Viptela vSmart Vagrant Libvirt Box Install

published: 1st of January 2018

Intro

Previously I created a vManage and a vBond/vEdge Vagrant box for use with the vagrant-libvirt provider. In this post I will show you how to install a Viptela vSmart appliance for use with the vagrant-libvirt provider.

For reference the following software will be used in this post.

  • Viptela vSmart - 16.3.2
  • Vagrant - Vagrant 2.0.1
  • vagrant-libvirt - 0.4.0
  • Ubuntu - 1604

Download

Viptela does not host any boxes on Vagrant cloud so we will need to build it ourselves. Go to https://docs.viptela.com/Downloads and dowload the 16.3.2 vSmart KVM image for new deployments.

blog/viptela-vsmart-vagrant-libvirt-box-install/viptela-vsmart-download.png
Note
You will either need be an existing customer/partner or speak to your Cisco/Viptela account manager to gain access to the Viptela support portal.

Install

Create and change into directory for vSmart files. I like to keep my custom vagrant boxes under ~/vagrant/boxes/ .

cmd 
mkdir -p ~/vagrant/boxes/viptela
cd ~/vagrant/boxes/viptela

Copy the .qcow2 file downloaded earlier to the ~/vagrant/boxes/viptela directory.

cmd 
cp ~/Downloads/viptela-16-3-2/viptela-smart-genericx86-64.qcow2 .

Use the below virt-install command to build the vSmart VM. Be sure to add at least two interfaces.

cmd 
virt-install \
    --name vsmart-base \
    --os-type linux \
    --os-variant ubuntu14.04 \
    --cpu host \
    --vcpus=2 \
    --hvm \
    --arch=x86_64 \
    --ram 1024 \
    --disk path=viptela-smart-genericx86-64.qcow2,size=16,device=disk,bus=ide,format=qcow2 \
    --network=network:vagrant-libvirt,model=virtio \
    --network=network:vagrant-libvirt,model=virtio \
    --graphics none \
    --import

A virtual console will be connected to the VM and you will see the below. It will take about a minute for the VM to boot, once it does login with the username: admin and password: admin .

cmd 
Starting install...
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                                          |    0 B  00:00:01
Connected to domain vsmart-base
Escape character is ^]
viptela 16.3.2
vedge login:

Apply the following bootstrap configuration.

cmd 
config
system
  aaa
  user vagrant
    password $6$yW1ez6tP1rqv15nA$2uA0TXEIuCuGnPa4bUVCSN4o5b.wU/WMzBa4kjYvBz4B/EbbJY3he9CMaY0UWPi0joUqUxYC.F6xbYHQQcq2o/
    group    netadmin
    !
  !
  vpn 0
    no int eth0
    !
  vpn 512
    int eth0
    ip dhcp-client
    no shutdown
  !
  commit and-quit
!

The bootstrap config will create the vagrant user with the password vagrant but we still need to load the vagrant ssh key.

Login to the vshell with the vshell command.

cmd 
# viptela_cli

vsmart# vshell

# Now in vshell

vsmart:~$

Switch to the vagrant user.

cmd 
su vagrant
password: <vagrant>

# log back into vshell

vsmart# vshell

Create the .ssh directory.

cmd 
mkdir /home/vagrant/.ssh && cd /home/vagrant/.ssh

Use vim to add the vagrant public key to the authorized_keys file.

cmd 
/home/vagrant/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAQEA6NF8iallvQVp22WDkTkyrtvp9eWW6A8YVr+kz4TjGYe7gHzIw+niNltGEFHzD8+v1I2YJ6oXevct1YeS0o9HZyN1Q9qgCgzUFtdOKLv6IedplqoPkcmF0aYet2PkEDo3MlTBckFXPITAMzF8dJSIFo9D8HfdOV0IAdx4O7PtixWKn5y2hMNG0zQPyUecp4pzC6kivAIhyfHilFR61RGL+GPXQ2MWZWFYbAGjyiYJnAmCP3NOTd0jMZEnDkbUvxhMmBYSdETk1rRgm+R4LOzFUGaHqHDLKLX+FIPKcF96hrucXzcWyLbIbEgE98OHlnVYCzRdK8jlqm8tehUc9c9WhQ== vagrant insecure public key

Exit back to the viptela_cli and use the show int | tab command to get the IP address assigned to the eth0 interface.

cmd 
vshell

vsmart:/home/vagrant/.ssh$ exit

viptela_cli

vsmart# show int | tab

# output

                                         IF      IF                                                          TCP
                AF                       ADMIN   OPER    ENCAP  PORT                          SPEED          MSS             RX       TX
VPN  INTERFACE  TYPE  IP ADDRESS         STATUS  STATUS  TYPE   TYPE  MTU  HWADDR             MBPS   DUPLEX  ADJUST  UPTIME  PACKETS  PACKETS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0    eth1       ipv4  -                  Down    Down    -      -     -    52:54:00:a0:9b:43  -      -       -       -       -        -
512  eth0       ipv4  192.168.121.86/24  Up      Up      null   mgmt  -    52:54:00:e9:c2:c1  -      -       -       -       87       31

From another terminal, confirm that you can ssh to the vSmart with the Vagrant insecure_private_key .

cmd 
ssh vagrant@192.168.121.86 -i ~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key

# Success

Welcome to Viptela CLI
vagrant connected from 192.168.121.1 using ssh on vsmart
vsmart#

If you successfully connected, poweroff the vSmart in preparation for the Vagrant box creation.

cmd 
vsmart# poweroff
Are you sure you want to power off the system? [yes,NO] yes

To exit the console use one of these key combinations (Assuming English keyboard).

  • CTRL + ]
  • CTRL + 5
  • Press and hold CTRL and SHIFT while pressing 6 then ]

Box Creation

The maintainers of the vagrant-libvirt plugin have a script that can be used to convert .qcow2 images to a vagrant box. Download the libvirt conversion script.

cmd 
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vagrant-libvirt/vagrant-libvirt/master/tools/create_box.sh

Create a metadata.json file.

file 
echo '{"provider":"libvirt","format":"qcow2","virtual_size":16}' > metadata.json

Use the create_box.sh script to make a Vagrant box from the .qcow2 image.

cmd 
bash create_box.sh viptela-smart-genericx86-64.qcow2

# output

{11}
==> Creating box, tarring and gzipping
./metadata.json
./Vagrantfile
./box.img
Total bytes written: 191764480 (183MiB, 38MiB/s)
==> viptela-smart-genericx86-64.box created
==> You can now add the box:
==>   'vagrant box add viptela-smart-genericx86-64.box --name viptela-smart-genericx86-64'

Create a metadata file called vsmart.json so that the box is added with the correct version number.

file 
 {
   "name": "viptela/vsmart",
   "description": "Viptela vSmart",
   "versions": [
     {
       "version": "16.3.2",
       "providers": [
         {
           "name": "libvirt",
           "url": "file:///home/bradmin/vagrant/boxes/viptela/viptela-smart-genericx86-64.box"
         }
       ]
     }
   ]
 }

Add the box to Vagrant using the vsmart.json file.

cmd 
vagrant box add vsmart.json

# output

==> box: Loading metadata for box 'vsmart.json'
    box: URL: file:///home/bradmin/vagrant/boxes/viptela/vsmart.json
==> box: Adding box 'viptela/vsmart' (v16.3.2) for provider: libvirt
    box: Unpacking necessary files from: file:///home/bradmin/vagrant/boxes/viptela/viptela-smart-genericx86-64.box
==> box: Successfully added box 'viptela/vsmart' (v16.3.2) for 'libvirt'!

Confirm the vSmart box was added successfully.

cmd 
vagrant box list

# output

CumulusCommunity/cumulus-vx          (libvirt, 3.4.1)
.
. <snip>
.
viptela/vbond-vedge                  (libvirt, 16.3.2)
viptela/vmanage                      (libvirt, 16.3.2)
viptela/vsmart                       (libvirt, 16.3.2)

vyos/current                         (libvirt, 999.201712301253)

Vagrantfile

Use this Vagrantfile to test out the new vSmart Vagrant box.

file 
# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "viptela/vsmart"

  # Turn off shared folders
  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", id: "vagrant-root", disabled: true

  # Do not try to insert new SSH key
  config.ssh.insert_key = false

  # Give VM time to boot
  config.vm.boot_timeout = 180

  # Provider-specific configuration
  config.vm.provider :libvirt do |domain|
    domain.memory = 1024
    domain.cpus = 2
  end

  # Additional Interfaces
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "169.254.1.11", auto_config: false
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "169.254.1.12", auto_config: false
end

Testing

Lets vagrant up and make sure we can connect to the vSmart.

cmd 
vagrant up

# output

Bringing machine 'default' up with 'libvirt' provider...
==> default: Uploading base box image as volume into libvirt storage...
==> default: Creating image (snapshot of base box volume).
==> default: Creating domain with the following settings...
==> default:  -- Name:              viptela_default
==> default:  -- Domain type:       kvm
==> default:  -- Cpus:              2
==> default:  -- Feature:           acpi
==> default:  -- Feature:           apic
==> default:  -- Feature:           pae
==> default:  -- Memory:            1024M
==> default:  -- Management MAC:
==> default:  -- Loader:
==> default:  -- Base box:          viptela/vsmart
==> default:  -- Storage pool:      default
==> default:  -- Image:             /var/lib/libvirt/images/viptela_default.img (11G)
==> default:  -- Volume Cache:      default
==> default:  -- Kernel:
==> default:  -- Initrd:
==> default:  -- Graphics Type:     vnc
==> default:  -- Graphics Port:     5900
==> default:  -- Graphics IP:       127.0.0.1
==> default:  -- Graphics Password: Not defined
==> default:  -- Video Type:        cirrus
==> default:  -- Video VRAM:        9216
==> default:  -- Sound Type:
==> default:  -- Keymap:            en-us
==> default:  -- TPM Path:
==> default:  -- INPUT:             type=mouse, bus=ps2
==> default: Creating shared folders metadata...
==> default: Starting domain.
==> default: Waiting for domain to get an IP address...
==> default: Waiting for SSH to become available...
==> default: Configuring and enabling network interfaces...


The guest operating system of the machine could not be detected!
Vagrant requires this knowledge to perform specific tasks such
as mounting shared folders and configuring networks. Please add
the ability to detect this guest operating system to Vagrant
by creating a plugin or reporting a bug.
Note
The error above relates to guest OS detection. The box built correctly and you can login and use the box as normal however, Vagrant could not detect the type of OS the box uses. Vagrant needs to know the OS type for provisioning purposes and since we are not doing any provisioning with Vagrant we can ignore it.

Lets test SSH to the vSmart.

cmd 
# from host shell

vagrant ssh

# now in vSmart shell

Welcome to Viptela CLI
vagrant connected from 192.168.121.1 using ssh on vsmart
vsmart# show version
16.3.2

Awesome, we are able to connect now lets clean up the box.

cmd 
# from host shell

vagrant destroy -f

# output

==> default: Removing domain...

Outro

If you have followed along my other two post to build the Viptela vManage and vBond/vEdge you will now have all the components required to start building out and testing the Cisco/Viptela SD-WAN labs.

https://docs.viptela.com/Product_Documentation/Getting_Started/04Viptela_Overlay_Network_Bringup/06Deploy_the_vSmart_Controller/02Create_vSmart_VM_Instance_on_KVM

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hashicorp/vagrant/master/keys/vagrant.pub