Step 2: Configure virtual hardware settings

Step 2: Configure virtual hardware settings

After installing the FortiADC-VM image and before powering on the virtual appliance, log into Citrix XenServer and configure the virtual appliance hardware settings to suit the size of your deployment.

Virtual hardware settings summarizes the defaults that are set in the default image and provides rough guidelines to help you understand whether you need to upgrade the hardware before you power on the virtual appliance. For more precise guidance on sizing, contact your sales representative or Fortinet Technical Support.

Virtual hardware settings

execute formatlogdisk

Resizing the virtual disk (vDisk)

If you configure the virtual appliance’s storage repository to be internal (i.e. local, on its own vDisk), resize the vDisk before powering on.

This step is not applicable if the virtual appliance will use external network file system (such as NFS) datastores.

The FortiADC-VM package that you downloaded includes pre-sized VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk Format) files. However, they are only 32 GB, which is not large enough for most deployments. Resize the vDisk before powering on the virtual machine.

Before doing so, make sure that you understand the effects of your vDisk settings.

For example, if you have an 800 GB data store which has been formatted with 1 MB block size, you cannot size a single vDisk greater than 256 GB on your FortiADC-VM.

Consider also that, depending on the size of your network, you might require more or less storage.

To resize the vDisk:

1. Log into Citrix XenCenter server.
2. In the pane on the left side, select the name of the FortiADC-VM instance on that server. The pane on the right side will change to show the settings for this specific virtual machine.



3. In the pane on the right side, click the Storage tab, then click the Properties button.
4. Adjust the maximum size of the vDisk, then click OK.



5. If you have resized logdisk (not bootdisk), after rebooting FortiADC and uploading a license file you should execute the following command: execute formatlogdisk. Executing this command will clear all statistics and logs etc.

Configuring the number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs)

By default, the virtual appliance is configured to use 1 vCPU. Depending on the FortiADC-VM license that you purchased, you can allocate up to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 vCPUs.

To change the number of vCPUs:

1. Log into Citrix XenCenter server.
2. In the pane on the left side, select the name of the FortiADC-VM instance.

The pane on the right side will change to show the settings for this specific virtual machine.

3. In the pane on the right side, click Properties.

The virtual appliance’s properties dialog appears.

4. In Number of VCPUs, type the maximum number of vCPUs to allocate. Valid values range from 1 to 8.



5. Click OK.

Configuring the virtual RAM (vRAM) limit

FortiADC-VM comes pre-configured to use 4 GB of vRAM. You can change this value.

We recommend at least 4 GB RAM.

To change the amount of vRAM

1. Log into the Citrix XenServer.
   
   
2. In the pane on the left side, double-click the name of the XenServer. This will open an authentication dialog.
3. In the pane on the left side, select the name of the FortiADC-VM instance on that server.

The pane on the right side will change to show the settings for this specific virtual machine.

4. In the pane on the right side, click the Memory tab, then click Edit.

The virtual appliance’s memory settings dialog appears.

5. Adjust the maximum amount in gigabytes (GB) of the vRAM to allocate, then click OK.

Mapping the virtual NICs (vNICs) to physical NICs

Appropriate mappings of the FortiADC-VM network adapter ports to the host computer physical ports depends on your existing virtual environment.

Often, the default bridging vNICs work, and don’t need to be changed. If you are unsure of your network mappings, try bridging first before non-default vNIC modes such as NAT or host-only networks. The default bridging vNIC mappings are appropriate where each of the host’s guest virtual machines should have their own IP addresses on your network. The most common exceptions to this rule are for VLANs and the transparent modes.

When you deploy the FortiADC-VM package, 10 bridging vNICs are created and automatically mapped to a port group on 1 virtual switch (vSwitch) within the hypervisor. Each of those vNICs can be used by one of the 10 network interfaces in FortiADC-VM. (Alternatively, if you prefer, some or all of the network interfaces may be configured to use the same vNIC.) vSwitches are themselves mapped to physical ports on the server.

You can change the mapping, or map other vNICs, if either your VM environment requires it.

The following table provides an example of how vNICs could be mapped to the physical network ports on a server.

Example: Network mapping

To map network adapters:

1. Log into the Citrix XenServer.
2. In the pane on the right side, click the Networking tab.



3. Click the name of a virtual network adapter to display its settings.
4. From the Network drop-down list, select the virtual network mapping for the virtual network adapter.

The correct mapping varies by your virtual environment’s network configuration. In the example illustration below, the vNIC is mapped to the virtual network (vNetwork) named Network 0.



5. Click OK.