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0511206-06| April 2015 1

W-ClearPass Policy Manager Tech Note

Installing or Upgrading W-ClearPass 6.5 on a Virtual Machine

This document describes the procedures for installing and upgrading W-ClearPass Policy Manager 6.5 on a

Virtual Machine. Information is provided for both ESX/ESXi and Hyper-V installations.

This Tech Note includes the following sections:

l "ESX/ESXi Installations" on page 1

l "Hyper-V Installations" on page 13

l "Caveats, Hyper-V" on page 22

ESX/ESXi Installations

This section describes how to install or upgrade W-ClearPass on a VMware ESX/ESXi virtual machine, including:

l "ESX/ESXi Installation Process Overview" on page 1

l "Recommended ESX/ESXi Server Specifications" on page 1

l "Installing W-ClearPass Policy Manager on an ESX/ESXi Virtual Machine" on page 3

l "Upgrading W-ClearPass Policy Manager on an ESX/ESXi Virtual Machine" on page 10

ESX/ESXi Installation Process Overview

The process of installing W-ClearPass on a VMware ESX/ESXi virtual machine is done in four stages:

1. W-ClearPass 6.5 VMware software packages are distributed as Zip files. Download the software image from

the Download Software >ClearPass > Policy Manager >Current Release >ESXi folder on the

Support site (http://download.dell-pcw.com) and unzip it to a folder on your server to extract the files.

2. Follow the steps in the OVF wizard to deploy the OVF files, but do not power on yet.

3. Add a new hard disk, based on the requirements for your type of VM. See "Recommended ESX/ESXi Server

Specifications" on page 1 for more information.

4. Power on and configure the VM.

Instructions for these procedures are provided in "Installing W-ClearPass Policy Manager on an ESX/ESXi Virtual

Machine" on page 3.

Review the release notes for the current release before you upgrade W-ClearPass Policy Manager.

Recommended ESX/ESXi Server Specifications

Please carefully review all VA requirements, including functional IOP ratings, and verify that your system meets

these requirements. These recommendations supersede earlier requirements that were published for

W-ClearPass Policy Manager 6.x installations.

Virtual appliance recommendations are adjusted to align with the requirements for W-ClearPass hardware

appliances. If you do not have the VA resources to support a full workload, then you should consider ordering

the W-ClearPass Policy Manager hardware appliance.

Be sure that your system meets the recommended specifications required for the Policy Manager Virtual

Appliance. The W-ClearPass VMware ships with a 20 GB hard disk volume. This must be supplemented with

Summary of content (22 pages)

PAGE 1
W-ClearPass Policy Manager Tech Note Installing or Upgrading W-ClearPass 6.5 on a Virtual Machine This document describes the procedures for installing and upgrading W-ClearPass Policy Manager 6.5 on a Virtual Machine. Information is provided for both ESX/ESXi and Hyper-V installations.
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additional storage/hard disk through VMware settings by adding a new hard disk. The additional space required depends on the W-ClearPass virtual appliance version. To ensure scalability, dedicate or reserve the processing and memory to the W-ClearPass VM instance. You must also ensure that the disk subsystem can maintain the IOP’s throughput as detailed below.
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CP-SW-EVAL (Evaluation OVF) l 2 Virtual CPUs l 80 GB disk space l 4 GB RAM l 2 Gigabit virtual switched ports An evaluation version can be upgraded to a later evaluation version in a manner similar to a production upgrade. An ESX/ESXi evaluation version can be morphed to a production VM by using the morph-vm command. For more information, see the Command Line Interface > System Commands section in the W-ClearPass Policy Manager User Guide.
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5. On the End User License Agreement page, click Accept, and then click Next. 6. On the Name and Location page, the Name is set by default to Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager Appliance. You can change it as you wish, and then click Next. 7. On the Disk Format page, leave the default option of Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, and then click Next. 4 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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8. On the Ready to Complete page, do not select the Power on after deployment check box. Just click Finish. You will need to reconfigure the VM settings by adding a hard disk before you power on. Add a Hard Disk to the Virtual Machine For disk size requirements for the different W-ClearPass models, see "Recommended ESX/ESXi Server Specifications" on page 1. 1. On the vSphere console, navigate to the deployed virtual machine, right-click on it, and select Edit Settings. Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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2. Click Add to add another hard disk. 3. On the Device Type page of the Add Hardware wizard, select Hard Disk, and then click Next. 6 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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4. On the Select a Disk page, select Create a new virtual disk, and then click Next. 5. On the Create a Disk page, set the Disk Size to the correct requirements for your virtual appliance version. See "Recommended ESX/ESXi Server Specifications" on page 1. Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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6. Leave the default settings on the Advanced Options page (the Virtual Device Node should be SCSI(0:1)), and then click Next. 7. The Ready to Complete page displays the disk details for verification. If the disk size matches the requirements described in "Recommended ESX/ESXi Server Specifications" on page 1 and the disk provisioning setting is Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, click Finish. 8 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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Power On and Configure the VM 1. Power on the virtual machine. You should see the following in the console: 2. Press y. The ClearPass 6.5.0 setup and installation begins. You should see the following in the console, and ClearPass will reboot at least once: Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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After that reboot the W-ClearPass VM is configured, and will power on and boot up within a couple of minutes. The whole process from Deploying the OVF image to the final startup screen should take between 30 and 40 minutes. 3. After the W-ClearPass VM launches correctly, you should see the following banner on the VM console: 4. When you see the banner on the virtual machine console, you can log in by following the instructions in the W-ClearPass Policy Manager Quick Start Guide.
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For detailed instructions for upgrading or updating, refer to the Upgrade and Update Information chapter of the most recent W-ClearPass 6.5.x Release Notes. Caveats, Upgrading on ESX/ESXi You can upgrade to W-ClearPass 6.5 from W-ClearPass 6.2.6, 6.3.6, or 6.4.x. Before you proceed with the upgrade, we recommend that you apply the latest available patch updates to your current release. l For 6.4.
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4. Power on the W-ClearPass Policy Manager instance. 5. Log in to W-ClearPass Policy Manager and navigate to Administration > Agents and Software Updates > Software Updates. A valid Subscription ID is required to download the latest W-ClearPass Policy Manager updates. 6. In the Firmware & Patch Updates section, click Download next to the upgrade image name. 12 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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7. After the upgrade image has downloaded, click Install next to the upgrade image name. 8. Click Yes in the Confirm Installation dialog box. The Install Update dialog box opens and shows the progress of the update. 9. When the installation is complete, click Reboot. The updated version of W-ClearPass Policy Manager starts after the reboot and the configuration from the previous version is migrated to the new version.
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Recommended Hyper-V Server Specifications Please carefully review all VA requirements, including functional IOP ratings, and verify that your system meets these requirements. Virtual appliance recommendations are adjusted to align with the requirements for W-ClearPass hardware appliances. If you do not have the VA resources to support a full workload, then you should consider ordering the W-ClearPass Policy Manager hardware appliance.
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CP-SW-EVAL (Evaluation VHDX) l 2 Virtual CPUs l 80 GB disk space l 4 GB RAM l 2 Gigabit virtual switched ports An evaluation version can be upgraded to a later evaluation version in a manner similar to a production upgrade. To morph a Hyper-V evaluation version to a production VM by using the morph-vm command, see "Morphing a Hyper-V Evaluation Version" on page 21. Installing W-ClearPass Policy Manager on a Hyper-V Virtual Machine After you download and unzip the W-ClearPass 6.
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4. In the Choose Import Type step, select Copy the virtual machine. 5. After it is imported, select the VM, right click, and choose properties. The Settings configuration window opens, where you will add the hard disk. Add a Hard Disk to the Hyper-V Virtual Machine 1. Select the IDE Controller 0 option. 16 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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2. Add a hard drive and verify the following values: l Controller = IDE Controller 0 l Location = 1 (in use) 3. Click New below the Virtual Hard Disk option. The New Virtual Hard Disk wizard opens. Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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4. Select the following options while creating the disk: 18 | l Disk Format: VHDX l Disk Type: Fixed l Disk Size: n EVAL = 80 GB n 500 = 500 GB n 5K = 1000 GB n 25K = 1800 GB Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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Using a CP-VA-500 VHDX as an example, the following images show the name and location, disk configuration, and summary steps. For more information about the correct requirements for your virtual appliance version, see "Recommended Hyper-V Server Specifications" on page 14. Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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5. Click Apply in the main window, and then click OK. Power On and Configure the VM 1. Power on the virtual machine. You should see the following in the console: 20 | Installing or Upgrading to 6.
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2. Press y. The W-ClearPass Policy Manager 6.5.0 setup and installation begins. You should see the following in the console: After that reboot the W-ClearPass VM is configured, and will power on and boot up within a couple of minutes. The whole process from Deploying the OVF image to the final startup screen should take between 30 and 40 minutes. 3. After the W-ClearPass VM launches correctly, you should see the following banner on the VM console: 4.
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a. Modify the CPU and RAM to match the production VM. b. Add an additional disk with the recommended disk size for the production VM: (1) Select IDE1 Controller. (2) Select the Hard Drive option and then click Add. (3) In the next screen, specify the following values: Controller = IDE Controller 1 Location = 1 (4) In the Media section, click New. (5) Add a new VHDX hard disk of Fixed size, and size equivalent to the production VM disk size. 3.