Creating and Setting Up a Data Center

To enable the Cloud powered by VMware service, you must first be fully registered in the Selectel Control panel.

You should have at least 1000 rubles in your Cloud powered by VMware Balance. For instructions, please see the VMware Billing and Payment section.

Creating a Virtual Data Center

Open the Cloud powered by VMware tab in the Control panel and click Create VDC.

Specify the location:

  • Moscow;
  • Saint Petersburg;
  • disaster-resistant location based on data centers in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast;
  • disaster-resistant location based on data centers in Moscow.

Select a pool:

  • Gold includes fast storage suitable for high-load applications and databases;
  • Silver includes general-purpose storage suitable for most tasks at an optimal cost.

Access to the vCloud Director service is provided both through the html5 console and through the flash console. The basic operations in the flash console can be found in the article.

You can go to the vCloud Director web control panel from the Control panel by clicking on the vDC card title. You can change the password on the Users tab.

Please note that management of Moscow vDC resources goes through the Moscow vCloud Director web panel (vcd-msk.selectel.ru), and the management of those in St. Petersburg goes through the St. Petersburg vCloud Director web panel (vcd.selectel.ru). Use the Multisite feature to manage resources without re-opening the account.

Setting up Access to the vDC

Access to virtual data centers can be delimited by setting rights for specific users.

New users are created in vCloud Director. To create a user:

  1. Open the vCloud Director panel.
  2. Select Administration instead of Datacenters from the main menu.
  3. Click New.
  4. Fill in the required fields, including the user role, in the window that opens. A user with the Organization Administrator role always has access to all vDCs in the organization.
  5. Click Save.

A new user will be created and will appear in the Control panel on the Users tab.

To provide the user with access to vDC in the Control panel, go to the vDC Access tab and set the switch to the appropriate position.

You can set a new user password on the Password tab.

Creating vApps with Internet Access

vApp is a component of vCloud Director, which is a set of virtual machines (hereinafter VMs) united into one group and solving a specific task. vApps are represented as objects and can be managed as any separate VM (enabled, disabled, cloned, and so on).

Modern enterprise applications are rarely limited to a single VM and usually have components distributed across multiple VMs. For example, there may be a front-end web server running on one VM, an application server running on another VM, and an internal database server running on the third VM. Since these components have certain dependencies (for example, a specific startup sequence), you can use vApp to combine several VMs into one device.

To create a vApp:

  1. In the vCloud Director panel, click the vDC card.
  2. Click New vApp on the vApps tab.
  3. Fill in the Name field.
  4. To create a vApp with a VM, click Add virtual machine:
    • fill in the Name and Description fields;
    • set the switch to From Template;
    • select an OS image;
    • to select a storage policy, check the Use custom storage policy field and choose the desired policy in the Custom storage policy to use field. This will depend on the selected policy; when creating a vDC from the Gold pool, you must choose either vSSD or Fast vSSD; from the Silver pool, you can choose either Fast vHDD or vHDD;
    • click Ok.
  5. A VM will appear in the New vApp form.
  6. Click Create.

Please note that the process of creating a VM in a vApp container takes some time.

vApp with VM will be created. To start the VM, click Actions on the created vApp card and select the Power on.

Creating an Additional VM

To create an additional VM inside vApp:

  1. Click Actions in the vApp card.
  2. Click Add VM.
  3. Fill in the Name field.
  4. Select creating from the template by setting the switch to From Templates.
  5. If you want the VM to start immediately, check the Power on box.
  6. To select a storage policy, check the Use custom storage policy field and select the desired policy in the Custom storage policy to use field. . This will depend on the policy; when creating a vDC from the Gold pool, you must choose either vSSD or Fast vSSD; from the Silver pool, you can choose either Fast vHDD or vHDD.
  7. Select an installation template from the list.
  8. Click Ok.

Please note that creating a VM is possible without creating a vApp. In this case, vDirector will still create a service vApp for this machine, but it will be hidden.

Connecting a VM to the Internet

To connect a VM to the Internet, you can use the default_net pre-configured local network, which is created automatically within two minutes after creating a vDC and the corresponding edge.

The default_net network is configured as follows:

  • configured static address pool from 10.0.0.101 to 10.0.0.132;
  • DNS are indicated as Primary DNS 188.93.16.19 and Secondary DNS 188.93.17.19;
  • the network is connected to the edge gateway on which the NAT and firewall rules are configured to provide access to the Internet;
  • a DHCP server with an address pool from 10.0.0.2 to 10.0.0.100 is configured on the edge gateway.

Read more about creating and configuring a network in the article.

Add the network to vApp to select a network in the VM:

  1. Go to the vApps tab.
  2. Select Add network in the Actions drop-down menu of the desired vApp.
  3. Select OrgVDC Network option.
  4. Select the default_net option from the list and click Add.

To connect a VM to the Internet:

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines tab.
  2. Click Details in the block of the desired VM.
  3. Go to the Hardware block.
  4. In the Network field of the NICs block, select the default_net option and check the Connected column.
  5. Click Save.

The VM will be connected to the Internet.

Connecting Standalone VM to the Direct Connect Network

You can assign a public IP address directly to the VM without using NAT.

You can select any available address within the dedicated subnet from /29 to /24 and add it to the VM interface by connecting the virtual machine to the Direct Connect network.

If the vmware-tools (Windows)/open-vm-tools (*nix) utility is installed on a VM and the network interface connected to the required network, the IP address will be added automatically when the VM is created.

Configuring SSH/RDP Access to Virtual Machines

Please note that before configuring NAT rules, you must first identify and enter the external IP address.

To configure SSH access, open port 22 (for RDP access, open port 3389). You will have to create a DNAT rule.

Configuring NAT

Go to the Edges tab.

Click Configure services.

Open the NAT tab and click + DNAT Rule:

  • for Applied on, choose an external network;
  • for Description, enter a description to the rule: SSH (or RDP);
  • for Original IP/range, enter the external IP address;
  • for Protocol, select the appropriate protocol;
  • for Original port, enter 22 (for RDP access, enter 3389);
  • for Translated Port, enter 22 (for RDP access, enter 3389);
  • for Translated IP/range, enter the virtual machine’s internal IP address.

Please note that non-standard ports work better (like 5522).

Configuring Firewalls

Go to the Edges tab. Click Configure services. Open the Firewall tab and create a rule with the following parameters:

  • for Name, enter the rule’s name (for example, Allow SSH);
  • for Source, enter the necessary source addresses: a single IP address, a range of IP addresses, CIDR or one of the key variables:
    • internal for all internal networks;
    • external for all external networks;
    • all for any networks.
  • select the source port in the Source Port field. You can specify a single port, a range of ports, or all ports using the Any key variable;
  • for Destination, enter the recipient address, for example, Any;
  • for Destination Port, enter the destination port — 22;
  • for Protocol, select TCP;
  • for Action, select Accept.

After your virtual machine re-customizes, you will be able to connect to it via SSH.

Please note that you can similarly configure HTTP connections (port 80).

Guest OS Login/Password

Login

The login for all virtual machine templates is root.

Password

To view the password:

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines tab.
  2. Click Details in the desired VM’s card.
  3. Expand the Guest OS Customization block in the new window.
  4. The password is specified in the Password Reset field.

To change this password:

  1. Power off the virtual machine by clicking Actions → Power off.
  2. Click Details in the powered-off VM.
  3. Go to the Guest OS Customization block.
  4. Check the Enable Guest Customization box.
  5. Choose the Auto Generate Password option or set the password in the Specify Password field.
  6. Save the changes by clicking Save.

Please note that the password should be at least six characters long and include a combination of at least three of the following four elements:

  • uppercase letters (latin alphabet);
  • lowercase letter (latin alphabet);
  • numbers (0 to 9);
  • non-alphanumeric characters (!, $, #, %).

After changing the password, you must re-customize the VM. Click Actions in the VM’s card and select the Power on and force recustomization option.

Please note that, as a security measure, passwords are not displayed during login; passwords must be entered manually.

OS Recustomization

Guest OS customization is the ability to change the VM operating system’s settings in accordance with those specified in the vCloud Director panel. These settings include:

  • VM name;
  • network settings;
  • SID;
  • admin password.

The entered parameters will be registered in the system automatically when the VM is turned on. For comparison, such settings in dedicated servers must be entered manually on the server itself.

Re-customization is used to force a reset and reapply settings.

Follow these steps to start re-customization:

  1. Go to the Virtual Machines tab.
  2. Click Actions in the VM’s card and select Power Off option in the drop-down menu.
  3. After turning off the VM, click Actions and select the Power On and Force Recustomization option.

Please note that OS customization and re-customization are only possible if the Open VM Tools service is installed and running on the VM. This service is available in all our templates by default. However, when creating a VM from your own image, you may need to install Open VM Tools.