Skip to main content

Search

Welcome to Block 64 Support

BlockBox Virtual Appliance: Deployment prep

Joseph Holland
  • Updated

 

The complete deployment guide can be viewed here, but in terms of preparation, this is a great start!

 

Table of contents

Deployment on Azure

Deployment on VMware ESXi

Deployment on Microsoft Hyper-V

Deployment on Nutanix AHV

 

Deployment on Azure

Requirements:

  • A device with at least 35GB of free space for the Azure-ready BlockBox VHD to be downloaded and extracted; download size is 2.6GB, uncompressed size is 32GB
  • A storage account on Azure with a container for the upload, either existing or created anew during the steps below
  • A resource group in Azure, either existing or created anew in the steps below

Step 1: Download our Azure-ready VHD

You may download our Azure-ready BlockBox VHD here. The download itself is a 1.5GB compressed file, however the 32GB uncompressed VHD will need to be extracted after download and before uploading to Azure.

Step 2: Upload VHD to Azure

To upload the VHD to Azure:

  1. Login to your Azure portal and navigate to Storage Accounts
  2. Create a new storage account or use an existing one
  3. Create a new container in the storage account or use an existing one
  4. Upload the uncompressed BlockBox VHD into the container; Azure cannot decompress file archives after upload
  5. After the upload, you should now see the BlockBox VHD as a storage blob

Step 3: Create an Image on Azure

Before creating a virtual machine, an image must be created first using the BlockBox VHD storage blob:

  1. In your Azure portal, navigate to Images
  2. Create a new image
  3. Select an existing resource group or create a new one
  4. Select the BlockBox VHD as the storage blob
  5. Configure the rest of the image as you see fit

Step 4: Creating a Virtual Machine

You are now ready to create a virtual machine using the newly created BlockBox image:

  1. In your Azure portal, select the newly created BlockBox image and click “Create VM”
  2. Confirm the BlockBox image is being used; if it is not then click “Browse all public and private images”, select “My Items” on the top, select the BlockBox image from the list
  3. We recommend choosing a size with at least 4 vCPUs and 4GB of RAM
  4. For authentication type, select either password or SSH public key and enter “blockbox” as the username
  5. Configure inbound port rules as you see fit, knowing that you will need to access the appliance’s web interface over HTTPS

Step 5: Accessing the BlockBox

After the virtual machine has been successfully created:

  1. Navigate to the virtual machine’s IP address in a browser over HTTPS
  2. Follow the instructions in our deployment guide, you may skip the “Console Setup” section 

Deployment on VMware ESXi

Download

Download the OVF/VMDK package here

System Requirements

A VMware host running ESXi 5.5 or newer

Sufficient resources for an imported VM with the following system requirements:

  • Minimum: 4 vCPU and 4GB of RAM (small environment 100-1,000 devices)
  • Recommended: 8 vCPU and 8GB of RAM (1,000-10,000 devices)

Storage Space: 30GB (uncompressed)

Network Requirements

A network segment with access to the enterprise’s assets and a static IP address

Deployment

  • Provision the OVF template on the appropriate host
  • Startup the appliance and, via the vSphere thick client or web client, open a remote console and follow the prompts
  • When prompted, launch the web client to continue the configuration

Deployment on Microsoft Hyper-V

Download

Download the virtual hard drive file here

System Requirements

  • A Hyper-V host running Windows 2008R2 or newer.
  • A guest virtual machine with a minimum of 4 vCPU and 4GB of RAM. (Recommended: 8 vCPU and 8GB of RAM)

Network Requirements

A network segment with access to the enterprise’s assets and a static IP address

Deployment

  • Extract the virtual disk on the appropriate host
  • Create a new VM host for the appliance with the following system requirements:
    • Minimum: 4 vCPU and 4GB of RAM (small environment 100-1,000 devices)
    • Recommended: 8 vCPU and 8GB of RAM (1,000-10,000 devices)
  • Attach the extracted virtual disk to the new VM host
  • Startup the appliance and, via the Hyper-V console, follow the prompts
  • When prompted, launch the web client to continue the configuration

Deployment on Nutanix AHV

Download

Download the VHDX here

System Requirements

A Hyper-V host running Windows 2008R2 or newer.

Network Requirements

A network segment with access to the enterprise’s assets and a static IP address

Deployment

  • Extract the VHDX on the appropriate host
  • Create a new VM host for the appliance with the following system requirements:
    • Minimum: 4 vCPU and 4GB of RAM (small environment 100-1,000 devices)
    • Recommended: 8 vCPU and 8GB of RAM (1,000-10,000 devices)
  • Attach the VHDX to the new VM host
  • Startup the appliance and, via the Hyper-V console, follow the prompts
  • When prompted, launch the web client to continue the configuration