Installing the virtual appliance

You can install BMC Discovery by using a virtual appliance. This section provides information about how to perform the installation. For information about the supported virtualization platforms, see Appliance specification. After you install the virtual appliance, configure it to have sufficient resources for its intended use.

Because extending resources on the virtual appliance is challenging if it has been in use, we recommend that you configure your virtual appliance post-installation as a best practice. For more information, see Sizing guidelines for virtual appliances.

Before you begin

Before you start the installation procedure, make sure that:

• You have identified a server onto which you will deploy your BMC Discovery virtual appliance
• The server has sufficient spare resources to support the intended configuration of the virtual appliance.

• You have identified the VMware Administrator who will be installing the virtual appliance.

  Note

  The Demo VA is pre-populated with example data, and intended simply as a demonstration tool. It is not intended for production use and cannot be supported by BMC Customer Support.

Installing BMC Discovery on a VMware appliance

The following section describes the steps for installing BMC Discovery on various versions and flavors of VMWare.

To install on VMware Virtual Infrastructure (ESX/ESXi)—5.5 and later

1. Copy and extract the BMC Discovery virtual appliance zip file to the local file system.
2. In VMware Virtual Infrastructure, from the File menu, select Deploy OVF Template.
3. Specify the file name of the BMC Discovery OVF file in the Filename dialog box, or click Browse... to locate the file.
4. Click Next.
   Review the details provided.
5. Click Next and provide a name for the virtual machine.
6. Click Next and choose datastore location for the virtual machine.
7. Click Next and choose thin or thick disk format.
   The default is thick which pre-allocates all disk space.
8. Click Next and Review the configuration.
9. Click Finish to proceed.
   A progress bar is displayed while the virtual machine is deployed.
   Optionally, you can now add additional disk storage which can be managed with the disk configuration utility.
10. Click the Hardware tab and click Add.
11. Select Hard Disk, click Next and choose the disk capacity and other options.
    For information about recommended capacity, see the Hardware requirements.
12. Click Next.
13. Review the settings and click Finish.
14. Click OK to save the changes.
    You can now start the virtual machine.

To install on VMware Workstation 11.1.4 and later

1. Copy and extract the BMC Discovery virtual appliance zip file to the local file system.
2. In VMware Workstation, from the File menu, select Open.
3. Enter the file name of the BMC Discovery OVF file into Filename, or click select OVF as the file type and click Browse... to locate the file.
4. Click Open.
5. Enter a name for the virtual machine and click Import.
   VMware Workstation imports the virtual machine and the virtual machine is displayed in the virtual machine library.

Performing post-installation steps

In previous versions of BMC Discovery, VMware tools were required. VMware tools are no longer required for new deployments of BMC Discovery 11.3. They have been replaced with open-vm-tools which is installed and requires no configuration.

After completing the installation, you must perform the following post-installation procedures:

• Setting up time synchronization
• Configuring the appropriate time zone
• (Optional) Changing the IP address
• Adding new disks for datastore and other data types

Setting up time synchronization

It is essential to configure time synchronization on your BMC Discovery virtual appliance. If significant clock skews occur then it can impact the functioning of the system or even prevent the BMC Discovery product from starting. To configure time synchronization for BMC Discovery, see Performing time synchronization.

Configuring the appropriate time zone

It is sensible to configure the virtual appliance to be in the time zone appropriate to its location. For more information about this, see Localizing the appliance.

(Optional) Changing the appliance IP address

If you want to have a static IP address for an appliance, use the netadmin user account for changing the IP address. For detailed instructions, see The netadmin user.

Adding new disks for datastore and other data types

You can add new disks to contain the datastore, backup, debug logs, datastore transaction logs, record and pool data. At a minimum, most users add a new disk to contain the datastore. For more information on the minimum size for the datastore disk, see Sizing guidelines for virtual appliances.

1. Add a separate disk for each type of data that you want stored on a disk. For a cluster, add the new disks (of the same size) to each cluster member.
2. Reboot the appliance or cluster.
3. Use the Administration > Disk Configuration page to move the data location to the new disk, one disk or one cluster member at a time. Though you do not have any data at this stage, moving the location of the data is a required and important step.

Related topics

• Deploying BMC Discovery in the cloud
• Sizing guidelines for virtual appliances
• The netadmin user