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Installing the Virtual Route Reflector Image on VMware

On VMware, connectivity to the vRR VM is accomplished by two interfaces:

  • Management interface (em0)—Performs the same function as the fxp0 interface on other platforms and is connected to the out-of-band management network.

  • Data interface (em1)—Terminates all routing traffic and is connected to the data network.

Note:

The em0 interface can only function as a management interface. You cannot use the em0 interface for routing configurations.

The vRR instance installs with these two interfaces. They can be connected to either a single vSwitch or two vSwitches depending on the network configuration for the host.

The OVA file installs vRR with these default settings:

vCPUs

1

Memory

8 GB

Storage

vRR image—25 GB

Metadata image—1 MB

Network adapters

Two adapters—em0, em1

Hardware version

Version 8

Version 10 (starting with Junos OS Release 16.1)

To install vRR with the VMware vSphere Client:

  1. Download the vRR software package for VMware from the Virtual Route Reflector page to a location accessible to the server.

  2. Launch the vSphere Client for your ESXi server and log in to the server with your credentials.

To install vRR with vSphere Client, perform these tasks:

Configuring the Network

You must assign port groups (networks) to the vRR interfaces to have proper connectivity. You configure the VLAN ID based on how you want to handle VLAN tagged traffic for the vRR interface assigned to the port group.

To configure the port group:

  1. In the left navigation pane, select the ESXi server and click the Configuration tab. Select Networking under Hardware.
  2. If you are using an existing vSwitch, skip to the next step.

    In the top right corner, click Add networking to create a vSwitch.

    1. For Connection Type, select the Create vSphere standard switch option button, select the physical NIC check box to which you want to direct traffic (for example, vmnic3), and click Next.
    2. For Connection Settings, name the network.
  3. Select Networking and click Properties next to the Standard Switch.
  4. In the vSwitch Properties dialog box, select the virtual machine port group in the Ports tab and click Edit at the bottom.
  5. In the Port Group Properties section, name the port group and select the appropriate VLAN ID.

    • None (0)—Used when the vRR configuration that is not set up for VLAN tagged traffic and the traffic destined for the vRR interfaces assigned to this port group will not have a VLAN tag.

    • All (4095)—Used for the vRR configuration where vRR interfaces assigned to this port group are configured with VLAN tags.

    • VLAN ID—Used for the vRR configuration where the traffic destined for the vRR interfaces assigned to this port group are tagged and the interface is configured only with the IPv4 or IPv6 address family. If you specify the VLAN ID, the traffic is untagged and delivered to the vRR interface as native IP frames.

    Click OK.

Deploying the vRR VM

To deploy the VRR VM using .ova files:

  1. In the left navigation pane, select the ESXi server and select Deploy OVF Template from the File menu.
  2. In the Source pane, click Browse, select the .ova file for the VM, and click Next.
  3. In the OVF Template Details pane, click Next. This pane displays a summary of the OVA file contents.
  4. In the Name and Location pane, specify the name of the VM and click Next.
  5. In the Storage pane, select the appropriate datastore for the destination storage of the VM and click Next.
  6. In the Disk Format pane, select the Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed option button and click Next.
  7. In the Network Mapping pane, map the destination to the port group for the interface. If you have not created the port groups when configuring the network, you can edit the VM later. The first interface (em0) is for the management network and the second interface (em1) is for the data network.

    Make your selections and click Next.

  8. In the Ready to Complete pane, verify your configuration and click Finish.
  9. To launch vRR, select the VM in the left navigation pane and right-click Power > Power On.

Adding Interfaces to the vRR Instance

After deploying vRR, you can add more virtual NIC interfaces.

Note:

vRR does not support hot-plugging of interfaces. You must power down the VM before adding more interfaces.

To add an interface to the VM:

  1. In the left navigation pane, select the VM and and right-click Edit Settings to display the Virtual Machine Properties window.
  2. To add an interface, click Add in the Hardware tab of the Virtual Machine Properties window. The Add Hardware wizard is displayed.
    1. For Device Type, select Ethernet Adapter and click Next.
    2. For Network connection, select E1000 for the adapter type, select the port group for the network connection, and click Next.
    3. Verify your configuration and click Finish.

    Click OK in the Virtual Machine Properties window.

  3. To launch vRR, select the VM in the left navigation pane and right-click Power > Power On.

Setting Up the Serial Port

You can connect to the serial console on vRR by setting up a serial port.

Note:

vRR does not support hot-plugging of the serial port. You must power down the VM before setting or changing the serial port.

To set up the serial port for the VM:

  1. In the left navigation pane, select the VM and and right-click Edit Settings to display the Virtual Machine Properties window.
  2. To add the serial port, click Add in the Hardware tab of the Virtual Machine Properties window. The Add Hardware wizard is displayed.
    1. For Device Type, select Serial Port and click Next.
    2. For Select Port Type, select the Connect via Network button and click Next.
    3. For Select Network Backing, select the Server button and specify the port number in the Port URI text box in the format telnet://:port-number (for example, telnet://:8601). Click Next.
    4. Click Finish.

    Click OK in the Virtual Machine Properties window.

  3. To launch vRR, select the VM in the left navigation pane and right-click Power > Power On.

After you have configured the serial port connection, you can access the serial console port for the VM using the telnet esxi-server-ip-address port-number command.

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