You can perform the first network configuration of an ALOHA Virtual Appliance either manually or by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

DHCP enables a server to assign automatically an IP address to a computer from a defined range of numbers (i.e. a scope) configured for a given network.

The diagram below shows the booting process and the different ways of configuration applicable.

//cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/config_diagram.png

Note

If no DHCP is available, use the startup network configuration wizard.

Default network configuration

Note

This is the default mode, when there is no DHCP server on the network

The ALOHA's default IP address configured on eth0 is 192.168.0.200.

The first prompt looks like this:

//cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/first_boot_prompt.png

As shown above, the Web User Interface (WUI) is available on the URL http://192.168.0.200:4444/.

Open a browser and point to that URL to get access to the WUI.

Note

If you cannot reach the ALOHA Load-Balancer IP address from your machine, see Manual Network Configuration.

Network configuration using DHCP

When the ALOHA can reach a DHCP server, it uses it to get its network configuration. The first prompt looks like this:

//cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/ip_from_dhcp.png

As shown above, the Web User Interface (WUI) is available on the URL http://10.0.4.146:4444/.

Note

This may be different in your environment.

Network configuration using console wizard

During the boot phase, when the prompt below appears.

You have 10 seconds to choose between DHCP (type D) or static (type s) configuration.

Use the console wizard

  1. Type s to configure a static IP.

    The appliance asks for the following:

    //cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/boot_prompt_first_ip.png

    • The IP address you want to configure on the appliance

    • The subnet

    • The appliance's default gateway

    The image below shows an example of configuration:

    //cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/boot_static_ip.png

  2. Type y to validate your configuration.

You can now access the ALOHA's WUI at the address https://10.0.0.17:4444/.

Manual network configuration

To update manually the ALOHA's default IP configuration, you connect to the console using the default credentials (admin/admin).

  1. Get root access by running the command root.

  2. Type the commands below:

    • Set up the device hostname: config set system hostname <HOSTNAME>

    • Set up the ip address for eth0: config set network.eth0 ip-address <IP/NETMASK>

    • Setup the default gateway: config set network.eth0 ip-route-default <GATEWAY>

    • Apply your configuration: service network restart

    • Plug the Aloha's eth0 network interface.

    • Try to ping the ALOHA.

    • If ping is successful, then save the configuration: config save

Automatic network configuration using VMWare OVF properties

Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is an open-source standard for packaging and distributing software applications for virtual machines (VM).

In ALOHA, you can use OVF properties in VMWare to set parameters on your virtual machine and have them apply automatically on boot.

To use this feature, you must use VMWare ESX version >= 5.5 and ALOHA version >= 11.0.

You can define the following OVF properties using the VMWare user interface or the command line:

  • hostname

  • admin_password

  • vami.ip0.aloha

  • vami.netmask0.aloha

  • vami.gateway.aloha

  • vami.DNS.aloha

Define OVF properties in VMWare UI

  1. In VMWare, create a new virtual machine:

    //cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/1_create_new_vm.png

  2. Go to the "Additional Settings" window and specify the properties for your virtual machine:

    //cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/2_additional_settings.png

  3. Click "Finish" to apply the properties at boot.

Define OVF properties using the command line

  1. Define your OVF properties using the command line with your network information, as follows:

    ovftool --overwrite --name=ALOHA11  --network="VM Network"
--X:logLevel=verbose    --X:injectOvfEnv  --powerOn
--prop:vami.ip0.aloha=<IP> --prop:vami.netmask0.aloha=<NETMASK>
--prop:vami.gateway.<GW> --prop:vami.DNS.aloha=<DNS> aloha-albva.ovf   vi://USER:PASS@ESX_SERVER

  2. On boot, ALOHA displays the parameters that you set using OVF properties. It then waits about 5 seconds for your confirmation to save the configuration.

    //cdn.haproxy.com/de/documentation/aloha/12-0/_assets/images/3_aloha_boot_ovf_props.png