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Network Configuration

Transcription:Batch   Deployments:Virtual Appliance

Before starting the Virtual Appliance for the first time, it is important to consider the network settings that will be used. The section below describes the options.

Network Interface Mapping​

Whilst the Virtual Appliance is powered off, the virtual network adapter should be mapped to the correct physical adapter on the host. The virtual interface must be mapped to a physical adapter on which the Speechmatics Virtual Appliance will be contacted. Steps are provided below for the supported hypervisors.

VMware ESXi​

There is nothing to configure here. The network as specified during the import stage described in the Download and Import section will be used.

VMware Workstation​

Speechmatics recommends using the bridged network mode. To ensure bridged networking is selected:

  • Open VMware Workstation
  • Right-click on the Virtual Appliance e.g. SM_App_01, and select Settings...
  • Select Network Adapter in the devices list
    • Select Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network
  • Click OK

This will result in the VM using an IP Address that is independent to that of the host.

Note

If you experience poor networking performance in VMware Workstation we recommended trying the following:

  • Open VMware Workstation
  • Select Edit -> Virtual Network Editor...
  • Select Change Settings
  • Find and select the relevant network where the Type is Bridged
  • In the VMnet Information section ensure the Bridged to: option is set to a specific interface rather than Automatic

IP Configuration​

When the Speechmatics Virtual Appliance is started, the default behavior will be to dynamically acquire an IP address using DHCP.

If you need to configure a static IP address you can either:

  • Manually specify the network configuration
  • Use cloud-init
  • Use a DHCP reservation

Each of these options are described in the sections below.

Manually specify the network configuration​

First, gain terminal access to the appliance, either via the console or ssh.

Find the interface name of the relevant interface, like so:

$ ip link show | grep 'en.*:'
2: ens256: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000

Here, the interface name we’re interested in is ens256 - but this may vary depending on your hypervisor. We’ll use this interface name later on.

The remaining commands require you to run as the root user:

sudo -i

Delete the cloud-init generated network config, if present:

rm -vf /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

Stop cloud-init managing your network configuration. This prevents the file we’ve just deleted coming back at next boot.

echo 'network: {config: disabled}' > /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99_disable_network.cfg

Create the file /etc/netplan/99-static.yaml with the following content, being careful to fill in your desired values as per the comments:

network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    ens256:  # This MUST match the interface name you found earlier
      addresses:
        - 192.168.1.202/24  # Set your desired ip and subnet
      routes:
        - to: default
          via: 192.168.1.1  # Set your desired default gateway
      nameservers:
        addresses: [8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4]  # A list of your desired dns servers

Finally, reboot the box:

reboot

It should come back up with the network configuration you just specified.

For more details please refer to the official documentation here:

Use cloud-init​

Using cloud-init it's possible to pass the netplan config shown in the section above through to the appliance boot process such that it'll be applied at startup with no manual intervention required.

How you use cloud-init will depend on your hypervisor. Here are some helpful links:

Use a DHCP reservation​

If you have administrative access to your DHCP solution you can use a DHCP reservation to achieve a similar outcome to that of setting a static IP, but without having to make any modifications to the appliance.

To add a DHCP reservation you will need the MAC address of the appliance's primary interface, which you can get either directly from your hypervisor or by gaining terminal access to the appliance and running the following:

$ ip link show | grep -A 1 'en.*:'
2: ens256: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:b9:4e:e4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

In this example the MAC address of the primary interface is 00:50:56:b9:4e:e4

The exact specifics of how you create a reservation will depend on your DHCP solution, please refer to the vendor's documentation.