Deploy VA on VMware vSphere/ESXi

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The Stratodesk Virtual Appliance is ready to be deployed to VMware vSphere or ESXi (next to other hypervisors such as Citrix XenServer and also Microsoft Hyper-V).

If you intend to install on VMware vSphere or ESXi, please follow these instructions.

In this guide, we assume you have an ESXi running like the one pictured below:

OS-en-ESX-highlighted.jpg

Deploy the OVA to ESXi

You use the vSphere client on a Windows machine to administer your VMware server. This Windows machine is where the Stratodesk OVA file has to be copied.

  1. Right-click on the the specific server in your vSphere Client, and choose "Deploy OVF template".
  2. Select the location of the Stratodesk OVA file and click "Next". (Nevermind that it says "OVF" - it accepts "OVA" as well)
  3. Select Next / click through a few questions

The following import process will take some time, probably several minutes.

After the process is finished, the new Stratodesk Virtual Appliance instance will appear below your server icon, among all other virtual machines on this server. Click on this icon.

Then click on "Console" and wait until Stratodesk Virtual Appliance has booted up. Since it is a first-time boot, you need to enter your desired administration password. To verify you typed it in correctly, you need will be asked to reenter it right after.

Great. Now Stratodesk Virtual Appliance will display it's console screen.

Basically you are all set now, unless you want to change the IP address of the system (see below). If you are happy with the network settings, use a web browser to connect to Stratodesk Virtual Appliance as indicated on the console screen.

Assign a static IP address

Most likely you will want to assign a very specific static IP address and other network configuration to the Stratodesk Virtual Appliance. After all, it's a server system.

To make this happen:

  1. Start your vSphere Client
  2. Connect to the server where the system is running
  3. Click on the Stratodesk Virtual Appliance instance
  4. Click on the "Console" tab, click into the Console area
  5. Hit "Enter" to select "Advanced Menu" from the textual configuration application

Use cursor and Enter keys to enter the network configuration. Set whatever kind of configuration you want to set.

When done, move the cursor on "Apply" and hit "Enter". Navigate out until you see the regular Stratodesk Virtual Appliance screen.