Install Apstra Server on VirtualBox

Note

VirtualBox is meant for demonstration and lab purposes only. For production usage, please use a proper enterprise-scale virtualization solution.

The steps below are for running Apstra software on VirtualBox. For full details of using VirtualBox, please refer to the official VirtualBox documentation at https://www.virtualbox.org/.

  1. Download the OVA to your local workstation from the Support Portal at https://support.juniper.net/support/downloads/?p=afc.

  2. Start VirtualBox, select File > Import Appliance, navigate to the OVA file and select it for import.

  3. Verify the appliance settings. By default VirtualBox uses 2 vCPUs. Change it to 8 vCPUs. For lab / testing purposes, 8GB RAM is sufficient:

    _images/virtualbox_settings.png

  4. When the import has finished (this will take a while), power up the VM to verify that it is available.

  5. Ensure your VM settings match requirements. In particular, check the network settings for the adapter that is attached to your management network. If this value is not set correctly the Apstra server will not get an IP address.

    Note that by default VirtualBox has one network adapter attached to the Bridged Adapter using the Active network. This means you should have full connectivity from your workstation to the VM (http & ssh) out of the box:

    _images/virtualbox_network.png

  6. Configure the Apstra server.

  7. Finally, verify connectivity using ssh from your workstation to the IP address of the VM’s active network adapter, and by pointing a web browser to this same IP address (the IP address can be obtained by running ifconfig -a on the VM).