H-Series, and X-Series Specific Maintenance > Maintaining the CTERA HC400 > Running Additional Applications
Running Additional Applications
Note: For H-series gateways purchased before 1 August 2019, contact CTERA support to upgrade both the ESXi version and the HPE firmware before adding additional applications.
Each CTERA H-series gateway includes an ESXi hypervisor. From September 2018, this hypervisor has resources to allow additional virtual machines to be installed, to run an approved list of applications:
*A Windows Server with the following services:
*DHCP
*Active Directory domain controller
*DNS service
*A print server
*An antivirus server
Note: Any other application is not allowed. CTERA reserves the right to curtail support for the CTERA gateway running applications not in the above list.
The following limitations apply to installing additional virtual machines:
*Additional virtual machines can be installed using the VMware Host Client only. That is, you cannot use vSphere vCenter to manage either the gateway nor any additional virtual machines.
*A maximum of two additional virtual machines can be installed on the ESXi.
*A maximum of two vCPUs that can be defined in the VMware Host Client for the additional virtual machines. That is, either one virtual machine with two vCPUs or two virtual machines, each with one vCPU.
*The memory allocated to additional virtual machines is limited to a total of 10GB.
*The storage allocated to additional virtual machines can use all the available free storage, which is around 0.5TB.
*Additional virtual machines must be connected to a separate virtual switch, not used by the gateway, with an uplink to separate physical NICs.
*Customer may configure the additional virtual machines to autostart with the ESXi, but they must leave the virtual gateway as the first virtual machines to autostart.
*When installing a Windows Server, it must be Windows Server 2008 R2 or later.
Installing virtual machines has the following impact on the gateway:
*Prior to installing the virtual machines, the ESXi host must be secured, as described in the procedure below. This requires rebooting the ESXi host, resulting in downtime for the gateway.
*The performance of the gateway might be degraded after installing a virtual machine.
Note: In tests performed by CTERA Networks Ltd., the performance of the gateway could degrade by as much as 20%.
To secure the ESXi host:
1 Get the ESXi IP address or DNS from the system administrator.
2 In a browser access the VMware Host Client by entering the IP address or DNS.
3 Enter the username and password.
4 Check that the ESXi version is the most secure available from VMware and supported by CTERA. Contact CTERA support for details of the latest supported version. The minimum version is ESXi 6.7, Patch Release ESXi670-201906002 (Build 13981272).
5 Click Manage under Host in the Navigator.
6 Click the Advanced settings tab.
7 Right-click the VMkernel.Boot.hyperthreadingMitigation setting and select Edit option.
8 Ensure that the configuration option is set to true.
9 Click Save.
10 Right-click the VMkernel.Boot.hyperthreadingMitigationIntraVM setting and select Edit option.
11 Ensure that the configuration option is set to false.
12 Click Save.
13 Reboot the ESXi host for the configuration changes to go into effect.
To install additional virtual machines:
1 Under Virtual Machines in the VMware Host Client navigation pane, select the CTERA HC400 virtual machine.
2 Follow VMware instructions to install the virtual machines to run the required applications, complying with the limitations listed above.
*The CPU value can be 1 if you intend to define 2 virtual machines or 2 if you define only 1 virtual machine.
*The Memory value can be up to 10GB. If you intend on defining two virtual machines the total memory for both machines cannot exceed 10GB.
*The Hard disk 1 value can be up to the maximum size available.
Note: Do not change the HC400 gateway configuration.
No other changes can be made to the ESXi configuration, unless explicitly approved by CTERA.