Welcome to vRackSystem!

vRackSystem is a tool to easily build a virtual Rack. Please follow below document to setup the vracksystem server.

---

What vRackSystem can do currently?

• Deploy the virtual nodes(vNode and vPDU) built by InfraSIM.
• Manage ESXi resources.
• Mapping vPDU and vNode.
• More features are comming...

Note:

• InfraSIM is an open source project and it simulates the interfaces/behaviors of hardware devices a virtual environment. More information can be got from InfraSIM Document.

vRackSystem Server Setup

• vRackSystem server must be an Linux Server with ssh installed and ssh public key generated.
• vRackSystem server must have connection with all the ESXi host that need to be managed.
• vRackSystem server should have an external network. So it can be accessed by external PC.
• RackHD can also be setup in the environment to control vNode and vPDU.

Note:

• RackHD is an open source project that provides hardware orchestration and management through APIs. More information can be got from RackHD Document.

vRackSystem Environment Setup Steps

Install python(2.x version except 2.7.9)

sudo apt-get install python
sudo apt-get install python-pip
sudo apt-get install python-dev
sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

Check whether python was successfully installed and the version is correct.

python --version

Install VMWare ovftool

• Download VMWare OVF bundle (4.1.0 version, for Linux). Then put the bundle file to the vracksystem server.
• Install the OVF tool

sudo bash VMware-ovftool-4.1.0-2459827-lin.x86_64.bundle

Install mysql

sudo apt-get install mysql-server
sudo apt-get install python-mysqldb

Import database

• Get the exiting databases file(vracksystem.sql) from vRackSystem project directory.
• Enter mysql by below command.

mysql -u <your mysql account> -p

• Input your mysql password.
• Import the databases files.

source /path/to/vracksystem.sql

Clone vracksystem code from github

Change vracksystem/ova/ folder privilege to 755.

cd vracksystem
sudo chmod -R 755 ova/

Install python packages.

cd vracksystem
sudo pip install -r requirements.txt

Update the db connection information.

Change the username and password to align with your own account information in the /vracksystem/AutodeployUI/settings.py.

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'AutoDeployUI',
        'USER': '<your mysql account>',
        'PASSWORD': '<your mysql password>',
        'HOST':'localhost',
    }
}

Prepare OVA images

Put your OVA images(vNode and vPDU images) to /vracksystem/ova/.

Start vRackProject

cd vracksystem
python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:<port>

Access vRackSystem GUI

Access vRackSystem by http://<vracksystem server IP>:<port>/ on your external PC.