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Use ONTAP 8.0 7-Mode Simulator on ESX

March 12, 2010 By 21 Comments

2011-12-01 Update: I have a new post on using the latest version of the NetApp ONTAP Simulator (8.1) here, follow those instructions to deploy the newest  simulator in your environment.

If you want to use the ONTAP 8.0 7-mode simulator in ESX the process is actually pretty simple, personally I wish NetApp would just offer an OVF format for the simulator but anyways…

Create a new VM in the vSphere Client and select Custom, assign a name to the VM, a resource group and select the datastore to place the VM files on.  Then you will be at the Virtual Machine Version screen.

Select Virtual Machine Version 7 and click Next

Select Other and choose FreeBSD 64bit from the drop down and click Next

Select 2 Virtual CPUs and click Next

Assign 2 GB RAM and click Next

Chose 4 NICs, in my case I placed the 1st and 3rd NIC on my VM network and the 2nd and 4th NIC on the Storage Network.  Click Next

Leave the default on SCSI controller and click Next

Select Do Not Create Disk and click Next

Click Finish

Now you need to copy the .vmdk files(including the cf card folder) from the ZIP into the directory you created the FreeBSD VM.  After you do that go into the VM properties and add hard disk choosing Use an Existing Virtual Disk. Browse to the VM location.

The first disk you want to add is the larger of the two with ‘cf’ in the name, after you add this disk add the other disk as well (I used default options for IDE controller etc).

That’s all there is to it, from this point you can follow the manual to setup the simulator.

After you power it on press ctrl-c and then select option 4.

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About mike
I am currently a Consulting Architect working for Nexus Information Systems in the Twin Cities, MN area. My professional summary is available via my LinkedIn page. I can be contacted by the Contact Me link at the top of the site. I also spend (too much) time on Twitter so feel free to follow or send me a tweet.

  • cyril vieville

    Hi Mike,

    I´m customer at IBM administrating 3 N3600 but unfortunately as you know Netapp Policy is stupid. When you buy the Nseries (Netapp products under IBM brand) you don´t have the right to have the simulator. I´m looking for the 7.3.2 or 8 Data Ontap simulator (preferably 7.3.2). Could you help me please because i need to do some tests without destroying the production environment. Thank you Mike

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  • Scott

    Mike,
    Have you figure out a way to add more disk in the 8.x simulator, similar to the 7.x simulator in the past?

  • http://mtellin.com mtellin

    I personally haven’t tried this yet but if you find a way I’d certainly like to know! Thanks

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  • http://compliancepci.org/ PCI Compliance

    Think of it as a 360 degree building simulator with elements of Tetris thrown in. Instead of focusing on building the entire layouts with bricks and mortar, …

  • temporary

    You should really take this up with your account manager. You should have a NetApp account manager as well, see if they can pull some strings.

  • pat

    Anyone try converting a preconfigured NetApp simulator to run on ESX?   I tried the above procedure but it complained about the disks not being ESX compatiable. 

  • http://mtellin.com mtellin

    In the original version I had tried a few times and had issues, however on the latest version I’ve used Converter and everything worked fine

  • Me

    I haven’t tried this myself, but the tutorial looks good and I have saved for future ref. Just need to get my ESX box up and running! 

  • Stuart-bailey

    Mike,

    I’ve got an ESX4 environment up and has been stable for over a year.  I’ve done as suggested in the tutorial.  But I cannot ping the simulator nor login to the configuration console.  The IPs are not pingable.  NAT vs Bridged?

  • http://mtellin.com mtellin

    You didn’t happen to configure a VIF when it went through the initial setup did you?  Only other thing I can think of is to double check and make sure the interface you assigned the ip address to is attached to the VM network that you think (IE storage network vs vm network etc)

  • Stuart-bailey

    Yeah, just a lab with two NICS/networks.  I’ll check the VIF and report back.  Busy day actually working and not playing.  Thanks for the quick response.

  • David Scheyen

    Does this work on ESX 3.5? i tried but got errors concerning the disk

  • Mweaver

    Works like a charm on my 4.1 ESXi box. Thanks so much for the good info. Shame NetApp couldn’t see fit to provide the info themselves…

  • MarcL

    Hi Mike,

    This guide is just what I’m looking for!
    But I hope you can clarify if the 4 NICs and Storage network are required. What if I only have Virtual Machine Network?
    Thanks a lot man!

    Marc

  • http://mtellin.com mtellin

    It’s not required, it was built with 4 NICs so I left it that way, but you could have all 4 NICs on just the virtual machine network and only assign an address to e0a and leave e0b, e0c, e0d unassigned if you wanted.  You might be able to just remove the NICs from the VM – but I haven’t tested that (the simulator might expect to see 4 NICs).  

    I’m creating a new post that should go live in about a week for the newest version of the simulator (8.1) and has a little more info in it, check back and that may help you out as well.

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  • Totalnet32

    the only way i was able to get netap 8.1.0 to boot under esxi5 was to have disk one point to the larger 1gb file and disk 2 the smaller and after that it just loops.

    I’m trying to get the ONTAP SIM v8 woking on ESX and it doesn’t work. This is what happens:
     
    - I get the “Hit enter to boot..”
    - I get the Ctrl-C for Menu
    - I choose option 4
    - I get “Zero disks, reset config and install new filesystem” -> Y
    - I get “This will rease all the data…” -> Y
     
    The device boots and then I get: “coredump.spare.non:info: No sparedisk was found”
     
    Then it starts displaying dots on the screen. They advance VERY slow but even after an hour nothing happens.
     
    I tried this both with the original sersion of the vmdk and the converted (with vCenter Converter)
     
    In a VMWare Workstation exactely the same happens but there the dots advance much faster.
     
    Any idea?
     

  • http://mtellin.com mtellin

    The only time I ran into that was when I didn’t use VMware Converter, but everyone I’ve tried with Converter has been good so far.  This thread is for the older version of the simulator, you may want to check this post: http://mtellin.com/2011/12/01/setup-guide-for-multiple-ontap-8-1-simulators/ for the details on 8.1