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Install Apstra on KVM

Release: Juniper Apstra 5.0

date_range 08-Apr-25

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You can install KVM with Virtual Machine Manager or with the CLI.

These instructions are for installing Apstra software on a KVM hypervisor. For information about using KVM in general, refer to Linux KVM documentation.

Install on KVM with Virtual Machine Manager

Confirm that you're running one of the Supported Hypervisors and Versions.
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.
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 Linux KVM (QCOW2) from Juniper Support Downloads.
Uncompress the disk image, then move it to where it will run.
Start Virtual Machine Manager, then click the Create a new virtual machine button.
Select Import existing disk image, then click Forward.
Browse to where you moved the QCOW2 image, then click Choose Volume.
Select Ubuntu 22.04 LTS operating system, then click Forward. (Screenshot below is from older Ubuntu version.)
Specify memory and CPU requirements based on your environment.
Change the default name (optional), select the VM network that you want the VM to connect to, then click Finish. It may take a few minutes to create the VM. (Screenshot below is from older Ubuntu version.)

You're ready to configure the Apstra server.

Install on KVM with CLI

Confirm that you're running one of the Supported Hypervisors and Versions.
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.
Ensure that the QEMU environment and bridge networking are installed and configured. For examples of installing and configuring QEMU, refer to the following documents:
- Ubuntu - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/Installation
- RHEL - https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/virtualization_deployment_and_administration_guide/index
You must use e1000 or virtio Linux KVM network drivers. Run the command ethtool -i eth0 from the Apstra server to confirm which network drivers you're using.
```
admin@aos-server:~$ ethtool -i eth0
driver: virtio_net
version: 1.0.0
firmware-version:
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:00:03.0
supports-statistics: no
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no
admin@aos-server:~$
```
CAUTION:
Using other drivers such as rtl8139 may result in high CPU utilization for the ksoftirqd process.
As a registered support user, download the Apstra VM Image for Linux KVM (QCOW2) from Juniper Support Downloads.

Uncompress the disk image (with gunzip) and move it to where it will run.

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls -l
total 1873748
-rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 1918712115 Feb  4 22:28 aos_server_5.0.0-1.qcow2.gz
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ gunzip aos_server_5.0.0-1.qcow2.gz
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls -l
total 1905684
-rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 1951413760 Feb  4 22:28 aos_server_5.0.0-1.qcow2.gz
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Create a VM with the virt-install command line tool. For example, to install the aos_server_5.0.0-1.qcow2.gz image using the existing bridge network (named br0), use the following command:

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo virt-install --name=aos-server --disk=aos_server_5.0.0-1.qcow2 --os-type=linux --os-variant ubuntu22.04 --import --noautoconsole --vcpu=8 --ram=65536 --network bridge=br0,model=virtio

Starting install...
Domain creation completed.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo virsh list
 Id    Name                           State
----------------------------------------------------
 4     aos-server                     running

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Connect to the VM console.

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo virsh console aos-server
Connected to domain aos-server
Escape character is ^]

Apstra Operating System (AOS)

aos-server login:

You're ready to configure the Apstra server.

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Juniper Apstra 5.0.1 / 5.0.0 Installation and Upgrade Guide

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Install Apstra on KVM

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