vSensor deployment in other KVM Virtual Machine Managers

Generic instructions for how to deploy Vectra virtual Sensors to virtual machine managers other than the recommended ones.

This information is provided for reference and will not match your software exactly. You will have to be familiar with setting up virtual virtual machines using your software so that you can find the settings that correspond to the generic information documented here.

Downloading the latest KVM vSensor OVA or QCOW2 image

The KVM vSensor image is available under Configuration → COVERAGE → Data Sources → Network → Sensors in your Vectra UI. Navigate to this area, click Download Virtual Image at the top right, and select the KVM vSensor (QCOW2) or VMware vSensor (OVA) option, depending on which your hypervisor requires.

Note: the same OVA image is compatible with both VMWare and KVM hypervisors.

Deploy the OVA or the QCOW2

Depending on which format your KVM environment requires, follow either the OVA or QCOW2 instructions below:

Deploying the OVA

• Import the OVA to your virtual machine management software.
• Deploy the OVA to a new virtual machine. Do not power it on yet.
• Proceed to Virtual Hardware Configuration and Powering On

Deploying the QCOW2 images

• Import each disk to your virtual machine management software.
• Create a new virtual machine. Enter a name of your choice.
• Add either the 100GB or the 150GB disk image to the virtual machine, depending on which size vSensor you are deploying. If you are deploying a vSensor with a larger than 150GB disk, resize the 150GB disk image to the correct size.
• Add the seed.iso image as a CD-ROM drive.
• Do not power on the virtual machine yet.
• Proceed to Virtual Hardware Configuration and Powering On

Virtual Hardware Configuration and Powering On

Make sure the hardware configuration of your virtual machine matches the following:

Hardware Item	Configuration
Boot type	Legacy BIOS
Operating system (if available)	Closest match to "Linux 5.4 64-bit" or "Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit"
CPU	1 socket Number of cores from KVM vSensor Requirements and Throughput
Memory	Amount from KVM vSensor Requirements and Throughput
Memory Ballooning	disabled
Disks	vectra-vsensor Controller: virtio-scsi-single or virtio-scsi or virtio
CD-ROM	seed.iso
Network	Management interface (connected to management network) Capture interface (not connected to the management network) Controller: virtio-net or virtio (multiqueue enabled, number of queues equal to the number of CPU cores of the virtual machine) Note: the management interface must have a lower address on the controller than the capture interface. Adding them in order should work for most virtual machine managers.
Console	VGA (optional but recommended)
QEMU Guest Agent	Enabled (only network interface info and power control will be allowed by the vSensor)
Cloud Init	None
Boot order	Disk first

Configure your virtual machine host such that traffic is directed to the capture interface of the vSensor. This will vary widely based on the virtual machine manager and network configuration, so we cannot provide specific guidance here. See Traffic capture guidance and validation for information about diagnosing traffic capture issues.

Once the virtual hardware configuration is correct, you may start the virtual machine.