Install Nutanix Foundation 2.1

In a nutshell: "Foundation 2.1 allows the customer/partner to configure the network parameters, install any hypervisor and NOS version of their choice, create the cluster, and run their production workload within a few hours of receiving the Nutanix block."

For some more info on Nutanix Foundation have a look at this post by Andre Leibovici and the Foundation:Then, Now and Beyond post on the Next Community.

So now you know what Foundation is how do you go about installing it? The Foundation software is available to Nutanix partners and its rumoured it will become available to customers too. The software is delivered as a virtual appliance. The .tar file contains the following files:

• Foundation_VM-2.1.mf
• Foundation_VM-2.1.ovf
• Foundation_VM-2.1-disk1.vmdk

I will be making use of  Oracle Virtualbox to run the appliance on my laptop. You can download virtualbox at https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. Once virtualbox is installed you can import the Foundation_VM-2.1.ovf. Set the network to bridged.

• Power on the VM by clicking the green start arrow

• Once the VM is powered on you will see the user account listing. Click Nutanix user.

• Enter nutanix/4u as the password and click log in

• Click the set_foundation_ip_address icon on the desktop

• With device configuration selected, click enter

• Here you can opt to choose between a DHCP or static address. DHCP is the default

• Click OK and Save + Quit. Likewise you can change the DNS configuration by selecting this option
• Click the Nutanix Foundation icon on the desktop.

This is were all the magic starts and I will talk about that in a future post.