Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Running our Appliance (ZCA), ZCS on VMware, or any other virtual machine software? Post your thoughts here.
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yonatan
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Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by yonatan »

I've been testing the appliance for a while and noticed that it behaves differently when deployed via vCenter as opposed to directly connected to an ESXi host with the vSphere Client.
vSphere Client to ESXi host:



The different options outlined in the Setup Guide are not present. Quoting from the guide none of these are shown:
"6. Select the deployment configuration for the appliance.

• Trial. Select Trial setup if Zimbra Appliance is being deployed in a non- production lab environment.

• Midsize. Select Midsize setup if Zimbra Appliance is being deployed in an environment with less than 500 users.

• Large. Select Large setup if Zimbra Appliance is being deployed in an enviornment with up to 1000 users.

Click Next.

8. Select the IP address allocation scheme appropriate to your network configuration. For most Zimbra Appliance environments select Fixed. The IP addresses are manually configured on the Properties page that follows. No automatic allocation is performed.

Note: To automatically configure the appliance trial serverÂ’s network configuration, select a destination network with DHCP services configured and running.

9. With the properties page open, configure the following details for Zimbra Appliance.

3

• Configuration Password. Enter the password for the Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI). When you log into the Zimbra Appliance console, you enter this password.

• Server Name. Enter the Zimbra Appliance hostname. This is the server name. For example, mail.company.com.

• Administrative Account. Enter the name of the administrator’s account This account is automatically created on Zimbra Appliance during the install.

• Admin Password. This is the password to log on to the Zimbra administration console and to log on to the administrator’s mailbox. The password must be at least 6 characters.

• If you selected Fixed as the IP allocation policy, enter the network IP address

Click Next."
vSphere Client to vCenter:



The OVF deployment wizard asks for the configuration information above.
Also, the appliance seems to discard the fixed ip configuration during deployment and always reverts to DHCP.
I'm hoping that the next version of the appliance 7.0 is more robust because there are quite a few quirks/bugs with the current one.
phoenix
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Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by phoenix »

[quote user="yonatan"]I'm hoping that the next version of the appliance 7.0 is more robust because there are quite a few quirks/bugs with the current one.[/QUOTE]Thanks for posting that information. You should really file a bug report with that information, please make sure you file it under 'Appliance' in the Component section.
Regards

Bill

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yonatan
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Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 1:14 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by yonatan »

I want to add a couple of more things that I have discovered after deploying the appliance ~10 times.
- Not only is the fixed IP setting discarded in the OVF deployment, but also the complete password. For example, I set a password such as yonatan12 and I can logon to both the web interface and appliance (via console) using either yonatan, yonatan12 or say yonatan1.
- Some of the OVF deployment settings need to be clarified for the user. Specifically there is a field for hostname and admin email address. I take hostname to mean ZCA or mail. HOWEVER, this creates an appliance that won't send or receive email. What the field is asking for is the FQDN such as ZCA.mydomain.com or mail.mydomain.com. Also, for the admin email address I first used my personal one outside the actual domain say xxx@hotmail.com and this creates a domain hotmail.com for Zimbra. In other words the admin address must be admin@mydomain.com. These options definitely need to be more clear!
Also, the appliance creates a hosts file (/etc/hosts) that looks like this:

192.168.1.x zca.mydomain.com

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
I know from all the discussions here about split-dns etc that the hosts file should look like this:

192.168.1.x zca.mydomain.com zca

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
But the appliance works anyway, so I guess Zimbra is doing some trickery. Just thought I'd point it out.
That's it for now. Maybe Zimbra wants to hire me for QA testing ;)
patry
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 2:20 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by patry »

I am just wondering if the inconsistent behaviour described by yonatan has been resolved in a newer version of the Zimbra Virtual Appliance ?
Thanks

/jy
lkthomson
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:00 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by lkthomson »

I have the same problem installing zca-8.0.0.0-1147_QVF10.ova. I am not given the opportunity to "Select the deployment configuraiton for the appliance." The installation surges ahead, but I have no chance to enter administrator credentials.

Looking for a workaround on this.
vickycpw
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:01 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by vickycpw »

I just try zca-8.0.1.0-1148 and same result in ESXi host, deployment configuration and IP address are not appear, so I've no choice but test another version (single server)
mxx
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 1:52 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by mxx »

This is still an issue. I was wasting 1hr until I found this thread. On VsphereClient 4.1 -> ESX 4.1 there's no possiblity to enter any networking parameters other than selecting the vswitch during deployment.

Support seems to be really poor. Currently deciding between Zarafa and Zimbra, but (well ok minor) things like that with no official reactions /fixes or updates of the documentation for such a long time speak for themselves.
uniden_one
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:05 am

Inconsistent behaviour during OVF deployment

Post by uniden_one »

I just started a 60-day trial with zca-8.0.2.939532 and ran into the same problem. I was told there is no support during the trial because there are too many trials in progress right now. I am not able to open a ticket. I don't want to purchase before knowing this is an issue that can be resolved.
Can somebody with support pose this question to them? As a potential customer, it seems at first glance that they just don't care if it's been an issue for over two years without resolution. I don't want to do business with a company like that!
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