Note: These procedures are intended for the Nutanix hypervisor.

After you complete the preparation tasks in Phase 1 - Preparing Virtual Machines for Omnissa Access Installation, deploy the virtual machines for your Control Plane cluster: the Bootstrap node, the Infrastructure/Platform nodes, and the Omnissa Access nodes.

Nutanix Requirements

Omnissa Access 26.10.0.0 has been validated on the following version of Nutanix components:

Deployment Order

Deploy the virtual machines in the following order:

1. Deploy the Bootstrap node.
2. Deploy the first Infrastructure/Platform node, then clone it to create any additional Infrastructure/Platform nodes required for your deployment size.
3. Deploy the first Omnissa Access node, then clone it to create any additional Omnissa Access nodes required for your deployment size.
4. Power on all the nodes together only after every node has been deployed.

Upload AlmaLinux ISO to Nutanix Infrastructure

Complete the following steps from Prism:

1. Select Infrastructure.

2. Navigate to: Compute ➤ Images.

3. Click Add Image.

   

4. Set Image Source to URL.

5. Enter the ISO URL.

6. Leave Authentication empty, unless the URL requires it.

7. Select Add URL.

8. Set Name.

9. Set Type to ISO.

10. Leave Checksum empty, unless you are verifying the file.

    

11. Click Next.

12. Select Placement Method.

    

    Note: For larger and/or production type environments, Place image using Image Placement policies is recommended.

13. Select the cluster.

14. Summary of settings:

    Field	Value
    Name	AlmaLinux-9.6-x86_64-minimal.iso
    Image Type	ISO Image
    ISO Source	AlmaLinux 9.6 ISO repository
    Storage Container	Default (or desired container)
    Upload Method	url

15. Click Save.

    Wait until the upload completes successfully.

Create a New Virtual Machine

Complete the following steps from Prism:

1. Select Infrastructure.

2. Navigate to: Compute ➤ VMs.

3. Click Create VM

   

4. Configure the virtual machine.

   

5. Refer to the following sizing table for virtual machine specifications:

   Deployment Size	Bootstrap Node	Omnissa Access Nodes	Infrastructure/ Platform Nodes¹
   Extra Small 100,000 users 1,000 groups 50 applications	1 node 8 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk	2 load-balanced nodes 16 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk each	3 nodes 16 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk each
   Small 300,000 users 3,000 groups 50 applications	1 node 8 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk	2 load-balanced nodes 24 vCPUs 48 GB RAM 200 GB disk each	3 nodes 16 vCPUs 48 GB RAM 200 GB disk each
   Medium 1,000,000 users 10,000 groups 150 applications	1 node 8 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk	2 load-balanced nodes 48 vCPUs 64 GB RAM 200 GB disk each	3 nodes 24 vCPUs 96 GB RAM 300 GB disk each
   Large 1,000,000 users 20,000 groups 500 applications	1 node 8 vCPUs 32 GB RAM 200 GB disk	3 load-balanced nodes 64 vCPU 96 GB RAM 200 GB disk each	3 nodes 24 vCPUs 96 GB RAM 400 GB disk each

   ¹ Infrastructure/Platform Nodes host internal platform services including database, messaging, caching, and search (PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, and OpenSearch).

   *The Bootstrap Node requires exactly 8 vCPUs, regardless of deployment size.

   Important:

   • Resource sizing may vary depending on authentication load, enabled services, and integration requirements.
   • Additional storage allocation may be required based on logging, audit retention, and operational requirements.

6. Click Next.

7. Navigate to: Disks ➤ Attach Disk.

8. Add an operating system disk.

   

9. Recommended settings for OS storage:

   Field	Value
   Operation	Allocate on Storage Container
   Type	DISK
   Storage Container	Default (or desired container)
   Bus Type	SCSI
   Size	Refer to sizing table

10. Click Add

11. Navigate to: Disks ➤ Attach Disk.

12. Attach AlmaLinux Installation ISO.

    

13. Recommended settings for ISO:

    Field	Value
    Operation	Clone from Image Service
    Type	CD-ROM
    Image	AlmaLinux-9.6-x86_64-minimal.iso
    Bus Type	SATA

14. Attach network adapter to subnet.

15. Configure network adapter.

    

16. Click Save.

17. Navigate to Boot Configuration.

18. Select UEFI BIOS Mode.

    Note: Do not select option Legacy BIOS.

19. Click Next.

20. Review and create virtual machine.

    Configuration should resemble the following:

    

21. Click Next.

22. For Management settings, configure the following:

    Field	Value
    Enable 'Default-Storage' Policy	Disabled
    Categories	None specified
    Timezone	(UTC) UTC
    Use this VM as an Agent VM	Unchecked
    Guest Customization	No Customization

23. Click Next.

24. Review settings.

25. Click Create VM.

26. Power-on the virtual machine.

Perform AlmaLinux Installation

1. From Prism select the created virtual machine, launch console.

2. At the boot menu, select Test this media & install AlmaLinux 9.6.

   

3. Press Enter to install AlmaLinux 9.6.

4. Select preferred language.

   

5. Click Continue.

6. From Installation Summary, click Installation Destination.

   

7. Specify Installation Destination.

   

   Note: It is recommended to keep Storage Configuration set to Automatic.

8. Click Done.

9. From Installation Summary, click Root Password.

10. Define and confirm root password.

    Note: It is recommended to leave settings Lock root account and Allow root SSH login with password unchecked.

11. Click Done.

12. From Installation Summary, click User Creation.

13. Create an admin account.

    

    Note: It is recommended to make settings Make this user administrator and Require a password to use this account checked.

14. Click Done.

15. From Installation Summary, click Begin Installion.

16. Following installation, system will reboot.

Remove Installation ISO

Note: This procedure prevents the virtual machine from booting back into the installer.

Complete the following steps from Prism:

1. Navigate to: VM ➤ Update.

2. Locate CD-ROM AlmaLinux-9.6-x86_64-minimal.iso.

3. Select Remove ISO Attachment

4. Click Save.

Verify AlmaLinux Installation

1. Log in to virtual machine using admin credentials.

2. Verify operating system.

   Run the following command:

   cat /etc/redhat-release
   

   Expected result:

   AlmaLinux release 9.6 (Sage Margay)
   

3. Verify network settings by running the following commands:

   # Check assigned IP
   hostname -I
   
   # Check hostname
   hostnamectl
   
   # Check interface
   ip addrhos
   

Configure Network

1. View current network connections.

   nmcli connection show
   

   Identify the active network interface (for example: ens3).

2. Configure a Static IP Address.

   • Option 1: Assuming the network interface is ens3:

     nmcli connection modify ens3 \
       ipv4.method manual \
       ipv4.addresses 10.0.0.1/24 \
       ipv4.gateway 10.0.0.254
     

   • Option 2: Alternatively, use the following command:

     nmcli connection modify ens3 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 10.0.0.1/24 ipv4.gateway 10.0.0.254
     

3. Apply the network changes.

   nmcli connection down ens3
   nmcli connection up ens3
   

4. If the changes are not applied immediately, restart NetworkManager:

   systemctl restart NetworkManager
   

Download Portable Scripts

On your local machine:

1. Sign in to Omnissa Customer Connect.

2. Locate the file external-os-portable-scripts.tar.gz and download to your local machine.

3. Place file external-os-portable-scripts.tar.gz on the virtual machine.

Create Virtual Machine Template

Complete the following steps from Prism:

1. Navigate to: Compute ➤ VMs.

2. Specify the virtual machine to be used for template creation.

3. Click Create Template.

4. Create virtual machine template, using the following settings:

   Field	Value
   Template Name	AlmaLinux96_Template
   Guest Customization	No Customization

5. Click Next.

6. Click Save.

Deploy Bootstrap Node

Complete the following steps from Prism:

1. Navigate to: Compute ➤ Templates.

2. Select AlmaLinux96_Template virtual machine template.

3. Configure virtual machine, using the following settings:

   Field	Value
   VM Name	bootstrap
   Project	_internal
   Cluster	<cluster_name>

4. Power-on bootstrap virtual machine.

Configure Bootstrap Node

1. Log in to the virtual machine as root user.

2. Verify the hostname.

   Run the following command:

   hostname -f
   

   Expected result:

   bootstrap.example.com
   

   Note: For this example, FQDN bootstrap.example.com will be used.

3. Display network interface.

   ip addr
   

   Note: For this example, ens3 will be used.

4. Configure the static IP.

   nmcli connection modify ens3 ipv4.addresses 10.0.0.2/24
   nmcli connection up ens3
   

5. Verify network settings.

   hostname -I
   

6. Display network gateway.

   Display default network gateway:

   ip route
   

   Expected result:

   default via 10.0.0.254
   

   Note: For this example, a default gateway of 10.0.0.254 will be used.

7. Validate network gateway.

   Validate default network gateway is reachable:

   ping -c 4 10.0.0.254
   

   Expected result:

   0% packet loss
   

8. Validate DNS.

   Validate DNS configuration:

   cat /etc/resolv.conf
   

   Expected result:

   search example.com
   nameserver 10.0.0.101
   

   Note: Example DNS settings.

Deploy Remaining Omnissa Access Nodes

Deploy the remaining virtual machines in the following order:

1. Ensure Bootstrap node has been deployed, before proceeding.
2. Deploy the first Infrastructure/Platform node, then clone it to create any additional Infrastructure/Platform nodes required for your deployment size.
3. Deploy the first Omnissa Access node, then clone it to create any additional Omnissa Access nodes required for your deployment size.
4. Power on all the nodes together only after every node has been deployed.

Deploy the remaining Omnissa Access nodes using the same procedure described in Deploy the Bootstrap Node, with one difference:

• Select the sizing option that matches your deployment size: Access - Extra Small, Access - Small, Access - Medium, or Access - Large.

See Hardware Sizing Requirements in Phase 1 - Preparing Virtual Machines for Omnissa Access Installation for the number of Omnissa Access nodes required for your deployment size.

After the first Omnissa Access node is deployed, clone it to create the remaining Omnissa Access nodes using the same Clone to Virtual Machine procedure described in Deploy Infrastructure/Platform Nodes above according to your deployment size.

Important: Omnissa recommends taking snapshots of all nodes at this point.

Power-on the Nodes

After all Bootstrap, Infrastructure/Platform, and Omnissa Access nodes are deployed, power-on all the nodes together.

Run Portable Scripts

Once the nodes are deployed and ready, complete the following steps, on each of the virtual machines:

1. Navigate to the path where external-os-portable-scripts.tar.gz was placed.

2. Extract the archive.

   tar -xf external-os-portable-scripts.tar.gz
   

3. Run the following commands:

   # 0.) Prerequisite for config-manager
   sudo dnf install -y dnf-plugins-core
   
   # 1.) Network tools
   sudo dnf install -y net-tools bind-utils
   
   # 2.) Docker CE
   sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/rhel/docker-ce.repo
   sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
   sudo systemctl enable --now docker
   
   # 3.) Firewall and time configuration
   sudo dnf install -y nftables chrony
   sudo systemctl disable --now firewalld.service
   sudo systemctl mask firewalld.service
   sudo systemctl enable --now nftables.service
   # chronyd is the time daemon.
   sudo systemctl enable --now chronyd
   
   # 4.) SELinux temporary change (runtime)
   sudo setenforce 0
   
   # Optional: persist after reboot
   sudo sed -i 's/^SELINUX=.*/SELINUX=permissive/' /etc/selinux/config
   
   # 5.) Extra packages
   sudo dnf install -y epel-release || sudo dnf install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm
   sudo dnf install -y unzip
   

4. Run the following scripts on all virtual machines:

   # 1.) Configure non-root SSH user (configuser)
   sudo bash /path/to/setup-user.sh --user configuser
   
   # 2.) SSH hardening (disable root login)
   echo 'PermitRootLogin no' | sudo tee /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/99-root-login.conf >/dev/null
   sudo sshd -t
   sudo systemctl restart sshd
   
   # 3.) Configure logrotate
   sudo bash /path/to/setup-logrotate.sh
   

5. Run the following script only on the bootstrap node:

   # Configure offline log bundle cleanup
   sudo bash /path/to/setup-log-bundle-cleanup.sh
   

Configure Load Balancer Name Resolution

1. Add load balancer entry to /etc/hosts.

   vi /etc/hosts
   
   # Add entry (as an example)
   10.0.0.201 lb.example.com
   

2. Verify load balancer name resolution.

   Run command:

   getent hosts lb.example.com
   

   Expected result:

   10.0.0.201 lb.example.com
   

3. Validate Load Balancer Connectivity.

   Run command:

   curl -vk https://lb.example.com
   

   Expected result:

   Connected to 10.0.0.201
   
   SSL certificate verify ok
   

Deploy Control Plane and Access Services

Once prerequiste steps have been completed, proceed to Phase 3, Option 1 - Deploying Omnissa Access Using the Access Wizard for Omnissa Access deployment.