Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Installation Overview · Application Virtual Switch for Cisco ACI environments. Cisco ACI Virtual Edge is a hypervisor-independent distributed service appliance

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Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Installation Overview


Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 3

Installation overview ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Prerequisites ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Installation workflow ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Step 1: Create new VMM domain for Virtual Edge on the APIC ........................................................................... 4 Step 2. Adding the hosts to VDS ......................................................................................................................... 11 Step 3. Upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge OVF file to the vCenter content library ............................................ 16

Creating the content library ............................................................................................................................ 17 Uploading the OVF to the content library........................................................................................................ 20

Step 4. Deploy Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts using the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in ......................................... 22 Installation using Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in ................................................................................................... 23

Setting up an IP pool in vCenter ................................................................................................................ 27 Python script method of installation ................................................................................................................ 30

Content library scripts ................................................................................................................................ 31 Virtual Edge virtual machine scripts ........................................................................................................... 31

PowerCLI method of Virtual Edge installation ................................................................................................ 31 Content library scripts ................................................................................................................................ 32 Virtual Edge virtual machine scripts ........................................................................................................... 32


Introduction

The Cisco® Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI

™) Virtual Edge solution is the next generation of the

Application Virtual Switch for Cisco ACI environments. Cisco ACI Virtual Edge is a hypervisor-independent

distributed service appliance that leverages the native Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS) that belongs to the

hypervisor. Cisco ACI Virtual Edge runs in the user space, operates as a virtual leaf, and is managed by the Cisco

Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC).

If you use Cisco Application Virtual Switch, you can migrate to Cisco ACI Virtual Edge. If you use VMware vSphere

Distributed Switch (VDS), you can run Virtual Edge on top of it. Decoupling Cisco ACI Virtual Edge from the kernel

space makes the solution adaptable to different hypervisors. It also facilitates simple upgrades, as Virtual Edge is

not tied to hypervisor upgrades. Cisco ACI Virtual Edge implements the OpFlex protocol for control plane

communication. It supports two modes of traffic forwarding: local switching and no local switching.

Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Release 1.1(1a) supports only the VMware hypervisor. It leverages the VMware (VDS),

which is configured in Private VLAN (PVLAN) mode. When network administrators create a Cisco ACI Virtual Edge

Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) domain on the APIC, they must associate the domain with a range of VLANs to

be used for the PVLAN pair association of port groups on the VDS. Server administrators do not need to associate

PVLANs to port groups on vCenter because APIC automatically associates PVLAN pairs with the Endpoint Groups

(EPGs).

Installation overview

Note: This document is intended as a quick start guide for the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge installation process. For

more detailed information, please refer to the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Installation Guide.

Installing Cisco ACI Virtual Edge is a simple four-step process:

1. Create a VMM domain: The network administrator creates a new VMM domain using Cisco ACI Virtual Edge

as a virtual switch on the APIC.

2. Add the ESXi host: The server admin adds ESXi hosts to the newly created VDS.

3. Upload the OVF file: The server admin uploads the Virtual Edge OVF file to the vCenter content library.

4. Deploy Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts: The server admin deploys Virtual Edge on each ESXi host using

any of the following methods:

● Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in: This method automates deployment of Virtual Edge across multiple hosts. We

recommend this method.

● Python scripts: Use Python scripts to deploy Virtual Edge on each ESXi host.

● PowerCLI scripts: Use PowerCLI scripts to deploy Virtual Edge on each ESXi host.

Note: If you already have the Application Virtual Switch or VDS deployed in your environment, you can do a

migration from Application Virtual Switch or VDS to Virtual edge. Refer to the ACI Virtual Edge Migration Guide for

instructions. The Migration Guide can be found at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/application-

centric-infrastructure-virtual-edge/index.html.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/aci_virtual_edge/installation_upgrade/1-x/b_Virtual_Edge_Installation_Guide_1_1_1.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/application-centric-infrastructure-virtual-edge/index.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/application-centric-infrastructure-virtual-edge/index.html


Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation of the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge solution, make sure the following prerequisites

are met:

● Cisco ACI Fabric (Spines, Leafs and APICs) running version 3.1 without any major faults.

● Required access policies (interface policies, interface profiles, Attachable Entity Profiles (AEPs), switch

profiles, VLAN pools) are configured.

● Tenants, application profiles and EPGs are configured.

● vCenter environment is running version 6.0U3 or later, without any major faults.

● Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Open Virtualization Format (OVF) image has been downloaded.

● A minimum of 8 GB is available on local disks of the ESXi server to install Virtual Edge.

● Hosts on which you will install Virtual Edge have been identified.

Installation workflow

Let’s take a detailed look at the installation of Cisco ACI Virtual Edge.

Step 1: Create new VMM domain for Virtual Edge on the APIC

In the APIC, click Virtual Networking. In the navigation pane (Figure 1), navigate to Inventory VMM Domains

VMware. Right-click VMware and select Create vCenter Domain.

Figure 1. Create vCenter domain from virtual networking in APIC


The Create vCenter Domain window opens (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Create vCenter Domain window (1 of 2)

In the Create vCenter Domain window (Figure 2), provide the following parameters for the options shown:

● Virtual Switch Name: Provide a name for the Virtual Edge Switch.

● Virtual Switch: Select Cisco AVE (Virtual Edge).

● Switching Preference: Choose the switching preference:

◦ In Local Switching mode, Virtual Edge locally forwards all intra-EPG traffic without involving a leaf switch.

All inter-EPG traffic is forwarded through a leaf. You can choose VLAN or VXLAN (virtual extensible

LAN) mode along with local switching mode.

◦ In No Local Switching mode, all the traffic on Virtual Edge is forwarded to the leaf, and the Cisco ACI leaf

does the traffic forwarding in both intra- and inter-EPG cases. In this mode, VXLAN is the only

encapsulation type allowed.

● Default Encap Mode: Select VLAN or VXLAN. If Virtual Edge is being primarily deployed for VXLAN, select

that option, since it reduces the complexity of configuring multiple VLANs, especially if there are multiple

switches between Virtual Edge and Cisco ACI leaf switches.

● Associated Attachable Entity Profile: Select an already created AEP from the drop-down list or create a

new one.

● Delimiter: Leave this blank.

● Endpoint Retention Time (seconds): Leave this option at the default value.


● VLAN Pool: Create a VLAN pool or choose one you have already created from the drop-down list. When

creating a new VLAN pool, note the following:

◦ A range of VLANs must be allocated for the internal role. These VLANs will be used for PVLAN

implementation.

◦ If Virtual Edge is deployed in Mixed mode or VLAN mode, then you will need an additional VLAN range

for external encapsulation. You can see the internal and external pools in VLAN pool pop-up window in

Figure 3.

◦ You will need two VLANs from the internal pool for every EPG in the VMM domain.

Figure 3. VLAN Pool pop-up window

● AVE Fabric-Wide Multicast Address: Provide a local multicast address to be used by Virtual Edge within

the Cisco ACI fabric.

● Pool of Multicast Addresses (one per-EPG): Provide a pool of multicast addresses to be used for this

VMM domain. You need one multicast address to be available for each EPG that will be used.

● Security Domains: This parameter is not used during this configuration. Scroll down to proceed with the

configuration options shown in Figure 4.


Figure 4. Create vCenter domain window (2 of 2)

● vCenter Credentials: Click the + sign to open the Create vCenter Credential window (Figure 5). Enter a

name, optional description, the vCenter administrator username, and the password. Click OK when done.

Figure 5. Create vCenter Credentials window

● vCenter: Click the + sign to open the Create vCenter Controller window (Figure 6) and add a new vCenter.

Enter a vCenter name, IP address, DVS version, and a name that matches the data center in the vCenter.

You need not select a management EPG, or you leave the default setting. Choose the associated vCenter

credentials from the drop-down list. Click OK when you are done.


Figure 6. Create vCenter Controller window

● The options related to port channel mode, vSwitch policy, interface controls, firewall mode, and NetFlow

exporter policy (see Figure 4) are not relevant to the current deployment. Keep the defaults setting for those

parameters, and click Submit to create the VMM domain.

You have now created a VMM domain in the APIC with Virtual Edge as the virtual switch, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Virtual Edge VMM domain


APIC will create a VDS in vCenter with same name as the VMM domain. The APIC administrator will create a

tenant and EPGs and attach them to this VMM domain. The EPGs associated with the VMM domain will be pushed

to vCenter as port groups.

Note: The creation of tenants and EPGs is outside the scope of this guide. For help, please refer to the APIC

Basic Configuration Guide.

Now let’s associate an EPG to the newly created VMM domain. In APIC, click the Tenants tab. In the Tenant

Navigation pane, click the name of the tenant where you created EPGs and click Application Profiles. Then select

the application profile, click Application EPGs, select the desired application EPG, and click Domains.

In Figure 8, the sequence is Tenant TME-AVE -> Application Profiles -> sap -> Application EPGs -> app ->

Domains.

Figure 8. Add a VMM Domain Association to the EPG

In the Domains pane (see Figure 8), right-click the tools icon and select Add VMM Domain Association from

the drop-down menu to open the Add VMM Domain window shown in Figure 9.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/3-x/basic_config/b_APIC_Basic_Config_Guide_3_x/b_APIC_Basic_Config_Guide_3_x_chapter_0110.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/3-x/basic_config/b_APIC_Basic_Config_Guide_3_x/b_APIC_Basic_Config_Guide_3_x_chapter_0110.html


Figure 9. Add VMM Domain Association window

Make the following selections:

● VMM Domain Profile: Select VMM Domain from the drop-down list.

● Deploy Immediacy: Select Immediate or On Demand to determine when the EPG has to be pushed. For

the policies downloaded to the leaf software, deployment immediacy can specify when the policy is pushed

into the hardware policy Content-Addressable Memory (CAM).

◦ Immediate specifies that the policy is programmed in the hardware policy CAM as soon as the policy is

downloaded in the leaf software.

◦ On demand specifies that the policy is programmed in the hardware policy CAM only when the first

packet is received through the data path. This process helps to optimize the hardware space.

● Resolution Immediacy: This option determines the resolution for the EPG:

◦ Immediate specifies that EPG policies (including contracts and filters) are downloaded to the associated

leaf switch software upon ESXi host attachment to a DVS. Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) or

OpFlex permissions are used to resolve the virtual machine controller-to-leaf node attachments.

◦ On Demand specifies that a policy (for example, VLAN, VXLAN bindings, contracts, or filters) is pushed

to the leaf node only when an ESXi host is attached to a DVS and a virtual machine is placed in the port

group (EPG).

◦ Pre-provision specifies that a policy (for example, VLAN, VXLAN binding, contracts, or filters) is

downloaded to a leaf switch even before a virtual machine controller is attached to the virtual switch. This

helps in the situation where management traffic for hypervisors/virtual machine controllers are also using

the virtual switch associated to the APIC VMM domain (VMM switch).

● Delimiter value can be left blank.


● Switching Mode: Select AVE or Native:

◦ AVE: Select AVE for port-groups that need to send traffic via Virtual Edge. We recommended using this

mode for all virtual machines that need policy enforcement via Virtual Edge.

◦ Native: Select Native for EPG/port groups for which policies need to be enforced by the VDS. This traffic

does not reach Virtual Edge and is directly forwarded by the VDS to the leafs. We recommend using this

mode for all management, vMotion, storage traffic. All the EPGs used by VMkernel Network Interface

Cards (VMKNICs) must use the native mode switching.

● Allow Micro-segmentation: Check this box to enable microsegmentation on the EPG.

● Encap Mode: Choose an encapsulation mode: VLAN, VXLAN or automatic.

● VLAN Mode: Choose Static if you want to statically assign VLANs to EPGs, or leave the default: Dynamic.

● Allow Promiscuous, Forged Transmits. and MAC Changes parameters can be left at their default settings.

Click Submit to associate the EPG to the VMM domain. The EPG will get pushed to vCenter as a port

group.

Step 2. Adding the hosts to VDS

After a VMM domain is created in the APIC and the VDS is created in vCenter, the next step is to add the ESXi

hosts to the VDS. Log in to vCenter using vSphere Web Client and navigate to the Networking tab. You will see a

VDS with the same name as the VMM domain created in the APIC, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. vSphere Web Client: Networking tab


Right-click on the VDS, and select Add and Manage Hosts, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. vSphere Web Client: Add host to DVS

The Add and Manage Hosts wizard opens and walks you through the steps:

● Select Task: Select Add Hosts (Figure 12), and click Next.

Figure 12. Add and Manage Host Wizard: Selecting task


● Select hosts: Click +New hosts to add hosts (Figure 13). In the pop-up window that opens (Figure 14),

select all the hosts that need to be part of the VDS. Click OK to close the window, and then Next to

continue.

Figure 13. Selecting hosts

Figure 14. Selecting new hosts

● Select network adapter tasks: Check Manage Physical Adapters (Figure 15), and click Next.


Figure 15. Selecting network adapters

● Manage physical network adapters: Select the VMNICs on each host to be added to the VDS, click

Assign Uplink (Figure 16), and click Next.

Figure 16. Managing physical network adapters

● Analyze Impact: Verify if there is a significant impact to any of the existing configurations (Figure 17) and

click Next.


Figure 17. Analyzing impact

● Ready to Complete: Review the setting selections (Figure 18), and click Finish.

Figure 18. Reviewing hosts and submitting


You have now added the hosts to the Virtual Edge VDS, as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19. vSphere Web Client: Viewing hosts in Networking tab

Step 3. Upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge OVF file to the vCenter content library

Upload the OVF file for Virtual Edge into the vCenter content library. This OVF file is used by Cisco ACI vCenter

plug-in to install Virtual Edge.

Before uploading the OVF file, make sure that:

● The OVF file is available locally on the desktop via a URL

● The vSphere Web Client Integration plug-in is installed for your browser

To upload the file, in vCenter navigate to Content Libraries, as shown in Figure 20.


Figure 20. vSphere Web Client Home view

If you have already created a content library, you can skip the next step and proceed to Uploading OVF.

Creating the content library

To create a content library, click Create New Content Library (Figure 21).

Figure 21. Content Libraries window

In the New Content Library creation wizard, provide the following parameters:

● Name and location: Enter a name for your content library, type any notes you want to include (optional),

and select the vCenter Server to be used from drop-down list (Figure 22). Then click Next.


Figure 22. Creating a new content library

● Configure content library: Select Local Content Library (Figure 23), and click Next.

Figure 23. Configuring a content library

● Add storage: Select a type of storage to be used by the content library (Figure 24), and click Next. Make

sure the storage you select has enough space available to host all the images to be uploaded.


Figure 24. Adding storage

● Ready to Complete: Review the library details, as shown in Figure 25, and click Finish to create your

content library.

Figure 25. Finishing library creation

A new content library (Cisco-AVE) has been created, as shown in Figure 26.


Figure 26. Viewing new content library

Uploading the OVF to the content library

After at least one content library has been created, select the content library you want to use, and select Import

Item, as shown in Figure 27. Here the content library is Cisco-AVE.

Figure 27. Importing the content library

In the Import Library Item window (Figure 28), either provide a URL pointing to the OVF or select Local File, click

Browse, and select the OVF file from your local machine, as shown in Figure 29.


Figure 28. Importing a library item

Figure 29. Selecting OVF file

A pop-up window opens (Figure 30) for you to select a corresponding .vmdk file. Click Browse, navigate to the

.vmdk file, and click OK.

Figure 30. Selecting the .vmdk file associated to the OVF


Once the OVF and .vmdk files are selected, the file (item) name is automatically populated. You can edit the name

or just click OK to upload the OVF image to the content library (Figure 31).

Figure 31. Uploading the OVF image

Once the image is uploaded, you will see the Virtual Edge image in the content library, as shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32. Templates in content library

You have completed the task of uploading the Virtual Edge image to the vCenter content library.

Step 4. Deploy Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts using the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in

The final step of Virtual Edge installation is to deploy it onto the ESXi hosts. You have three installation options:

● Using ACI vCenter plug-in (Cisco recommended)

● Using Python scripts

● Using PowerShell scripts


Installation using Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in

Let’s take a look at the steps involved in deployment using the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in.

Log in to vSphere Web Client and navigate to Cisco ACI Fabric plug-in. In the plug-in, Click ACI Virtual Edge in the

left tab, as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33. vSphere Web Client: Cisco ACI plug-in

In the ACI Virtual Edge window (Figure 34), select the ACI Virtual Edge domain from the drop-down list.

Note: If the domain you just created is not visible, click Refresh ACI Domains to update the displayed

information.

All the hosts in the data center should be visible in the ACI Virtual Edge tab:

● Hosts that are not connected to the Virtual Edge VDS would be shown as not connected to DVS.

● Hosts that are connected to the VDS but do not have Virtual Edge deployed would be shown as not

installed.

Select the hosts on which Virtual Edge needs to be deployed (Figure 34).


Figure 34. Deploying Virtual Edge

In the Actions section (Figure 35), provide the following parameters:

● ACI Virtual Edge version: Select Virtual Edge version to be installed. All the images that are uploaded to

the content library are shown here.

● Management PortGroup: Select the management port group for Virtual Edge on each host. Make sure the

management network has either a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) network set up or an IP

pool configured in vCenter.

Note: For more information on configuring the IP pool in vCenter, refer to the “Setting up an IP pool in

vCenter” section of this document

● Datastore: Select Custom to manually select a local data store to be used, or Auto for vCenter to

automatically choose a data store.

Note: For the 1.1 version of Virtual Edge, we recommend using a local data store. Later versions support

remote data stores. Refer the release notes of the version for specific details

● VM Admin Password: Enter and confirm a virtual machine admin password for Virtual Edge.

Once all the parameters are provided, click Install/Upgrade ACI Virtual Edge to start the deployment process.


Figure 35. ACI Virtual Edge deployment window: Actions section

In the Install AVE pop-up, click Yes to confirm the Virtual Edge deployment to all selected hosts (Figure 36).

Figure 36. Install Virtual Edge confirmation

Once the deployment has started, you can monitor its progress in the ACI Virtual Edge tab in the plug-in

(Figure 37) or from the Recent Tasks panel in vCenter.


Figure 37. Cisco ACI plug-in: Installation status

After Virtual Edge is installed, you can see the Virtual Edge virtual machines on each of the hosts in vSphere Web

Client, as shown in Figure 38.

Figure 38. Virtual Edge virtual machine summary

The Virtual Edge virtual machines come up, communicate with the APIC, and establish the OpFlex connection.

Once the OpFlex connection is established, you will see the status of the hosts as online (Figure 39), and the

version of Virtual Edge, names of the Virtual Edge virtual machines as shown in vCenter, and the management IP

address of those virtual machines.


Figure 39. Virtual Edge Installed

You have completed the deployment of Cisco ACI Virtual Edge. The server administrator can now go ahead and

assign virtual machines to the corresponding port groups.

Setting up an IP pool in vCenter

The management network selected for the Virtual Edge virtual machines needs to have either a DHCP network

configured or an IP pool configured in vCenter so that the Virtual Edge virtual machines can automatically get an IP

address once they come up.

Use the following steps to configure an IP pool in vCenter.

1. In vCenter, navigate to the Networking tab and click the VDS that has the management port group.

2. On the VDS, navigate to Configure and select Network Protocol Profiles, as shown in Figure 40. Click + to add

a new network protocol profile.


Figure 40. VDS: Network protocol profiles

3. In the Add Network Protocol Profile wizard (Figure 41), configure the following parameters:

● Select name and network: Provide a Name for the network protocol profile. In the Network Association

section, click + Select Networks, and select a port group for which the IP pool is being configured. Then

click Next.

Figure 41. Add Network Protocol Profile wizard: Selecting name and network


● Configure IPv4: Provide the IP subnet and gateway, check the box for enabling the IP pool, and provide

the IP pool range (Figure 42). Then click Next.

Figure 42. Configuring IPv4

● Configure IPv6: Leave this option blank, and click Next.

● Set other network configuration: Enter any DNS information that is needed, and click Next.

● Ready to complete: Review the information and then click Finish to create the network profile (Figure 43).

Figure 43. Reviewing and completing network profile

You can now see a network protocol profile with the IP range, as shown in Figure 44.


Figure 44. VDS: Network protocol profiles showing a static IP pool

You have completed the configuration of the static IP Pool on the VDS.

Python script method of installation

Virtual Edge can be deployed using Python scripts. Before proceeding with this method using the steps below,

have the python scripts ready. The scripts are packaged in the same zip file of the ACI Virtual Edge image which

can be download from cisco.com.

Note: You must use Python 2.7.13 or later.

1. If you wish to use a virtual environment for Python, use the following steps (otherwise, skip to step 2):

** Add the proxies before beginning with installation

**

export http_proxy=http://your_proxy_ip:your_proxy_port

export https_proxy= https://your_proxy_ip:your_proxy_port

a. $pip install virtualenv

b. $ virtualenv venv

The following command will activate your virtual environment so that you can run the Python script in this

environment:

$ . venv/bin/activate -> For MAC OS and Linux systems

$ venv\Scripts\activate -> For Windows user

2. The requirements.txt file contains all the needed Python package references. You can install them using the

following command. This is a one-time task.

$ pip install –r requirements.txt

Note: If you encounter permission issues, use this command instead:

$ sudo –H pip install –r requirements.txt


Content library scripts

Table 1 contains scripts that can be used for actions related to the content library.

Table 1. Python scripts for content library actions

Action Script Example

Create new content library

content-library.py

$ python content-library.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' --vcPwd ’<password>' Create --name <content-library-name> --datastore <datastore2>

Upload OVF to a content library

content-library.py

python content-library.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' --vcPwd ’<password>' Upload --library <content-library-name> --item <ave-image-name> --path /Users/admin/Desktop/guest-avs/cisco-ave-1.1.1a.ovf

Remove OVF from a content library

content-library.py

$ python content-library.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' --vcPwd ’<password>' Remove --library <content-library-name> --item <cisco-ave-1.1.1a.ovf>

Note: If you do not specify a vCenter password in these commands, you will be prompted to enter a password

secure string.

Virtual Edge virtual machine scripts

Table 2 contains the scripts for actions related to Virtual Edge virtual machines.

Note: The password for Virtual Edge virtual machines (adminPassword) used during Virtual Edge deployment is

a secure string. You can read the password into a variable, store it there, and then pass that variable, as shown

here

#read –s pass

<type the password security and it will be stored in variable pass>

Alternatively, if you don’t pass the adminPassword value, you will be prompted to enter the password during

command execution.

Table 2. Virtual Edge virtual machine actions

Action Script Example

Deploy New Virtual Edge virtual machine

new-avevm.py $ python new-avevm.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' --vcPwd ’<password>' --hostName <hostname/IPAddress> --domainName <Domain-Name> --mgmtPortgroupName 'virtual machine Network' --adminPassword ’$pass'--infraVlan 4093 --ovfItem <image-name-from-content-library>

Get existing Virtual Edge virtual machine

get-avevm.py $python get-avevm.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' –vcPwd ’<password>'

Delete Virtual Edge virtual machine

remove-avevm.py

$ python remove-avevm.py --vcHost <VC hostname or ip> --vcUser '[email protected]' --vcPwd '<password>' --hostName <VC Hostname/IP> --domainName <Domain Name>

Note: You can see more information about the command using the “--help" option, for example:

python new-avevm.py –help

PowerCLI method of Virtual Edge installation

To deploy the Virtual Edge virtual machines using PowerCLI, use the following steps.

1. Import the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge module:

PowerCLI C:\> Import-Module .\Users\admin\Desktop\CiscoAve.psm1

2. Connect to vCenter:


PowerCLI C:\> Connect-VIServer -Server <VC hostname or ip> -User [email protected] - Password

’<password>'

Content library scripts

Table 3 contains scripts that can be used for actions related to the content library.

Table 3. PowerCLI scripts for content library actions

Action Command Example

Create new content library

New-LocalContentLibrary >New-LocalContentLibrary -Name ave_contentlib -Datastore <datastorename>

Upload OVF item to content library

New-AveContentLibraryItem >New-AveContentLibraryItem -Name <item-name-to-upload> -ContentLibrary <name_of_content_library> -Ovf <path_to_ovf_file>

Virtual Edge virtual machine scripts

Once the content library is created and the OVF file is uploaded, proceed with the Virtual Edge deployment using

the “Deploy new Virtual Edge” commands in Table 4. Table 4 also shows commands to get details of the ACI

Virtual Edge after it is deployed using “Get-AveVm” and delete Virtual Edge using “Remove-AveVm” commands.

Table 4. PowerCLI scripts for Virtual Edge virtual machine actions

Action Command Example

Deploy new Virtual Edge

New-AveVm > New-AveVM -HostName <hostname/ip> -DomainName ave-vm-2 -MgmtPortgroupName 'VM Network' -AdminPassword ’<password>'-InfraVlan 4093 -OvfItem <ave-image-name-from-content-library> -Datastore <datastore_name>

Get existing Virtual Edge virtual machine

Get-AveVm > Get-AveVm

Delete Virtual Edge virtual machine

Remove-AveVm > Remove-AveVM -HostName <hostname/ip> -DomainName ave-vm-2

Note: For detailed instructions for Python and PowerCLI methods, please refer to the ACI Virtual Edge

Installation guide on cisco.com.

Printed in USA C11-740346-01 06/18

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/aci_virtual_edge/installation_upgrade/1-x/b_Virtual_Edge_Installation_Guide_1_1_1/b_AVE_Installation_Guide_X_chapter_00.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/aci_virtual_edge/installation_upgrade/1-x/b_Virtual_Edge_Installation_Guide_1_1_1/b_AVE_Installation_Guide_X_chapter_00.html

Documents

Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Installation Overview · Application Virtual Switch for Cisco ACI environments. Cisco ACI Virtual Edge is a hypervisor-independent distributed service appliance