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Manually deploying a Conferencing Node on an ESXi host

The manual deployment process generates an .ova file that must then be manually deployed from within VMware on to an ESXi host. Note that:

  • This file is specific to the Conferencing Node being deployed. It cannot be used to deploy multiple Conferencing Nodes.
  • The file is single-use. It cannot be used to re-deploy the same Conferencing Node at a later date. To re-deploy the Conferencing Node, you must first delete it from the Pexip Infinity Management Node and from VMware, and then deploy a new Conferencing Node with the same configuration as the deleted node.

To manually deploy a new Conferencing Node on to a VMware ESXi host:

  1. Go to Platform configuration > Conferencing Nodes and select Add Conferencing Node.
  2. From the Deployment type field, select either Manual (ESXi 6.0), Manual (ESXi 5.x) or Manual (ESXi 4.1) as appropriate.
  3. Select Next.
  4. You are now asked to provide information regarding the CPUs and memory of the Conferencing Node, by completing the following fields:

    Option Description
    Number of virtual CPUs to assign Enter the number of CPUs to assign to the Conferencing Node. We do not recommend that you assign more virtual CPUs than there are physical cores on a single processor on the host server. For example, if the host server has 2 processors each with 8 physical cores, we recommend that you assign no more than 8 virtual CPUs.
    System memory (in megabytes) to assign

    Enter the amount of RAM (in megabytes) to assign to the Conferencing Node. The number entered must be a multiple of 4.

    We recommend 1024 MB (1 GB) RAM for each CPU.

  5. Select Next.
  6. You are now asked to provide the network configuration to be applied to the Conferencing Node, by completing the following fields:

    Option Description
    Name Enter the name that will be used to refer to this Conferencing Node in the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface.
    Description An optional field where you can provide more information about the Conferencing Node.
    IP address Enter the IP address to be assigned to this Conferencing Node when it is created.
    Network mask Enter the IP network mask to be assigned to this Conferencing Node.
    Gateway IP address Enter the IP address of the default gateway to be assigned to this Conferencing Node.
    Hostname

    Domain

    Enter the hostname and domain to be assigned to this Conferencing Node. Each Conferencing Node and Management Node must have a unique hostname.

    The Hostname and Domain together make up the Conferencing Node's DNS name or FQDN. We recommend you assign valid DNS names to all your Conferencing Nodes. For more information, see Assigning hostnames and FQDNs.

    System location

    Select the physical location of this Conferencing Node.

    If the system location does not already exist, you can create a new one here by clicking to the right of the field. This will open up a new window showing the Add system location page. For further information see About system locations.

    IPv6 address The IPv6 address for this Conferencing Node. Each Conferencing Node must have a unique IPv6 address.
    Gateway IPv6 address The IPv6 address of the default gateway.
    IPv4 static NAT address

    The public IPv4 address used by this Conferencing Node when it is located behind a NAT device. Note that if you are using NAT, you must also configure your NAT device to route the Conferencing Node's IPv4 static NAT address to its IPv4 address.

    For more information, see Configuring Pexip Infinity nodes to work behind a NAT device.

    Static routes From the list of Available Static routes, select the routes to assign to the node, and then use the right arrow to move the selected routes into the Chosen Static routes list. For more information, see Managing static routes.
    SSH password

    Enter the password to be used when logging in to this Conferencing Node's Linux operating system over SSH. The username will always be admin.

    Logging in to the operating system is required when changing passwords or for diagnostic purposes only, and should generally be done under the guidance of Pexip support. In particular, do not change any configuration using SSH — all changes should be made using the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface.

  7. Select Finish.

    You will be taken to the Manually Deploy Conferencing Node page.

  8. Select Download Conferencing Node.

    A file with the name pexip-<hostname>.<domain>.ova will be downloaded.

  9. When you wish to deploy the Conferencing Node VM, use a vSphere client to log in to vCenter Server (or the ESXi host directly, if it is not managed in vCenter Server) and select File > Deploy OVF template.... Follow the on-screen prompts to deploy the .ova file.

    If you receive the following warning, select the Accept extra configuration options checkbox:

    After deploying a new Conferencing Node, it typically takes 15-20 minutes before the node is available for conference hosting and for its status to be updated on the Management Node. (Until it is available, the Management Node will report the status of the Conferencing Node as having a last contacted and last updated date of "Never".)

    Enabling automatic startup

    After deploying a new Conferencing Node from VMware, you must enable automatic startup of that virtual machine (VM). In VMware, automatic startup is disabled by default for every new VM. This means that if the host server is powered down for any reason, when it restarts the VM will not restart and must be started manually.

    You can only enable automatic startup after the Conferencing Node has been deployed.

    Using the web client

    To enable automatic startup using the vSphere web client:

    1. Log in to the VM manager (vCenter Server).
    2. From the left-hand panel, select vCenter > Hosts and Clusters and go to the host server on which the node's VM is installed.
    3. Select the Manage tab.
    4. From the pane on the left-hand side, select VM Startup/Shutdown.
    5. At the top right of the page, select Edit.
    6. Select the relevant node's VM and use the up arrow to move it to the Automatic Startup section.
    7. Select OK.

    Using the desktop client

    To enable automatic startup using the vSphere desktop client:

    1. Log in to the VM manager (vCenter Server or the ESXi host).
    2. From the left-hand panel, select the host server on which the node's VM is installed.
    3. Select the Configuration tab.
    4. From the Software pane on the left-hand side, select Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown.
    5. At the top right of the page, select Properties.
    6. Select the relevant VM and use the Move Up button to move it to the Automatic Startup section.
    7. Select OK.

Next steps

Enabling SNMP on Conferencing Nodes