Question & Answer
Question
How do I clone a Guardium Virtual Machine?
Answer
The IBM Guardium Virtual Machine (VM) is a software-only solution licensed and installed on a guest virtual machine such as VMware ESX Server.
IBM Guardium tested and verified installation of the Guardium appliance in VMWare ESX server and that is the supported and recommended configuration. While installing the appliance in a regular VMWare virtual machine work, its performance can suffer, leading to backlog and possible instability of the Guardium components like the sniffer.
This document addresses the steps required to clone an instance of IBM Guardium Virtual Machine.
For information on how to install IBM Guardium in a Virtual Machine, refer to:
*** Note *** - a separate technote is created for Cloning v10.1 (v10.0p100) and later versions that has an amended procedure, and needs to be followed for those versions
Instructions for pre v10.1 versions (v10.0 and earlier) are mentioned below:
IBM Guardium have tested and verified installation of the Guardium appliance in VMWare ESX server and that is the supported and recommended configuration.
Consult your virtualization software vendor's documentation for information on cloning a virtual appliance.
A Collector can be cloned for use only as a Collector. Once configured as a Collector, it is not possible to change the unit type to an Aggregator, or a Central Manager, due to differences in the underlying database structure. The role of Aggregator, and a Central Manager can be switched between the two, but not as a Collector. Please refer to the Guardium documentation for configuring an appliance as a Collector, Aggregator, or a Central Manager.
Bring up the new VM. If it asks if you moved or copied the VM, answer with "copy", as this enables the virtualization software to configure new parameters like MAC address for the clone.
Documentation is available online in any Guardium appliance that can be accessed via the GUI. Log in to the appliance GUI and click on the "?" icon in the top right corner. You can browse the documentation online or download the material as PDF files.
If you have trouble to set up the clone, contact the IBM Guardium Technical Support for assistance.
IBM Guardium tested and verified installation of the Guardium appliance in VMWare ESX server and that is the supported and recommended configuration. While installing the appliance in a regular VMWare virtual machine work, its performance can suffer, leading to backlog and possible instability of the Guardium components like the sniffer.
The appliance must not be installed in a Windows PC that is shared for other purposes, owing to performance considerations. The appliance must be installed in a host that is dedicated for it.
This document addresses the steps required to clone an instance of IBM Guardium Virtual Machine.
For information on how to install IBM Guardium in a Virtual Machine, refer to:
*** Note *** - a separate technote is created for Cloning v10.1 (v10.0p100) and later versions that has an amended procedure, and needs to be followed for those versions
Instructions for pre v10.1 versions (v10.0 and earlier) are mentioned below:
Requirements
- A cloned Guardium Virtual Appliance
- Hostname
- Network attributes like IP address, resolver, and default route
- Appliance Global ID
Clone a working Guardium Virtual Appliance
IBM Guardium have tested and verified installation of the Guardium appliance in VMWare ESX server and that is the supported and recommended configuration.
Consult your virtualization software vendor's documentation for information on cloning a virtual appliance.
Ensure that the clone is full and not linked. The virtual appliance must be fully self-contained
A Collector can be cloned for use only as a Collector. Once configured as a Collector, it is not possible to change the unit type to an Aggregator, or a Central Manager, due to differences in the underlying database structure. The role of Aggregator, and a Central Manager can be switched between the two, but not as a Collector. Please refer to the Guardium documentation for configuring an appliance as a Collector, Aggregator, or a Central Manager.
Appliance Global ID
The appliance Global ID is a number that uniquely identifies it in your network of Guardium appliances.
The Global ID can be any number, so long as it is unique. During the cloning process, this unique number is necessary. Obtain the Global IDs from your other appliances and arrive at a number that is unique for this clone.Configure the clone
Bring up the new VM. If it asks if you moved or copied the VM, answer with "copy", as this enables the virtualization software to configure new parameters like MAC address for the clone.
- Log into the appliance as user CLI
- Run
"show network macs". If this returns an empty string, the MAC address has not been properly set up for the clone.- Run
"store network interface inventory". The appliance warns about resetting the NICs. Respond with "y" - Restart the system by running
"restart system"
- Run
- Log into the appliance again as user CLI
- Set the IP address, defaultroute, and resolver as necessary.
- Set the hostname for the clone. This causes Guardium to recalculate a unique ID for your appliance.
- Perform any other configuration like time zone, NTP server as necessary.
- Restart the system by running
"restart system" - Login to the appliance again as user CLI
- Store the global ID by running
store product gid <gid_value> - Verify the global ID by running
show product gid - Restart the system if requested
Configuring a Guardium Appliance
Documentation is available online in any Guardium appliance that can be accessed via the GUI. Log in to the appliance GUI and click on the "?" icon in the top right corner. You can browse the documentation online or download the material as PDF files.
Troubleshooting
If you have trouble to set up the clone, contact the IBM Guardium Technical Support for assistance.
Related Information
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Document Information
Modified date:
14 December 2023
UID
swg21405780