Deploying Lighthouse VM as an ESXi virtual appliance using vSphere

Lighthouse 4 has reached End of Life. This information is for archival purposes only.

Note: Lighthouse 4 manuals can be found in this directory: http://ftp.opengear.com/download/manual/x-manuals/

Opengear's Lighthouse VM virtual central management appliance can be run on a VMware Server or as a guest on a VMware ESX/ESXi Server or under a Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine(KVM).

This FAQ examines deploying Lighthouse VM OVF template (or the earlier VCMS virtual central management appliance OVF template) on VMware ESXi using vSphere client.

1. Launch the vSphere Client and log into the ESXi with a user who has administrator privileges
   
   
2. In the vSphere Client, select File: Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template wizard will appear
3. You will need to have downloaded the VCMS OVF template image vcms-x.y.z-vmware-ovf.tar.gz fromhttp://www.opengear.com/firmware/. This image can be uncompressed using gunzip, Winzip or similar before deployment (however note that PowerArchiver 2001 does not successfully extract all files). Specify the source location of the uncompressed image and click Next:
   
   
   • Deploy from File: Browse the file system for an OVF or OVA template. For example, C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\Downloads\ovf\CMS61xx-vcms-vmware.ovf
   • Deploy from URL: Specify a URL to an OVF template located on the Internet. Example: http://192.168.254.30/TEMP/CMS61xx-vcms-vmware.ovf
   
   
4. Check the OVF Template Details page and click Next
5. If required, edit the OVF Template name
6. Review the Ready to Complete details. To re-edit Source, OVF Template Details and Name and Location or Disk Format (thick or Thin provisioning) click on the respective link on the left hand side of the window. Click Finish when complete.
   
   
7. The OVF Template will now be displayed in the left-hand vSphere Client Status panel under the relevant host
8. To start the virtual machine, select the Virtual Machine tab from the right-hand panel. Select the OVF Template, and click the Play button from the top menu
   
   
9. Host CPU, Host Memory and Guest Memory will be displayed once the OVF Template has been Powered On.  The appropriate amount of allocated resources depends on the number of Opengear devices to be managed – for installations supporting 100 or more Opengear devices the recommended resource is 4 to 8 x 2 GHz CPU cores, 16GB RAM.
   
   

Note  With Lighthouse VM deployments (and with VCMS V3.6 and later), on initial deployment you will be prompted to enter and confirm a new root password before the device (UI and ssh) can be accessed.

Basically, you get a notification via the device console that to complete the initial set up you need to enter a new root password. Press ENTER to continue and enter the root password. After this the device will continue booting and the UI and ssh will become available.

Once Lighthouse VM has been deployed you log into the UI root (with the new root password you set) and arrive at the Welcome to the Opengear Lighthouse VM! screen - where you will see the next steps to follow.

After completing a step (by following the appropriate link) you can return to the updated configuration steps by clicking on the logo in the top left corner