NGeniusPULSE Virtual Install Guide

nGeniusPULSE
Virtual Installation
Guide
Copyright © 2016-2023 NETSCOUT Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 32, February 2023
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Product Use .................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 2
VMware Specifications ................................................................................................................................................... 4
.OVA File Naming Conventions ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Creating a Virtual nGeniusPULSE Appliance ................................................................................................................ 6
All-in-One .................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Distributed .................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Pulse Global Manager ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Installation .................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Configuration ................................................................................................................................................................ 18
Data Storage ............................................................................................................................................................. 18
CPU and Memory ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
Discovery of HardWare nPoints ................................................................................................................................. 19
Upgrading nGeniusPULSE ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Installing nGeniusPULSE on AWS ............................................................................................................................... 21
Contact Information ..................................................................................................................................................... 22
Introduction
This document describes the process for creating a virtual nGeniusPULSE (nGP) appliance in VMware.
Additional configuration information can be found on the product's Administration help links.
nGeniusPULSE online help can be found at https://downloads.netscout.com /nGeniusPulse/vxx/introduction.html,

where x is the version number, e.g. 37.
Product Use
Use of this product is subject to the End User License Agreement https://www.netscout.com/legal/terms-and-
conditions or which accompanies the product at the time of shipment or, if applicable, the legal agreement
executed by and between NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC., and the purchaser of this product (“Agreement”).
Government Use and Notice of Restricted Rights: In U.S. government (“Government”) contracts or
subcontracts, Customer will provide that the Products and Documentation, including any technical data
(collectively “Materials”), sold or delivered pursuant to this Agreement for Government use are commercial
as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 2.101and any supplement and further are provided with
RESTRICTED RIGHTS. All Materials were fully developed at private expense. Use, duplication, release,
modification, transfer, or disclosure (“Use”) of the Materials is restricted by the terms of this Agreement and
further restricted in accordance with FAR 52.227-14 for civilian Government agency purposes and 252.227-
7015 of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement ("DFARS") for military Government agency
purposes, or the similar acquisition regulations of other applicable Government organizations, as applicable
and amended. The Use of Materials is restricted by the terms of this Agreement, and, in accordance with
DFARS Section 227.7202 and FAR Section 12.212, is further restricted in accordance with the terms of
NETSCOUT's commercial End User License Agreement. All other Use is prohibited, except as described
herein.
This Product may contain third-party technology. NETSCOUT may license such third-party technology and
documentation ("Third-Party Materials") for use with the Product only. In the event the Product contains
Third-Party Materials, or in the event you have the option to use the Product in conjunction with Third- Party
Materials (as identified by NETSCOUT in the applicable Documentation), then such third-party materials are
provided or accessible subject to the applicable third-party terms and conditions contained in the “Read Me”
or “About” of this product. To the extent the Product includes Third-Party Materials licensed to NETSCOUT by
third parties, those third parties are third-party beneficiaries of, and may enforce, the applicable provisions of
such third-party terms and conditions.
Open-Source Software Acknowledgment: This product may incorporate open-source components that are
governed by the GNU General Public License ("GPL") or licenses that are compatible with the GPL license (“GPL
c ompatible License”). In accordance with the terms of the GNU GPL, NETSCOUT will make available a
complete, machine-readable copy of the source code components of this product covered by the GPL or
applicable GPL Compatible License, if any, upon receipt of a written request. Please identify the product and
send a request to:
NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC.

GNU GPL Source Code Request 310 Littleton Road
Westford, MA 01886 Attn: Legal Department
Copyright © 2016-2022 NETSCOUT Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 31, November 2022 1
Overview
nGeniusPULSE monitors and tests your network infrastructure including virtual machines and enterprise
systems. Monitoring network and server infrastructure, service availability of cloud applications, VoIP, and
networks are part of its capabilities.
nGeniusPULSE supports two deployment models:
Note: Both deployment models can be implemented with hardware solutions or virtual machines. Refer to the
nGeniusPULSE Hardware or Virtual Installation Guides.
• nGeniusPULSE All-in-One – includes an nGeniusPULSE Server and nGeniusPULSE Collector in a single

box. The nGeniusPULSE All-in-One solution supports up to 5000 nPoints and can monitor up to 25,000
elements (Monitored Elements).
Note: A Monitored Element (ME) is a device (physical or virtual) that nGeniusPULSE is actively polling and
querying.
Each of the following counts as a single monitored element:
• Router (one ME for the device and one ME for each interface)
• Switch (one ME for the device and one ME for each interface)
• Server
• Wireless Controller (one ME for the device and one ME for each interface)
• Access Point
• Interfaces
• VCenter
• Hypervisor
• Virtual Machine
The above are not counted as Monitored Elements if nGeniusPULSE is not monitoring them, even if the
system is aware of their existence. That is, items that are Deleted or Disabled are not counted as
Monitored Elements. Further, only items in the Active state are counted as Monitored Elements.
Components of the nGeniusPULSE system itself, such as nPoints, Collectors, Tests, Sites, or Business
Services are not counted as Monitored Elements.
Copyright © 2016-2023 NETSCOUT Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 32, February 2023 2
• Distributed - the distributed system includes a distributed nGeniusPULSE Server and one or more
Collectors. Each collector in the distributed model can monitor up to 50,000 elements and the Server can
support up to 10 Collectors with an aggregated total of 500,000 elements. The nGeniusPULSE Distributed
solution supports up to 5000 nPoints.
VMware Specifications
You can create an nGeniusPULSE All-in-One, an nGeniusPULSE Distributed System, or a PULSE Global Manager
on a Virtual Machine (VM) using VMware ESX v6.7 or later.
The process is to create a Virtual Machine that meets the specifications for size of the nGeniusPULSE system
that you want to emulate. You then load an OVA file. The VM is configured as the VMware OVF template is
deployed. The VM must be able to support the appliance specifications.
The following table shows the required Virtual Machine resources for a full implementation:
Platform Use Model Cores Memory Disk
All-in-One
nGeniusPULSE 25K Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

All-in-One Elements / 5000 16 64GB Disk 2: 10 GB, Commit log (thin provisioned)
nPoints Disk 3: 4 TB, Data (thin provisioned)
Distributed
nGeniusPULSE 500K Total Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

Server Elements/5000 24 96GB Disk 2: 10 GB, Commit log (thin provisioned)
Supports up to 10
Collectors
nGeniusPULSE 50K Monitored Disk 1: 200 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

Collector Elements 8 32GB Disk 2: 4 TB, Data (thin provisioned)
Note: VM storage must be “local”, not on SANs or other network-based storage. Local disks include disks local to the
Hypervisor and directly connected disk arrays.
The following table shows the required Virtual Machine resources for a limited All-in-One implementation:
All-in-One
nGeniusPULSE 12.5K Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

All-in-One Elements / 750 8 32GB Disk 2: 10 GB, Commit log (thin provisioned)
The following table shows the required Virtual Machine resources for an nGeniusPULSE Global Manager:
nGeniusPULSE 20 nGeniusPULSE Disk 1: 200 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

Global Manager Servers or All-in-One 8 16GB Disk 2: 100 GB, Commit log (thin
(nGeniusPULSE Local provisioned)
Managers)
.OVA File Naming Conventions

The nGeniusPulse application software is distributed as a virtual appliance in Open Virtual Appliance
(.ova) format. There are separate .ova files depending on the appliance being installed:
• All-in-One - nGeniusPULSE-Server-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision, n = minor

revision, p = patch number, h = hotfix number, xyz = build number, i = iteration number
• Distributed
• Server - nGeniusPULSE-Server-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision, n = minor revision, p

= patch number, h = hotfix number, xyz = build number, i = iteration number
• Collector – nGeniusPULSE-Collector-m.n.xyz-1.ova
• Pulse Global Manager - nGeniusPULSE-Global-Manager-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision,

n = minor revision, p = patch number, h = hotfix number, xyz = build number, i = iteration number
Note: The Server .ova file is the same as the All-in-One .ova file. The All-in-One installation is converted to a
Distributed system when a Collector is installed and configured to the Server.
Creating a Virtual nGeniusPULSE Appliance
This procedure can be used to create an All-in-One nGeniusPULSE appliance, a Distributed system, or
convert an All-in-One appliance to a Distributed system. The Production Virtual Server .ova file is used to
create an All-in-One appliance and as the first step in creating a Distributed System. The Production
Collector .ova file is used to create a Distributed System or to convert an All-in-One to Distributed.
Note: You may have an issue when installing v3.7.1-0.78.0 Patch 1 OVA and later on v6.5 ESXi, or v6.7 ESXi with
certain tools. Refer to the following knowledge base article for more information nGeniusPULSE VMware OVA
Install Issue.
All-in-One
Use the Production Virtual Server .ova file, follow the procedure and skip steps marked Collector only.
Distributed
Installing a distributed nGeniusPULSE systems involves two steps:
1. Install an All-in-One server

2. Install the Collector and point it at the server.
Server Installation
Use the Production nGeniusPULSE-Server .ova file, and install as an All-in-One device.
Collector Installation (Server must be installed first as an All-in-One)

Use the Production nGeniusPULSE-Collector .ova file, follow the procedure and skip steps marked Server
only.
This converts the All-in-One appliance to a server for the distributed system. The collector in the All-in-One
is shut down and the external collector in enabled. No data is lost. Increased limits for Monitored Elements
are invoked.
Pulse Global Manager
Use the Pulse Global Manager .ova file, follow the procedure and skip steps marked Collector only.
Installation
vSphere Client
These instructions are for vSphere Client v6.7. For more information on deploying OVF or OVA templates,
see the vSphere Client help.
Prerequisites
• Know the URL of the location of the OVA template or load the nGeniusPULSE OVA template on your
client machine.
• Verify the available memory, CPU and disk resources and licenses on the VMware hypervisor.
To create a virtual nGeniusPULSE appliance using an OVA template:
1. Open the vSphere Client, select the directory where you want to install the new appliance, open the
ACTIONS pull-down menu, and select Deploy OVF Template…
2. Enter the URL of the .ova file or enable the Local File radio button and choose the local .ova file. Select
NEXT.
Note: Select
3. Enter a Name and select a location for the new VM. Select NEXT.
4. Select the destination location for the new VM, then select NEXT.
5. Verify the template information in the OVF Template Details window. Select NEXT.
6. Select the datastore for the VM.
7. Use the pull-down menu to change the Virtual Disk Format to Thin Provision and then select NEXT.
8. Select the datastore for the VM.
9. Select the destination network, and then select NEXT.
10. Review the details and then select FINISH.
11. You can view the status of the OVF Deployment in the Recent Tasks panel of the vSphere Client.
12. [Server only] The default resource allocation for the Server installation is 8 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and
512 GB of disk space on Disk 3. You can increase the resources (see VMware Specifications) now or at a
later time.
After the virtual machine has been deployed, select it from the list of VMs, select ACTIONS > Edit Settings.
Change the CPU, Memory, and Hard disk 3 settings as needed. Do not change Hard disk 1 or 2 settings.
13. Use the ACTIONS menu to power on the VM.
14. Use the same ACTIONS menu to open the remote console.
Log in with the credentials nGPadmin/netscout1.
15. After logging in, accept the End User License Agreement.
16. Set an nGPadmin password according to your security policy.
17. [Optional] Set an ngpuser account password according to your security policy. This is a limited access
account.
18. [Optional] Set a root account password according to your security policy.
19. [Optional] Set a new Hostname.
20. [Optional] Select a timezone. For proper synchronization with nPoints, it is important that the correct
timezone is used.
21. The question “Would you like to change the network settings (y/n)?” is shown. The server uses DHCP by
default. You can choose to change those settings to make them static.
Note: If the IP address of the system is modified manually, outside the script, the command
/home/nGPadmin/ngp-configure.sh -f must be run to configure the IP address into configuration files.
22. Secure Administration Configuration
If you want to limit SSH login ability, enter y to secure the administration account.
23. Network Time Service Configuration
Enter y if you want to disable NTP as the time source.
24. Set additional NTP servers or modify the default list.
Enter a – to remove a server. Or press Enter to skip. At the end of the list, you will be prompted with:
Enter the IP address of a valid NTP Server.
Note: If you install the VMware Tools on the virtual machine, disable the Synchronize guest time with host
option.
25. Change the mongo password. Enter y if you want to change the mongo (database) password.
The nGeniusPULSE will now go through initialization and startup.
26. [Collector Only – to convert an All-in-One appliance or add a Collector to a Distributed System] Enter the
IP address of the nGeniusPULSE Server.
Note: The nGeniusPULSE Server must be installed and configured prior to installing the nGeniusPULSE Collector.
Once all the selections are made, the nGeniusPULSE configuration begins. It will take a few minutes for
the script to initialize settings and start the services. When completed, the server prompt returns. Should
you need to, you can modify the configuration by running the configuration utility
/home/nGPadmin/ngp-configure.sh
27. Determine the IP address of the new VM. From the Remote Console, run the following command:
ip -br address
The IP address is shown:
Start a browser on a client PC and enter the IP address of the nGeniusPULSE Server that you just created.
Sign in with the default username/password administrator/netscout1.
You will be requested to update the password on the first login. The new password must conform to the
following rules:
• Must be at least 8 characters

• Must have at least one lower case character
• Must have at least one upper case character
• Must have at least one digit
The following page is displayed:
To access the administration pages, use the scroll bar on the left side or the icon at the top right.
- Select Admininstration > System > Quick Start to go through guided configuration steps.
- Select Administration, to access all administrative pages.
Configuration
Data Storage
nGeniusPULSE stores data on Hard disk 3 of the VM. The default size of Hard disk 3 is 512 Gb. You can
increase this as needed.
To increase the size of your virtual disk:
1. From your vSphere Client, select the VM and then select ACTIONS > Edit Settings.
2. From the Edit Settings window, you can increase the size of Hard disk 3,
The default size of Hard disk 3 is 512 Gb. You can increase this as needed.
CPU and Memory
If you see performance issues on your nGeniusPULSE system, especially gaps in data, you may be
approaching the specification limits of the system. Check the number of monitored elements (select
Administration > System > Collectors on your nGeniusPULSE system) and compare it to the
specifications given in VMware Specifications.
Increase CPU / memory as needed to meet the specifications. No stored data will be lost when you
increase resources.
Note: Power off the virtual machine before increasing system resources.
Discovery of HardWare nPoints

To allow hardware nPoints to automatically provision themselves on the nGeniusPULSE Server, you need
to add an entry in your DNS server for the hostname ngenius-pulse-server (and make sure this entry
points to the nGeniusPULSE server). Hardware nPoints automatically locate the server and start
communicating with it without any manual configuration.
Proper identification of nPoints by nGeniusPULSE Server discovery requires that the hardware nPoint’s
DHCP server is configured to issue the correct DNS settings as well as the DNS search domains.
Upgrading nGeniusPULSE
Your system must be at v2.6 prior to upgrading to v3.0. See earlier Release Notes for upgrade
information of earlier versions.
To upgrade v2.6 to v3.0:
1. From the nGeniusPULSE UI, navigate to Administration > System > General.
2. Select the button, which allows you to upload a software update. The update is
automatically installed once the upload finishes, and the update is pushed out to all provisioned
collectors once it has been successfully installed on the manager. If you wish to update Collectors
independently of the Server, you can install the software update on each collector before installing
the update on the Server. The Collector software update file can be found at my.netscout.com.
Notes
o If server port HTTP:80 was blocked in either firewall or nginx, it will be open after the update.
Redirected HTTP:80 to HTTPS will continue after the update.
o If the system fails to complete an upgrade and locks up, you can restart the system by doing the
following:
SSH to the nGeniusPULSE server and run the following commands:
/opt/ngp/appliance/ngp-stop-services.sh
/opt/ngp/appliance/ngp-start-services.sh
o If you are upgrading the system from a PC that is not in the same data center as the nGeniusPULSE
server, it may fail because of timeouts. If so, you can use the v2.0 to v2.5 procedure (found in the v2.5
and v2.6 Release notes), but get the nGP-3.0.1228-1.tar.gz file.
o If you have Linux based virtual nPoints, they must have internet access or the nPoint update will fail
and the nPoint will be offline.
o An updated version of the nPoint software will be available when the server software is upgraded. If
you wish to upgrade the software on your nPoints, sign in on the nGeniusPULSE application and go to
the nPoint Administration page. If new software was installed, an information message will be
displayed showing that your nPoints can be updated.
You can then select the nPoints you wish to update and click the UPDATE button.
Installing nGeniusPULSE on AWS
You can install and run an nGeniusPULSE using Amazon Web Services:
1. Read .OVA File Naming Conventions and the introduction to Creating a Virtual nGeniusPULSE
Appliance to determine the type of installation you need and the proper .ova file(s) that you need.
Download the nGeniusPULSE .ova file to your local PC.
2. Use https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vm-import/latest/userguide/vmimport-image-
import.html#import-vm-image for information to do the following:
a. Create an Amazon S3 Bucket
b. Create IAM roles and policies to allow import from the S3 bucket
c. Upload the nGeniusPULSE .ova to the S3 Bucket
d. Import the .ova to Amazon S3.
e. Wait (approximately 15-20 minutes).
3. After completing the steps, you should have an AMI and three EBS snapshots - 275G (for the OS),
10G (for the commit log), and 512G (for the data)
4. Start an EC2 Instance:
Key Value
Type m4.4xlarge
Security Group SSH, HTTPS
Key Pair Proceed without a key pair
5. Configure the server instance with an Elastic IP address to prevent internal DHCP from changing the
IP addresses (See: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/elastic-ip-addresses-
eip.html)
6. SSH to the machine using (nGPadmin/netscout1) user and follow the prompts (as shown in the
latter part of Creating a Virtual nGeniusPULSE Appliance.
7. Open a browser and enter the IP address of the nGeniusPULSE appliance that you have created.
8. Sign in with the default username/password administrator/netscout1 and follow the on-screen
instructions to change the password.
9. Select Administration > System > Quick Start to go through the guided configuration steps.
Contact Information
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Website: http://enterprise.netscout.com Email: customer-care@netscout.com

Phone: 1-844-833-3713 (U.S. only) or 978-320-2150 (international)
CUSTOMER CARE EUROPEAN PHONE NUMBERS
• Austria: +43 (0)120 6092 533

• Belgium: +32 (0)27 006 001
• Denmark: +45 383 23169
• Eastern Europe: +31 0707 709471
• Finland: +358 (0)97 252 2194
• France: +33 155 698012
• Germany: +49 (0)691 532 53071
• Italy: +39 026 9430951
• Netherlands: +31 0707 709470
• Norway: +47 23 162306
• Spain: +34 91 0507360
• Sweden: +46 085 0252235
• Switzerland: +41 (0)44 5112 157
• UK: +44 (0)203 788 4735

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nGeniusPULSE

nGeniusPULSE online help can be found at https://downloads.netscout.com /nGeniusPulse/vxx/introduction.html,

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC.

nGeniusPULSE supports two deployment models:

• nGeniusPULSE All-in-One – includes an nGeniusPULSE Server and nGeniusPULSE Collector in a single

Each of the following counts as a single monitored element:

Platform Use Model Cores Memory Disk

nGeniusPULSE 25K Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

nGeniusPULSE 500K Total Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

nGeniusPULSE 50K Monitored Disk 1: 200 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

Platform Use Model Cores Memory Disk

nGeniusPULSE 12.5K Monitored Disk 1: 275 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

Platform Use Model Cores Memory Disk

nGeniusPULSE 20 nGeniusPULSE Disk 1: 200 GB, OS (thin provisioned)

.OVA File Naming Conventions

• All-in-One - nGeniusPULSE-Server-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision, n = minor

• Server - nGeniusPULSE-Server-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision, n = minor revision, p

• Pulse Global Manager - nGeniusPULSE-Global-Manager-m.n.p-h.xyz-i.ova – where m = major revision,

Installing a distributed nGeniusPULSE systems involves two steps:

1. Install an All-in-One server

Collector Installation (Server must be installed first as an All-in-One)

Pulse Global Manager

8. Select the datastore for the VM.

10. Review the details and then select FINISH.

13. Use the ACTIONS menu to power on the VM.

Log in with the credentials nGPadmin/netscout1.

22. Secure Administration Configuration

Enter y if you want to disable NTP as the time source.

24. Set additional NTP servers or modify the default list.

Enter the IP address of a valid NTP Server.

The nGeniusPULSE will now go through initialization and startup.

The IP address is shown:

• Must be at least 8 characters

The following page is displayed:

To increase the size of your virtual disk:

CPU and Memory

Discovery of HardWare nPoints

SSH to the nGeniusPULSE server and run the following commands:

4. Start an EC2 Instance:

Website: http://enterprise.netscout.com Email: customer-care@netscout.com

CUSTOMER CARE EUROPEAN PHONE NUMBERS

• Austria: +43 (0)120 6092 533

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