Environment Setup with OVA

This guide helps you prepare your airgap environment for Palette installation using an OVA to deploy and initialize an airgap support VM.

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This guide is for preparing your airgap environment only. For instructions on installing Palette on VMware, check the Install guide. A checklist of the steps you will complete to prepare your airgap environment for Palette is available on the Checklist page.

The following diagram offers a general overview of the steps you will complete to prepare your airgap environment for Palette.

Prerequisites

• Download the following artifacts:

  • The installation OVA that deploys and initializes the airgap support VM. The installation OVA can be either generic or release-specific.
  • If you are using a generic OVA, ensure you download the airgap Palette installation binary for the version of Palette you plan to install.
  • An OVA with the operating system and Kubernetes distribution required for the Palette nodes.
  • The third-party binary that contains the core packs and images required for the installation.

  For sensitive environments, you can download the OVAs to a system with internet access and then transfer them to your airgap environment.

• The airgap support VM requires the following resources:

  • 6 CPU

  • 8 GB of Memory

  • 120 GB of disk space available for the airgap support VM.

• The airgap support VM requires connectivity to your VMware vSphere environment.

• Configure the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to access the airgap support VM via SSH. You can disable DHCP or modify the IP address after deploying the airgap support VM.

• Review the required vSphere permissions and ensure you've created the proper custom roles and zone tags. Zone tagging enables dynamic storage allocation across fault domains when provisioning workloads that require persistent storage. Refer to Zone Tagging for information.

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Self-hosted Palette installations provide a system Private Cloud Gateway (PCG) out-of-the-box and typically do not require a separate, user-installed PCG. However, you can deploy additional PCG instances to support provisioning into remote data centers without a direct incoming connection to Palette. To learn how to install a PCG on VMware, check out the VMware guide.

Prepare for Airgap Installation

Complete the following steps to prepare your airgap environment for Palette installation.

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The default container runtime for OVAs is Podman, not Docker.

1. Log in to your vCenter environment.

2. Deploy the airgap installation OVA by using the Deploy OVF Template wizard again in vSphere. Insert the Palette install OVA URL in the URL field. The URL is provided to you by your Palette support representative. Click on Next to continue.

   

3. Assign a name to the virtual machine and select a target location. Click on Next to continue.

4. Select a compute resource and click on Next to continue.

5. Review the details and click on Ignore All to dismiss any warning messages. The OVA contains a self-signed certificate, which causes vSphere to issue a warning. Click on Next to continue.

6. Select the storage location and click on Next to continue.

7. Select the network and click on Next to continue.

8. The last step is to customize the template. Review the table below to learn more about each field. Click on Next after you have completed the customization to continue.

   Parameter	Description	Required
   Encoded user-data	Enter the base64 encoded user-data for additional boot-up customization. You can leave this field empty.	No
   SSH Public Keys	Provide the SSH public keys for the user account you will use to access the airgap support VM. You need to provide at least one SSH public key to access the instance.	Yes
   Default User's password	Enter the password for the user account you will use to access the airgap support VM. You will be asked to change this password the first time you log in through SSH.	Yes
   A Unique Instance ID for this instance	Enter a unique instance ID for the airgap support VM. The default value is id-ovf.	Yes
   Hostname	Enter a fully qualified hostname for the airgap support VM. For example, palette.example.com. The default value is ubuntuguest.	Yes
   Url to seed instance data from	You can specify a URL to seed instance data from. You can leave this value empty.	No

9. Review the details and click on Finish to deploy the airgap support VM.

10. It takes a while for the airgap support VM to deploy, approximately 45 min or more depending on your internet connection. The download of the OVA takes up majority of the time. The image is over 30 GB and contains all the dependencies required to deploy a Palette. Once the deployment is complete, the airgap support VM is displayed in the vSphere inventory. The VM will be powered off. Power on the VM to continue.

11. SSH into the airgap support VM. Use the following command to SSH into the VM. Replace the IP address below with the IP address or hostname of the airgap support VM. The default user account is ubuntu. Replace the path to the private SSH key and the IP address with the IP address or domain name of the airgap support VM.

    ssh -i /path/to/private/key ubuntu@palette.example.com

12. Change the password for the ubuntu user account. You will be prompted to change the password the first time you log in through SSH. The new password must meet the following requirements:

    • At least 14 characters long
    • Palindromes are not allowed
    • At least 1 uppercase letter
    • At least 1 lowercase letter
    • At least 1 number
    • At least 1 special character

13. Once you change the password, the SSH session will be terminated. SSH back into the airgap support VM with the new password.

    info

    You may receive a warning stating the new password is already used. You can ignore this message and SSH back into the airgap support VM with the new password.

    Password has been already used. Choose another.
    passwd: Have exhausted maximum number of retries for service
    passwd: password unchanged
    Connection to palette.example.com closed.

14. If you want to assign a static IP address to the airgap support VM, you can do so now. Click on the box below to expand the instructions. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.

    Assign a static IP address

    Create an empty file to disable cloud-init from overriding the new network configurations you will add.

    sudo touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled

    Issue the following command to update cloud-init. Select VMware from the wizard Menu when prompted. The command will disable cloud-init from managing the network configuration.

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure cloud-init

    Next, create a file to configure the network settings.

    sudo vi /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

    Modify the file to look like the example below. Replace the IP address, gateway, and DNS server with your network settings. Save the file and exit the text editor.

    network:
      version: 2
      renderer: networkd
      ethernets:
        ens192:
          dhcp4: false
          addresses:
            - 10.1.1.0/18
          gateway4: 2.2.2.2
          nameservers:
            addresses: [1.1.1.1]

    tip

    If you are working in Vim, press i to enter insert mode in the text editor. Press esc to exit insert mode. Type :wq to save the file and exit the text editor.

    Issue the following command to apply the changes.

    sudo netplan apply

15. Switch to the root user account. You will need to use the root user account to complete the remaining steps.

    sudo --login

16. If you have custom SSL certificates you want to apply to the image and pack registry, and the Spectro Cloud Repository, copy the custom SSL certificates, in base64 PEM format, to the airgap support VM.

    If you do not provide a custom SSL certificate, the airgap setup process will generate a self-signed certificate for you.

    warning

    Three items you need to keep in mind when providing custom SSL certificates:

    • The custom SSL certificates must be in base64 PEM format. If you have custom SSL certificates in a different format, convert them to base64 PEM format before copying them to the support VM. The airgap setup process also expects the certificate files to be named server.crt and server.key.

    • The custom certificate's Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) must match the hostname or IP address you provide for the airgap support VM. Otherwise, the airgap setup process will fail due to a certificate mismatch.

    • The custom SSL certificates files must have the following permissions bits set:

      • server.crt: 644
      • server.key: 600

    The custom certificates must be placed in the /opt/spectro/ssl folder. Include the following files:

    • server.crt
    • server.key

17. Start the airgap initialization process by issuing the following command. The script requires the hostname or IP address of the airgap support VM. Choose the preferred method for your environment. Be aware that the script will generate a self-signed certificate for the value you provide.

    Domain Name

    /bin/airgap-setup.sh palette.example.com

    The output of the script will look similar to the example below.

    Setting up SSL Certs
    Setting up Harbor
    
    
    Details:
    -------
    Spectro Cloud Repository
    Location: https://palette.example.com:8443
    UserName: ********
    Password: ********
    CA certificate filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    
    Pack OCI Registry
    Endpoint: https://palette.example.com
    Base Content Path: spectro-packs
    CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    Username: ********
    Password: ********
    
    Image OCI Registry
    Endpoint: https://palette.example.com
    Base Content Path: spectro-images
    CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    Username: ********
    Password: ********

    IP Address

    /bin/airgap-setup.sh 10.10.1.1

    The output of the script will look similar to the example below.

    Setting up SSL Certs
    Setting up Harbor
    
    Details:
    -------
    Spectro Cloud Repository
    Location: 10.10.1.1:8443
    UserName: ********
    Password: ********
    CA certificate filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    
    Pack OCI Registry
    Endpoint: 10.10.1.1
    Base Content Path: spectro-packs
    CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    Username: ********
    Password: ********
    
    Image OCI Registry
    Endpoint: 10.10.1.1
    Base Content Path: spectro-images
    CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
    Username: ********
    Password: ********

18. The output of the script contains credentials and values you will need when completing the installation with the Palette CLI. If you need to review this information in the future, invoke the script again.

19. Next, download the third party binary. Your support representative will provide you with credentials to access the third-party binary. Use the following command to download the third-party binary. Replace the XXXXX and YYYYY placeholders with the credentials provided to you. Replace the X.X placeholder with the version of the third-party binary you are downloading. Ask your support representative for the version of the third-party binary you need.

    curl --user XXXXX:YYYYY https://software-private.spectrocloud.com/airgap/thirdparty/airgap-thirdparty-X.X.X.bin \
    --output airgap-upload.bin

20. Use the following command to start the third-party binary. The third-party binary uploads the release-specific packs and images to the registry configured in step 17 of this guide. This process may take some time to complete.

    chmod +x airgap-upload.bin && ./airgap-upload.bin

    Verifying archive integrity...  100%   MD5 checksums are OK. All good.
    Uncompressing Airgap Setup - Version 4.4.14  100%
    Setting up CLI
    Setting up Manifests
    Setting up Packs
    ...
    
    Setup Completed

    Once the airgap binary completes its tasks, you will receive a Setup Completed success message.

21. Review the Additional Packs page and identify any additional packs you want to add to your OCI registry. You can also add additional packs after the installation is complete.

22. Navigate back to the vSphere console and create a vSphere VM and Template folder named spectro-templates. Ensure you can access this folder with the user account you plan to use when deploying the VerteX installation. You can choose a different name for the folder if you prefer, but ensure you use the same name when the Palette CLI prompts you for the folder name.

23. Right-click on your cluster or resource group and select Deploy OVF Template.

24. In the Deploy OVF Template wizard, enter the following URL to import the Operating System (OS) and Kubernetes distribution OVA required for the installation. Refer to the Kubernetes Requirements section to learn if the version of Palette you are installing requires a new OS and Kubernetes OVA.

    Consider the following example for reference.

    Non-FIPS

    https://vmwaregoldenimage-console.s3.amazonaws.com/u-2204-0-k-1294-0.ova

    FIPS

    https://vmwaregoldenimage-console.s3.amazonaws.com/u-2004-0-k-1294-fips.ova

    Place the OVA in the spectro-templates folder or in the folder you created in step 21. Append the r_ prefix, and remove the .ova suffix when assigning its name and target location. For example, the final output should look like r_u-2204-0-k-1294-0. This naming convention is required for the installation process to identify the OVA. Refer to the Supplement Packs page for a list of additional OS OVAs.

    You can terminate the deployment after the OVA is available in the spectro-templates folder. Refer to the Deploy an OVF or OVA Template guide for more information about deploying an OVA in vCenter.

warning

If you encounter an error message during the OVA deployment stating unable to retrieve manifest or certificate, refer to this known issue from VMware's knowledge base for guidance on how to resolve the issue.

You have now completed the preparation steps for an airgap installation. Check out the Validate section to ensure the airgap setup process is completed successfully. After you validate the airgap setup process completion, review the Next Steps.

warning

Do not power off the airgap support VM. The airgap support VM is required for Palette to function properly and must remain available at all time. If for some reason the airgap support VM is powered off, power the VM back on and restart the required services by navigating to the /opt/spectro/harbor directory and issuing the following command.

sudo docker compose up --detach

Validate

Use the following steps to validate that you've successfully completed the airgap setup process.

1. SSH into to the airgap support VM.

2. Switch to the root user account.

   sudo --login

3. Issue the following command to validate that you've successfully completed the airgap setup process. Replace the hostname or IP address with the hostname or IP address of the airgap support VM.

   bin/airgap-setup.sh palette.example.com

4. Verify you have the values and credentials in the output.

   Setting up SSL Certs
   Setting up Harbor
   
   
   Details:
   -------
   Spectro Cloud Repository
   Location: https://palette.example.com:8443
   UserName: ********
   Password: ********
   CA certificate filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
   
   Pack OCI Registry
   Endpoint: https://palette.example.com
   Base Content Path: spectro-packs
   CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
   Username: ********
   Password: ********
   
   Image OCI Registry
   Endpoint: https://palette.example.com
   Base Content Path: spectro-images
   CA certificate Filepath: /opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
   Username: ********
   Password: ********

Next Steps

You are now ready to deploy the airgap Palette installation with the Palette CLI. As a root user, when you are ready to proceed with the install, issue the Palette CLI command below to start the installation. The Palette CLI is already installed in the airgap support VM and ready to use.

palette ec install

Complete all the Palette CLI steps outlined in the Install Palette guide from the airgap support VM.

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The table below maps the airgap script output values to their respective Palette CLI prompts and example values. The example values are for reference only.

Output Value	Palette CLI Prompt	Example Value
OCI Registry	Registry Type	OCI
Pack OCI Registry	Registry Endpoint	https://palette.example.com or 10.10.1.1
CA certificate Filepath	Registry CA certificate filepath	/opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt
Image OCI Registry	Registry Endpoint	https://palette.example.com or 10.10.1.1
CA certificate Filepath	Registry CA certificate filepath	/opt/spectro/ssl/server.crt

When prompted for Allow Insecure Connection (Bypass x509 Verification)?, enter n to continue and specify the server certificate filepath from the script output.