Creating a virtual machine on VMware ESXi

1. Click "Create/Register VM".

2. Select "Create a new virtual machine".

3. Click "Next".

4. Specify the name of the virtual machine in the "Name" field. In the following example "vWLC" is specified. 

5. In the "Compatibility" field, specify the ESXi version used.

6. In the "Guest OS family" field, select the "Linux" operating system.

7. In the "Guest OS version" field, select any 64-bit version, in the following example, "Debian GNU/Linux 4 (64-bit)" is selected.

8. Click "Next".

9. Select the datastore for the virtual machine.

10. Click "Next".

11. Select the amount of RAM to allocate to the virtual machine.

12. Select the disk size.

13. Specify "IDE controller" in "Controller location" for "Hard Disk".

14. Specify the "LSI Logic Parallel" status in the "SCSI Controller" field.

15. Specify "VMXNET 3" in "Adapter Type" for "Network Adapter".

16. Specify the "Datastore ISO file" status for "CD/DVD Drive". The disk image selection window will be displayed.

17. Select the "vwlc-1.30.0-buildX.iso" image.

18. Click "Select" to confirm the choice.

19. Click "Next".

20. Click "Finish" to create a virtual machine.

Virtual machine has been successfully created.

Connecting network interfaces

On the virtual machine created, perform the following steps:

1. Click "Edit":

2. Click "Add network adapter". Select a Network for the new network adapter from the drop-down list:

3. Click "Save" to save the settings and launch vWLC.

Connecting a serial port

To connect a serial port, perform the following steps:

1. Click "Edit":

2. In the "Add other device" drop-down list click "Serial port":

3. In the "Serial port" menu, select one of the following options:

• Use output file — all virtual machine console output will be logged to a file on the host computer.
• Use physical serial port — the VMware ESXi virtual machine will use one of the physical serial ports of the host.
• Use named pipe — all virtual machine console output will be passed to another virtual machine.
• Use Network — the virtual console port will be available for network connection. 

Belos is an example of configuration via Telnet.

In the "Serial port" menu, select "Use Network", in the "Direction" field, specify "Server", in the "Port URI" field, specify a URI for connection in the following format:

<protocol>://<ip.ad.dr.es>:<port>

where:
<ip.ad.dr.es> — an address of a server on which a VMware ESXi virtual machine is operating;

<port> — a free TCP port for connection.

4. Click "Save" to save the settings and launch vWLC.

5. To enable VM serial port connected over network, go tho the "Networking" menu, open the "Firewall rules" tab, and click "enable" in the context menu of the "VM serial port connected over network" parameter.

Enabling Promiscuous mode 

To enable Promiscuous mode, go to the "Networking" menu. Select a required network adapter (Port group), click "Edit settings", open the "Security" section, and set the "Promiscuous mode" and "Forged transmits" parameters to "Accept".

Required settings when using several physical links on an ESXI host

Depending on the traffic termination setup option, additional configuration may be required.

In a scheme with traffic termination on vWLC (for example, the factory configuration or Quick start), no additional configuration is needed.

If a scheme with L2 traffic passthrough (via a trunk interface (vlan 4095) or transparent traffic passthrough) is implemented, a problem with reverse traffic arises. 

Using several links for hypervisor

The hypervisor can be connected to the network via multiple links. If Link Aggregation is not used, problems will arise when passing L2 traffic through vWLC. Solutions for the reverse path problem are given below.

Enabling Reverse path check

To enable Reverse path check, go to the "Host" menu, select "Manage", then the "System" tab, and the "Advanced setting" section. Set the "Net.ReversePathFwdCheckPromisc" key value to "1".

Disable and re-enable Promiscuous Mode. To do this, set it to Reject, click Cохранить, enable it to Accept, and Click Save.

If the "Route based on IP hash" load balance is enabled, the "ReversePathFwdCheckPromisc" parameter will not work. The "Route based on IP hash" load balance is used in the scheme implemented via link aggregation. 

For correct operation, set one of the following modes: Route based on the originating port ID (standard mode, recommended) or Route based on a source MAC hash, Use explicit failover order. Learn more about the operation of defferent modes on the official website.

Enabling port isolation on the physical switch

Port isolation can be enabled on the switch to which ESXI is connected.

MES# configure
MES(config)# interface range GigabitEthernet 1/0/1-2
MES(config-if-range)# switchport protected-port

Configuring Link Aggregation

Confiduration instruction are available on the official website.

Configuring a trunk interface

In ESXI, there is an option to configure an interface that passes all tagged traffic.

1. Open the "Networking" tab and click "Add port group".

2. In the "Name" field, specify a name for the interface.

3. Set "VLAN ID" to 4095. All tagged traffic will be passed through the interface to the virtual machine without tag modification.

4. Select the"Virtual switch" to which the interface will be assigned.

5. In the "Security" section, select Promicous mode in the Accept mode, and Forged transmit in the Accept mode. 

6. Click "Add".

7. The interface is ready. To connect a VM, see Connecting network interfaces.

Launching vWLC

Select the created machine in the control panel, click "Navigator" -> "Virtual Machines" -> <Created_machine's_name>, and click "Power on" to launch it:

Further steps on vWLC installation are described in the vWLC installation process section.