So I’ve installed Nutanix Community Edition & Prism Central in my desired configuration, but still some stuff to check, so I can really start using my homelab.
1. Networking
First thing is to ensure the network is configured correctly. The SuperMicro X10SDV-12C-TLNB4F+ motherboard has -amongst it features- 2 10Gbe SFP+ LAN ports. Of course it’s best practice to ensure these ports are used for all network traffic (except IPMI), but as my homelab is still in development and I don’t have more Nutanix nodes, nor a 10Gbe Switch I will ensure only the 1 Gbe ports are used. To do this I followed the Tech TopX video on AHV Host Networking by Jason Burns. I connected to the AHV host using SSH and first checked the configuration
ssh nutanix@192.168.2.15 manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 show_uplinks
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-156-1024x656.png)
I see there are 4 network interfaces connected to my bridge 0, which is expected, 2 1Gbe & 2 10Gbe uplinks. So now to change this.
DISCLAIMER: I will remove the 10Gbe interfaces from bridge 0 as these are currently not used in my homelab. In a production environment you should always use these
I only assign the 1Gbe uplinks to br0 to ensure these are the only network interfaces can be used.
manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 --interfaces 1g update_uplinks manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 show_uplinks
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-158-1024x656.png)
I see only the 1Gbe network interfaces are connected to my br0, so mission accomplished.
2. Software upgrade
Ok, I’ve installed all software bits, but I find it best practice to check if there’s any update available to one of the components. So I logon to Prism Central and go to the “Upgrade Prism Central” settings.
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-159-1024x699.png)
Prism Central version is up-to-date but let’s check the Nutanix Cluster Check version. This one is not up-to-date, so let’s download the latest version
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-160-1024x852.png)
Am I sure to download this version? yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have selected this…
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-164.png)
After the download has finished, click Upgrade
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-162-1024x853.png)
Again the question if I’m sure….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-163.png)
After a while, NCC has been upgraded to the latest version (3.9.3 at the moment of writing).
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-165-1024x714.png)
So now off to check the cluster itself. From within Prism Central I directly open the cluster console via the Quick Cluster Access widget.
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-166-1024x674.png)
Within the cluster I go to Upgrade Software. AOS is already at the latest level, as is the Hypervisor. Nutanix Files is not installed, so the only 2 left are NCC and Foundation
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-168-1024x674.png)
The NCC upgrade is the same as for Prism Central, so I won’t document again. Last update to perform is the foundation upgrade. Although this is not used by me in the lab (Nutanix Community Edition), I want to keep all bit and bytes up-to-date. In the Foundation Tab I click Download for the latest version
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-169-1024x973.png)
Again the question if I want to download. Yes go ahead..
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-170.png)
After the download has finished, click Upgrade. You get the choice if you want to do a Pre-Upgrade or Upgrade Now. The pre-upgrade option will check if your cluster is healthy and run pre-upgrade tests to ensure the upgrade will complete successfully. I do this always in a production environment, so I’m sure that during a change window I will not be surprised. For now, click Upgrade Now
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-172-1024x968.png)
Am I sure to upgrade to the latest version? Click Yes
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-173.png)
The upgrade has been completed successfully. Click Back to Versions
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-174-1024x675.png)
DONE!. All software has been upgraded to the latest versions available
3. Prism UI customisation
Last bit is to customise the Prism UI. I find this helpful to immediately notice which environment I logon to. For Prism Central go to UI settings. First thing I do here is to change the default session timeout for my account (from 15 minutes to 1 hour). Again this is not recommended for a production environment
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-175-1024x558.png)
After I’ve set the session timeout to 1 hour, a warning message appears stating this increase the security risk and is not recommend. I know and acknowledge
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-176-1024x553.png)
Now I want to customise the text and colours of the UI. This is a hidden option which can be accessed by holding the option key (Mac OS) and click on UI. After I did this the theme options are available:
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-177-1024x555.png)
I provide a new colour, Title Text (The LAB) and Blurb Text (Someren, The Netherlands) and click Save.
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-179-1024x555.png)
I did the same for the Prism Elements and as you can see below, it’s immediately clear where I connect to. (Left = Prism Central, Right = Prism Elements)
![](http://home.damen-online.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/image-180-1024x350.png)
The LAB is up and running. There is one thing that is bugging me still (the privacy warnings when I go to one of the consoles), but that will be dealt with as soon as my PKI infrastructure is up and running.