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Deploying a Test Agent in Oracle Cloud

Prerequisites

  • An account in Oracle Cloud.
  • A Test Agent boot disk made available in Oracle Cloud as a custom image.
  • A defined virtual cloud network resource in Oracle Cloud. The network needs at least SSH access from the desired source IP address. This configuration can be done under the selected virtual cloud network under Security List. See the following screenshots.
Prerequisites Prerequisites Prerequisites
Note:

For security reasons, please restrict the range of sources from which SSH access is enabled. Do not accept SSH access from any source address.

 Prerequisites Prerequisites

Creating an Oracle Bucket

  • Go to the Oracle Cloud console.
  • Select the compartment “netrounds (root)”.
  • Go to Object Storage in that compartment.
Creating an Oracle Bucket
  • Create a new bucket to upload the Test Agent disk image to. Make settings as shown in the screenshot below, then click Create Bucket.

Uploading the Image to Your Bucket

  • Click the bucket name in the list of buckets.
Uploading the Image to Your Bucket
  • Upload the QCOW2 image. For more information, see the Oracle Cloud online documentation here. In the example below, the QCOW2 image has been used. The VMDK format can be easily obtained either by converting the QCOW2 image or by uncompressing the OVA offered in Paragon Active Assurance Control Center.
Uploading the Image to Your Bucket
  • Click the three-dots button for the image (on the far right).
  • Select View Object Details to get the object storage ID (URL path).
Uploading the Image to Your Bucket Uploading the Image to Your Bucket

Creating a Test Agent Custom Image

This process is needed to be able to boot virtual Test Agents from the Netrounds drive uploaded in the previous section.

  • Go to the Oracle Cloud menu and select Custom Images.
Creating a Test Agent Custom Image

Now it is time to import the disk image you have uploaded as a bootable disk. Note that the bootable disk will be available in the compartment you have uploaded to. Here we will use the object storage ID to point to the disk.

Creating a Test Agent Custom Image

Once the image has been created, it will be displayed in your inventory:

Creating a Test Agent Custom Image

Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image

Note:

Important: At this point, if no network has been previously created in your Oracle Cloud, a default network will be created (for example, 10.0.0.0/16). This will be displayed in the configuration template (Virtual cloud network in step 5 below). You will need to choose where to attach the image.
  • Go to Instance → New Instance → Create New Instance.
  • Enter a name for the instance.
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
  • Click the Change Image Source button and select the Custom Images option. At this point the uploaded image (below, “netrounds-ta”) should be displayed as a selectable item.
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
  • Click Show Shape, Network, and Storage Options to configure things such as:
    • Availability domain
    • Instance type: Virtual machine or bare metal instance (a cost will be applied for the latter).
    • Instance shape: The Test Agent has been tested with the default instance shape. The available virtual machine shapes can be found here.
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image

Here are some examples of instance shapes:

Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
Note:

The Test Agent should be assigned resources according to the specifications for production environments:

  • 2 vCPUs
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 2 VNICs, 1 for management and 1 for testing
  • Test Agent image disk size: 2 GB
  • Configure other basic settings such as the following (the rest are optional):
    • Virtual cloud network compartment: The compartment which the virtual machine will belong to.
    • Virtual cloud network: The virtual cloud network needs to be defined prior to deployment. If no cloud network has been defined, Oracle Cloud offers you to set up a virtual cloud network with the default security group. The default security group allows ingress SSH traffic to the network from any location and egress traffic without any restrictions.
    • Use network security groups to control traffic: On top of the security group, other policies can be applied to the specific virtual machine. These policies need to be defined prior to deployment.
    • Assign a public IP address: Here you assign a public IP to associate with the Test Agent.
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
  • Choose an SSH key:
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
  • Optional: If you want to use cloud-config to register the Test Agent, go to Advanced Options→ Management and paste the cloud-config data in the User data section:
Deploying the Test Agent from the Custom Image
  • Finally, click the Create button.

Example of Network

Below is an example of what the network the Test Agent is attached to may look like.

The compartment should be the same when deploying the virtual machine.

Example of Network

Displaying of Running Test Agents

The Instances service will display successfully deployed Test Agent instances as follows:

Displaying of Running Test Agents