Apply Citrix ADC VPX configurations at the first boot of the Citrix ADC appliance on VMware ESX hypervisor

September 29, 2021

Contributed by:

You can apply the Citrix ADC VPX configurations during the first boot of the Citrix ADC appliance on the VMware ESX hypervisor. Therefore in certain cases, a specific setup or VPX instance is brought up in much lesser time.

For more information on Preboot user data and its format, seeApply Citrix ADC VPX configurations at the first boot of the Citrix ADC appliance in cloud.

Note:

To bootstrap using preboot user data in ESX, default gateway config must be passed insection. For more information on the content of thetag, seeSample--section.

Samplesection:

                add route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.102.38.1   YES YES   eth0   10.102.38.216   255.255.255.0     
             

How to provide preboot user data on ESX hypervisor

You can provide preboot user data on ESX hypervisor in the following two ways:

Using CD/DVD ISO
Using OVF Property

Provide user data using CD/DVD ISO

You can use VMware vSphere client to inject user data into the VM as an ISO image using the CD/DVD drive.

Follow these steps to provide user data using CD/DVD ISO:

Create a file with file nameuserdatathat contains the preboot user data content. For more information on the content of thetag, see Samplesection.

Note: File name must be strictly used asuserdata.

Store theuserdatafile in a folder, and build an ISO image using the folder.

You can build an ISO image withuserdatafile by the following two methods:

Using any image processing tool such as PowerISO.
Usingmkisofscommand in Linux.

The following sample configuration shows how to generate an ISO image using themkisofscommand in Linux.

                root@ubuntu: ~ /赛/ 14 jul2021 #总4 drwxr-x ls - lr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 14 12:32 esx_preboot_userdata root@ubuntu:~/sai/14jul2021# root@ubuntu:~/sai/14jul2021# ls -l esx_preboot_userdata/total 4 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3016 Jul 14 12:32 userdata root@ubuntu:~/sai/14jul2021# mkisofs -o esx_preboot_userdata.iso ./esx_preboot_userdata I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings) Total translation table size: 0 Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0 Total directory bytes: 112 Path table size(bytes): 10 Max brk space used 0 176 extents written (0 MB) root@ubuntu:~/sai/14jul2021# ls -lh total 356K drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Jul 14 12:32 esx_preboot_userdata -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 352K Jul 14 12:34 esx_preboot_userdata.iso root@ubuntu:~/sai# ls preboot_userdata_155_193 userdata root@ubuntu:~/sai# mkisofs -o preboot_userdata_155_193.iso ./preboot_userdata_155_193 I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings) Total translation table size: 0 Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0 Total directory bytes: 112 Path table size(bytes): 10 Max brk space used 0 176 extents written (0 MB) 
               

Provision the Citrix ADC VPX instance using standard deployment process to create the VM. But do not power on the VM automatically.
After the VM is successfully created, attach the ISO file as CD/DVD drive to the VM.
Navigate toNew CD/DVD Driveand chooseDatastore ISO filefrom the drop-down menu.
Select a Datastore in the vSphere Client.
Power on the VM.

Provide user data using OVF property

Follow these steps to provide user data using OVF property.

Create a file with user data content.
Encode the user data content with Base64 encoding. You can perform the Base64 encoding using the following two methods:
- In Linux, use the following command:
```
base64  >  
```
  Example:
```
base64 esx_userdata.xml > esx_userdata_b64 
```
- Use online tools to encode user data content, for example, Base64 Encode and Decode.

Include aProductsection in the OVF template of a Citrix ADC VPX instance on ESX hypervisor.

Sample Product section:

                 Information about the installed software NSVPX-VSK Template Citrix m.giftsix.com  Preboot Userdata   Userdata  Userdata for ESX VPX    
               

Provide the base64 encoded user data as theovf:valueforguestinfo.userdataproperty in the Product section.

                 Information about the installed software NSVPX-VSK Template Citrix m.giftsix.com  Preboot Userdata   Userdata  Userdata for ESX VPX    
               

Use the modified OVF template with Product section for the VM deployment.

The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

Apply Citrix ADC VPX configurations at the first boot of the Citrix ADC appliance on VMware ESX hypervisor

September 29, 2021

Contributed by:

September 29, 2021

Contributed by:

Apply Citrix ADC VPX configurations at the first boot of the Citrix ADC appliance on VMware ESX hypervisor

How to provide preboot user data on ESX hypervisor

Provide user data using CD/DVD ISO

Provide user data using OVF property

In this article