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Installing Policy Enforcer with KVM

The Policy Enforcer Virtual Appliance Release 17.1R2 and later can be deployed on qemu-kvm (KVM) Release 1.5.3-105.el7 or later which is on CentOS Release 6.8 or later.

Note:

Juniper Networks does not provide any support for installing and configuring the KVM server. You must install the virtual appliance image and configure it as per the recommended specifications for the virtual appliance. Juniper Networks will provide support only after the Policy Enforcer Virtual Appliance has booted successfully.

The prerequisites to deploy a Policy Enforcer Virtual Appliance on a KVM server are as follows:

  • Knowledge about configuring and installing a KVM server.

  • The KVM server and supported packages must be installed on a CentOS machine with the required kernels and packages. For information about installing a KVM server and supported packages on CentOS, refer to http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/KVM.

  • The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) client must be installed on your local system.

  • You use virt-manager or virt-install to install Policy Enforcer VMs. See your host OS documentation for complete details on these packages.

The following are the minimum requirements for installing the Policy Enforcer VM.

  • 2 CPU

  • 8-GB RAM (16 GB recommended)

  • 120-GB disk space

This topic includes:

Installing Policy Enforcer with virt-manager

Ensure that sure you have already installed KVM, qemu, virt-manager, and libvirt on your host OS.

You can install and launch Policy Enforcer with the KVM virt-manager GUI package.

To install Policy Enforcer with virt-manager:

  1. Download the Policy Enforcer KVM image from the Juniper software download site.
  2. On your host OS, type virt-manager. The Virtual Machine Manager appears.
    Note:

    You must have admin rights on the host OS to use virt-manager.

  3. Click Create a new virtual machine. The New VM wizard appears .
  4. Enter a name for the virtual machine, select Import existing disk image, and click Forward.
  5. Browse to the location of the downloaded Policy Enforcer image and select it.
  6. Select Linux from the OS type list and select Show all OS options from the Version list.
  7. Select Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or later from the expanded Version list and click Forward.
  8. Set the RAM to 8192 MB and set CPUs to 1. Click Forward.
  9. Under Advanced Options, select Specify shared device name and enter the name of the bridge (typically br0) into the text box.
  10. Click Finish. The VM manager creates the virtual machine and launches the Policy Enforcer console.

Installing Policy Enforcer with virt-install

Ensure that sure you have already installed KVM, qemu, virt-install, and libvirt on your host OS.

Note:

You must have root access on the host OS to use the virt-install command.

The virt-install and virsh tools are CLI alternatives to installing and managing Policy Enforcer VMs on a Linux host.

To install Policy Enforcer with virt-install:

  1. Download the Policy Enforcer KVM image from the Juniper software download site.
  2. On your host OS, use the virt-install command with the mandatory options listed in Table 1.
    Note:

    See the official virt-install documentation for a complete description of available options.
    Table 1: virt-install Options

    Command Option

    Description

    --name name

    Name the Policy Enforcer VM.

    --ram megabytes

    Allocate RAM for the VM, in megabytes.

    --cpu cpu-model, cpu-flags

    Enable the vmx feature for optimal throughput. You can also enable aes for improved cryptographic throughput.

    Note:

    CPU flag support depends on your host OS and CPU.

    Use virsh capabilities to list the virtualization capabilities of your host OS and CPU.

    --vcpus number

    Allocate the number of vCPUs for the Policy Enforcer VM.

    --disk path

    Specify disk storage media and size for the VM. Include the following options:

    • size=gigabytes

    • device=disk

    • bus=ide

    • format=qcow2

    --os-type os-type

    --os-variant os-type

    Configure the guest OS type and variant.

    --import

    Create and boot the Policy Enforcer VM from an existing image.

    The following example creates a Policy Enforcer VM with 8192 MB RAM, 1 vCPUs, and disk storage up to 120 GB:

Configuring Policy Enforcer Settings

By default, when you create the Policy Enforcer VM through virt-manager or virt-install, the console window appears for you to set up and configure the Policy Enforcer settings. You can open the console at any time after the initial configuration to review or edit your settings.

To configure Policy Enforcer settings:

  1. Log in to your virtual machine using root and abc123 as the username and password, respectively. You will be required to change the password at a later step.

    The welcome page appears.

  2. Click OK.

    The End User License Agreement (EULA) window appears.

  3. Click Accept to acknowledge the EULA. If you do not agree with the EULA, click Cancel. Your configuration will stop and you will return to the main vSphere Client page.

    The Network configuration page appears. See Figure 1.

    Figure 1: Defining the Basic Network Configuration SettingsDefining the Basic Network Configuration Settings
  4. Enter the following configuration information.

    Option

    Description

    Hostname

    Enter the hostname for the Policy Enforcer virtual machine; for example, pe.juniper.net.

    IP address

    Enter the IP address for the Policy Enforcer virtual machine.

    Note:

    Make note of this IP address as you’ll need it in a later step.

    Network mask

    Enter the netmask for the Policy Enforcer virtual machine.

    Default gateway

    Enter the IP address of the default gateway that connects your internal network to external networks.

    Primary DNS server

    Enter the IP address of your primary system registered to join the Domain Name System (DNS).

    Secondary DNS server

    Enter the IP address of a secondary DNS server. Policy Enforcer uses this address only when the primary DNS server is unavailable.

    Skip DNS servers check

    Select this check box if you do not want to check basic network settings. By default, the system will ping the gateway to ensure it receives a response indicating your settings are correct.
  5. Click Apply Changes.

    Your network settings are applied. A progress window indicates the status.

    When the system is finished updating your network settings, an NTP server window appears and prompts you to configure the NTP server list. See Figure 2.

    Figure 2: Prompt for Configuring the NTP ServersPrompt for Configuring the NTP Servers
  6. Click Yes to customize the NTP server list. Click No to use the default list of 0, 1, 2 and 3.centos.pool.ntp.org.
  7. (Optional) Specify the NTP servers to use. See Figure 3. Click Apply Changes to accept your edits, Clear All to clear all fields in this window, or Cancel to discard any edits and continue to the next step.
    Figure 3: Configuring the NTP ServersConfiguring the NTP Servers
  8. The Root password change page appears. See Figure 4.
    Figure 4: Changing the Root PasswordChanging the Root Password
  9. Enter and re-enter a new administrator password for the Policy Enforcer virtual machine.

    Password restrictions are listed in the screen.

    Note:

    Make note of this password as you’ll need it in a later step.

    If you forget your password, see CentOS root password reset instructions.

  10. Click OK.

    The Juniper Networks Policy Enforcer page appears. See Figure 5.

    Figure 5: Reviewing and Changing Your Configuration SettingsReviewing and Changing Your Configuration Settings
  11. Select one of the options and press Enter.

    Option

    Description

    Review configuration and finish setup

    Lets you review the configuration settings you defined one last time before applying them to the Policy Enforcer virtual machine.

    We recommend that you do not change your configuration settings after Policy Enforcer is set up within Security Director.

    Change...

    Select a setting to update its value.

    Troubleshooting menu

    Lets you ping the default gateway and custom IP address and lets you perform a DNS lookup to verify that your settings are correct.

    The Review configuration page appears. See Figure 6.

    Figure 6: Reviewing Your Configuration SettingsReviewing Your Configuration Settings
  12. Review your configuration settings and click Finish setup. To change any of the settings, click Change configuration.

    When you click Finish setup, the configuration settings are applied to the Policy Enforcer virtual machine. A status page indicates the progress.

    When done, the Setup Complete page appears.

  13. Click Finish to return to the main vSphere Client page.
    Note:

    Each time you log in to the Policy Enforcer virtual machine, you are given the option to review or change any of these settings.

Connecting to the KVM Management Console

By default, when you create the Policy Enforcer VM the console window appears for you to set up and configure the Policy Enforcer settings. You can open the console at any time after the initial configuration to review or edit your settings. To do this, you must have the virt-manager package or virsh installed on your host OS.

To connect to the Policy Enforcer console using virt-manager:

  1. Launch virt-manager.
  2. Highlight the Policy Enforcer VM you want to connect to from the list of VMs displayed.
  3. Click Open.
  4. Select View>Text Consoles>Serial 1. The Policy Enforcer console appears.

To connect to the Policy Enforcer console with virsh:

  1. Use the virsh console command on the Linux host OS. For example:

  2. The Policy Enforcer console appears.

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