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Install Apstra on ESXi

These instructions are for installing Apstra software on an ESXi hypervisor. For information about using ESXi in general, refer to VMware's ESXi documentation.

  1. Confirm that you're running one of the Supported Hypervisors and Versions.
  2. Make sure that you allocate enough resources for your network. For example, if you're using more than 25 offbox agents, you'll need to add another VM. See Required Server Resources for more details.
    CAUTION:

    If you allocate insufficient CPU and RAM allocations for your network you'll probably experience issues such as slow response times, system errors and a critical "segmentation fault" (core dump). If this happens, you'll need to delete the VM and redeploy it with additional resources.
  3. Apstra software is delivered pre-installed on a single VM. The same Apstra VM image is used for installing both the Apstra controller and Apstra workers. As a registered support user, download the Apstra VM Image for VMware ESXi (OVA) from Juniper Support Downloads.
    Instructions for downloading OVA file from Juniper Networks. Two options available: click link or use direct URL. Copy button provided.
  4. Log in to vCenter, right-click your target deployment environment, then click Deploy OVF Template.
    VMware vSphere Client Actions menu for QNC Apstra with Deploy OVF Template option highlighted by a red arrow
  5. Specify the URL or local file location for the OVA file you downloaded, then click Next. (Screenshot below is from an older Apstra version.)
    Step 1 of Deploy OVF Template wizard in VMware vSphere; select OVF template from URL or local file aos_server_4.0.2-142.ova.
  6. Specify a unique name and target location for the VM, then click Next. (Screenshot below is from an older Apstra version.)
    Deploy OVF Template wizard showing step to select name and folder for virtual machine aos_server4.0.2-142 with directory structure.
  7. Select your destination compute resource, then click Next.
    Step 3 of OVF deployment in VMware vSphere: Select a compute resource, cluster chosen. Progress tracker shows steps 1 and 2 completed.
  8. Review template details, then click Next.
  9. Select storage for the files, then click Next. We recommend thick provisioning for the Apstra server.
    Deploy OVF Template wizard in VMware vSphere at step 5, Select storage, showing datastore options, virtual disk format, and VM Storage Policy.
  10. Map the Apstra Management network to enable it to reach the virtual networks that the Apstra server will manage on ESXi, then click Next.
    Deploy OVF Template wizard in VMware vSphere at step 6 Select networks user selects destination network topology1 for VM Network with static IPv4 IP setting.
  11. Review your specifications, then click Finish.

You're ready to configure the Apstra server.