any changes that were made to the server prior to factory resetting will be

lost. This includes any software packages used to update Hive Fabric. To perform a factory reset

while retaining the latest version of Hive Fabric, perform a fresh install with the most current files.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Navigating the User Interface

The Hive Fabric user interface can be accessed by entering either the URL in the format of https://<hive_fabr

ic host IP> or DNS name, if configured.

A warning for the SSL connection may appear in the browser, a result of the self-signed certificate that is

installed by default. This certificate can be replaced later with your own certificate. Refer to the pAdministration

age for certificate configuration.

A series of options are available to the user on the left navigation bar once they login to administer the

appliance. These options allow Users with the appropriate privileges to setup, configure and manage all aspects

of Hive Fabric which consists of 6 main sections. Once configuration of each section is completed the appliance

will be capable of hosting guests and securely brokering these to users. The configuration consists of:

Appliance

Network Settings

Templates

Realms

Guest Pools

Default Credentials

The default credentials to login to the UI are:

admin Username:

This varies based on the password entered during the First Boot WizardPassword:

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Inventory

This section provides insight into the performance of the appliance and the management for Guests. The admin

is able to view the basic health of the system including storage and networking for troubleshooting purposes.

Administrators are able to monitor Guest Pools here, managing each individual guest.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Overview

This page provides key resource consumption metrics and detailed system information about the appliance.

Performance Summary

This panel provides a high level overview of the resource utilization across the appliance. The amount of CPU,

memory and storage that is currently in use by the appliance is monitored and reported.

CPU (%): Display the percentage of CPU resource currently in use across the appliance.

Memory (GB): The memory installed in the appliance along with the current utilization. This is a

summation of all system and guest utilization and includes RAM allocation to storage.

RAM Storage (GB): The memory currently reserved for storage and the amount currently utilized.

Disk Storage (GB): The available storage in the appliance and the amount currently being consumed by

Guests.

System Storage (GB): The storage reserved for the Hive Fabric OS. This needs to be monitored and should

not be allowed to fill to 100%.

System Information

This page also displays key information about the appliance that may be useful for administration purposes. It

also shows key information about the state of clustering, as well as the number of guests running hardware and

software versions. Many of these settings are established during the and can be adjusted inFirst Boot Wizard

the page.Appliance Settings

Hostname: The current hostname of the appliance.

Uptime: The amount of time that the appliance has been booted up and running.

State: The current status of the appliance in the cluster.

IP Address: The IP address of the appliance.

Timezone: The timezone of the appliance.

Host ID: The unique identifier assigned to the host. This is system generated and can't be changed by the

admin.

Central Management Appliance: The IP of the current Central Management Appliance in the cluster; The

CMA is the appliance in the cluster responsible for join and union orchestration. If a cluster isn't

configured this will be set to .localhost

Number of Guests: The current number of active Guests on this appliance.

CPU Model: The processor model and clock speed that the server is running on.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

CPU Model: The processor model and clock speed that the server is running on.

CPU Cores/Threads: The total number of cores that the appliance has available to use across all CPUs.

Threads will usually differ if hyper-threading is turned on in the BIOS and will usually be double the

number of Cores.

Total Memory: The total amount of memory available to the appliance.

Software Firmware: The current version of the Hive Fabric firmware that is running.

Active Appliance Firmware: The version of the active Hive Fabric firmware.

Standby Appliance Firmware: The version of the standby Hive Fabric firmware.

Firmware

The appliance has active and standby firmware to allow for easy application of updates. In this

architecture if an update adversely affects the appliance then it can be rolled out and replaced by the

standby version.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

System Graphs

The health of the appliance can be monitored from this page. The System Graphs display graphs for various

metrics within the appliance and can assist troubleshooting. The following metrics can be viewed:

CPU

System load

System memory

The View dropdown menu can be used to select a specific period to review metrics for. The appliance tracks

data occurring within the last 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Network Graphs

The network utilization across each physical network can be monitored from this page. The Network Graphs

displays graphs for the following metrics:

Bytes In

Bytes Out

Errors In

Errors Out

The Metrics dropdown will allow users to view the health of any configured physical interface as well as the

additional prod network that is automatically created for the management of the appliance. The View dropdown

menu can be used to select a specific period to review metrics for. The appliance tracks data occurring within

the last 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Guest Management

This page displays the guests that are deployed on this appliance and allows the administrator to manage them.

The guest table can be sorted by any of the columns, the default is Name. Users with administrative privileges

have access to a series of actions that can be performed on the Guest.

Below are the available actions that can be performed on the guest VM, accessible through the Action

dropdown to the left of a guest entry in the table:

Power On: Power on the Guest.

Shutdown: Attempt to cleanly shutdown the Guest.

Reboot: Reboot the Guest.

Power Off: Force shutdown the Guest.

Reset: Hard reset the Guest, equivalent to momentarily pressing the power button on a physical system.

Delete: Deletes the Guest from the Guest pool inventory. The Guest Pool or Standalone Guest will remain

in its corresponding inventories until relaunched or deleted.

Migrate: Move this Guest to a different host in the cluster, when this option is selected a dialog box will

appear giving a list of servers that are capable of running the selected guest.

Mount/Eject CD: Mounts a CD-ROM to the Guest or ejects the CD-ROM from the Guest. This is necessary

for some driver installs.

Open Console: Opens a console to the Guest, typically used for troubleshooting.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Publishing

These options focus on publishing options. Administrators can configure all the tools needed to run the guest

pools for all users.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Storage Pools

Storage Pools are used throughout Hive Fabric for the setup and maintenance of virtual machines. The server's

local storage, RAM storage, and any additional shared storage pools will be displayed here. Adding a Storage

Pool to the appliance is the first step to creating or adding templates and Guest Pools. Adding the appropriate

files to a Storage Pool varies based on the storage and server type.

The host server's local RAM and disk space may be used as to store certain files and settings.Local Storage

Storage networks may be set as a shared storage among cluster memberships containing three or more

appliances. Follow the steps provided under to ensure that all the requirements are met to shareShared Storage

storage within a cluster.

To add a network server as an available Storage Pool within the appliance:

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Storage Pools

Click on the button and fill in the required field:Add Storage Pool

Name: The unique name used to identify the storage pool.

Type: The type of storage that will be used for the Storage Pool, supported systems are , NFS

, and .CIFS Ceph (RBD)

Server: Provide the server IP or FQDN of the external storage server.

Path: Enter the path of the export or share that will be mounted and used for the Storage

Pool.

Roles: By default, a storage pool can fulfill a multiple of intended storage rolls. Selecting one

of these options will disable that store's role within the appliance. That storage pool cannot

Known Issues

There is a known issue where CIFS shares will be restricted to read-only permissions,

regardless of permissions set on the system itself.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

of these options will disable that store's role within the appliance. That storage pool cannot

be used for that purpose unless it is re-enabled. Storage roles can be adjusted at any time by

clicking on the designated icon within the storage pool inventory. The available storage roles

are:

Template Storage

ISO Storage

Guest Storage

User Volume Storage

Click to complete the process. If everything is correct, the storage pool will be added toAdd Storage Pool

the inventory. The appliance will display a list of that are applicable to the storage pool: ead, Attributes R

rite, and xecute.W E

A storage pool with read-only permissions will not have access to template creation and authoring. If

there are any issues regarding storage attributes, verify that the server permissions are set correctly.

NFS Permissions

Server Administrators using an NFS share must consider the current user permissions of the server. The

Storage Pool requires both the user and the user to have read and execute access.root libvert-qemu

Aside from permissions, the following settings must also be enabled for the NFSRead-Write-Execute

share: , , and .insecure no_subtree_check no_root_squash

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Local Storage

Hive Fabric has access to the host server's local disk space and RAM, and may use these spaces as Storage Pools.

By default, these Local Storage options can only be used as a target storage for Guest Pools. If desired, however,

administrators have the option to use and share a Local Storage Pool. This makes the server's local disk or RAM

available to share as an NFS storage pool.

To deploy a Local Storage as a Network Storage Pool:

Click on the button beneath the local storage pools.Enable Local Storage Sharing

Set the local storage settings and apply them using the button. MuchConfigure Local Storage Sharing

like network storage pools, the required NFS permissions and settings still apply, and are set by default.

Once established, a share link will be provided. The server provided and the path (either or /zdata/share

) may now be entered when adding a new ./zram/share Network Storage Pool

The local store settings may be adjusted at any time by clicking on the option. CurrentlyEdit Sharing Settings

active shared stores may also be disabled at any time by clicking on the option.Disable Local Storage Sharing

The appliance will ask for confirmation before stopping the share.

Local Disk storage may be further configured by clicking on the button under the Edit Disk Storage Settings Ac

menu. Under this menu, the available drives on the server may be enabled or disabled as a tions Backing Device

. This uses up the drive's space, so it is best to use a drive that is not currently serving another purpose within the

server. Any devices that are marked as cannot be employed as a Backing Device.Used by Hive

Shared Local Storage

Local storage should not be shared and used in production. If the server fails then any appliance using

this storage will be affected by the outage.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Shared Storage

Clusters containing three or more appliance have the option to share local storage among its members. Shared

storage offers self-contained and secure high availability within cluster, making it ideal for user volume

maintenance.

Before enabling shared storage, establish the same on each appliance that will gain clusterstorage network

membership. This must be done even before any of the initial three appliances become members of the cluster.

To get local shared storage set up within a cluster:

From , enter the correct information for the Storage Network. If needed, make anyNetwork Addresses

necessary changes to the Production Network. Click on to confirm the changes. A prompt willSubmit

appear to restart network services. This must be done to apply network changes. Repeat this step for

every appliance that will become a member of the cluster, including the appliance that will be assigned

as the Central Management Appliance.

Once every appliance has the network correctly set up, access the page and enter theAppliance Settings

Central Management Appliance's IP for each cluster member. Shared Storage requires a cluster with at

least three members, including the CMA.

The next step only needs to be done on one appliance, rather than on every member of the cluster.

In the page, a new option is now available. Click on the button. For Storage Pools Enable Shared Storage

, select the maximum amount of disk space that will be allocated forShared Storage Disk Utilization

storage. This sizing is based upon the smallest disk among the three initial appliances. When everything is

set, click on to establish the share pool.Configure Local Storage Sharing

When done correctly, the shared storage will be set on every appliance within the cluster. Afterwards, any new

members of the cluster automatically access the shared storage pool upon gaining membership.

As the cluster gains more members, the size of the shared storage gradually grows. This growth occurs in

multiples of three, adding a new volume. Any appliances with membership numbers that do not fall on the

multiple rule may still use the shared storage without an issue. Disk utilization is based upon the smallest disk

size among appliances per group of three. In a failure case among three members of the cluster's local shared

storage, a fourth member may take over duties. However, this cannot occur if its local disk is smaller than the

smallest disk that utilization is already based upon.

Under the menu, the button is available for instances in which connectivity to theActions Retry Shared Storage

storage network or any of the cluster stores may need a refresh.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Template Management becomes available once a template has been created. Its life cycle is managed

through a number of actions:

Create a New Template in preparation for deploying a Guest Pool.

Add an Existing Template to the cluster in preparation for deploying a Guest Pool.

Templates

Templates are the foundation for deploying pools of virtual machines. A template is used to define the operating

system, application set, and default settings that a virtual machine will initially build with, before being used to

create a . Templates can be created from scratch through the wizard. ExistingGuest Pool Create a new Template

templates can be added to the cluster through the process.Add an Existing Template

There is a balance between the number of templates that are created and the level of customization a template

receives. Consider the ongoing template management and ensuring that users get all the applications they

need to do their day to day job. The more generic a template is, the more guest pools can use the same

template. However, this can complicate application delivery through the use of application virtualization to layer

the applications a user requires into the guest.

This section guides through a number of key steps regarding templates:

Authoring a Template

plicate a Template

Staging a Template

Removing a Template

Prepare a template with the Template Console

Validate a Template for Guest Pool deployment

Unload a Template

Consider

If a large number of templates are being managed for a small user group a persistent desktop maybe a

better solution to deliver VDI to end-users.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Add an Existing Template

Hive Fabric can make use of an existing template. This template could have been previously utilized by Hive

Fabric, copied over from another cluster, or been used with another virtualization platform. Hive Fabric is

capable of using any QEMU/KVM-supported disk emulation, but the preferred emulation is either RAW or

QCOW2. If an image has not been previously the Hive Fabric will convert the file upon upload, but it isconverted

faster and more ideal to perform the conversion beforehand. Supported disk images include:

raw

qcow2 (KVM, Xen)

vmdk (VMware)

vpc (Hyper-V)

vhdx (Hyper-V)

vdi (Virtual Box)

This template should have any 3rd party hypervisor agents (such as VMware tools) removed. The template

should have the latest version of the VirtIO drivers installed. The template file must exist on a Storage Pool in the

cluster and be in a supported format.

To add an existing template from a Storage Pool to Hive Fabric carry out the following steps:

Click on on the left Navigation Bar.Templates

Click on the button. Complete the following information:Add Template

Name: Assign a unique name to identify the template.

Storage Pool: Select the storage pool that the template resides on. Only stores that are meant to

fulfill template storage roles will display here.

File Name: Select the template from the drop down list of files on the Storage Pool.

OS: Select the OS version of the template, this is used by the broker to display the appropriate

version to the user. Select from Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 2012, Windows

2016, or Linux.

: Enter a brief description for the template. This is optional, but may be preferred forDescription

organizational purposes.

Click to complete the process. The template will be validated and several actions becomeAdd Template

available depending on the current status of the template, see for moreTemplate Management

information.

The system will automatically convert the template to RAW when the template is staged, if the

template is stored on NFS shared storage RAW is the recommended format.

Template Re-Use

A template can only be added once to Hive Fabric. To re-use or add a template more than

once, follow the steps on how to .duplicate a template

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Create a New Template

A new template is created through the Create Template wizard and is used to build a template from scratch,

starting with the OS installation using an ISO file. The ISO file must first be uploaded to a Storage Pool. For more

details, see . Creating a new template will provide the best performance and aUploading files to a Storage Pool

clean base to install applications and apply best practice configuration.

To create a new template select the button and complete the following information on theNew Template

screen that appears:

Name: Assign a unique name to identify the template.

: Enter a brief description for the template. This is optional, but may be preferred forDescription

organizational purposes.

Storage: The storage pool that will store the new template. Only stores that are meant to fulfill template

storage roles will display here.

Filename: Enter the name of the new file that will be created. A file extension does not need to be

included.

OS: The OS version that the broker will display when a user logs in. Select from Windows 7, Windows 8,

Windows 10, Windows 2012, Windows 2016, or Linux.

Disk Size (GB): The disk capacity of the template. This size specified will be the same for the Guest

machine.

Golden Image

Templates are stored in a space efficient manner. When building a template from scratch it's a good

idea to have a base install of the Operating System and some key optimizations (e.g. Drivers,

performance optimization) and save this as a master template to create other templates from in the

future. This is easily carried out by which gives a new standalone version thatduplicating the template

can then be further customize with applications and any settings specific to the Guest Pool intended to

get delivered from the template.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

machine.

Disk Format: The appliance supports Raw and QCOW2 formats. Raw will give better performance.

QCOW2 will be more space efficient. Where possible use RAW for the additional performance it provides.

Disk Emulation: Specifies the disk emulation that the new template will use. Choose from IDE, SATA, SCSI

Linux option will be selected by default. will be, or Virtio. If a OS is being installed the VirtIO IDE

selected for a Windows OS.

CPUs: The number of CPU cores to assign to the template during authoring. This is not the number of

CPUs that a Guest Pool member will have.

Memory (MB): The amount of memory to assign to the template during authoring. This is not the amount

of memory that a Guest Pool member will have.

Specify VGA Emulation: Enabling this option sets the display emulation used in console mode. Choose

from VGA (Standard), QXL, Cirrus, Xen, or VMVGA. If left unchecked, this will be automatically set to . QXL

This setting will not affect users accessing the virtual desktop.

Mount Drivers CD: Enabling this option will mount the included version of the VirtIO driver CD into the

template to allow installation of optimized drivers for Hive Fabric.

Mount CD Image: Enabling this option defines the ISO location or path of the installation ISO image.

Networking: Select this to connect the template to the production network during authoring.

Click to complete the process.Create Template

Recomendation

The recommended disk emulation is , using it will provide the best performance. VirtIOVirtIO

drivers are available as standard for most Linux OS. For any Microsoft Windows OS, the VirtIO disk

driver will need to be installed by selecting the additional driver option during the install. The

additional drivers and the VirtIO agent should be added once the OS is installed see VirtIO Device

for more information.Driver Installation

The default and recommended VGA emulation is . If VGA emulation is selected for laterQXL

versions of Microsoft Windows the resolution will default to 800 x 600.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

This defines the parameters for the template and creates it. The template will automatically power-on. See Auth

and for more information on how to connect to the console andoring a Template Template Administration

setup a template ensuring best practice is followed.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Template Management

Once a template has been created there are a number of different actions that form the lifecycle of a template:

Authoring a template is the most important of the template creation process and would typically include:

Installing the Guest Operating System (OS).

Installing the required applications.

Applying HiveIO best practice configuration to the guest.

Staging a template for the creation of a Guest Pool.

Users may also a staged template.unload

Duplicating a template to version or create a new template from a standard base.

Removing a template once it has been retired or is no longer needed.

Access the to install and configure the template's OS.Console

Revalidate a template for optimization and repairs.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Authoring a Template

Once a template has been added to the appliance or a new template created, it can be authored. Authoring

allows the template to be booted up as if it were a guest VM to modify its install and configuration.

To author a template, click on the option under for the template.Author Actions

To allow the template to start, a number of settings must be specified. Note that these are specific for the

template during authoring and are not used when deploying a Guest Pool. This allows for faster authoring

through various means, such as temporarily assigning more memory. or CPU

CPU: The number of cores to assign to the Template during authoring.

Memory: The amount of memory to assign to the Template during authoring.

Mount Drivers CD: This allows the Hive Fabric driver CD to be mounted inside the Template during

authoring. This is required to install VirtIO version of drivers or update them to the latest version in the

template.

Mount CD Image: This allows for an ISO image to be mounted inside the template during authoring. This

will behave like a standard CD, allowing for installation of update OS components or applications.

Networking: Enables the network inside the template during authoring. Select the appropriate network

driver type from the dropdown menu. The recommended option is .VirtIO

Specify Disk Emulation: Specifies the method of disk emulation to be used during the authoring of a

Template. The default will be automatically selected based on the OS selected. The recommended driver

is VirtIO and this should be installed at the appropriate point.

Specify VGA Emulation: Enabling this option sets the display emulation used in console mode. If left

unchecked, this will be automatically set to QXL. Choose from , , , , or VGA (Standard) QXL Cirrus Xen VMVG

. This will not affect users accessing the virtual desktop.A

Click to set the resources and start the Template ready for interaction.Author Template

Templates kept within read-only Storage Pools will not have the authoring capability enabled.

The default and recommended VGA emulation is . If VGA emulation is selected for later versions ofQXL

Microsoft Windows the resolution will default to 800 x 600.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Click to set the resources and start the Template ready for interaction.Author Template

Under the actions for the Template, click on to begin interacting with the Template through the consoleConsole

session. A new window will open, giving access to the console of the virtual machine so that changes can be

made to the template.

Microsoft Windows Requirements

Windows templates require .Net 4.0 or higher to be installed for the Hive agent to work - https://w

ww.microsoft.com/en-US/Download/confirmation.aspx?id=17718

It is recommended to have the Visual C++ Redistributable package installed - https://www.micros

oft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145

The Windows image must be 64-bit

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Duplicate a Template

Duplicating a Template can be an efficient way to version a Template or have a base Template to build

additional Templates from. This supports options such as the ability to build departmental templates that start

from the same base OS template that has company-wide applications and settings applied. Each department

template would then have specific applications installed and settings applied for their users.

The Duplicate Template option will copy an existing template creating a new standalone template.

Click on the option under and complete the required fields:Duplicate Actions

Name: The name of the duplicate template.

Storage Pool: Select the storage pool to store the new template.

File Name: The name that duplicate template image will be saved as on the Storage Pool.

Click to complete the process and start the template duplication.Duplicate Template

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Pre-Stage a Template

Template pre-staging copies the template to either local storage or the entire cluster, allowing for the template

to be in the correct place ahead of Guest Pool creation. The option to stage cluster is only available once the

appliance has joined a cluster. Once pre-staging has started, it may take a few moments for the load to

complete. This will depend on the size of the template and the type of storage it is being copied to.

To remove a template, refer to the instructions on how to .Unload a Template

Local RAM is typically the fastest pre-staging method, but will result in a template having to be

re-staged in the event of a power-failure or host reboot.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Remove Template

During the typical lifecycle of a deployment, a template may become outdated or no longer serve a purpose. The

Remove Template option will remove an existing template from the template inventory. This will not delete the

file from the Storage Pool. Delete obsolete template files directly off the storage.

Template Removal

A template can not be removed if it is in use or or staged for use across the cluster.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Template Console

This option opens a console session to the selected template, in a new browser tab. This allows for direct

interaction with the template to install the Operating System, Applications or apply configurations and .scripts

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Template Validation

Occasionally, a template may need to be modified to add an application, apply an update or change a setting.

This is carried out through the Authoring process. Following the shutdown of the template it must be

re-validated to confirm that is in the correct state. During this process the re-validation process confirms:

The template disk is partitioned properly.

That the partitions are system readable and mountable.

Checks that the appliance has read and write permissions on the template.

That the filesystem on the template disk matches the OS that has been selected.

Checks and where possible repairs any unclean filesystem (often caused by un-clean shutdowns).

That the template is in the correct power-state (powered off).

That hibernation has been disabled inside the template.

Should any of these fail the appropriate status will show in the UI and brief explanation will appear in the state's

tooltip when the cursor is hovered over it.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Unload Template

During the removal of a template itTemplates must be Unloaded before they can be removed from inventory.

first has to be de-staged or 'unloaded' to ensure it has been removed from the cluster and can no longer be

used. This is carried out by clicking the Unload button.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Realms

A Realm defines the link between the Cluster and an LDAP compliant authentication capability, e.g. Microsoft

Active Directory. Authentication will happen under the umbrella of the Realm and will provide the building

blocks to specify the users and groups that are allowed to authenticate against a Guest Pool. Multiple Realms

can be specified to accommodate a wide variety of scenarios.

To define a Realm the following actions and information are required:

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Realms

Click on the option. Complete the following information:Add Realm

NetBIOS Name: The NetBIOS name of the domain being defined by the Realm.

FQDN: The Fully Qualified Domain Name of the domain. This field is automatically validated by the

appliance and a success / failure message displayed for the administrator. If verification

fails confirm that the information entered is correct, and that the FQDN can be resolved by the DNS

server specified for the production network.

Alias: An alias can be set on a realm. It may be ideal to deploy this feature so users can login with

their email domain rather than the actual domain name of the realm. could be thehivedev.local

domain but the login uses . This is particularly useful in a multi-tenanted design.hivedev.com

Click to save the Realm specification, once processed the Realm will be added to the list ofAdd Realm

Realms.

.local Domains

.local domains must be included in the DNS Search Path within the Production Network

in order to be correctly used for Realms.settings

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Profiles

Profiles are required to create a Guest Pool and allow Administrators to apply required settings to multiple

guests with ease. The profile will dictate the functionality that the pool will provide to the end-user. These

include access to a specific User Volume or the capability to connect to the user's Guest VM via the broker.

To Create a new Profile:

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Profiles

Click on the option. A series of fields need to be completed:Add Profile

Name: The name used to store the profile in Hive Fabric.

VLAN: Enter the VLAN ID if the default network settings will be over-ridden.

TimeZone: Select the time zone to apply to the profile. Leaving this at will inject theHost timezone

current timezone set on the appliance.

Realm: Select the Realm to use for this Profile from the drop-down menu. The Realm specifies

which authentication point will be used but the Guest Pool and should have already been created.

UTC

For guests syncing with an AD, the timezone on the appliance and the AD must be set

correctly. Using as the timezone is recommended for proper timezone injection.UTC

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

which authentication point will be used but the Guest Pool and should have already been created.

Once the realm is selected, a new series of options will be present:

Join Account: Enter the account name of the user that has the appropriate privileges in AD

to join Guests to the domain.

Join Password: Provide the password for the Join Account.

OU: Enter the Distinguished Name (DN) of the OU that contains the join account. If the

administrator account is used then this does not need to be specified. This should be

specified in the standard directory format, as shown here:

<OU=service_accounts,DC=domain,DC=local>

User Group: The AD Group that contains the users that will log into the Guest Pool that this

Profile is applied to.

Disable Brokering: Stops the Guest Pool from being accessed. This may be used to pre-stage

Guest Pools. To enable access at a later date uncheck this option and set the appropriate

settings for the Guest Pool. When brokering is disabled, , , and User Groups User Volumes Br

can not be set.oker Options

User Volumes: Sets the appropriate settings for the User Volume.

Volume Size (GB): The capacity for the User Volume allocated to each user.

Repository Datastore: The Storage Pool that will store the user volumes within this

Profile. The recommendation is to use a shared storage Storage Pool for User

Volumes.

Local Cache: Sets the cache for the user data, this copies the User Volume to the local

appliance if the shared storage is slow for example this can provide a significant speed

increase for the user. A RAM cache will be faster than a disk cache but consideration

needs to be given for the available resources a good compromise is a local SSD.

Backup Schedule: Sets a schedule that the profile will follow for backing up user data

from the local cache to the Storage Pool location. So long as a backup has been

created, users will not lose data during a guest release. The schedule is typically

dictated by the number of backups the Storage Pool can handle concurrently or the

type of data stored in the profile and how often it is expected to change.

Broker Options: Select which options will be enabled when the user connects through the

broker to their Guest.

Click to complete the process. If all fields are validated correctly, the new profile will be added.Add Profile

Once a profile has been created all of the settings can be modified or duplicated, using either the or Edit Duplic

button, to remove a profile click the Remove button. Duplicating a profile can be useful for creating multipleate

profiles that share similar settings.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Guest Pools

A Guest Pool is a set of Guest VMs that are grouped together to form a pool of resource that can be brokered to

an end-user. The users that can access a Guest are defined in the Profile that is assigned to the Guest Pool. A

user can login through the broker or gateway and have a single Guest VM assigned to them. A template must

be created before a Guest Pool can be created. Multiple Guest Pools can be created to deliver multiple desktops

to a single user or isolate one set of users from another. For example, if a small set of users need a specific

application then a dedicated Template, Profile and Guest Pool can be created for them.

To Create a Guest Pool carry out the following steps:

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Guest Pools

Click on the option. A series of fields will need to be completed:Add Pool

Name: Assign a unique name to identify the Guest Pool.

Template: Use the drop-down menu to select the template that will be used to create the Guest Pool.

Profile: Select a Profile to apply to Guests of the Pool.

OS: Select the OS that is installed in the template. This will ensure the right icon is displayed in the broker

for the end-user.

Target Storage: Select the storage type that best fits the needs for the Guest Pool:

RAM: Memory based storage. This option is suitable for non-persistent or stateless Guests only. This

storage type is deduplicated and compressed.

Disk: Local Disk based storage. This option can provide storage for hosting both persistent and

non-persistent guests. If Persistent Guests are being deployed for production use the

recommendation is to use shared storage. This storage type is deduplicated and compressed.

Shared Storage: Any shared storage pools that have been added to the cluster will be displayed in

this list by their Name and can be used to host persistent guests. This option does not provide

deduplication and compression natively but this may be delivered by the underlying storage for

example when using Hive USX. A Storage Pool has to be used if is required.HA

Before proceeding, ensure that the Guest Template has the latest , optimizations applied,VirtIO drivers

appropriate configuration, and the required set of applications installed.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

example when using Hive USX. A Storage Pool has to be used if is required.HA

Persistent: Determines whether the Guests being deployed are persistent. When enabled, VMs will

persist across a reboot. Otherwise, each VM will start on a fresh state upon rebooting. This setting cannot

be adjusted for some storage types.

Available Guests: Sets the minimum number of Guest VMs that will always be available to be brokered

from the pool. Once provisioned, this minimum number of Guests will be available at all times assuming

there is enough resource in the cluster to create the Guests. The minimum number of Guests in a "Ready"

state will be provisioned across the cluster until the maximum amount has been met, or the system runs

out of resource.

Max Guests: Sets the maximum number of Guests that can be created in the Guest Pool. Once the

maximum number of Guests has been achieved the appliance will stop accepting provisioning jobs from

the cluster until a Guest slot frees up in the future.

Seed Name: Assign a string that will be the prefix the the computer names of the Guests This must be a

The Seed Name will be appended with a 3 digit number starting from 000NetBIOS compliant hostname.

and will increment by 1, ensuring Guest VM names are unique.

CPUs: Select the number of cores to provide to each Guest.

Memory: Select the amount of memory available to each Guest. The maximum that can be selected is

32GB as of this release.

VGA Emulation: The VGA Emulation used by the Guest.

Click to complete the process and start creating the Guests for the pool. When loading completes, theSave Pool

Guest Pools will spawn.

Once a Pool has been created then it can be edited or deleted using the appropriate buttons. When editing a

Pool all of the fields mentioned above can be modified except for the Seed Name and the OS type. If the number

of Available Guests or Max Guests is changed then this will only affect Guests that are not in use. For example if

the max size of the pool is reduced but the number of Guests in use exceeds this, then they will remain until the

user logs off. Afterwards, the Guest is destroyed and is not re-provisioned on the system.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Standalone Guest

A Standalone Guest can be created in lieu of a full Guest Pool. This is ideal for creating single instance servers

with their own dedicated disks.

Before creating a Standalone Guest, a separate Standalone Disk must be setup for the Guest. This process

requires a network or shared storage pool to have already been made available.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar. To add a new Disk, click on the butStandalone Guest Create Disk

ton. A series of fields will need to be completed:

Storage: Select the storage pool that the disk will be created in.

File name: Enter a file name for the Standalone Disk.

Format: Select the format that the disk will operate under. ensures better performance. Raw Qcow

is ideal for consuming less disk space.2

Disk Size (GB): Enter the amount of disk space needed.

Click to complete the process. The disk may now be selected from the storage pool forAdd Disk

Standalone Guest use.

Now, a new Standalone Guest can be set up.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar. To add a new Guest, click on the buStandalone Guest Add Guest

tton. A series of fields will need to be completed:

Name: Assign a unique name to identify the Guest.

Description: Enter an optional description to better identify the Guest.

OS: The OS that the broker will display. Select from , , , Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 10 Windows

, , or .2012 Windows 2016 Linux

Firmware: Select a firmware option. Choose from either or .BIOS UEFI

CPUs: Select the number of cores to allocate to the Guest. Larger images may require more cores.

Memory: Select the amount of memory to allocate to the Guest. Larger images may require more

memory.

VGA: Select the display hardware to allocate to the Guest's console. Choose from , VGA (Standard) Q

, , , or . This will not affect users accessing the virtual desktop.XL Cirrus Xen VMVGA

Disks: Enter the standalone disk information for the Guest.

#: Multiple disks may be supported on one Guest.

Type: The disk type used for the Standalone Guest. A image may also be mountedCDROM

here.

Storage: The storage pool containing the Standalone Disk, Guest template, or CD image.

Filename: Select the filename of the disk, template, drivers, or image that will be.iso

employed for Guest use. This image file must be contained within the selected storage

option.

The VGA (Standard) display displays at a low resolution.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

option.

Emulation: Select a storage disk emulation option. Choose from , , , or .IDE SATA SCSI Virtio

The default setting and options available vary based on disk type used. imageCDROM

mounts only use emulation.IDE

Network: Enter the network settings for the Guest. The Guest uses the production network

settings.

#: Multiple networks may be supported on one Guest.

Network: The network that the Guest is employing. This is typically the production network.

VLAN: Specify the VLAN for the network, or leave it at the default setting.

Emulation: Select the specific network device to enable. Choose from , , Virtio e1000 ne2k_pci

, , or .pcnet rtl8139

Inject Agent: Determines whether the Agent will connect within the Guest. The Agent reports key

information, such as the IP address, to Hive Fabric itself. In most cases, this can be left enabled by

default.

Click to complete the process. The Standalone Guest will be ready for use.Add Guest

Known Issue

At the moment, when attempting an Action from Guest Management, onlyEject CD

the primary CD-ROM disk will eject.

If the Agent is not installed, then the Guest is still accessible. However, the Guest's IP

address is not able to display within the WebUI.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Tools

Extra tools are available to further assist with the usage of the Hive Fabric. The appliance offers users the ability

to . With this tool, a disk image can be converted into ready-made template image. When theConvert an Image

conversion is completed, follow the wizard to begin preparing the new templateAdd an Existing Template

image for Guest use.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Convert an Image

The Hive Fabric is compatible with any QEMU or KVM-supported disk emulation. Typically, the Hive Fabric will

automatically convert images into a preferred usable format. The conversion tool reduces the need to constantly

. This makes the process of migrating diskconvert a hypervisor image every time it is added to the Hive Fabric

images quick, convenient, and easier to consume.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar. Complete the following information:Standalone Guest

Source

Storage Pool: Select the storage location containing the disk image.

File Name: Select the image file from the dropdown menu. The image file must be contained

within the selected Storage Pool.

Format: Sets the format of the source image. By default the tool will use toAuto Detection

determine the image format, but this may also be specified based on the image's origin. The

format is also available, if needed.Raw

Format: Select the format that will be used to convert the disk image.

Destination

Storage Pool: Select the storage location that the converted image will save to.

File Name: Enter a new file name for the converted disk image. The filename must end with

the extension..hio

Output Format: Sets the output format of the image. A format will give the bestRaw

performance at the cost of disk space. is a thin format, taking up only the space thatQcow2

is needed. further compresses a thin image, but may affectCompressed Qcow2

performance as a result.

Click the complete the process and begin the image conversion. The conversion may take a fewConvert

moments to complete before the image becomes usable.

VirtIO drivers must be installed and hypervisor tools must be remove first before an image is ready for

conversion.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Settings

This segment contains all the setting and configuration options for the Hive system itself. Many of these settings

may need to be adjusted before properly using the Hive appliance.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Appliance

Appliance configuration sets the general configuration of the host. The initial cluster configuration for an

appliance is also done on this page.

On the left side Navigation Bar, under , click on . The following fields may be set:Settings Appliance

Hostname: Assigns a hostname to the appliance.

Timezone: The time zone of the host location/environment.

NTP Server: The NTP server IP address.

Center Management Appliance: Enter the IP address of the current Central Management

Appliance (CMA) to join the appliance to an existing cluster. To set the current appliance as the

Central Management Appliance, enter the name . For more information on clusterlocalhost

management, refer to the page.Cluster Administration

Max Clone Density: The maximum number of Guest VMs permitted to this host. This will override

all Pool density settings. The default amount shown is based on the server's system specs.

Broker: Enable and configure Guest VM brokering based on Realm and AD Group membership.

Passthrough: When set, authentication is performed a the Guest. Users will only need to

enter a username.

Hide Realms: Disables the realm selection menu from the broker's login screen. Users are

required to login with the UPN format .user@realm-fqdn

Auto Connect: When enabled, users will automatically connect to a Guest. Users that are

members of more than one Guest Pool will connect to the first Pool.

White Labeling: Allows customization of the broker's login website.

Theme: Sets the color theme for the broker website.

Logo: Enter the external address of the logo image for the broker website.

Favicon: Enter the external address of the favicon image for the broker website.

Company Name/Title: Enter a name for the broker website to display in the welcome

message of the login screen.

HTTP Formatted Company Name/Title (Optional): Enter an HTTP-formatted name for

the broker website to display in the welcome message of the login screen.

HTTP Formatted Disclaimer (Optional): Enter an HTTP-formatted message for the

broker to display on the login screen.

Preview: Pressing this button will display a preview of the broker's login page with the

currently entered settings. If everything looks satisfactory, apply these settings by

clicking on the button.Submit

Gateway: Enable and configure the remote connection broker.

External Address (URI): Enter the gateway's URI. This will be used by the remote gateway for

RDP connections.

Start Port and : The range of firewall ports that the gateway will use. End Port

Deployment Type: Determine if the broker will service guests from the appliance or Local Gl

guests from the cluster.obal

Resource Scheduler: When this option is enabled, the Appliance opts in to Cluster Resource

Scheduling (CRS). CRS measures memory load in the system within a period and may migrate

guests based on the results. For more information, review .Cluster Administration

Log Level: Changes made are applied after restarting the Hive Services from the paAdministration

ge.

Click on to complete the process.Submit

This needs to be set or Guests will not join the domain.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Network Settings

This section is for configuring the network settings that are specific to the environment. These settings should

be among the first to be configured to best ensure stable operation across the Fabric. It is also necessary to

configure networking first in order to take advantage of certain features, such as Shared Storage for clusters.

Administrators are able to create a Bond Interface. This allows for teaming multiple NICs to a single bond

interface. This creates a network redundancy when each interface is connected to separate switches.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Network Interfaces

To create a new Bond Interface, click on . A series of options will be available:Configure Bonding

Members: Select the networks that will be included as members of the Bond Interface. A minimum

of two members are required to create a Bond.

Mode: Select the mode that the Bond will act in. Choose between or .Active/Backup 802.3ad LACP

Primary: Select the network connection within the bond that will be set at the primary connection.

Click on to complete the process. The Appliance will need to either or Submit Reboot Restart Network

to apply these changes.Services

Administrators can also configure port options for each network.

Click on , next to the network that will be configured. A series of options will beHardcode Settings

available:

Speed: Sets the speed for the network connection. Set this option to detect, or select one ofAuto

the speed options available.

Duplex: Sets the communication flow for the connection. Set this option to detect, or select Auto fu

or , based on the Ethernet connection.ll half

MTU: Sets the maximum transmission units for the connection. Adjustments to this option are

based on the connection.

Click on to complete the process. The Appliance will need to either or Submit Reboot Restart Network

to apply these changes.Services

It is also possible for Administrators to configure the network interface/VLAN that will be used as the guest VM's

production network. Trunking and VLAN tagging are both supported. If a storage network is available for use,

the appliance may also be enabled to access it. Using a storage network helps to segregate the management

traffic and storage traffic within the network.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar.Network Addresses

For , the following values may be set. Note that by default, these options are set toProduction Network

the values entered in the :First Boot Wizard

Interface: Select the network interface of the appliance.

VLAN: Specify the VLAN ID, if the server will be joining one.

DHCP: When enabled, an IP address is automatically assigned to the device. Disabling this option

will allow entry of an IP Address, Netmask, and Gateway. If DHCP is to remain enabled, no further

edits need to be made unless the DNS server being used is changing, or a DNS Search Path is

being provided.

IP Address: Enter the static IP Address to assign to the server. This will change the IP

Address used to access the web interface.

Subnet Mask: Enter the netmask for the network's host.

Default Gateway: Enter the default gateway for the network.

DNS Server: Enter an optional DNS server address. When using multiple DNS servers, separate the

list with spaces.

DNS Search Path: Enter an optional DNS search path. When using multiple DNS search paths,

separate the list with spaces.

For , the following values may be set:Storage Network

Enable Storage Network: When enabled, the storage area network becomes accessible after

credentials are entered.

Interface: Enter the network interface of the storage area network.

VLAN: Enter the VLAN ID of the storage area network.

.local Domains

.local domains must be included in the DNS Search Path in order to be correctly used for Re

.alms

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

VLAN: Enter the VLAN ID of the storage area network.

IP Address: Enter the IP Address of the storage area network.

Subnet Mask: Enter the netmask of the storage area network.

Click on to complete the process. Once complete, the network must be restarted from Submit Administr

on the left side Navigation Bar. If the IP address has changed during this process, enter the new IPation

address into the Web Browser to regain access to the Web Interface.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Administration

Various maintenance and administrative options are available to ensure that the Hive Fabric runs efficiently.

Regular maintenance is critical to the Appliance's health and should be performed regularly. Users must have

administrative privileges in order to apply updates, power manage the appliance, or upload/download files.

Licensing

Users can view the current Appliance license and the amount of time remaining on that license. To add or

extend the license, click on the option. Enter the and click to addUpload License License Key Upload License

the new license.

Power Management

Administrators can manage the power of the Appliance.

Shutdown: Shuts down the appliance. During a shutdown, no guest pools will be accessible.

Restart: Restarts the Appliance. Guest Pools will not be accessible during the restart process. This option

can be run whenever changes to the network or services have been applied.

Restart Network Services: Restarts the Hive Appliance's network. This option is necessary whenever a

change to the network has been applied.

Restart Hive Services: Restarts Hive services without restarting the Appliance itself.

The following options become available once the Appliance has joined a cluster:

Leave Cluster: Releases the appliance from its current cluster membership. This must be done before an

appliance can join a new cluster. Do not use this option on appliances that have been designated as the

CMA.

Enter/Exit Maintenance Mode: Sets the Appliance to enter or exit maintenance mode. The appliance

must be in maintenance mode before it gets released from the cluster.

Software Firmware

This displays all software packages uploaded to the Appliance. Any package check-marked as is theCurrent

version that is currently in use. Here, Administrators can easily upgrade the appliance without having to run

through the installation process a second time. To upgrade the software package:

Download the latest file with the most current version of Hive Fabric..pkg

Click on on the left Navigation Bar.Administration

Click on the button. A Browse prompt will appear, where users can select theUpload Software

appropriate file..pkg

Once the file has successfully uploaded, a few new actions will appear: and . Clicking on the Stage Delete

button prepares the appliance for package deployment. This process may take a few seconds.Stage

When the package is staged and ready, click to install the update, or click to destage theDeploy Cancel

package and cancel the update process.

Once the deployment begins, the package begins installation. This process may take a few moments to

complete. During this time, the web interface and the server console will not be accessible.

When deployment completes, Hive will automatically restart and begin using the newly-deployed version.

Appliance Firmware Images

This displays all appliance firmware uploaded. Any version marked as is the version that is currently Current Acti

. Inactive versions are marked as on . The option allowsve Standby Upload Appliance Firmware/Patch

Administrators to upload a new version of the Appliance. When selected, a Browse prompt will appear, where

users can select the appropriate or file. From there, newly uploaded images can be selected as the .tar .gz Curr

version in use, and the previous version will be sent to .ent Standby

This option should not be executed while there are users logged in to Guest Pools. Make sure that

all users have logged out before performing a restart to network services.

Do not interact with the database while the Appliance is in Maintenance Mode.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

version in use, and the previous version will be sent to .ent Standby

Support Files

This displays any files that have been created to give to Support for troubleshooting purposes. Clicking on Creat

creates a compressed file that can be given to a HiveIO Support member. The file will be added toe Support File

the Support Files inventory, along with the creation date and file size. Users may choose to the file forDownload

themselves or the file if it is no longer needed.Delete

Certificates

Displays any security certificates that have been applied to the Appliance. Users can view the of theStatus

certificate, the of the certificate, and the date of the certificate. The optionIssuer Expiration Upload Certificate

allows Administrators to upload a new Certificate to the Appliance. When selected, users can select to upload a

new or . Clicking on either of these options will open a Browse prompt, where users can selectCertificate Key

the appropriate file..cer

Timezones

Support logs print using UTC, regardless of the timezone set within the system.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Users

This section is for Administrators looking to configure user accounts for the Hive Appliance. New users can be

added to the system. These accounts are primarily for navigating the Fabric and cannot be used to access Guest

desktops.

Click on on the left side Navigation Bar. Users

Click on the option. A series of fields need to be completed:Add User

User Name: The name of the user. This name must be unique.

Realm: The realm that the user has access to.

Role: The role of the user. accounts have full privileges within the appliance. accoAdmin Read only

unts only have view privileges and cannot configure any settings or options within the appliance. It

is important to determine which role the new user will fall under before creating the account. Once

the role is set, it cannot be changed.

Password: Sets a password for the user. All accounts must have a password.

Click to complete the process. The user account is immediately available for use.Add User

Administrator accounts have the ability to for any account, or for existingChange Password Delete User

accounts.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Template Administration

Templates will need updates during its life cycle. When the end user is ready to update, the procedure should be

as follows:

First, duplicate the current template. This duplicate makes it easy to retain many of the templates

settings during the update process. This also ensures that the current template does not get corrupted

during the update process, should any errors or issues arise.

Author the duplicate template to apply the updates.

Modify the current guest pool for the new template, if the guest pool is not persistent.

Existing guests are not affected by the template update process, unless the "Available Guest" counter is set to .0

Any new guests spawned will use the new template. Current users will receive the new guest templates upon

logging off of their session.

Before administrating a template, be sure to review:

The best practices for proper .desktop image management

The steps for to a Windows OS image.installing VirtIO device drivers

Recommendation

It is ideal to set the "Available Guest" counter down to . Then, once all unassigned guests have0

been destroyed, restore the available guest value.

Recommendation

When adding or creating a template, the recommended disk emulation is . Use this whenever VirtIO

possible for the best performance. VirtIO drivers are native to most Linux systems. However, for any

Microsoft Windows OS template, use IDE for install. The VirtIO drivers will need to be installed during the

OS install or added to the template after installation for best performance and for network connectivity.

For more information, view the process for .installing VirtIO device drivers

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

VirtIO Device Drivers Installation

VirtIO is a virtualization standard for network and disk device drivers where the guest's device driver

understands it is running in a virtual environment, and cooperates with the hypervisor. This helps to ensure the

guest gets the best possible performance for network and disk operations. HiveIO best practice also state to use

these drivers for all applicable guests. Most Linux guests will come with VirtIO drivers pre-installed and will

automatically use these.

There are two scenarios to consider:

Using an and switching the current drivers installed in the guest over to VirtIOexisting template

drivers. During the process, .template authoring select the "Mount Drivers CD" option, under Networking

Select the option, but ensure that Specify Disk Emulation matches the disk driver inside the guest.VirtIO

This is likely to be iSCSI on most modern templates. The following process will switch to the VirtIO drivers:

Author the template and login to the guest with administrator privileges.

Open the Start menu and search for Device Manager.

Locate the Ethernet Controller. Right-click on this option and select "Update Driver Software".

Follow the update wizard's prompts when they appear. When asked how to search for driver

software, select "Browse my Computer for Driver Software". Enter the path to the CD drive and

specific folder for the Guest OS. e.g: .d:\NetKVM\w7\amd64

Follow the prompts to complete the driver installation process.

Repeat this process for the SCSI Controller and PCI standard RAM Controller.

Any unknown devices may also have VirtIO device drivers that can be updated by following this

same procedure.

Creating a new Template. S . Enable "Specify Diskelect the "Mount Drivers CD" option, under Networking

Emulation" and select the option.VirtIO

During the installation of Windows use the "Specify Additional Driver" option to navigate to the

appropriate OS folder on the VirtIO driver CD for the SCSI controller. Add this so that Windows can

recognize the disk for installation.

Once the Windows installation has completed, the additional devices can be updated or installed.

Open the Start menu and search for Device Manager.

Locate the Ethernet Controller. Right-click on this option and select "Update Driver Software".

Follow the update wizard's prompts when they appear. When asked how to search for driver

software, select "Browse my Computer for Driver Software". Enter the path to the CD drive and

specific folder for the Guest OS. e.g: .d:\NetKVM\w7\amd64

Follow the prompts to complete the driver installation process.

Repeat this process for the SCSI Controller and PCI standard RAM Controller.

Any unknown devices may also have VirtIO device drivers that can be updated by following this

same procedure.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Desktop Image Management

Repository

An external NFS, CIFS, or Ceph volume is required as a desktop image repository. These shares store OS images

and template images for Hive Fabric use.

Delivery

New desktop image deployment is achieved by updating the template used within the Guest Pool

configuration. Once a new desktop image is pushed to the repository, a new template can be created in the

HiveIO Administration portal. After the template is created, it can then be assigned to any existing Guest Pool or

during Guest Pool creation. For more information, review .Templates

Permissions

Any storage with read-only permissions can add existing templates, but will not have access to template

creation and authoring.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Guest Session Scripts

The Hive Fabric supports the use of hook scripts for advanced users who want to automate certain agent

processes within their Windows deployments. These scripts are executable string files that are placed within a

designated folder, typically , of the Guest OS template. Because theseC:\Program Files\HiveIO\Scripts

scripts must run within the template, they will have to be baked into the Windows template before deployment.

This can be done from within the during the process.Console Template Authoring

A script starts running whenever a specific session change event occurs. The supported values are:

Onlogin

Onlogoff

Onremoteconnect

Onremotedisconnect

In the example given below, the script will set a name for the Citrix ICA client to use by forwarding the hostname

of the device to the remote desktop.

$key = (get-itempropertyvalue -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\HiveAgent" -Name

"ClientName")

set-itemproperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\ICA Client" -Name

"ClientName" -Value $key

To run a script from a template:

Author the template and access the template console.

Place the script into the Windows image's folder.C:\Program Files\HiveIO\Scripts

Open the Windows Registry Editor and edit the following registry path

“HKLM\SOFTWARE\HiveAgentActions”. Add an SZ value to reflect one of the supported session event

values above, depending on when the script will run. The contents of that value must be the full filepath

for the script. Based on the sample script above, this would be C:\ s\set_Program Files\HiveIO\Script

.citrix_clientname.ps1

Session scripts are non-interactive, so no further user input will be required upon running. The executable file

executes the strings and starts the process as written in the script. After the script runs, logs are generated.

set_citrix_clientname

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Cluster Administration

Hive Fabric supports the grouping of multiple Appliances in a Cluster. This allows for cross-server administration,

resource load balancing and simple administration of a large number of appliance. A cluster requires a minimu

m of two appliances. However, the recommendation is to have at least three appliances. This provides further

resilience and ensures a quorum is available to handle a "split-brain" scenario. The cluster is maintained by the C

entral Management Appliance, or CMA role. This role is assigned to the first server that forms the cluster. The

CMA gets replicated across the other members of the cluster. These members becomes proxies and get cached.

The first three appliances to join the cluster automatically become Cluster Managers. All manager appliances

run the database service within the cluster and replicate changes between each other. Once the Cluster

Manager roles are assigned, appliances that join the cluster after this point become Cluster Members. The

cluster will always attempt to have three managers. If the CMA ever experiences an issue, the cluster can cast a

majority vote and promote a member to a Cluster Manager role.

Hive Fabric further supports clusters with the option to participate in Cluster Resource Scheduling, or CRS, for

Guest Pools. Clusters of any size have the ability to use CRS. This service uses algorithms to measure the current

system load over a 15-minute period, as well as signal and memory usage assigned to all guests within the

cluster. From there, the system nominates guests as migration candidates based on a median of the current

metrics. If any of these metrics hit maximum constraints on an appliance, migration candidates get moved to

allow for stress reduction. The migration candidates move to another appliance within the cluster that is not

hitting maximum resource consumption and has supporting Guest Pool settings. This service may be enabled or

disabled at any time from the .Appliance Settings

Further details on joining and managing the cluster :

Joining an appliance to a Cluster.

Removing an appliance from a Cluster.

The monitors and maintains the entire cluster.Cluster Dashboard

Follow these when building out clusters.Best Practices

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Join a Cluster

Joining Hive Fabric to an existing cluster is a simple process. If a cluster does not yet exist, then two appliances

can join together to create a new cluster.

On the left side Navigation Bar, under Settings, click on Appliance.

Enter a hostname for the appliance. This must be set or the appliance will not successfully join the cluster.

For the field, enter an IP address for an appliance within the cluster. ThisCentral Management Appliance

IP does not have to point the the designated Central Management Appliance, as it will be located through

the cluster.

If the cluster does not exist, enter the IP address of the other appliance that will unite to establish a

cluster. The IP entered will promote that appliance to a Central Management Appliance. The

Central Management Appliance will list itself as the on its appliance.localhost

Set the appliance broker and gateway information as needed. Once all the required information has been

completed, click on to join the cluster.Submit

Once the appliance successfully joins the cluster, then the status at the top of the window will be Clustered True

. The number of members within the cluster will display in parenthesis.

Local Shared Storage

If there are plans to implement a within a new cluster, then a needs toshared storage storage network

be established before joining appliances to a cluster.

This process can not be replicated to join an appliance to another cluster while it is already a member of

a cluster. The appliance must first be from its current cluster before it can establish aremoved

membership with new one.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Remove Appliance from a Cluster

During the typical life cycle, an appliance may become an unwanted member of the cluster and necessitate

removal. It is also possible that an appliance needs to switch its cluster membership. However, appliances must

first be removed from its current cluster membership before it can join a new cluster. This is integral to

advanced cluster management, such as partitioning for multiple clusters.

Data migration is automatic, but the handling may vary based on the status of workload persistence. For

non-persistent servers, other appliances will pick up the data. Persistent workloads perform a live migration

from the existing cluster.

The following steps remove the appliance from the cluster:

On the left side Navigation Bar, under Settings, click on Administration.

Set the appliance to . This must be done before removing the Appliance fromEnter Maintenance Mode

the cluster.

Click on the button. A confirmation prompt will appear, stating that this action cannot beLeave Cluster

undone. Click on to advance and begin the release.OK

The removal process erases the local database. It also erases local entries from the Central Management

Appliance. The removal process may take a few moments, depending on the size of the server. The appliance

will automatically reboot when everything is complete. For appliances that will be joining a new cluster, return

to the process.Join a Cluster

Do not decouple the Central Management Appliance from the cluster.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Cluster Dashboard

The dashboard portal will provide monitoring functions to the entire HiveIO cluster. To access the Dashboard

portal, enter the URL as: .https://<HiveIO-Host-IP>/dashboard

Overview

The tab provides an overall monitoring view of the entire cluster. It displays Key PerformanceOverview

Indicator graphs for each fabric in the cluster. KPI status includes:

Guest Density

Active user Count

CPU Usage

Memory Usage

Storage Usage

In addition, a side bar will display the KPI summary index of the entire cluster.

Hardware

Hardware view provides the general information and specifications of the hardware of each of the fabric hosts.

Information includes:

Manufacturer and Model

BIOS Version

System Board Model

Processor Type and Speed

Memory Size and Type

Core Temperature

Guests

The section provides guest orchestration functions for the cluster. This is similar to guest management inGuest

the Administration portal. However, the view will cover the entire cluster instead of just an individual fabric. For

more information on guest management, please review .Guest Management

Service Bus: Broker

The tab displays the configuration and overall statistics of the HiveIO internal message bus.Broker

Service Bus: Exchanges

The tab provides the list of topics available within the HiveIO internal message bus. In addition, theExchanges

user can select any item listed in exchanges and enable the feature. This will allow the user to create aListen

hook to the item and monitor the messages that are being transmitted on the bus.

Service Bus: Queues

The tab provides a list of available queues in the HiveIO message bus.Queues

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Cluster Best Practice

The guidelines presented here help to provide scalability, reliability, and high performance within the cluster

setup.

A cluster requires a minimum of two appliances, but it is recommended to use three or more appliances when

establishing a cluster. The reasoning behind this is threefold.

A minimum of three appliances in the cluster provides more resilience for disaster recovery. As the cluster

grows, the first three members of the cluster become Cluster Managers, along with the first of these appliances

taking on the role as Central Management Appliance. In cases where the CMA may go down, one of the other

Cluster Managers has the ability to step up and take over the role as the new CMA.

A three member minimum provides mediation in potential "split-brain" scenarios. As an example and as

previously mentioned, a Cluster Manager takes over the role of CMA in case the preceding CMA experiences a

failure. For this to occur, the cluster must cast a majority vote.

Finally, a minimum of three appliances are required to utilize shared storage within the cluster. To further

expand on the cluster rule of three, this shared storage expands with every third member added to the cluster.

This rule does not restrict, say, a fourth or fifth-assigned member of the cluster from taking advantage of the

shared storage available. Be mindful, however, that before shared storage can be established within the cluster,

a storage network must be set up. See for more information on setting up a storage networkNetwork Settings

within the Fabric.

If a cluster is making use of Shared Storage, it is recommended to reboot one node at a time. This is the best way

to reduce downtime. Wait a few moments before rebooting the next node to ensure that the Shared Storage

remains intact. Shared Storage automatically returns itself to a Ready state when the reboot processes

completes. (expand as we get more info)

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

VM Broker

Once a guest is successfully deployed, users are ready to log in. The Hive Fabric provides access to the guest OS

through either the broker or the gateway. Before users can begin to login and use their desktops, these

brokering services must be established first. The Guest Connection Broker and Port Accessible Gateway portals

are configured from the settings.Appliance

Any workstation that is on the same network as the guest pool will access guest desktops through the .Broker

Remote users will access virtual desktops through the .Gateway

User Logins

Users may only log in to one Guest at a time. Make sure to completely log the user out of the desktop

before attempting to access another Guest. This allows the system to correctly back up User Volumes.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Broker

HiveIO includes a built-in guest brokering function. This feature can be enabled via the sectiAppliance Settings

on of the Administration portal. Once enabled, the Guest Connection Broker can be accessed by entering the

URL as .https://<HiveIO-Host-IP>/broker

To login, simply enter the and . Access role is based on the user's AD Group membershipUserName Password

and the AD Group defined in the Guest Pool definition of the specified realm.

Once logged in, a list of available desktop resources will be presented to the user for each Guest Pool.

Accessing the Guest

In a web browser, type the server IP/broker address. Typically, this will resemble https://<address

.here>/broker

will display.

Select a guest and click on . An RDP file will begin downloading. When the downloadAssign & Connect

finishes, the file is ready to launch. This will connect the user to the Guest Image.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Gateway

An RDP access gateway function is available in the HiveIO appliance. This feature can be enabled via the Applia

section of the Administration portal. Once enabled, users will be able to access the guest VMnce Settings

through the internal port addressable gateway instead of connecting via the IP address guest. Brokering for the

gateway will be accessed via the URL .https://<HioveIO-Host-IP>/remote

Accessing the Guest

In a web browser, type the server IP/broker address. Typically, this will resemble https://<address

.here>/remote

will display.

Select a guest and click on . An RDP file will begin downloading. When the downloadAssign & Connect

finishes, the file is ready to launch. This will connect the user to the Guest Image.

Connectivity

Users who lose connectivity during VDI access through the gateway must log back in to the gateway to

regain access to their desktop.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Advanced Admininstration

Advanced users have the option to execute command line tools through a remote shell. This option is available

for any administrators who require remote access to issue scripts through to the Appliance. Some of these

commands also access any pertinent information regarding the Appliance.

To employ these scripts as part of Fabric operations:

Open a terminal and access the Fabric appliance via . When prompted, the credentials to use are:ssh

User: admin1

Password: This varies based on the current admin account password

The following Hive Fabric-specific commands may be issued. All commands listed must be executed with

:sudo

hio-guest-list: Displays the current guests on the Appliance.

hio-log <service name>: Generates log files from the Appliance, based on the service requested.

For example, the command generates full logs from the Fabric service.sudo hio-log hive-fabric

hio-service <operation> <service name>: Performs a specified operation with the service

requested. For example, the command displays thesudo hio-service status hive-fabric

current status of the Fabric service. Users may , , , or check the of astart stop restart status

supported .hio-service

hio-shared-storage-status: Displays the current status for Shared Storage. Appliances must be

part of a cluster to have Shared Storage established.

hio-start-appliance-console: Starts the for the Appliance within the shellManagement Console

session. Navigating the console remains the same.

Additionally, the following services names are accepted where applicable. Be aware that only specifihive-

c services, , , and may be used with the command:nginx qpidd rethinkdb hio-service

dmesg

fail2ban

guest/[guestname]

hive

hive-agent-proxy

hive-appliance-console

hive-boot

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

hive-cluster

hive-fabric

hive-image-service

hive-metrics

hive-rest

hive-storage

kern

libvert/qemu/[guestname]

nginx

nginx/access

nginx/error

qpidd

rethinkdb

user

When the command has been entered, the script executes.

Wildcards

These shell commands support wildcards, with the term contained within quotation marks. For

example, will pull the logs for all services, rather than a specificsudo hio-log "hive-*" hive-

service.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Migration

It is possible to take pre-existing virtual machines from another hypervisor and migrate them to Hive Fabric. The

steps to do so may vary based on the hypervisor and version that was used before migrating to Fabric. Here,

some of the more common setups are discussed. If the previous hypervisor is not shown here, either consult the

appropriate documentation or contact a member of support for further assistance.

The instructions given here cover some of the common hypervisors used for managing virtual machines. Steps

may vary based on the platform and version used.

Migrate Citrix XenServer to Fabric

Migrate Nutanix Acropolis to Fabric

Migrate VMware to Fabric

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Migrate Citrix XenServer to Fabric

The following steps show how to migrate virtual machines from Citrix XenServer to Hive Fabric. Prior Citrix

knowledge is recommended before proceeding. It is recommended to remove all Citrix optimizations from the

virtual machine before proceeding so that the image can be easier authored for Fabric optimization. These

instructions assume that the Citrix infrastructure is running on XenServer.

Before proceeding, it is a good idea to create a backup of the Citrix virutal machine. This ensures that

there is less risk of loss should an issue arise during the migration process.

First, connect to Xenserver or Xencenter. Find and select the virtual machine intended to migrate to

Fabric.

The next step is to copy the virtual machine to a destination storage location. To begin the copy process,

right-click on the virtual machine and select . In the dialogue window"Copy VM..." Copy Virtual Machine

that appears, select the option for . This creates a full copy of the Virtual Machine on the"Full Copy"

selected storage repository. If a Fabric Shared Storage volume is not used as the storage, then confirm

that the file goes to a storage location that is mountable in Fabric. The time to copy varies, based on

image sizing, copy location, and network.

Before continuing to the next step, ready an SSH session into the Fabric internal NFS or open a view of the

storage repositories files.

Fabric Storage Repositories

Fabric internal NFS on version 6 and shared storage on Fabric 7.0 can be created and mounted as

a Storage Repository within XenServer to copy the virtual machines to.

Storage Recommendations

An NFS share is recommended. This is because the storage repository needs to be mounted in

Hive Fabric if it is not originating from Hive Fabric Shared Storage.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

storage repositories files.

Certain migration methods require the UUID of the Virtual Machine as part of the migration process. The

easiest way to do this is first by browse to the storage destination while the VM is copying. When

accessing an NFS store, check for the most recent files modified, preferably sorted by date and time. The

directory containing the Full Copy Virtual Machine disks typically uses the UUID as its name.

The folder contains the .VHD's of each disk from the Virtual Machine. Each disk must be converted from

their original format into either a or for Hive Fabric consumption. There are two ways to.vhd .raw .qcow2

do this, either through Hive Fabric's conversion tool or through a remote shell.

To convert the image via Fabric: Access Fabric's tool. Starting with the ,Image Conversion Source

select the storage containing the cloned VM image, then select the correct image from the .vhd Fil

drop down. The source can remain at for this process. For the e Name Format Auto Detection Dest

, place the converted image into any shared storage or storage pool and give the convertedination

image an appropriate name. Select as the . With the image ready, click on Qcow2 Output Format C

to begin the conversion process. This may take a few moments, depending on network andonvert

image sizing.

To convert the image via remote shell: From the remote shell into the Fabric session, navigate to

the remote storage point the files are located. If the files are not located within the Fabric.vhd

host, this folder will be available at . /mnt/<storageUUID>

From this folder, enter the following command replacing the example file names with the intended

disks and disk names:

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

disks and disk names:

qemu-img -O qcow2 <filenamein>.vhd <filenameout>.qcow2 -p

It is possible to replace the qcow2 specification with raw or other formats if converting the image

into a qcow2 formatted virtual machine is not desired. An example for raw format is:

qemu-img -O raw <filenamein>.vhd <filenameout>.raw -p

Once the conversion process is completed, the virtual machine is now in the necessary format for Hive

Fabric to consume. Create a using the newly converted image. Add a Disk Type,Standalone Guest Disk

and select the storage containing the converted image. When prompted for a file name, select the

converted VHD image. Include a second , a with the as part of theDisk Local CDROM HiveIO Drivers

Standalone Guest. When finished, click on to create the Guest.Add Guest

The Standalone Guest needs further authoring before it is ready for deployment. Select the Open Console

option under the Standalone Guest's menu. Follow the steps provided to Action Install VirtIO Device

to the image. This is also the time to install any desired optimization tools to the OS, if desired.Drivers

Once everything is set, close the console.

Return to the Standalone Guest and edit it to have the disk removed. Refresh the StandaloneCDROM

Guest to reboot the image and apply the changes. Users may now begin using the Standalone Guest

version of the clone. Decommission the Citrix clone if it is no longer necessary.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Migrate Nutanix Acropolis to Fabric

The following steps show how to migrate virtual machines from Nutanix Acropolis (AHX) to Hive Fabric. Prior

Nutanix knowledge is recommended before proceeding. It is recommended to remove all Nutanix optimizations

from the virtual machine before proceeding so that the image can be easier authored for Fabric optimization.

First, find the UUID of the vDisk. To do this, connect to a CVM. Enter a CLI and run the command vm.get

. Copy the vmdisk_uuid.[vm name]

Next is to export the applicable vDisks. The vDisks of AHV VMs are located in a hidden folder on the

container named . Use the qemu-img command to export the vDisk. Note that the vDisk.acropolis

exports in a thin format. This means that even if it is provisioned as a 100GB drive, it only exports the

actual size used. To begin the export, first make sure the VM is powered off. Then, run the following

command:

qemu-img convert –c ] –O qcow2 nfs://127.0.0.1/[containter]/.acropolis/vmdisk/[UUID nfs:/

/127.0.0.1/[containter]/[vmdisk].qcow2

qemu-img convert -c

nfs://127.0.0.1/Nutanix/.acropolis/vmdisk/5c0996b9-f114-475f-98c0-ea4d

09e8e447 -O qcow2 nfs://127.0.0.1/Nutanix/export_me.qcow2

Once the export completes, whitelist a Windows 2012 R2 server. Browse to the container and copy the .ac

vDisk to storage. Place the file into an NFS store that is presented to both Nutanix and Hiveropolis

Fabric. It is also possible to upload the image to the internal data store of a Fabric server.

The AHX VM clone must be converted before Fabric can use it. This process uses Fabric's built-in Image

tool. Starting with the , select the storage containing the cloned VM image, then selectConversion Source

Example

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

tool. Starting with the , select the storage containing the cloned VM image, then selectConversion Source

the correct image from the drop down. The source can remain at .acropolis File Name Format Auto

for this process. For the , place the converted image into any shared storage orDetection Destination

storage pool and give the converted image an appropriate name. Select as the .Qcow2 Output Format

With the image ready, click on to begin the conversion process. This may take a few moments,Convert

depending on network and image sizing.

Create a using the newly converted image. Add a Disk Type, and select the storageStandalone Guest Disk

containing the converted image. When prompted for a file name, select the converted AHX image.

Include a second , a with the as part of the Standalone Guest. WhenDisk Local CDROM HiveIO Drivers

finished, click on to create the Guest.Add Guest

The Standalone Guest needs further authoring before it is ready for deployment. Select the Open Console

option under the Standalone Guest's menu. Follow the steps provided to Action Install VirtIO Device

to the image. This is also the time to install any desired optimization tools to the OS, if desired.Drivers

Once everything is set, close the console.

Return to the Standalone Guest and edit it to have the disk removed. Refresh the StandaloneCDROM

Guest to reboot the image and apply the changes. Users may now begin using the Standalone Guest

version of the clone. Decommission the AHX clone if it is no longer necessary.

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

Migrate VMware to Fabric

The following steps show how to migrate virtual machines from VMware to Hive Fabric. Prior VMware

knowledge is recommended before proceeding.

First, it's a good idea to make a note of all the NIC settings from the VMware virtual machine, such as IP

Addresses, DNS settings, Gateways, etc., before proceeding. Create a clone of the VMware virtual machine

and place it into an . Cloning the VM makes aNFS store that is presented to both VMware and Hive Fabric

backup available, so there is less risk in case an issue arises.

Prepare the clone for migration. Power on the VM clone and remove all VMware tools from the image.

Once finished, shut the clone down and remove it from vCenter's VMware inventory. Move the cloned

VM's to the root of the storage volume. It no longer needs to be in the folder that VMware created..vdmk

The VMware VM clone must be converted before Fabric can use it. This process uses Fabric's built-in Imag

tool. Starting with the , select the storage containing the cloned VM image, thene Conversion Source

select the correct image from the drop down..vdmk File Name

The source can remain at for this process. For the , place theFormat Auto Detection Destination

converted image into any shared storage or storage pool and give the converted image an appropriate

name. Select as the . With the image ready, click on to begin theQcow2 Output Format Convert

conversion process. This may take a few moments, depending on network and image sizing. After

successfully converting the VM, the file and VMware VM folder may be removed from the NFS store..vmdk

Create a using the newly converted image. Add a Disk Type, and select the storageStandalone Guest Disk

containing the converted image. When prompted for a file name, select the converted VMware image.

Include a second , a with the as part of the Standalone Guest. WhenDisk Local CDROM HiveIO Drivers

finished, click on to create the Guest.Add Guest

Storage Pools

The storage containing the VM clone must be included as part of Fabric's inventoryStorage Pool

before proceeding to the next step.

Correct Source Image

Current versions of VMware create and files to represent the cloned disk-flat.vdmk *.vdmk

image. The file is the actual disk image and the correct source chosen for conversion.-flat.vdmk

The file is a descriptor file that references the file.*.vdmk -flat.vdmk

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

The Standalone Guest needs further authoring before it is ready for deployment. Select the Open Console

option under the Standalone Guest's menu. Follow the steps provided to Action Install VirtIO Device

to the image. This is also the time to update the image with the NIC information that wasDrivers

previously noted, so that it matches the source VMware virtual machine. Once everything is set, close the

console.

Return to the Standalone Guest and edit it to have the disk removed. Refresh the StandaloneCDROM

Guest to reboot the image and apply the changes. Users may now begin using the Standalone Guest

.version of the clone. Decommission the VMware clone if it is no longer necessary

Hive Fabric 7.0 Administration Guide

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